Another body shape realisation?

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Another body shape realisation?

anne

Veteran

Angie wrote recently on the "you know you are a racy rectangle"

"When you have to wear a sheath dress extra, extra tight in order to showcase a bit of curve.

When clothes with straight lines look flattering."

The first 2 lines came back to me recently and made me wonder if that is why I do like to wear tighter items on the torso. I feel like it is only evident that I have a waist if I show the hips too.

The second line shows why I am not really completely a rectangle - I am really not sure if clothes with straight lines are flattering

10 years ago

Body Type

8 replies

Latest reply was from anne

ManidipaM

Veteran

Don't forget your features, Anne. We tend to look at the face pretty quickly, no? And I find softer features like rounded eyes and wavy hair will often not suit straight lines as well as an angular eyebrow and longer face shape with triangular chin, say. This may be why Angie keeps saying hairstyle is crucial and I daresay how you shape eyebrows as well.

10 years ago

Anonymous

People often tell me how thin I look when I wear a "sack" with no shape. I honestly don't see it though! Maybe it is because I have no bust.

10 years ago

shiny

Veteran

Yeah, I feel like I need to wear sheath dresses tight to accentuate a waist, especially if the sheath dress has a high neckline. That said, straighter styles don't always work because of my bust - they can drop down from the bust and look tent-ish, especially from the side view. Unless the sheath has an empire waist. But then it's not really a sheath I suppose!

I have a couple sack dresses and I love wearing them, even if they hide my figure completely. They are great for bloaty days, or post-Thanksgiving days. They work if I can bare my arms and the hemline is on the short side. My arms aren't all that thin but in a sack dress they look thin.

10 years ago

Jules

Veteran

I dunno Anne, I really don't see you as a rectangle.
I'm definitely not one, but I like to show my waist because otherwise I am afraid I appear as broad as my hips all the way up and down. Which adds 10 lbs, at least. Similarly, clothes with straight lines are *not* flattering.
But I honestly think you have a lovely figure and have quite a bit of leeway in what you wear, because many things *are* flattering. Perhaps you just don't need to worry much about figure flattery rules and just wear what feels good. And maybe that is the source of your confusion?

10 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

It occurs to me that another issue is that one might be a rectangle, but the bust can interfere with the way clothes fall - esp. straight-line styles...

10 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I think ManidipaM is onto something. It's not only our body shape, but also our facial features and our walk and our personality that influence what kinds of lines suit us best.

But...having said that...a button front shirt flatters (and fits) a small busted rectangle more than it does a large busted hourglass. That's a "straight line."

We're all a combination of the body archetypes. Probably none of us falls completely into one or another. So it helps to pick and choose the guidelines from the categories that apply to us. Maybe you are a rectangle on top and not one on the bottom. That's sort of how I see myself. Such hourglass tendencies as I have come mainly from my shoulders and my thighs/ bottom (vs. hips). So I dress like a rectangle or even an IT on top. And like a rectangle/ hourglass on the bottom.

10 years ago

Alassë

Veteran

Suz, that's a great way of looking at it! Applying to myself....

10 years ago

anne

Veteran

Thankyou to everyone who replied. I have to say after I wrote it I was embarrassed and hoped it would disappear unanswered, as I felt that I was being very self indulgent posting it. My apologies for that.

And Jules, I also looked at myself in full view as I got ready to bed and thought what was I thinking, I am clearly not a rectangle!! Thanks for the encouraging words

Shiny (great to see you here) I agree with you. Actually I do have a sack dress that looks good on bloaty days too.

Suz - yes I have long seen myself as a combination - using tips from pear rectangle and IT (and Imogen's X shapes) and most importantly from those proportional tips about long and short torsos. I sorted that years ago- I think maybe the recent spate of body type posts got me a bit stirred up.
And I have to say that I have long thought that having a bit more bust would make button down shirts look better on me. I realise that very busty types do found them difficult. But let's face it, nearly everything would fit better if I had more bust!

10 years ago

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