Slender shoulders a small waist and big ole hips – ah the classic pear shape. The majority of women are pear shaped, and the majority of those who are have found many a reason to curse and cry over that fact, usually following a frustrating attempt to find clothes that fit. But, truly the pear shaped women is feminine and sensual and beautiful. You just need to put a little more thought and planning into your wardrobe because there’s nothing ‘off the rack’ about you. Its a question of celebrating your curves and playing them up to their graceful best. Here are some tips to do just that:
- Proportion is all important – widen your shoulders and draw attention to your upper body to offset your kick ass curves.
- Avoid covering your bottom with longer-line tops and jackets as you’ll just end up drawing attention to the area you’re trying to hide. As with anything the best way to disguise it is to put it on show and draw the attention elsewhere.
- A push up bra is your best friend – it will make your top half look bigger and bring some balance in.
- A sleeveless dress or top will widen your shoulders and make you top half look bigger.
- Match the strapless dress with an A-line shape skirt to skim over your hips and give the illusion its the shape of the dress rather than your hips or thighs widening the lower half.
- Look for stiffer fabrics in your dresses, like crisp cotton or chiffon. They will add structure around your hips.
- Stay away from any horizontal detailing like ruching or stripes on your waist on lower half.
- Horizontal stripes on the top half will widen your top.
- A-line skirts in stiffer fabrics, such as denim or thick cotton will offset the width of your hips, as will a skirt with a bit of volume to it.
- Hem lines should hit just below the knee to show off ankles and calves.
- Opt for asymetrical or handkerchief hems to take the focus away from your hips.
- Avoid clingy fabrics like jersey and bias cut clothing. Just plain avoid anything that is going to cling to your hips and thighs.
- Avoid clingy tops and t-shirts, or cropped tops. They make your top look smaller and that will just focus every ones attention on your hips.
- Choose three quarter sleeves to draw attention to your waist.
- Choose wide-collared shirts or capped sleeves to widen your shoulders as well. Strapless or halter tops are also good options.
- Because your hips are wide this will correspondingly make you look shorter. Avoid cropped or capri pants as they will make you look even shorter.
- Skinny or straight leg pants will emphasize your hips and make them look broader.
- Opt for straight or wide legged pants that just skim the curves of your hips before falling straight down. It will make you look taller and your hips narrower.
- If you wear your waistband on the widest part of your hips you will appear even hippier. Opt for a waistbands a little higher. Get your trousers tailored if necessary to fit.
- Pleats in pants or skirts will add volume to your hips.
- Jeans and trousers should fall to the floor when you are standing in bare feet. Wear them with heels and you instantly gain a few added inches in height, again narrowing your hips.
- Select jackets that have structures shoulders, wide lapels and a definite waist. You need the added oomph on your top half to offset your hips.
- Jackets should end at the top of your hips – the narrowest part.
- Stay away from loose, long line jackets. They make you look bigger.
- Choose pointy heeled shoes to make you seem taller. Avoid ankle straps as it will make you look shorter.
- A bag that sits on your hip will draw attention to your hips.
- Jewellery should be on your top half, such as great chandelier earrings that highlight your slender neck.
- A tightly belted waist will make your hips look bigger.
LISA
About Lisa
hello,
my name is veena and i have a pear shaped body but i have a heavy bustline too.my height is 164cm and weight is 65kgs what kind of dressing will suit on me.
kindly reply back.
Hi Veena
Your best bet is keep things very simple. One of the key challenges for the big busted pear is to keep balanace and extra embelishments on your clothes like pockets, motifs, tassels – anything extra added – will throw off your balance. Try playing with shapes and colour to start with. Try a pencil skirt with a simple silky blouse. If you don’t like the shape of your hips then try and a-line skirt or something with a bit more drape, but nothing clingy. With dresses you will probably be best served with an empire waist – like a maxi dress – but you can also rock a more structured dress. You will probably need to cinch in your little waist as what fits your bust and your bottom will probably leave you swimming. A belt at your waist will highlight both breasts and hips so if you’re uncomfortable with attention that might be one to avoid.
Most essential item – a really good bra. Good support for the big bust is essential and without that everything else will look wrong.
Hello,
Thank you for publishing these tips! I have wide hips and am short (5’2″) and I also have thicker legs although I’m pretty petite overall. The tips say to wear a hemline just below your knee…would that still go for someone like me who has thicker legs? I tend to shy away from skirts and dresses because of it.
Thank you!
P.S.
Do cropped short jackets make hips look bigger?
The eye is drawn where the fabric ends, or to bare skin whichever is applicable. That means a cropped jacket will draw the eye where it ends. If it ends somewhere you’d rather not highlight that avoid.
So the answer is depends on where the jacket ends. If it ends at your waist it may highlight your waist, which will make you hips look biggerbut in an hourglass kind of way. Decide for yourself if that works for you.
A bolero jacket is probably a better call if you’re pear shaped as it widens the shoulders and draws attention to your breasts and waist where the cropped jacket does waist and hips. It also gives you that hourglass shape but will take the highlight off your hips and put it squarely on your breasts.
