Ask Angie: Am I long-waisted?

How do you determine proportions?

I was just reading your post Are you long-waisted? and though by the test, I seem to be average, I've always thought I had a long waist.
Is it possible that because am tall-ish & thin (5'7" & size 0-2) that
waist-lines fall so high on me - such as designers think that someone my
size is going to be shorter overall? Is torso length a separate
consideration than waist length?

I regularly experience dresses coming to their smallest width a few inches above my natural waist and the hip flaring out over my waist. I've gotten used to belted dresses, coats and robes all tying over the bottom of my ribcage. For this reason I've done empire waists, dresses with flared skirts (where the waist being above my own doesn't really matter), and focused on styles that drape from my shoulders and do not have a waist. I rely on stretch fabrics when I want to accentuate my waist but still have altered all of my fitted dress so the waistline and curve of the hip are shifted downward to fit me properly. I have not worn a one-piece bathing suit since I was a child because when the torso is big enough the suit is far to big around and when the fit around is fine, the suit rides up or flattens my bust.

Also, most of my hip measurement is in my backside, such that I gravitate towards low-cut pants to avoid a weird gap at the small of my back and/or pants sliding downward unattractively. Maybe the low slung pants have just made me think I have a long waist?

There are pictures of me here.

Thank you!

8 years ago

anne

Veteran

Hi WB, I'm not Angie, but I've been meaning to post on one of your threads, because we have a lot in common!. I'm not as slight as you, and lots shorter, but I also have square shoulders and bigger bottom, with a bigger width at the low hip/ top of thigh. Also the smaller bust.

I don't think you have a particularly long waist in terms of your overall proportions, but I can WELL believe in your fit issues. I'm 5:4 with an inch bigger bust and waist, and my torso looks kind of similar to yours - and I almost always have the same problems you outlined. So even if your extra 3 inches more height (than I have) are all in your legs I can see you'd have issues.

Also I emphathise on the low bottom elongating the torso. I have that too. Also the fit issues with pants.

Suz

(website)

Just to note that Angie is travelling and may not be able to answer directly.

It looks from your photos that your torso is longer proportionately than your legs which may indicated long-waistedness. But it's hard to tell with iphone selfies since they are foreshortened (heads and shoulders look bigger and legs shorter than IRL.)

But note that it is possible to have a longish torso without being long-waisted. I am actually short-waisted with a long (ish) or normal-to-long torso. The length is all in my rise.

Ginger

What Suz said! I also have a long torso, but I have a borderline short waist for my height (I'm 5'9") and a crazy long rise.

Your waist is the narrowest point. From the pictures, I can clearly see it; it's right at or above your elbow. Try bending your upper body to the side, while holding your hips still; a crease or bend will appear at your waist. Your waist length looks average/normal to me. But a certain generation (including me) spent most of our time growing up in low-waist pants and learning to call that level the "waist", so it can be hard to define where the actual waist truly is. If you're used to feeling that your waist is lower down where your hips visibly start to slope outward, a dress that fits at your real waist is going to feel weird at first. My waist is on top of my lower ribs at the sides; I don't have much room between my ribs and hip bone. And yet I have a very defined waist. (And FWIW, a good 2" above my navel.)

Active Member

Anne, thanks for posting. I always wonder whether I should take the pear dressing advice or the invert triangle dressing advice since my shoulders are too large for the pear advice but I'm a pear without my shoulder width in the equation. Angie is one of the few body type styling advice-givers who understands that not all invert triangles have a large bust and minimal curvature through their waist and hips, but I sometimes am still just not sure how best to wear certain styles. I'm wondering if I come up average waist because I have large hands? Do you have large hands too?

Suz, this is interesting about waist length and torso length. I would love to understand it better. The 3rd picture, where I photography my back, the phone is at about waist height so the proportions should have less of the foreshortening effect if you want to look again and tell me what you see.

Ginger, for sure wearing low slung pants changes the visual effect of where my waist might be and belts tend to land closer to my hip when I wear them with pants, but I do alter my dresses to fit my natural waist so am measuring to the narrowest point on my torso, not lower. I have several sweater dresses that looked okay on me when I bought them but that I like much better and feel curvier in once I removed the excess fabric at my waist and graduated the curve of the dresses to matched the lower curve of my hip. The lowest of my ribs do run into my waist on the sides, but not in the front. The belted waist of most clothes hit at my ribs in the front about 3 inches above my natural waist, which seems like a lot. Can I ask if you are short, average, or long-waisted and where the clothes on clothes with a belt or defined waist tend to land on you?

WB, I think I'm probably average waisted. That means I am short-waisted for my height, since I am above average in height. I never buy Tall sizes in tops or dresses (with one exception), only in bottoms (and prefer Extra Long to get another inch in the rise). That said, I do run into items that feel slightly short in the waist for me. Combined with my long rise and legs, those are non-keepers because I look like a child who's had a growth spurt. I'm a pear with very wide hips and small waist, so I don't buy many dresses off the rack. Most I get from eShakti. If I don't custom-size, they're usually a little long-waisted.

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