Style Your Body Shape

I’m not referring to the one you may or may not live with but the one that follows you around everywhere you go. Your Butt. It’s big, it’s out there, there’s no disguising that sucker! It can certainly make finding flattering clothes a bit of a challenge.

Here are a few simple things to keep in mind when working with a big booty:

• Don’t try to cover it up, you’ll just make it look bigger and wider. The best strategy is to let it see the light of day. Be proud of it. Ensure the curve of your waist and bottom are defined.
• Work with curve slimming styles that show your bottom and your waist. Look for fit-and-flare options. Pay special attention to the cut of your clothes – the wrong cut can be disastrous. Also pay attention to the fabric. Bulky fabrics bulk you up, so again, be careful and pay particular attention to the cut. It should skim and hug your curves in all the right places without clinging.
• Never wear loose or unstructured styles. It will bunch and stretch in all the wrong places.
• If the bottom half is wide then you need to widen the top half to offset.
• Choose shirts and tops with three quarter length sleeves that will end at your waist as it will draw the eye there and further reduce your bottom.
• Keep the bottom half of your outfits simple and streamlined. No ruching, horizontal stripes or added design features as these will draw the eye and then everyone’s looking at your butt.
• Keep the color on the bottom darker than on your top half.
• Opt for straight leg, flared or wide leg pants. Stay away from skinny jeans or any pant that is narrows on the lower part of your leg. It will make your butt look huge. Pants should skim your hips then fall straight down to make your legs look longer.
• Jeans and pants should be a mid-rise. Avoid low slung as they make you look wider and shorter.
• Opt for big pockets on the back of jeans – they will keep you in proportion. Small pockets will make you look bigger by comparison.
• Pants should be long enough to touch the ground whilst standing in bare feet. This will allow you to wear with heels which will make you look taller and your bottom smaller.
• Avoid pleated pants or skirts like the plague, they will only enlarge your butt and your belly.
• A tulip pencil skirt is the best bet to show off your bottom but retain structure.
• Be very careful with A-line skirts and dresses as they may flare out over your butt and emphasize rather than contain.
• Avoid short skirts, even if you have fabulous thighs. Knee length will highlight your gorgeous bottom as well as adding a little concealment.
• Opt for fit-and-flare dresses showing a definite hourglass proportion.
• Show off your waist and booty with waist hugging jackets that end at the hipbone. Try to avoid tops and jackets that end below your bottom.
• For your coat choose a straight cut single-breast that ends just below the knee. Something with some kind of focus at the waist is better to add a bit of structure.
• Accessories are for the top half ONLY.
• Belts should be around your waist rather than low slung. The first will give you a great silhouette whilst the second will just make your butt look wider. Keep the width of the belt narrow. BE CAREFUL with belts. You can end up making your waist look smaller and therefore your butt look bigger.
• A small bag that hangs on your hip is going to make your butt look bigger in comparison. Ch
• Round toed shoes will draw attention to your curves. Pointy toes elongate the leg and make your butt look more in proportion. A heel is always better, even if only a kitten heel.

TRY THESE INSTANT OUTFITS:

Pants: A wide leg pant in a dark color. It will flow from your hips and look fabulous. Match it with your favorite v-necked top to broaden your upper half.

Dresses: A strapless dress cinched at the waist before flaring over your hips. It will widen your shoulders adding proportion to your silhouette.

Stick around as I’ll be going into more details with some of these strategies as I go along. If there’s anything in particular you want to know about let me know.

Good shopping.

LISA

Ok, so now that you’ve what body shape you are lets disregard that and really look at the areas of your body you need to be comfortable with and why. One of the things you’ll need to know to find clothes that really flatter you is what parts you want to reveal and what parts you want to conceal. What are your best bits? What parts do you really like? And nothing is NOT a valid answer here. I cannot stress enough how much you are who you are and your body is the shape it is and that’s perfectly fine. Accepting and learning to love yourself the way you are is very freeing.

