Determine Your Body Shape(s)

I. Why are we still talking about body shapes?

It is not an exact categorisation of your body per se that we are interested in here. It has more to do with the aesthetics of balance.

Balanced objects = visually pleasing

Simply put, we like looking at balanced objects (or people for that matter). It is less important if you are a so-called “apple” shape or an “inverted triangle”. The point is, the more balanced your silhouette appears, the more visually pleasing your outfit will be.

‍And that is a great way to use fashion. You can highlight well-loved features of your body and play down other not-so-well loved ones by using the right fits and cuts.

To find out which features of your body require some balancing work the theory of body shapes can be a useful starting point, as long as you take it for what it is supposed to be: a rough guide. You don't have to bend yourself into any of these body shapes; they are not hard-and-fast categories.

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More than one body shape?

Most likely you won't fit into just one of the body shape categories. More often than not, we fit into one category but also lean towards another.

‍The key is to know which body parts make you fit into which category and then work on playing them up or down accordingly. You might have big hips like the pear but at the same time you might have wide shoulders characteristic of a triangle. Be flexible in your categorisation!

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II. How to determine your body shape(s)

The least subjective way to find your body shape(s) is to measure yourself. Plus, by doing this you will always have your measurements ready if you are ever confused about the sizing of online retailers.

Measure yourself

You will need a cloth tape measure and wear as little clothing as possible to avoid incorrect measurements. Make sure you stand straight with arms to the side. The tape must be snug against the body, but not too tight so that it compresses the body - making the measurement inaccurate.

Let’s measure the following four areas of your body:

• Shoulders - measure around the highest point of your shoulders.
• Bust - measure around the chest over the fullest part of the breasts.
• ‍Waist - measure around the smallest point of your waist.
• ‍Hips - measure around the hip over the largest part of the buttocks.

Determine your body shape(s)

As mentioned before, chances are that you will have a primary body shape and a secondary body shape. To find out what they are, we can use three methods:

(1) Determine your body shape using your bust, waist, and hip measurements.

(2) Determine your body shape using your shoulder, waist, and hip measurements.

(3) Look in the mirror and determine which parts of your body are out of balance with the rest of the body.

III. The 5 basic body shapes

Below you will find the characteristics of the five basic body shapes commonly used in the fashion industry.

If you have looked at body shapes before, you might have come across guides that contain more than these five shapes. That is because the five basic body shapes can be broken down into sub-categories, and as mentioned earlier, you probably won't fit into just one of the five categories.

But since we are not really concerned with a definitive categorisation but with determining which parts of your body require visual balancing, you can determine your primary body shape as the one you resonate with the most.

‍Each of these basic body shapes has a prominent characteristic, and they have been chosen for a reason:

• The rectangle looks more or less like a column, i.e. the body is straight with little to no definition.
• The pear has a bigger lower body compared to the upper body.
• The hourglass has a wider upper and lower body with a narrow waist in the middle.
• The inverted triangle has a bigger upper body compared to the lower body.
• The apple is wider in the middle and upper body with a smaller lower body.