Your body shape dictates everything about how clothes fit and feel on you. Period. That’s the whole article.
I’m kidding! Seriously, the body dictates everything. There is an epidemic of body issues brought about by poorly fitting clothes that lead women to believe they have severely deformed bodies. Your body is not the problem, your clothes are.
Clothes should be fun! You shouldn’t feel any shame about your body’s size but the shape of clothes is going to be a problem ESPECIALLY if you don’t know what yours is.
I have five basic body shapes I use.
- Top Focus (Inverted Triangle)
- Largest body measurment is shoulders/bust
- Middle Focus (Oval & Heart)
- Largest body measurment is waist/bust
- Bottom Focus (Pear)
- Largest body measurment is hips
- Equal Focus (Hourglass)
- Shoulders and hips are the same (or nearly the same within an inch) and a drastically smaller waist
- Proportionate (Rectangle)
- shoulders/bust, waist and hips are all nearly the same
These names are based on where the body naturally draws the human eye, its natural focal point. Our job is to balance it out or keep it balanced. We do this because the human eye naturally seeks symmetry when we look at something. This means we want our top half to look equally as weighty as our bottom half. We accomplish this by playing with proportion and color.
Here are some basic balancing tactics.
- Light color for attracting attention, dark color for diminishing
- ex: top focus would wear a dark color top and a light color bottom to minimize the chest and shoulder area while simultaneously attracting attention to the bottom half. The brain interprets this as more symmetrical.
- Horizontal lines = wider
- ex: bottom focus would wear a strapless or off the shoulder top with a voluminous bottom like wide leg pants to draw attention to the shoulders and trick the brain into seeing balance.
- Hem line sweet spots
- ex: knowing where your most flattering length is going to land allows you to add length to your body to add height and slimming
These are just three examples and it depends on your specific body type. This is covered in totality in my Total Style Transformation service in our first and second sessions. This process is a comprehensive guided, one on one crash course in style. You even get all the information you need to continue on without me and maintain the changes you’ve made.
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ALL NEW!!
The HS Style Starter sessions are now available! It is the one and done, 90 minute, body shape and style personality knowledge giver of style life! We cover your body shape, what your specific blend of style personalities are and how to use both to build your own personal style. You also get a step-by-step guide to clean out your closet and a shopping hot-sheet printable you can fill out and take with you to the store so you know exactly what you need.
Just click here to get your session scheduled today!
Until next week, mind your style!
Your personal stylist,
Yo