If you search the Internet for style advice for short men, you’ll find at least one article from every popular fashion-related website…

…and about 150+ articles from The Modest Man.

Most of these non-TMM articles contain a lot of the same old tips that you’ve heard a million times before:

“Wear vertical stripes.”

“Don’t wear light colors.”

“Wear shoes with thick soles.”

Here’s the thing:

A lot of this advice isn’t actually true. Most of these “rules” can be bent, many can be broken, and some should be ignored entirely.

Here are 10 common misconceptions about dressing the shorter body type.

Misconception #1: Horizontal stripes make you look shorter

This is probably the most popular piece of style “advice” for shorter men. You hear it all the time:

“Never wear horizontal stripes. Only wear vertical stripes so you can look taller.”

It’s simply not true. The direction of the stripes doesn’t matter nearly as much as the size of the stripes. In fact, this goes for all patterns.

It doesn’t matter which type of pattern you choose (checks, stripes, dots), as long as they’re small in scale.

Think little dots, not big dots. Thin stripes, not thick stripes.

Misconception #2: Shorter men shouldn’t cuff their pants

This is another popular bit of wisdom that gets rehashed on sites like GQ and Esquire, but it’s misleading.

You can roll or cuff your pants with confidence, as long as you keep two things in mind:

First, make sure the cuff isn’t too big. Second, make sure your pants are tapered.

If the cuff is taller than two inches, it can make you look shorter. If your pants aren’t tapered below the knee, cuffing will look a little silly.