Dress your shape. Feel confident in every outfit.
Our guide to dressing body shape types for women is your one stop destination for learning what your body shape is, how to dress for it, and which styles work best for you. If you’ve ever asked, “what is my body shape?” or wondered “how can you tell what body shape you are?”, this guide will help you identify your shape and choose clothing that suits you perfectly.
Style isn’t about changing or hiding your body, it’s about understanding it. By learning which features to highlight and which to balance, you can create outfits that feel comfortable, flattering, and effortless. From everyday staples to standout statement pieces, our curated collections show what clothes suit your body shape, helping you look and feel your best in every outfit.
Whether you’re an apple, pear, or inverted triangle body shape, you’ll find everything you need here to start dressing with confidence and comfort every day.
What Body Shape Am I?
Key Features Of An Apple Body Shape:
A smaller lower body, including slimmer hips, thighs, and legs, A broader upper body, with a fuller bust, wider shoulders, and torso, A fuller midsection, Slimmer arms, A less defined waist.
Key Features Of An Pear Body Shape:
Smaller waist, Narrow shoulders and bust compared to the hips, with slimmer arms, Fuller lower half, with wider hips and thighs.
Key Features Of An Inverted Triangle Shape:
A bigger top half compared to the bottom, A broader upper body, with a fuller bust, wider shoulders, and torso, A fuller midsection, Less defined waist, Narrower hips and thighs and slimmer legs.
What Clothing Styles Suit My Body Shape?
Clothing For An Apple Body Shape
When dressing an apple body shape, the goal is to draw attention upwards and away from the midsection. This can be achieved with flowy tops, dresses, and fabrics that skim the body without clinging. Dark washes, vertical patterns, ruching, and draped styles help camouflage the stomach, while well fitted, high waisted bottoms elongate the body for a balanced, flattering silhouette. Try to avoid clingy fabrics, high neck tops, and boxy clothing.
The best dresses for an apple shaped body focus on elongating the body and drawing attention upwards. To achieve this, choose dresses with lower necklines and longer, floaty skirts to create length. Jersey and linen fabrics are ideal for camouflaging the midsection. Floaty sleeves, such as flutter or angel sleeves, soften the top of the body, creating a flattering shape without adding bulk. Patterns and darker colours help create a slimming effect and divert attention from the midsection. The best styles are wrap, A-line, empire dresses. Avoid clingy fabrics that emphasise the midsection and boxy dresses that add bulk.
The best tops for an apple shaped body draw attention to the shoulders and elongate the upper body. To do this, choose longline styles with vertical lines and details, made from loose fitting, flowing fabrics that cover the midsection. Darker colours and small patterns create a slimming effect and detailed sleeves help divert attention away from the midsection, while 3/4 length sleeves draw the eye from the shoulders towards the forearms. The best styles of tops for an apple shape are V-neck tops, pintuck tops, hanky hem tops, and angel sleeves tops. Avoid clingy fabrics that emphasise the midsection, ruffles, embellishments, high necklines and horizontal stripes that create a bulky effect.
The best bottoms for an apple shaped body help define the waist and create the illusion of longer legs for a slimming effect. To achieve this, choose bottoms that are high waisted, as these styles flatter and hide the midsection. Fit-and-flare styles with a wider fit around the ankles create balance and a more proportioned appearance with the hips. Darker washes have a slimming effect, and soft, stretchy febrics are always a good choice, as it keeps you comfortable, especially around the hips and waist. The best styles are high waisted, bootcut, straight leg, and wide leg bottoms. Avoid low rise jeans and tapering styles, as these emphasise the hips and midsection.
Clothing For A Pear Body Shape
When dressing for a pear-shaped body, the goal is to create balance between the top and bottom halves. This can be achieved by adding volume and visual interest to the upper body while keeping the lower half more streamlined, by wearing brightly coloured tops, bold patterns and statement sleeves, while keeping bottoms darker, simpler in slimmer styles. Avoid tops that are too clingy or bottoms that are overly loose, as this adds volume where it isn’t needed.
The best dresses for a pear body shape define the waist, minimising the lower body and draw focus to the upper body by adding volume and visual interest. To do this, choose dresses with bodices that feature embellishments, ruffles, bright colours, bold patterns or structured details around the shoulders or bust, with skirts that are more understated, in darker colours and slimmer styles. The best styles include maxi dresses, A-line dresses, shirt dresses and 3/4 sleeve dresses. Avoid adding bulk or drawing attention to the lower half.
The best tops for a pear shaped body add volume and visual interest to balance the wider lower half. To do this, choose tops that are voluminous or loose fitting, with features such as bold pleats, ruffles, button detailing,statement sleeves, bright colours, petty prints, and low necklines draw attention upwards and highlight the shoulders and bust. Lightweight or flowing fabrics can add movement without clinging to the body.The best styles include V-neck tops, blouses, button up shirts, and roll-tab sleeves. Avoid darker and tailored tops that make your top half look even smaller than it is.
The best bottoms for a pear shaped body create balance between the hips and ankles, elongate the legs, and provide a slimming effect without adding bulk. To achieve this, choose bottoms in stretch fabrics, which offer flexibility and comfort while adapting to your body shape. Dark or medium washes can help create a slimming effect. The best styles include bootcut, wide leg, straight leg, and high waisted designs, which help elongate the legs and proportion the silhouette. Avoid bright colours, bold patterns, loose fitting styles, overly tight or tapered styles that add volume or emphasise the hips and thighs.
Clothing For An Inverted Triangle Body Shape
When dressing an inverted triangle body shape, the goal is to balance the upper and lower body by keeping the top simple and streamlined while adding volume to the bottom. To achieve this, choose minimal tops with V-necklines and darker, muted colours to reduce focus on the top half and create a slimming effect. Add volume and visual interest to the lower half to create balance and draw the eye down to the smallest part of the body. Avoid overly slim fitting bottoms or tops that add extra structure or attention, as this emphasises the imbalance further.
The best dresses for an inverted triangle shape create balance by minimising the upper body and adding volume to the lower half. To do this, choose dresses that have darker coloured bodices that are slightly more fitted, with no embellishments or added structure with a skirt that is loose fitting, floaty, voluminous, bright or patterned. Opt for styles such as A-line dresses, fit-and-flare dresses, wrap dresses and skater dresses. Avoid big sleeves, high necklines, bodycon and straight cut styles, heavy embellishments on the bust and shoulders, and boxy shift dresses.
The best tops for an inverted triangle shape keep the upper body simple and streamlined. To do this, choose tops with lower necklines, slimmer sleeves, muted colours and lightweight fabrics. Minimal detailing helps create a sleek look, and fitted, tailored silhouettes that do not add volume but gently cling to the body work best. Opt for darker colours and minimal patterns. The best styles for this shape include V-neck tops, wrap tops, tailored tops and dark coloured tops. Avoid padded shoulders, heavy patterns, heavy embellishments or ruffles that add volume to the top half.
The best bottoms for an inverted triangle shape add volume to the lower half to balance with broader shoulders. To do this, choose bottoms with bright colours, bold patterns, horizontal lines, ruffles, pleats, layers, pockets band baggy or floaty styles help create balance and draw the eye down to the smallest part of your body. The best styles include bootcut jeans, tiered skirts, wide leg jeans, and bright or patterned trousers. Avoid dark and muted colours, and slim or tapered styles that hug the hips should be avoided, as they minimise the lower half and create further imbalance.
