The 5 Most Common Body Types

1. Apple Body Type (aka oval or round)

Characterized By: Broad shoulders, large bust and smaller hips, with a waistline not clearly defined.

Focus On: Drawing attention to the legs with high heels and short skirts or ultra-high-waisted skinny jeans, and accentuating the shape of your breasts with A-line silhouettes and V-necks.

What To Wear: Wrap dresses, boyfriend button-ups, flowy tunics and any other dresses that either define or take attention away from the waist are a great fit. Strapless and off-the-shoulder styles also look amazing on an apple shaped body. Choose fabrics that sit close to your body but do not cling, such as silk, linen, tweed, gabardine and cotton.

2. Pear Body Type (aka triangle or spoon-shaped)

Characterized By: Wider hips and thighs, and smaller shoulders and bust measurements. These bodies usually present narrow waistlines in comparison to the hips, as well as long, slim arms.

Focus On: Drawing attention away from your hips with full skirt dresses or embellished necklines. Highlight the waist, back or neckline with fun top shapes, open backs, big sleeves and belted styles.

What To Wear: A-line and maxi dresses are very flattering for women with this body type, especially with hemlines falling just below the knee.

3. Rectangle Body Type (aka straight or banana)

Characterized By: Fairly uniform measurements with rather straight waistlines. Women with rectangle shaped bodies can play around with the features they wish to highlight to create the desired balance.

Focus On: This body type can focus on anything. Lower body, rectangles can pull off most statement-styled bottoms. Add volume with flowy pleating, colorful prints or funky flares. Top half of your body, try to draw attention to your arms and shoulders, highlighting your waist. Curvy rectangles look great with crew, cowl or V-neck tops, while small busted rectangles can favor their upper body with embellished necklines or statement collars.

What To Wear: Almost any dress is designed to fit a rectangular frame. Consider exploring different sleeve types, cinched waistlines and busy prints.

4. Athletic Body Type (aka inverted triangle)

Characterized By: Shoulders that are wider than the waist and hips. They often come with lovely, shapely legs.

Focus On: Balancing out your broad shoulders by drawing attention to your lower half.

What To Wear: Choose dress styles that add volume and attention to your hips and legs, such as styles with ruffles or pleats below the hips. This not only draws eyes down from the upper body but can create a more defined waistline. A dress (or top) with the right neckline can also work wonders for you. Deep & narrow is the way to go here and you should avoid wide, square necklines and off-the-shoulder styles.

5. Hourglass Body Type

Characterized By: Curvy proportions and a defined waist. They have even bust and hip measurements, and significantly narrower waistlines. There are some variations including top hourglass figures where the bust is bigger than the hips, like an inverted triangle with a defined waist.

Focus On: Showing off your waist and accentuating your curves.

What To Wear: Wrap dresses, jumpsuits, sheaths and fit-and-flare styles with cinched waists are great for this naturally balanced body structure.

Note: There is no globally accepted list of body types. Some regions will only use 4, while others will use up to 9. There can also be sub-types within the varying types.

How to determine your body type

While your lifestyle and exercise can modify your silhouette, your bone structure, proportions and muscle distribution are mostly inherited. Body shape is based on those factors – not on your weight. Understanding and accepting your body type is a lovely step towards self-love. Dressing in accordance to your shape will help you find snug & flattering clothing to carry yourself with confidence.

More than likely, you can merely look in the mirror and tell what body type you are, but if you still need a little clarity, plug your measurements into the below calculator. Once you find out what your body type is, you can then do more research to determine what exercises and fashion pieces will work best for you.

For guidance on how to measure yourself, visit our sizing/measurement link.