Tell me what’s your Body Shape and I’ll tell you what to wear

The most important topic I’d like to deal with in this blog is: learn what to wear depending on your body shape. They’re all talking about style, trend and must-haves, but nobody gives us practical advice concerning what fits who. Why? Maybe because globalization has reached us, or maybe they aren’t that creative and think only about what the skinny-girl will wear. Or maybe they just want us to buy what they sell without us wondering “will it suit me?”. And that’s what we do. Jeggins are a trend? We buy them and proudly wear them even if our love handles are overflowing and our b-side is longing for some high-waisted, cigarette pair of trousers. Dress-shirts are in fashion? We put them on, even if our wasp waist disappears and we look like a bundle as big as our florid breast.

But that’s not completely our fault, nobody has ever told us that some things will suit us and some other won’t, maybe we didn’t have an older sister advising us, or, simply, we never asked ourselves a question about it. So the only way we could discover what flatters us has always been try and try again, and make a lot of mistakes, to understand, in the end, that high-waisted skirts are our miracle. When a woman achieves this goal she will be dressed up both in H&M and Ralph Lauren clothes. I see several blogs with outfits by girls who achieved the goal and are proud to show it and inspire all of us, but why not share one’s secrets and discoveries. For example, I really like the blog De Stiji, her style is always plain but sophisticated, and I found out she’s 1,62 m tall, and I’ve always assumed she was very tall, because she often wears high-waisted shorts and, obviously, wonderful high-heeled shoes. These are the secrets to share in order to inspire girls who look like her. So, is it really necessary that this goal is accomplished only after years of experience and errors? Maybe we could avoid the error sharing our experience. The real point of the question is to understand what our body shape is. In fact, I’m speaking of shapes, not curves. I’ve already dealt with the problem in the post on different colors for different body shapes. women can be divided in five families.

The triangle shaped woman, is also known as pear-shaped woman because of her resemblance with this fruit proportions, less curvy on the upper side of the body and a bit more on the hip and the bottom. She usually doesn’t have a flourishing breast, but has a slim waist and prosperous hips and bottom where she tends to get bigger. To cheer up all the girls who, like me, are part of this family, this type of woman was the most appreciated around the 19th century, when she was the most courted and desirable as her large hips were a sign of fertility and good health, the most important features for a wife. Given that we were born in the wrong period, the first woman who is usually associated with these traits is Jennifer Lopez, who is so proud of her b-side, that she is an unquestioned sex symbol.

The inverted triangle shaped woman is exactly the opposite of the former one. She has a flourishing breast, broad shoulder and slim hips and legs. Her body is androgynous as it remembers a male figure. We may think that these are the features we all dream for ourselves but even the upside down triangle have problems with clothes and sizes, just like the triangle shaped woman. I will take the model Elle Macperson as an example, these type of woman is not easily seen, because most models and actresses are right-angle shaped, but with a breast job, they look like an upside down triangle. The main difference between them and Elle Macperson is that she has the broad shoulder that typifies this shape.

The rectangle shaped woman, or tube shaped woman is the type we all know well, as all the designers focus on her. She is thin, the shoulders are as broad as the hips and a variable waist. This category shouldn’t be neglected only because it’s glorified by fashion, there are, in fact, several tricks to round off the edges of this figure. We may take Gwyneth Paltrow as an example, the first that occurred to me between many names.

The hourglass shaped woman was the representation of beauty up to some years ago. A curvy woman with a slim waist, she has shoulders as broad as the hips too, but the curves make the difference. A few years ago she wouldn’t need any advice about clothes as fashion was designed to fit her, but we’ll try to help this type of woman without resorting to grandma’s closet. Anyway the women fitting in this category should consider themselves lucky as the model for them is the most sensual and famous Italian actress: Sofia Loren.

The circle shaped woman is also known as the apple-shaped woman, because she tends to get big on the stomach. The apple, in fact, has regular shoulders and bottom, and she is thin on the hips and the breast, with a hint of a waistline, but her legs, unlike the pear woman, are slender and slim. This is the category most neglected by fashion, even if often it is the most in need of advice, so I’ll apply myself to advice her and find solutions. The model is Drew Barrymore.