Body Shapes: Use The Knowledge, Don't Let It Define Your Style

Make your body shape work for you. Let your body shape facilitate your style and not dominate it.

She is a pear, so printed bottoms don't suit her. Over the years, I have seen body shapes used as stereotypes. Well, even I am guilty of it! What comes next are all the fashion rules to abide by your body shape to look good. They are, at times, facilitators of these stereotypes. As a young fashion student, it all seemed correct to me. However, age has given me some wisdom. Now that I am in my thirties, I know that our body transforms as we age. Of course, our bone structure, which is literally the skeleton that usually supports our body shape, remains the same.

Let me be clear. Your body shape doesn't, in any way, define your style. Style comes naturally after knowing all the aspects of yourself, not just your shape. So, why is the knowledge of body shape fundamental? It's to know your strengths and highlight them. Why not show off what you got, right? Also, you need to know the rules before you break them. So, by understanding your body shape, you might understand how to balance out the proportions. At times, even without following the said rules. In short, make the shape work for you!

So, where do you start? Wear some fitted clothes in which you can visualize your shape. Preferably, use a full-length mirror that's upright to visualize. Begin by measuring the four aspects shown below.

Once you have the measurements, now see in which shape category you fall. Visualize the shape on you with the guidance of your measurements.

Now that you know your shape, go through your wardrobe and the things that didn't work for you. Understand which design element/s didn't help the cause. You'll start to see a pattern of the things that didn't work for you. For me, it was off-shoulder tops. The lesson here is not to discard the clothes completely but to style them in the future to serve your shape. Do a similar exercise with all the things that looked good on you. You'll see a pattern emerge in that too.

I hope this helps you understand yourself on a level that facilitates your style and doesn't dominate it.

Love,

Rashmi B.