I gained weight when I was pregnant with my son. So I swore I would loose that weight before I bought nice clothes. Well it’s been 17 years and I’ve still not lost all the weight but I have decided I’m not waiting anymore. I deserve to have nice things, to look and feel sexy and beautiful right now! That doesn’t mean I’ve given up my dream of actually shedding the extra pounds. Quite the opposite in fact. The better I look, the better I feel and the more I pursue my dreams.

Face The Naked Truth

So, that’s what you need to do. Look in the mirror and see what’s really there, dispassionately. And not compared with someone else. Look at you. Do you have a great butt? And just because its big doesn’t mean its not fabulous. Look from all angles and no criticism. This is about acceptance not punishment and more important than that it’s about getting a solid base for choosing clothes that will flatter you, right at this moment in time. It’s also important to decide how you feel about it. From a clothing standpoint what you need to know about is:

BREASTS: Do you have big boobs or small? Is this a good feature for you? For me, I have big breasts, which can alternatively be a huge problem or a great asset. Though I have great cleavage I don’t like to have it on ‘display’ as I find I’m often having conversations with men’s foreheads.

SHOULDERS: Shoulders can be broad, narrow, sloping, rounded, square or skinny. Whether or not you like your shoulders the fit of clothes and the outfit in particular will be greatly affected by the sleeve of the top and what works best with your particular look. My shoulders are square and I really like them.

ARMS: I have heavy arms with great big ole bat-wings that just wave around and are not in any way flattering at all. You might have nice arms, in which case I hate you. Other arm issues are muscular arms or bony arms. For me this is a definite conceal!

WAIST: Do you have a waist? Are you long waisted? I have a short, narrow waist which is overemphasised by large breasts and hips. Think Jessica Rabbit, but, you know, after she’s scarfed a couple dozen tubs of ice cream. Is this a good feature for you?

TUMMY: Do you have a flat stomach? Do you have strong muscle definition? Are you curvy? My tummy is not one of my best features and I tend to carry a lot of weight there – a definite pot belly. For me this is an area that I want to hide. You might feel differently. This really is all about what you think of yourself.

HIPS & BUTT: Is it big? Mine is big. Woe is me. Actually I kind of have a love hate relationship with my butt so choice of pants and skirts are very important to me. Theres nothing quite like the shock of catching a glimpse of myself from behind and thinking ‘what the hell is that? Oh, right.’

THIGHS & LEGS: Legs can be short and stumpy or long and willowy and, obviously, will be treated very differently. Saddlebags (widening of the thighs) are another common issue and need careful attention. Do you love your legs?

ANKLES: Basically they come in slim or not. I am in the not category, which means certain styles of shoes will not work well for me.

Get to know what bothers you and what doesn’t

I’ve always been guilty of looking at other women’s bodies, to criticize certainly but aimed at me, not them. It was a stick that I used to beat myself with, and sometimes still do. My thighs are not as slender as hers or my butt is freakishly large.

This consistent hatred of our bodies is a part of our culture and it serves no purpose at all. Nobody is perfect, not celebrities, not models, not that hot chic walking down the street. When that finally got through to me I looked at my own body more dispassionately, sure still with the view that I’m going to change it, but also with a view to make the most of it right now. I’m not getting any younger and I’ve always dreamed of being stylish and I just don’t want to wait any longer. That means dealing with my body the way it is now, and if you’re truly serious about looking good, you need to as well.

Find those parts of your body that you love. Maybe you have fantastic hair, or slender hands with awesome nails or the most fabulous legs. Maybe you’re just gorgeous. Whatever it is, find something because it needs to be the focus of your outfits. By highlighting your best features and minimizing your worst (or what you think are your worst) you’ll feel so much better and when you feel better, you feel more confident and that makes you look better, and then you feel better and so on and so on.

Good shopping,

LISA

Most of you will know the classic body shapes; hourglass, rectangle, triangle and pear shaped. But how do you know what body shape you are? Determining which of the four categories you fall into is as simple as three measurements.

1. Measure around your shoulders no more than three inches below the point. You might need a friend to help you with this.
2. Measure around your waist.
3. Measure around your hips, at the widest part.

Your body shape is determined by the relationship between the measurements.

TRIANGLE: Your shoulders are more than 5% larger than your hips.

PEAR SHAPED: You hips are more than 5% larger than your shoulders.

