As styl­ists we know how impor­tant it is to dress for our shapes. There are a num­ber of dif­fer­ent body types, and in this sec­tion we’ll out­line the most promi­nent shapes. Of course not all of us fit into one per­fect cat­e­gory, and some­times we can be a com­bi­na­tion. We  hope you use these tips below and stay tuned for updated tips ‘n tricks and videos from yours truly.… the espy gals!

Pear Shape

This is said to be the most com­mon with women.

Typically women with pear shaped bod­ies have:

— Slender face & neck

- Shoulders are shapely but also nar­row and slope downward

- Small to medium bust and a well-defined waist

- Butt, hips, thighs & calves are com­par­a­tively larger hold­ing most of the weight

This shape can be eas­ily con­fused with hour­glass. The way to dif­fer­en­ti­ate is to com­pare the pro­por­tion of bust to hips… the pear will most always have smaller shoul­ders than hips.

Tips for Dressing the Pear-Shaped Figure:

— Focus on Balance. Use colour, prints & wide neck-lines on top to draw focus toward the smaller part of the body, while using darker, solid colours on the bot­tom to minimize.

-  A-Line dresses such as the wrap dress, work well by draw­ing atten­tion to the small­est part

(the waist) while flar­ing out at the bot­tom so it draws away from the body instead of cling­ing to it.

JEANS

-  Look for jeans or pants that are flared or have a wide-leg

- Straight leg jeans are also a good for a sleek slim­mer look

- Make sure they are not too clingy on the calf. The skinny jean is not for you, unless

you are wear­ing it with a chunkier boot with the jean tucked in.

- If you are pear shaped you also want to look for a curved waist­band as been below. This means you can see the back rise above the front, and there is a large scoop to the front of the jeans. These will be the most flat­ter­ing on your body type.

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Apple Shape

Typically apples have:

- A fuller face and neck

- Broader shoul­ders & fuller breasts

- A fuller, unde­fined waist

- Narrow hips & flat rear end

- Shapely legs

Temporarily women can become apple shape after child­birth or gain­ing extra weight. It may not be that way all the time, but it can happen.

Tips for Dressing the Apple Shape Figure:

- Balance again is always the goal, apples want to lengthen the torso.

- Ruching, ruch­ing, ruch­ing. The gath­er­ing of fab­ric is a women’s best way to cam­ou­flage any area from the tummy, and draw atten­tion to your best attrib­utes which include your much envied breast and legs

- An empire, or raised waist also brings the eye up and away from prob­lem areas

- Look for tops with a cinched waist, or belted jack­ets, this will give the illu­sion of a smaller waist, and slim down your tummy.

- Avoid cloth­ing that clings to the body. Woven fab­rics i.e. that are not 4 way stretch will always hide your muf­fin top the best.

JEANS

- Straight waist­bands (ie. where the back rise can’t be seen over the front, or where they almost line up)  work well for apple shapes.

- Go for less full­ness in the bot­tom of the jean, such as slim leg or straight leg.

- For a smaller bum patches work nicely, but be sure to avoid a lot of extra fab­ric.

- A skinny jean shows off your legs and it can be pulled off with san­dals or a fit­ted boot.

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Athletic Shape

This fig­ure is lean and ath­letic with few curves.  Typically rec­tan­gles have:

- A full neck & broad back

- Average bust

- Undefined waist

- A bal­anced figure

- Great legs and arms

Tips for dress­ing the ath­letic shape:

- Pretty tops with thicker straps will draw atten­tion to your breasts. When choos­ing a camisole choose the thicker strap bal­anc­ing left to right. A thick strap will accen­tu­ate your larger shoulders

- Use details in the top to show off the breasts and toned arms

- Look for jack­ets that have a cinched waist, or bias cut these will look great on you. Jackets that flare out from your waist will cre­ate instant hips.

- Tops, dresses and jack­ets that are fit­ted and go in at the waist will help give the appear­ance of a curvier figure.

JEANS

-    Fit the biggest part first. Athletic shapes will fit in most, but looks best in a straight leg.
-    Jeans with stretch will work for the thicker thigh.
-    Straight waist­band with less butt, and curved waist­band if you have more butt.
-    For instance look for jeans that hug and lift your bot­tom. You will look great in jeans that have a low-rise and that are a straight fit from the hip to the knee.

TIP: Any struc­tured item whether it be jacket or other works well Be aware that clingy will empha­size your straight fig­ure. You don’t always need to empha­size the waist but be ok with that.

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Hourglass Shape

Hour Glass Shape Typically you have:

- Full, shapely bust

- Distinctly defined waist

- Medium to broad hips in pro­por­tion with shoulders

- Shapely Legs

Dressing the Hour Glass-Shaped Figure:

-    The goal is to draw atten­tion to the waist & accen­tu­ate those fem­i­nine curves with­out adding size to your hips and shoulders.

-    Wear skirts will hug your curves and give a smooth fit at the waist­line and hips, pen­cil skirts work best for this.

-    When look­ing for skirts look for ¾ length or full length with a long slit or crease in the front.  This will make you look taller, thin­ner and sexier.

— And A-line skirts will accen­tu­ate your tiny waist.

JEANS

-    Look for jeans that are cut with larger hips, and a smaller waist.

-    Jeans that are slightly flared, or have a wide leg, this will bal­ance out your hips

-    Mid-rise jeans are the way to go, espe­cially if you are car­ry­ing some extra weight in the tummy, but low-rise jeans work great for you as well as long as they are not to low.

TIP: This is a great shape to have but it can range from size 0–20 it’s all about the ratio of your body. Work with bal­ance, high­light the waist. Avoid any­thing shape­less or boxy. If you do, acces­sorize with the right belt etc.

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Men’s

There are lots of tips out there for men as well. Take a look guys!!

Slimmer Guys

Tips for slim­mer guys

-    Show off your shape wear­ing fit­ted items

-    Look for seam­ing in a woven shirt and taper­ing to show your nar­row waist.

-    Avoid too much bulky fab­ric… for­get the skater jeans and go for a straight cut slim­mer jean

-    Ensure the jeans are long enough; jeans should almost hit the floor with a shoe on. You can wear skinny or straight or boot cut but avoid any­thing wide leg

-    Slim guys can layer well. Wovens under knits ie. but­ton up shirt under a sweater. A jacket with struc­tured detail works well on slim­mer guys as well

TIP: Men with a slim­mer build need to work with the length in jeans, they should sit just below the hip­bone or at the hipbone..

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Beefier Guys

Tips for big­ger guys.

- Make sure we’re fit­ting the largest part first. Easy boot­cut or wider leg jean. Rarely a skinny leg, and tapered is not gonna work for you buddy!

- When you try them on, take a look at the butt and make sure you don’t have hun­gry bum. (which is too much fab­ric between your cheeks, or your cheeks being super sep­a­rated by your jeans gath­er­ing in the crack)!

-    Look for easy boot cuts with enough room in the thighs. Never buy your jeans too big in the waist to fit your thighs go for a dif­fer­ent pair of jeans. Fit in the thigh and butt cause that’s where us gals are looking!

- Choose woven shirts for the top as they cam­ou­flage extra weight… clingy knits on moobs is unac­cept­able unless it is lay­ered over a woven shirt. Structured seam­ing down the back & front will work well on this body type

- Look for boxy cuts if you tend to carry your weight in the mid­dle, this will hide that weight.  Shoulder details are always nice and makes them appear larger and your mid­sec­tion appear slimmer.

Tips ‘n Tricks for Jeans from What not to Wear