Even as you age, it is important to age with grace, and part of this is learning how to dress for your shape.
With the right choice of clothes, you can camouflage a lot of faults and bring out your good points. You can look both thinner and years younger.
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How To Dress For Your Shape
Flatter Your Shape
Women who are proportioned like models, so in other words are eight heads tall with hips and shoulders of equal width can easily find clothes that fit and flatter.
The big problem is that very few women have these proportions that match standard manufacturer’s model sizes.
Most of us are a little too short for our width, or long-waisted, or have short legs, or some other deviation from an imaginary standard.
Not to worry because flattering styles do exist for every body shape. the trick is knowing how to spot clothing colors, lines, styles, and features that enhance your unique body proportions.
Though every woman is unique, most bodies are a variation of one of seven basic shapes: triangle, inverted triangle, rectangle, hourglass, diamond, rounded or oval, and tubular.
Here are some guidelines that will help you to find clothes and accessories that best flatter your figure and erase the pounds and the years.
Instant Slimming
In addition to dressing for your body type as seen below, there are specific ways that can make you look thinner and younger with just a swipe of your credit card.
Buy One Color
Dressing in a solid color can make you appear slimmer.
A solid-colored outfit, whether it’s red, black, or green, minimizes the number of noticeable horizontal lines that make your body look wider.
Or turn light and dark to your advantage. Look for solid-colored clothing where the sides are slightly darker than the fronts, for instance, a green dress with darker green sides.
Buy A Bra That Fits
First, put on your best-fitting bra. Get a soft tape measure and measure your rib cage by pulling the tape measure snugly, but not too tightly around your rib cage just under your breasts. Add 5 inches to that measurement. That number is your band size. If it’s an odd number, go up one (for example, from 35 to 36).
For your cup size, still wearing your bra, measure the circumference of your torso at the fullest point of your bust. Then measure yourself under your breasts. Subtract this number from your band size to determine your cup size.
Less than 5 = AA
5 + A
6 = B
7 = C
8 = D
More than 8 = DD
Show Your Neck
When you wear a V-neck and scoop neck shirts, your neck will seem longer because your upper chest will look like an extension of your neck.
When you wear notched collars, you also look slimmer because they pull attention to your face and away from your body.
Loosen Your Clothing
Stretch pants may feel comfortable, but they will expose any rolls of fat on your legs. Wearing too tight clothes just do the opposite of what you think its doing. Instead of making you look thin, you look like a sausage stuffed into its skin.
Camouflage Dressing
Wear v-neck tops as they direct the eye upward and stay away from round or scoop necks, which repeat the curve of a drooping bust.
Try a loose-fitting mock turtleneck to hide a sagging neck, but avoid the classic turtleneck as it pinches the loose skin.
Look for jackets with small shoulder pads to square off slumping shoulders and balance out widening hips.
Try a pendant necklace with a V-neck top. Stay away from chockers which draw attention to crepey neck skin.
Wear delicate stud, button, and small hoop earrings that enhance but don’t overpower your face. Don’t be tempted by dangly earrings that accentuate jowls.
Different Body Shapes
Here is another dress for your shape resource you can try. This is for those of you who crave more detail.
Triangle
- Shoulders narrower than hips.
- Wider below the waist than above.
- Weight is centred on the buttocks, lower hips and thighs.
- Bust is small to medium.
- Waist is small to medium.
- Hips measure at least 2 inches more around than the bust.
What To Wear:
Look for clothing that creates the illusion of a balanced figure by diverting attention from your lower half.
- Separates that fit both your upper and lower body equally well.
- Straight skirts and pants that don’t balloon out on your lower body.
- Jackets with shoulder pads to make shoulders wider.
- Buttons, horizontal pins, scarves, and other details on your chest and shoulders.
- Shirts, dresses, blouses, or sweaters with a yoke to make your shoulders appear wider.
- Horizontal stripes along your shoulders.
- Solid-colored outfits.
- Stripes or prints on the upper body, solid colors on the lower body.
What To Avoid:
- Tight pants.
- Bulky Fabrick such as denim and corduroy on your lower body.