LISA
Hey Jenny
The reason just below the knee is that your calf is the widest part of your lower leg. If you wear a hem that cuts at the widest part of your leg it makes your legs look chunky all the way down. If the hem cuts just below your knee which is the narrowest part of your lower leg it makes the calves look less chunky and more shapely.
If you don’t like skirts and dresses try a pair of shorts, again just below your knee. Or in fact just above as you’re short works well too, if you’re comfortable with that.
LISA
hi,i have peer shaped body,figure is like breast 34.5 inches
waist 37 inches
upper waist is 32 inches
hip 49 inches
face is round with chubby cheeks
height 5’6”
color Wheaties
hair long wavy
what type of colors i choose…which type of jeans i should wear which makes me look slimmer..plz let me knw…..
Hi Seema
You need to bring some balance back into your shape. Look for wide leg jeans in a darker colour and match with something that will widen your top half.
LISA
My hip 30 and my waist is 26 my thighs are like drumstick, my calves are fine . I run everyday and can’t lose weight . I also do yoga . My butt is kinda big
Everytime I eat something I notice that my weight increases like literally .
I’d want to wear one of the skirts that start right from the waist and for that I need my hips to become narrower and lose some more weight from the gluteal area .
Hi Jazziiee
Even if you do loose weight it won’t change your basic shape. It will make the proportion difference less noticable. You’re right wearing that sort of skirt with rounded hips will highlight your hips and bottom. It’s only an issue if it bothers you though. I think it would probably look great but then I think big butt’s on women look fantastic compared to my wide hips and flat bum.
LISA
Well basically i love adore and admire large pear-shaped women from all parts of the world.I just love women with large curvy wide hips,a small waist and a large curvy round bottom.I just hope my future wife has this body shape as well.It’s the only female body shape that i am 110% attracted to.It’s feminine,sesnual,seductive,alluring and absolutely gorgeous and sexy.
Hey,
Thanks for the post, its helped me to see what I should be looking for. But I am also 6 foot (183cm) tall. how would that change what I should wear? because I have a long torso and long legs but very large hips for my body.
Hips: 105cm
Waist: 68cm
Bust: 82cm
Thanks
Hi Natalia
You’re definitely very pear shaped. I’d say given your long waist and small upper half you’re what Trinny & Susannah would call you a classic pear. You need to make use of your upper half, and you legs to offset the width of your hips. Wide leg pants in a darker neutral colour can be paired with anything that adds volume to your upper half. Your long legs are quite an asset as the taller you look the easier it is to offset your hips.
Other than that have a look at the post Trinny & Susannah: The Pear.
LISA
Hi
I am a size 22. I want to know…
1. Can I wear a dress lenght that stop just underneath my knee?
2 .What stockings must I wear? A black Opaque (if the dress is black)? Or a blackmail lycra? Or would fishnet stockings work?
Hi Lielie
With the length of the dress just on or below the knee but above where your calf flares out is optimum, for everyone, regardless of size or shape, because that is the narrowest part of the leg. If you show that part of the calf your legs look curvier. Also it is more modern and youthful than a mid calf look which tends to be frumpy. Above the knee can tricky if you’re wider especially because it’s hard to get proportions right (as people we have this need for a 1/3 : 2/3 ratio which we look for in all sorts of things like outfits, cars, buildings etc). Experiment away though because sometimes it can look really good.
Definitely go with the fishnets – very sexy and classic. Although Opaque can be quite nice as well depending on what you’re mixing them with. No idea what a blackmail lycra is sorry. Go with what you like is the moral of the story.
LISA
(I vote the fishnets)
I’m a soon to be 21 year old pear shaped girl. I use to be a size 22 but I changed my lifestyle and went to a size 16 in a matter of two years. I’ve been looking for young girly dresses that suit my shape but its so difficult as lot of stores cater for smaller girls with long legs. My boobs are small but my hips legs and bum are huge. Any tips?
Hi Lizzie
Please forgive me for the delay in getting back to you. I’ve just moved and things are still chaos.
Pear shapes always have difficulty with dresses. In reality your best bet is going to be strapless. Having smaller breasts makes them enormously wearable (I envy you!). Look for something with a more vintage look as it will have the shape that you need. Also, avoid short skirts – it will hit you at your widest part. The best bit is going to be knee length. Amp up your top half to draw attention there.
LISA
So, girls…am I the only classic pear who actually has slightly chubby upper arms? (I thought that, since they’re the arm’s analog to the thigh, and we’re famous for our thunder thighs, that it would be a more common issue…) I hate cap sleeves for this reason…the narrow shoulder/robust arm combination is not cute to begin with, and even less so with a cap sleeve on. To be fair, I think my arm issue might be caused by loose skin due to weight loss (only 30 lbs, but my skin doesn’t bounce back well), but I’ve also seen many pears for whom weight begins to pile on there once they’ve hit a certain threshold above their “happy weight”
(For reference: I’m 32B-26-39, and at 5’6.5″, boast a whopping 30.5″ flats inseam. Think I might be a pear? LOL)
http://www.chandigarhbusinessdirectory.com
good image