https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Thu, 09 Apr 2026 03:15:55 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646608 Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:41:06 +0000 mrseccentric 646608@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Welcome Grimsthorpe! yep, hourglass with IT tendencies. I find that many hourglasses do have some IT going on, your shoulders need to be strong in order to create the 'classic' hourglass shape. Imogen's idea of the X type would apply to you as well.</p> <p>and yes, many consider this figure type to be 'the ideal', as fashionista said: "Lovely features!!! I would kill anyone for those measurements."</p> <p>But as a woman with a very similar figure (with even larger bust and shoulders), how i can relate to this: "Heh, actually, none of my clothes fit me without serious alterations (not only due to my waist, but also because the widest part of my hips sits so low and my torso is so long)."</p> <p>Shopping with our figure type is a real pain in the keister! Frankly that's the main reason why i sew so many of my own clothes, it take so long and such trouble to find properly fitting clothes that it's actually less trouble to make them from scratch. I'm not trying to be a martyr or anything, but if you think about it - there's lots of advantages to having a less pronounced shape!</p> <p>That said, Grimsthorpe i can give you a few shopping hints. Knits and wovens with spandex make a whole world of difference! I don't bother with any RTW that's not stretch anymore unless it's a very flowy, voluminous fit. Cultivate a good tailor or seamstress to make alterations for you. I buy mostly separates, as trying to get an off the rack dress to fit is useless. Buy tops to fit your shoulders and alter bust and waist, and buy bottoms to fit your hips/upper thighs and alter the waist (you'll get the best results this way - you can't add fabric that is not there). </p> <p>When you have a good tailor/seamstress, you may consider having difficult-to-find items custom made. Have an in-depth discussion about this option with whoever you plan to use BEFORE you buy any fabric, patterns, etc. You will be much happier with the process and the results that way.</p> <p>And of course, learning how to sew and/or do your own alterations is a perfectly good option. It makes a lot of sense, too, if literally everything you buy has to be tweaked for a decent fit!</p> <p>There's a lady called Teresa Tapp who does exercises and posture coaching for models. Her theory is that hourglass figures with small waists tend to be long in the torso. The idea is that everyone has the same number of organs, muscles, etc. in the abdomen - if you have a shorter/smaller space between the ribs and hips you have more in there and it doesn't have room to spread out, but if you have more space between the ribs and hips things have more room and so that area will look smaller. I don't know if it's literally true or not, but i have noticed that ladies with longer torsos do tend to have smaller waists.</p> <p>this pic shows the shoulders and how i carry the hip width really at the top of the thighs. </p> <p>For What It's Worth! Good luck and have fun, steph </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646605 Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:32:08 +0000 Grimsthorpe 646605@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Thank you all SO much for your kind, wise comments. Y'all are so sweet, and my questions have definitely been put to rest. I look forward to interacting more with y'all on this forum in the future, and to educating myself by perusing Angie's blog archives -- I'd found her blog a while ago and was very interested, but never made the time to go through and read it. I certainly will now, bearing my new-found assurance of hourglass-ness in mind. :)</p> <p>Thanks so much, again. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646461 Fri, 15 Jun 2012 07:19:10 +0000 fashionista 646461@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Lovely features!!! I would kill anyone for those measurements. And yes IMO you are hourglass with lots of deadly curves!!!! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646363 Fri, 15 Jun 2012 03:51:53 +0000 ManidipaM 646363@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Where's the odd? You are pretty much what many women consider IDEAL! Strong shoulders to hang lovely garments from; full bustline to fill them out; whole lot of space between bust and waist as well as waist and hip to play around with a bunch of belts and other detailing with; a derriere that fills out a great pair of jeans for that interesting 'back view'... sigh!</p> <p>You are LOVELY, and let no one tell you otherwise! Not, especially not, clothes manufacturers! However, do let us assure you that you are indeed an hourglass An X-shaped one more than the gentler curves of an 8 --- but an hourglass all the same! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646331 Fri, 15 Jun 2012 02:34:32 +0000 Jenava 646331@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Also, quite a lovely figure and not odd in the slightest!! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646254 Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:46:19 +0000 Suz 646254@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Lovely hourglass, strong shoulder line! What Aida and Angie said. