Pitch Perfect 2's Costume Designer Spills His Fit Tips and Tricks For Every Body Type

Updated on 5/12/2015 at 8:00 AM

One glance at a poster or commercial for the upcoming movie Pitch Perfect 2, and you'll notice that no two girls are built alike. Some are tall, some are short, some are curvy, some are athletic — and yet, at times, they're all wearing the same costumes and looking aca-awesome while doing so. "How is this possible?" you may wonder, seeing the Bellas take the stage and making a matching blazer and skirt set look impossibly chic. It's all thanks to work of one man: the film's costume designer, Salvador Perez, who also lends his talent mixing prints and making coats on the set of The Mindy Project.

With all this experience dressing women of different shapes and sizes, we knew we had to pick his brain for a bit of fashion advice. Read on to see which styles he says will work for your body type — no matter what it is — as well as a few tips and tricks on finding the perfect fit.

The Best Styles For Curvy Girls

“Rebel likes NYDJ jeans. I turned her on to them on the first Pitch Perfect. She said 'Oh my god these jeans fit so well!' Because they’re cut nicely, they have a really great stretch to them, and, I mean, I’m a firm believer in stretch denim."

“Most of the, you know — I hate the word 'plus size,' it’s such an insulting word — but the plus-size lines were so matronly. Just because you’re full-figured doesn’t mean you want to look like a mom. I stumbled across ELOQUII, and the clothes were in larger sizes but really beautifully styled.”

The Best Styles For Petite Girls

“Anna Kendrick is tiny — she’s a little tiny zero — and it’s about having clothes fit her. So yes, absolutely there are brands that the proportion fits her best. Like I buy Anna a lot of All Saints jeans because the proportion is great on her.”

“Anna never wanted to be in flats because she wanted to have a little bit of height to make her not look so tiny compared to the other actors.”

The Best Styles For Tall Girls

“Hailee Steinfeld looked really great in J.Crew because they run very long and Hailee’s very tall, so that fit her better.”

On Finding Clothes For Petite and Tall Body Types

“The thing that people don’t realize is that most of the brands like Banana Republic and J.Crew have an online version of their clothes in petite and tall. You don’t find it in the stores; you have to order it online. If you’re not an average size, it’s learning where to shop.”

The One Thing People Tend to Forget

“It’s about fit and it’s something that people have forgotten. Before, everybody had a tailor. Now, people want to walk in to a store and be like, 'Oh, it doesn’t fit me!' Well because it’s not made for you; it’s made for average sizes.”

It's All About Proportion

“Somehow, we need to train the public, you know, like, ‘This is your proportion. This is where a jacket fits you at the hip. This is where a jacket fits you at the sleeve.’ Nothing is more annoying to me than when you see a petite woman in a long coat and it’s hitting the floor. It wasn’t meant to do that. It was meant to be tea-length. If she just shortens it so that it’s at the right proportions, it’s going look so much better and it’s going to lengthen you.”

What to Do If You're Between Sizes

“If you’re in between two sizes, don’t get the tight one that fits you in the waist and then it stretches on your hips — get the one that fits you in the hips and get the waist taken in to fit you. You always want to go to the fullest measurement on your body and then alter accordingly.”

The Main Thing to Remember

“I think the biggest thing I can tell you is to remember that clothing is made to a model who’s a sample size 5’6" to 5’8”. So if you’re three to four inches shorter than that, everything is too long for you, and know that if you’re big enough to wear the clothes in the width, you always have to shorten the length.”

Styles That Look Good on Everyone

“I’m a big fan of knits. Knits are very forgiving. Or going to two pieces — dresses are always harder because there’s no way to change those proportions. If they’re separates, you have a little more ease in fit.”

On the Term Plus Size

“I don’t think it has to be plus size. I mean, it’s just a size, you know? I mean, Anna Kendrick’s a size 0, and Mindy’s a size 10. Rebel’s a size 18. I don’t think that they need to call it plus size. I think they [should] do away with the term. These are their sizes, say what their size is. Read it numerically. There’s no reason to say plus size.”