The more I learn about body shape the more resistant I am to actually defining a shape. One of the things that I, personally, have gained from writing this website is a greater measure of understanding of my own body and the shape that it is. How that translates into choosing clothing is still somewhat confusing and something I’m working my way through, actually as I write this website.
I do know that I don’t like the four categories I started off with. The issues with the use of the term pear basically highlighted the need for more appropriate classification. I want to further illustrate this point by examining the 12 shapes that Trinny and Susannah have identified – hourglass, cello, vase, bell, skittle, goblet, pear, lollipop, cornet, apple, column and brick.
The four categories I started with are hourglass, triangle, pear and rectangle. What shape you fall into is simple enough to define based on some simple measurements. These categories can be broken down even further into the types that Trinny and Susannah have identified.
UPDATE: Need some help finding your shape – take the Trinny and Susannah body shape quiz.
HOURGLASS = PROPORTIONATE
1. HOURGLASS – big tits, small waist, short waist, big hips, generous thighs
What really defines an hourglass is her tiny waist.
2. CELLO – big boobs, short waist, big hips, big bottom, big thighs, slim lower legs
A cello is an hourglass with a little extra around the middle which pretty much removes the tiny waist.
3. VASE - big tits, gently curving longer waist, hips equal tits, slim thighs and legs
A vase is sort of stretched out hourglass. A vase is very much defined by her height.
PEAR SHAPE = BIGGER ON BOTTOM
4. BELL – small shoulders, small tits, small waist, big thighs, big bottom
A bell’s breasts and waist are fairly similar size with all the extra on the bottom.
5. SKITTLE – average tits, slim waist, ok tummy, big thighs, chunky calves
A skittle has curvaceous thighs and bottom but is smaller on top.
6. PEAR – small tits, long waist, flat tummy, saddlebags, heavy legs
A pear is characterized by extra weight on the outer thighs.
TRIANGLE – BIGGER ON TOP
7. LOLLIPOP – big tits, slight waist, slim hips, long legs
The majority of celebrities fall into this category.
8. CORNET – broad shoulders, small boobs, no waist, slim hips, long slim legs
Take away the big breasts and the shape becomes almost boyish.
9. GOBLET – broad shoulders, big boobs, no waist, narrow hips, long legs
And sometimes you’re just plain bigger on top.
RECTANGLE = EXTRA IN THE MIDDLE
10. APPLE – average tits, tummy bigger than tips, quiet flat bottom, OK legs
For this shape your stomach dictates how your dress, being the widest part.
11. COLUMN – shoulder width the same as hips, slight waist, longer legs
A column is tall and has no waist rather than extra – like an, um, column.
12. BRICK – Broad shoulders, no waist, average tummy, flat bum, chunky thighs, chunky calves
A shorter and wider version of the column, again with no waist.
And there you have the 12 shapes of Trinny and Susannah. I think these definitions are more useful that the simple four simply because it begins to really breakdown the categories in each group.
So what category are you? I am a cello.
LISA
PS: If you’re thinking of buying Trinny and Susannah’s Body Shape Bible, please click here.
About Lisa
Hi Sasha
Not really a lot of information but I’d say a cornet.
LISA
Overall a great intro to the 12 shapes, but I have a few refinements/revisions:
-Vases can be any height, I’ve observed. The biggest thing is that they tend toward the long-waisted, rather than the more leggy and shortwaisted Hourglass.
-Katie Holmes looks like more of a Skittle to me (but then again, my pear butt makes most fellow pears look like Skittles in comparison…)
-Beth Ditto is pretty obviously a Brick–looks kinda like Kelly Osbourne before the latter lost all that weight. Beth’s legs are far too chunky for an apple (for some reason, a lot of my high school friends were Apples, and I always envied their long chicken legs, which they themselves found too gangly!)
I’ve also seen that the most common shapes across the board appear to be the Vase (Northern European girls), Brick (Northern European, Latina, Native American), and Skittle (Eastern European and Asian).
I can’t believe with 12 options that none of these sound like me. I have shoulders even with hips, a “bubble butt”, a small & defined waist, a small-medium bust, longish legs with fullish thighs on top but that get slender toward the calves. My legs are not “heavy” or short, which seems to rule out all the pear shapes, but my bust is too small to be an hourglass…. I don’t know why they think all women with wider hips than bust must have big legs….