Style School: What Body Type Am I?

This blog has a lot to do with color and wearing your perfect colors. But I also get a lot of questions on clothing style based on body type. I thought I'd do a series of posts on body type and some key tips on dressing your body type. The most common question I get is: What Body Type Am I?

There are calculators on the web, but it's pretty easy to figure out your body type based on some simple rules.

So, let's go through the 5 main body types and learn how you can identify your body type. Then you can learn how to dress your body type in your perfect colors!

The Pear Shaped Body

The pear shape, also known as the triangle body shape. You have a pear shaped body if your shoulders are narrower than your hips AND you have a waist. Your thighs may be a bit heavy. You typically carry your weight in your lower half. Commonly, your chest is on the smaller side, but not always true.

Having a pear shape does not mean you are necessarily heavy. You can be a size 6 and still have a pear shape. It simply has to do with your proportions. Having a defined waist is a key indicator that you are a pear shape or an hour glass shape.

The most common body shape for a woman is the pear shape.

Your style goal is to balance out your proportions by drawing attention above the waist and diminishing the bottom half. You can do this by wearing bright tops with darker bottoms. Statement necklaces draw the eye upward. V-neck tops create visual width in the shoulders. Avoid wearing tops that land at the widest part of your hips, this creates visual weight and will make you look wider.

The Inverted Triangle Shaped Body

You have an inverted triangle body if your shoulders are wider than your hips. You have an athletic and trim body. If you do put on weight, you typically put weight on in your stomach. Inverted triangles are typically in normal body weight range or thinner.

Fashion models and sports wear models typically have inverted triangle body types. This is because they have narrow hips and thin legs. This body type can look thin in any clothing style and fashion stylists love to use them for magazines.

This is important to know when looking at outfits that look amazing on a model. It's possible the model is very tall and lean with wide shoulders and narrow hips and thighs.

Your style goal is to create balance by visually widening your hips, narrowing your shoulders and creating a waistline. You can do this by wearing darker tops and lighter bottoms. Tops with seams that point toward the neck narrow the shoulders. Wide leg pants and printed pants widen the bottom half.

The Apple Shaped Body

The apple or oval shaped body carries weight in their middle. She does not have a waist but she has great legs! If you are round in your middle, with no waist... larger breasts... and your legs look nice, then you're an apple shape.

Apples look great in wrap dresses and skirts that show off their great legs!

Your style goal is to create a visual waistline and visually widen the shoulders and hips. V-neck wrap tops and dresses are ideals for apple shapes. Shorter skirts draw the eye to the legs and away from your middle. Statement jewelry draws the upward away from your middle.

The Rectangle Shaped Body

A rectangle shaped body has little to no curve. You are typically thin with no waist. You have very straight angles with narrow hips and a small chest. Your chest, waist and hips are all about the same measurement.

Your style goal is to visually create some curves. Belts worn around the waist help create a waistline. Full skirts with blousey tops and a belt look great on you.

The Hour Glass Shaped Body

The hour glass body shape is the ideal body shape. It's the shape the other body types try to get to. You have an hour glass body if your chest and hips are the same measurement and you have a defined waist. You are balanced and curvy.

You can wear almost anything since your body shape is balanced. Show off your shape and waistline whenever you can. Loose clothing will look frumpy on you.

No matter what your body type is, love the body you have. Take care of it and dress it well!

Which body type are you? Share in the comments below.

Jen Thoden

Jennifer Vax

Jen Vax is the founder of Your Color Style. She is a best selling author, speaker, artist and entrepreneur. She helps women learn how to wear color in a way that expresses their true nature. Take the FREE color analysis quiz to get started.