HOURGLASS
Overall appearance; you will look and feel balanced, with both top and bottom half of the body matching.
Measurements; You can categorize yourself as an hourglass body type if your bust and hip measurements match and your waist is proportionally smaller, giving you a defined appearance.
Avoid stiff fabrics, baggy styles, skirts with open pleats and very tapered pants.
TRIANGLE/PEAR
Overall appearance; You will feel bottom heavy. As you will have a narrow waist, small bust and narrow shoulders.
Measurements; Your hips will measure larger than your bust.
Avoid stiff fabrics, shapeless garments, wearing hems at your widest point, tapered pants.
Look for horizontal design influence above the waist, vertical design influence below the waist, waist shaping designs and draw attention to the upper body.
Your dressing/styling aim is to finds ways to create a balance between the small/narrow top half of the body and the wider bottom half of your body. This is achieved by ‘visually’ (yes it is all about the illusion) widening the upper half.
INVERTED TRIANGLE/LOVE HEART
Overall appearance; You will look and feel top heavy. Your best assets will be your narrow waistline and shapely legs, it is also common to have a flat bottom.
Measurements; Your Bust will measure larger than your hips.
Avoid stiff fabrics, highlighting the waist, big collars, full sleeves and tapered pants.
Look for Vertical design influence above the waist, horizontal design influence below the waist, set in sleeves, good fitting bras, flared pants and A-line skirts.
Your dressing/styling aim is to bring proportion by balancing the smaller lower half of the body. Giving the illusion of a wider lower half can be done in many ways.
RECTANGLE/COLUMN/RULER
Overall appearance; You will have a straighter shape that lacks in curves. Your slender legs/arms and flat bottom help add to this straightness.
Measurements; Your bust/waist/hip ratio will show very little difference to one another.
Avoid clingy fabrics, fitted garments, baggy pants, big loose tops and narrow skirts.
Look for slight shaping of garments, shoulder line emphasis, dresses that wrap through the waistline, high placed focal points and A-line skirts.
You dressing/styling aim are to create definition by visually lengthening the body and broadening the upper half of the body.
OVAL/APPLE/
Appearance; You will feel and look solid in the mid torso, your arms and legs may be slender, some carry their tummy higher than others. This is the lady who has an overall appearance of being ‘round’.
Measurements; Your bust, waist and hips measurements will be very similar.
Avoid high neck lines, pleats, waist emphasis, belts, and large lapels and colour banding.
Look for semi fitted pieces, low necklines, good fitted bras, monochromatic colour styles, semi fitted soft styles, flat front trousers, dresses that flow through the waistline and high placed focal points.
The dressing/styling aim is to visually lengthen the body and create an inverted triangle body shape. Bringing attention up to the head and shoulders is the key.
Your silhouette will also be influenced by your vertical proportions. This is the difference between your hip point to the ground and to the top of your head. Do you have shorter legs? Are you evenly balanced? Is your torso shorter than your legs? By looking at these proportions you will be able to select the best lengths for your trousers, jackets and tops and create a better balance for your overall height.
STYLE ANALYSIS
Body shape and types will always be open for discussion, choosing what you are closest to is a great start, but if you are a bit of this and a touch of that you could look at having your own personal style report made for you. From which all the guess work is taking out of the equation. What you are given is a detailed on-line style report that allows you to log on any time with your own password and keep track of your very own fashion recommendations. This product is what Image consultants have been using for decades. It has been recently revised to make it user friendly and accessible for anyone on the web.
