A Complete Guide on How to Dress Your Body Type

I often walked towards a store, ogling at an outfit near the window and imagining how great it would look on me. I would have a clear picture of how I would match the outfit with other accessories, like jewellery or watches. However, everything would come crashing down in the dressing room after realising that the outfit doesn’t always look great on me. Sometimes things look a million times better on a taller person, a more shapely person, or sometimes the fits aren’t quite ‘me’.

When I finally understood my body shape and my body measurements, I started choosing my outfits wisely. I no longer walk blindly into a store, picking an outfit just because it looks appealing or looks great on the mannequin. Understanding my body shape helped me understand why some things look great on me and others don’t, and now I know that I’m more of a skinny jean girl than a mom jean girl, a puffer coat girl than a trench, and a fitted dress over than a shift.

I couldn’t believe how easy it is to build a wardrobe that I love to wear once I learnt to love me and my body shape. For example, I used to adore looking at watches, but none of them ever matched my outfits, and if you feel uneasy about your outfits, you don’t enjoy accessorising as much too.

Now I’ve managed to properly dress for my body type, I’ve been able to wear more luxury watches, similar to those at valuable-watches.com, that complement my body and outfit! I do love adding a touch of luxe to my life every now and again!

Below, I have compiled some guidelines on how to dress for your body type. Read on to understand how you can understand your body type too and start wearing proper outfits.

Know your Body Measurements

Before I finally understood my body shape, I knew I had to focus on my four crucial body measurements: shoulders, bust, waist, and hips. This is crucial even when purchasing graphic t-shirts or sweatshirts. You don’t want to look too small or too big wearing it. The relationship among these measurements will help you figure out your body type. For me, I had to grab a measuring tape and get to work:

1. Shoulders

To measure your shoulders’ size, you should wrap the tape around the tops of your shoulders. Ensure that the tape lies at the broadest point of your shoulder, usually above the shoulder blades. I had a rough time measuring my shoulders because the tape would easily slip. Finding a second set of hands solved this problem.

2. Bust

Measuring the size of my bust was quite easy. I simply wrapped a tape around the fullest part of my bust. The tape shouldn’t be too tight to compress your chest. However, you can make the tape a little tighter if you measure over your bra.

3. Waistline

Measuring my waist was confusing because the natural waistline is different from where the waistband of my pants usually hits. While measuring your waist, you should identify the narrowest point of the waist. This is usually on the area above the belly button.

4. Hips

While measuring my hips, I identified the fullest point, just as I did while measuring my bust. I ensured that I wrapped the tape below my hip bones. It’s perfectly okay to take the hip measurements over your underwear.

Determining Your Body Shape

Now that you understand your body measurements, you can determine your body shape. There are many body shapes out there, but the most common are apple, hourglass, pear, inverted triangle (apple-shaped), and rectangle. Knowing this helped me to dress my body accordingly.

1) Athletic Body

I have an athletic body type because my hip and shoulder measurements are nearly the same. My weight is evenly distributed throughout my body. My waist is straight up and down, even if it isn’t very small or well defined. I am not a particularly curvy person.

2) Apple-shaped Body

You have an apple-shaped body type if you’re not particularly curvy around your hips, and you are generally well proportioned.

3) Pear-shaped Body

If you consider yourself to have fuller hips and your waist is wider than your bust, you have a pear-shaped body type.

4. Hourglass Body

You have an hourglass body shape if you describe yourself as curvy, and you have a well-defined waist with roughly even hip and bust measurements.

At first, I thought that I have a pear-shaped body type, only to learn that I have an athletic body type. It took the assistance of a fashion expert to help me identify my specific body type. If even after taking your body measurements, you aren’t sure about your body type, you may seek some fashion advice.

Conclusion

As I have outlined in this article, there are diverse body shapes, which means that every person is unique. You might even be a combination of several body types. My advice is to keep matching and mixing until you find what works best for you. I didn’t give up until I identified the right way to dress and I certainly didn’t let social media impact how I dressed. I no longer step out of the house feeling unsure about my appearance. Whenever people look at me, I feel confident because I know I look great, not strange. When you understand your body shape, you will realize how easy it is to look great.