Can you be an hourglass shape with a small chest? - YouLookFab Forum

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Can you be an hourglass shape with a small chest?

FlamesAndAngelWings

I've been recently trying to find clothes that fit my body type, only to find out I don't know my body type. Online calculators don't help, I tried drawing myself on a piece of paper and that made me even more confused.
Here are my measurements:
Shoulders: 39in or 99.06cm
Chest: 31in or 78.74cm
Waist: 26in or 66.04cm
Hips: 36in or 91.44cm
Thanks guys!

Body Type

24 replies

Latest reply was from E

anne

Veteran

Yes you totally can in Angie's system! She bases it on shoulders not bust

Tanya

Veteran

Hi there, one definitely can, it is more about the balance of the shoulders and hips. I have similar measurements to yours ( don't know my shoulders), 34-24-36, and am an hourglass. But it is very difficult, pretty much impossible to tell from measurements.

The best way to say is from the photo. Once your activity level on the forum is a bit higher, you become an active member and can post pictures. YLF forum members are very good at determining body types, and Angie chimes in too. You need a photo in formfitting clothes, arms down by the side. You can cover your face/crop your head out of the picture if you are worried about privacy.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I am an hourglass with a small bust! It is more than possible.

Actually, I'm a slim hourglass/ rectangle hybrid (which is not so strange, since many of us don't fit neatly into one category). So I find the recommendations for both body types quite helpful. Since I am small busted the rectangle recommendations for the top part are especially useful to me.

K. Period.

Veteran

Ditto what Suz said. She immediately came to mind when you asked.

I think Angie's focus on the appearance of your body outline (shoulders, waist, hips) is so much more helpful than focusing on bust size. Suz looks curvy and equally balanced. She doesn't look like a pear, which bust and hip measurements alone would say she was. Another example: I could see a situation where an IT with a really round bottom would measure as an hourglass or a rectangle rather than an IT. The round bottom would increase the bottom measurement. However, if it was all behind the hips, it wouldn't be obvious in the silhouette. The shoulders would still dominate. Therefore, IT silhouette, but rectangle measurements.

I think you'll probably meet a few more non-busty hourglasses on the forum via this thread!

Mary Beth (formerly LBD)

(website)

Veteran

I'm pretty sure you can. My BFF is very va-va-voom, and I am continually surprised every time she points out that she wears a B cup. She says she has a broad back, but to my eye (and most other people's), she looks very voluptuous and hourglass.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Ha! Just to be clear, nobody but nobody is ever going to describe me as va-va-voom. But I'm still an hourglass! Because of the strong shoulder line and curve between waist and hip. Although with age and weight changes, my waist has become a bit broader and my hips narrower, and I am more rectangular.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Raises hand. I always thought I was a pear until I came here, precisely because I have a smaller chest compared to my hips and thighs. But like Suz, I seem to be rectangling out more as I get past 40. I'm 34/27/37 roughly.

Ingunn

(website)

Veteran

I'm that way, too! In fact, you have my excact measurements, that is, those I had in my twenties. I've grown an inch or two since then I'm an hourglass bordering on pear after my kids were born. Like Suz, I find reading advice for both of my shapes a big help.

Alassë

Veteran

Yes, I think so! I have pear tendencies too,(haven't posted the form-fitting clothing picture yet), but I've decided I look somewhat hourglass-y from the front. Measurements: 36.5" shoulders, 31" bust, 26.5" waist, 38" hip.

E

Veteran

I have very similar measurements to you, except I'm not sure of my shoulders, (33"-25"-35/36" depending on what I've been eating) and consider myself in the IT/hourglass area (haven't posted pics for forum advice), because my hip measurement is all in the depth (aka my bootie not my hip bones) so from the front my shoulders look a bit wider than my hips, in fact my thighs are my widest point a bit further down, but I do have a defined waist. Also, my ribs are fairly broad compared to the rest of me, so even though I wear a 30C/30D/32B/32C depending on the brand bra, I have to be in very formfitting clothes to look even a tiny bit busty. Most of the time I have a very *cough* delicate bustline. It's fascinating to me how the very same measurements can look so different, depending on your breadth vs depth, which the forum discussed awhile ago here. I wasn't an active member at the time, but I found reading that thread hugely helpful in pulling together different characteristics I'd noticed about my body & clothing it.

