How to Determine What to Wear by the Shape You Are
Trying to find clothing may be difficult, especially when you don't know which types of clothes work with your body shape. However, finding the right clothes for your body will help you to hide trouble areas such as thick hips or shoulders, and highlight the areas of your body that you like. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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For Women
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1
Determine the shape of your body. As this step is not an exact science, you merely have to look at your whole body in a mirror and basically compare it to some common body shapes. Pear-shaped women have very full hips while their chest and shoulders are smaller; the opposite is true for a reverse pear-shape, as their shoulders and chest are quite full while their hips are narrow. Apple-shaped women are fullest in their stomachs, while stick-shaped women are very slender in all areas of their body. Women with hour-glass figures have a full chest and full hips while their waist is very tiny.
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2
Find clothing shapes that help to distract the eye from your fuller areas. For instance, if you are a pear-shape, you will want to avoid clothing that draws attention to your hips, so you should look for straight-legged pants or straight-cut skirts. You will want to avoid pants with a high waistline, as well as pleated bottoms. Stick-shaped women can wear pleated clothing and ruffles on skirts, but should avoid very tight clothing. For apple-shaped women, you should look for clothes that create a flowing effect; you can achieve this with flowing shirts that end past your waist, as well as long scarves and jackets that end at the top of your thighs. Hour-glass figures should try to draw attention to their waist with wrap dresses, while reverse pear figures should draw attention to their hips with wide-legged pants.
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3
Look for patterns and colors that draw attention to the smaller areas of your body. For the pear-shaped woman, wear colorful tops and simple, darker colors for your bottoms. The opposite look should be achieved for the reverse pear-shaped woman. Slender women can wear pretty much any type of color or pattern in any area of their body. Hour-glass shapes should aim for subtle colors and patterns, while apple-shapes should avoid horizontal lines, but can wear vertical lines and polka dots.
For Men
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4
Find out what areas of your body need to be camouflaged. If you are a very skinny man, you may want to wear clothing that makes your build look a bit bulkier. If you have a heavier build, you would want to appear skinnier. Muscular-shaped men often have a much thicker upper body and would want to make their lower body look thicker. Short men may want to appear taller.
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Locate clothing shapes that prevent the eye from wandering to your trouble areas. Skinny men will want to wear clothes that are heavier and create the illusion that you are thicker. Heavy men should attempt to draw attention to their height and not their weight by wearing pants buttoned at the waist line, allowing the pants to look longer. Short men will want to look for shoulder pads, and wear shirts that end at the middle of their lower arm. Muscular men will want to avoid shoulder pads, as well as small-collared shirts.
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6
Wear patterns and colors that create illusions to make your trouble areas not so troublesome. For instance, short men should wear subtle vertical stripes that make the body seem longer. Skinny men should wear plaid shirts, and heavier men should try dark, solid-colored clothing. Muscular men should try elongating their body with subtle vertical stripes that prevent the eye from focusing on one area.
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