- A-line and gathered skirts, pleated pants.
- Contrasting belts – rather choose belts that match your clothing.
- Jackets that flare at the bottom.
- Raglan or dolman sleeves.
Inverted Triangle
- The body appears larger or wider above the waist than below.
- Weight is concentrated on shoulders, upper back, and bust.
- Shoulders are wider than the hips.
- Bust is medium to large.
- Waist is medium to wide.
- Buttocks are often flat.
What To Wear:
Choose styles that fill out your hips and lower body slightly and minimize your shoulders.
- Separates that fit both upper and lower body equally well.
- Raglan and dolman sleeves to soften the shoulder line.
- Vertical pins.
- Fuller skirts and pants.
- Heavy fabric, such as denim and corduroy.
- Open-necked collars to lengthen the neck and focus the eye on the face.
- Bright colors, patterns, or horizontal stripes on the lower body, solids on the upper body.
What To Avoid:
- Shoulder pads, buttons, pins, and other accessories on or near your shoulders.
- Fitted tank tops.
Rectangle
- The body appears to be nearly the same width at shoulders, waist and hips.
- The waist is not noticeably indented. Appears wide in comparison with the hips.
- Waist circumference is 7 inches or less than the bust or hip circumference.
- Thighs are the same width as hips.
- The bust is small to medium.
What To Wear:
- Loose-fitting clothing that minimizes the waist and leads attention outward at the shoulders and hips.
- Partially fitted clothing that flows over the waist and abdomen.
- Belts with loose-fitting clothing above and below the waist.
- Jackets, sweaters, and vests open in the front to draw attention to the middle of the body.
- Tops that gather at the waist.
- Complete elastic waist or elastic inserts at the side or back.
What To Avoid:
- Short jackets that stop at your waist.
Hourglass
Shoulders and hips are the same widths.
- Waist appears small in comparison to bust, shoulders and hips, measuring at least 11 inches smaller than shoulders or hips. This makes the bust and the behind appear larger than they really are.
- Hips and buttocks are rounded.
What To Wear:
- Wear styles that de-emphasize the waist without over-emphasizing the curves.
- Lightweight slimming fabrics with drapes such as rayon and blends like combinations of rayon, silk and synthetics.
- Non clingy skirts with drape and flow, such as gently gathered skirts.
- Pants and shorts that neither cling nor add bulk to your body, such as straight-legged jeans, capris, Bermuda shorts, and stirrups.
What To Avoid:
- Belts that are worn at the waist, especially if you’re extremely busty and round throughout the hips.
- Seam line that circles your mid section creating the effect of a belt.
Diamond
- Shoulders and hips seem narrow compared to waist and belly.
- Waist extends outward in front rather than inward.
- Bust is small.
- Buttocks are small and flat.
- Legs are thin.
What To Wear:
You’ll want to select clothing that creates the illusion of wider shoulders and hips and minimizes the waist and abdomen.
- Shoulder pads.
- Belts with noticeable buckles with an open jacket or tunic (the buckle draws attention inward).
- Jackets, cardigans, and vests with hemlines that fall at least 7 inches below your waist or 9 inches if you are very tall.
- Pleats that fall outward to the hips instead of inward toward the belly.
- Long tops such as tunics and overshirts that fall 7 to 9 inches below the waist.
What To Avoid:
- Wide, full or gathered ankle-length skirts.
- Jackets that stop at your waist.
Circle
- All body areas are rounded.
- Weight is above the average range.
- The bust, upper arms, upper back, midriff, waist, abdomen, buttocks, hips, and thighs are large and rounded.
- With weight loss, this type often changes into one of the other body shapes.
What To Wear:
Choose clothing that creates straight lines to counter roundness and draw attention to the center front.
- Loose-fitting belts with buckles.
- Loose-fitting, open jackets with blouse in contrasting color.
- Shoulder pads.
- Light to medium weight fabric such as silk or cotton.
- Cool, dark, muted slimming colors.
- Notched collars to make your face and arms appear less round.
What To Avoid:
- Round necklines, which will make your face appear rounder.
- Puffed sleeves.