Part I of the Body Shape Series – An Introduction to Body Shapes
A while ago I was asked to come and speak on the subject of “dressing for your body shape” to a small group of girls at a high school. I found it a little bit tricky as the girls were young teenagers and at that age your body is still developing. I wanted to be careful about encouraging the girls to have fun with how they dress, without imposing styling techniques that are too “grown-up” for them. Hopefully I did okay and they found it helpful!
It made me think that there are probably a lot of women out there who haven’t given much thought to their body shape and how certain styles can flatter different proportions. So I’ve modified the content of my presentation to the girls to make it more appropriate for adult women and will present it over a series of posts. I hope you find it helpful!
Generally speaking there are 5 main body shapes which are based on the shape of your torso. It is important to remember that there are also many variables within each of the five basic shapes, such as height and weight. I’m talking here about body shapes, not sizes. It’s important to recognise the difference as any body shape can range from thin right through to overweight and anywhere in between.
Every woman’s body shape is different, which is okay! It makes us each unique. By recognising basic characteristics of our body shapes, we can dress in a way that compliments, flatters and balances our figures. It doesn’t matter if you’re plus sized or petite, it’s about working with what you’ve got to create balance, proportion and to highlight the features you like most about yourself. No single body shape is better or worse than any of the others.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be doing a different post on each of the following body shapes:
In each post I’ll be making suggestions for how to dress in a way that creates visual balance for the different body shapes. Even if you choose to ignore my ideas, I think it’s helpful to know the way that different styles, colour combinations and silhouettes influence our perceptions of proportion. You might prefer to do the opposite of what I think and exaggerate your proportions and that’s okay too!
There are lots of different theories on categorising body shapes and this is may take on it. I’d love to hear you thoughts, so leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
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