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646251 Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:41:08 +0000 Aida 646251@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I see a lovely hourglass with a strong shoulder line! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646206 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 23:24:45 +0000 Shu 646206@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Angie's guidelines for identifying body type are much easier to understand and make much more sense to me than other places I've looked, particularly where the hourglass is concerned. Think of your shoulders as the widest part of the top of the hourglass, the widest part of your hip as the widest part of the lower hourglass, and of course the middle for the waist. When you do this, all bust/hip ratios fall to the wayside, because what really matters in considering these identifiers is what your silhouette looks like. (Please correct me if I'm misrepresenting your guidelines, Angie.)</p> <p>For example, you could have quite a large bust, but small shoulders and fuller hips and appear to be a pear and benefit from following pear guidelines despite what another website's rules say your measurements mean.</p> <p>Finding YLF was life-changing for me for this very reason. I am a curvy hourglass, but for years thought I was a pear because of the bust rule I saw everywhere. When I realized I'm an hourglass, a whole new world of flattering clothing opened up to me that I never would have tried when I thought I was a pear and that I needed to hide my hips. </p> <p>According to these criteria, you are a lovely hourglass. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646198 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 23:13:49 +0000 Jenava 646198@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Yes, hourglass looking to me! I am also an "X" shape, because the widest part of my hips is very low.</p> <p>(<a href="http://www.insideoutstyleblog.com/2008/09/body-shapes-explained-x-shape-hourglass.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.insideoutstyleblog......glass.html</a>)</p> <p>You have wide shoulders, it looks like so maybe you "secondary" type is inverted triangle? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646149 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:59:11 +0000 san 646149@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>You look hourglass with a strong shoulder line to me, but I'm no expert. Also some people talk about the high hip 8 shape, or being an X shape. I think you would be an X shape because you don't have the high hip. Hopefully someone will chime in who is more knowledgeable in this. Don't take the pic down too soon though because it is very helpful in answering your question.<br /> Also we are all built differently so I would think that saying that an hourglass has no greater than a two inch difference between bust and hips seems like a very strict rule. What about the people who have a two and a half inch difference? Can they be considered hourglass too? I would think so. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646141 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:45:58 +0000 Grimsthorpe 646141@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/106087477419577299975/BodyShape?authkey=Gv1sRgCIbX6ZWXgL7USA" rel="nofollow">https://picasaweb.google.com/1.....6ZWXgL7USA</a> (I'll probably take this photo down at some point; not too comfortable having it on the web.) Photo taken from my computer, thus the terrible quality and my awkward just-jumped-back-into-position stance.</p> <p>My gut said hourglass, but every body-type calculator, article, forum, etc. on the web declared that hourglasses "have no greater than a two inch difference between bust and hips". *insert brain explosion*</p> <p>My cami doesn't fit me closely through the waist, so I had it pinned (thus the wrinkling). Heh, actually, none of my clothes fit me without serious alterations (not only due to my waist, but also because the widest part of my hips sits so low and my torso is so long). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646108 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 20:44:56 +0000 Angie 646108@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Welcome to the forum!</p> <p>You sound hourglass-y in the extreme. Curvy-deluxe! Perhaps you could post a photo so that we can make an more accurate assessment. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/please-help-me-pinpoint-my-odd-curvy-body-shape#post-646080 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 20:08:58 +0000 Grimsthorpe 646080@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Hello, ladies:</p> <p>If anyone could give me their opinion as to what body type category (or categories) I fall into, it'd be much appreciated. </p> <p>Shoulders - 41"<br /> Bust - 36.5"<br /> Waist - 24.5"<br /> Hips - 39"<br /> Height (if it makes a difference) - 5' 6" or thereabouts</p> <p>As you can see, I have a drastic difference between my bust and waist, but my hips are technically too big for me to be a perfect hourglass. On the other hand, my outlandishly-broad shoulders keep me from being anywhere in the pear category. So I'm stumped. </p> <p>Any help for a very confusticated gal? </p>