HOURGLASS: You shoulder and hip measurement are within 5% of each other and your waist is at least 25% less than the larger of the other two.

RECTANGLE: You shoulder and hip measurement are within 5% of each other and you waist is less than 25% less than the larger of the other two.

To calculate the percentage difference take the difference and divide by the largest measurement and multiply by 100. For instance if your shoulders are 38 inches, waist 30 inches and hips 40 inches then the difference between shoulders and hips is 2, divide by 40 times 100 or 5%. The difference between waist and hips is 10, divided by 40, times 100 equals 25%. Therefore the body shape is hourglass.

Body Shape Is More Than Just Proportion

Don’t get too caught up in working out the figures exactly, unless of course you want to, because these four basic categories are just a starting point. In his book The Science of Sexy Bradley Bayou, designer and stylist to the stars, gives 48 distinct body types. The archetypal four I’ve already discussed and then they are further categorized based on height and weight. Height is broken into three categories; petite (or short), medium and tall. Weight is broken into four categories; slender, average, full figured and plus sized. Each person will fit into these three categories; body proportion, height and weight.

Why go to so much trouble? There are different considerations for each body type. For instance if you’re petite then you’ll need to stay away from anything overly frilly or cluttered as it will have a tendency to make you look like a giant doll whereas if you’re slender design elements are a good idea as they can add interest to your frame.

Ummm…So What Body Shape Am I?

The thing to remember about these body shapes is that they have no meaning other than discussing clothes. They have no purpose other than to give generic examples of what is likely to fit and flatter a body with similar characteristics. You are the shape you are. If you’re anything like me it’s unlikely that you’ll fit exactly into any particular pigeon hole just because someone came up with a formula. This is why I’ve not given exact criteria for height and weight and the resulting category that puts you in, although Bayou goes into great detail in his book The Science of Sexy. I believe that this information is more a pointer if you like, saying ‘look in this direction’ and I don’t like to address such a complicated and emotional subject with such an analytical approach.

From the calculations above I am a pear shape, medium height, full figured women. But it turns out my breasts are so large that ain’t nobody looking at my shoulders so in other respects I’m an hourglass shape. It could all get very confusing were I not to keep in mind that these are simple guidelines and at the end of the day I buy the clothes and put the outfits together and so long as I end up feeling fabulous it doesn’t particularly matter if I stuck religiously to the outlines given.

So tell me, what body shape are you? And how do you feel about that?

LISA

Hi, my name is Lisa and welcome to my blog. My aim here is to focus on providing a resource for people who need information about what to wear to suit their body shape. There are a ton of books out there with lots of information about what to wear and some of the best I’ll review and you can buy right now from the resource page. These books and TV shows give a lot of good information but when you’re on your own its not quite that simple to put into practice. Which is why I wanted to put together a blog with all the practical information that’s available as well as the opportunity to discuss with others how it’s working out for us.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

I’m a writer and researcher and recovering fat chick. I’d like to say that was because I’ve shed 30 pounds but I’m afraid that’s just wishful thinking on my part. It’s more like 10 pounds but it’s enough for me to start feeling better about myself and wanting to reflect that in what I wear. Whenever I daydream about myself I always see myself as being like Sophia Loren, all windswept and interesting and, of course, sexy as all get out. In reality I look more like John Travolta in Hairspray with lots of big hair and curves that are just this shy of being bulges. I decided that along with my 10 pounds I would ditch my frumpy wardrobe as well and take action toward that sexy, confident person I always picture myself as. Unlike in the past I decided the way to do that was not by dieting and exercising obsessively until I break down and inhale a packet of chocolate cookies in defense, but to dress as if I were an attractive, sexy woman right now.

The real problem in the past has been no idea what to buy. What looks good on me? What should I avoid? What will work with what I already have? I’ve always found clothes shopping to be enormously frustrating. Either the clothes were too small or they just had no … zing. So rather than heading off to the mall for another round of masochistic shopping I decided to do a little research first and make a plan. The added benefit being that with my new found knowledge I might just be able to provide a little help to other.

I hope you join me on this journey to a sexier, more stylish me.

Good shopping,

LISA