What are your clothing fit challenges? That might give you more hints about your proportions, which is after all the point of knowing your body shape! In my case, blazers that fit my shoulders are 99% of the time too big in the waist, and trousers that fit my rear are almost always gapey in the waist.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Hi five, E! We are body doubles! Same measurements, same bust, same fit issues.

Sharon

Veteran

You have almost the exact same measurements as I do, although I am slightly broader in the chest. I have been using the IT guidelines, but also refer to the hourglass ones as I do have a waist and I like to define it (and I harbour a love of the bombshell!)

So I think the answer to your question is yes!

Aida

Veteran

Another small busted hourglass (though my primary type is actually IT) checking in. I'm similarly measured, though a little bigger all around. It's definitely more useful to look at the silhouette and take into consideration the shoulder line rather than the bust. As E mentioned, breadth vs depth can play a factor in those measurements even though visually they may not be as impactful.

E

Veteran

Awesome Suz! That's funny you describe your waist as broader and yourself as rectangular, lol. Mine's gained an inch or two since college, but I still think it's fairly small and defined. Maybe I'm a rectangle in denial?

thinkingfish

I'm also broad shouldered and small chested (33/25/35, shoulder width 15-16" or something like that). I feel the width actually defines body shape better than volume, as you can fill the space in many ways but visual impression is less about depth. To me the difference between a shoulder-hourglass and a chest-hourglass seems to apply to choices of neckline and decoration around the shoulder/chest area, everything else (about waist, proportion) applies.

anne

Veteran

Good point thinkingfish. And BTW I am another who could possibly fit into the hourglass category (On Imogen's categories I am an X, though I find it more useful to think of my self as a broad shouldered rectangle/pear!)
My shoulders are 39. Other measurements are 33/27/38 (with the latter coming from the thighs - around the bottom I am 37.) I have a much smaller bust than that might indicate - my underbust is 30'5

E

Veteran

Ok so now I was curious and pulled out the measuring tape to see the differences between full measurement vs just front width. It was very enlightening!

Around, my shoulders are 36" (hadn't measured that before!), and as I said earlier my bust is 33" (the same whether I measure high bust, aka under my armpits, or at the fullest point), my waist is 24"/25" (depending on when I've eaten/how I breathe, lol), and my hips are 35" both at the fullest part of my bottom & the fullest part of my thighs.

But just front on, my shoulders are 16" wide while my hips are a mere 13.5" at the fullest part of my bottom and 14.5" at the fullest part of my thighs, and my waist is 10.5". My high bust is also 14", and although my rib cage is 28" around from the front it is 12.5" across, which explains my challenges with seams directly under my bust; they make me look like I have no curves at all. So I'm very clearly elliptical, except for my hips! And now I see why I might want to read up on rectangle stuff too, because the measurement difference between my waist & hips is less pronounced front-on, making my waist less defined. On the other hand, my broad shoulders make a pronounced difference between them and my waist. Hmmmm: lots of food for thought there! No wonder I love full skirts and peplums so much. Both broaden my hips front-on, making my waist look smaller by comparison.

(BTW, I hope using actually numbers doesn't bother anyone. I'm more interested in the ratios than the hard measurements, but I also know that thin privilege-which I wish didn't exist but I know that it does and I benefit whether I want to or not-makes it easier to share my inch measurements. So if it does bother anyone, I'll just edit it and work out the ratios instead!)

Suz

(website)

Veteran

E - so interesting. For comparison -- your measures are actually a bit more like mine when I was younger. That's why I say I am more rectangular now.

The differences are small but they do change the perception.

To begin with, my shoulders are about 39, so wider than yours. (I'm about 5'4" tall, by the way, if that's relevant).

When I was your age, my other measurements were 33- 24 or 25- 35 or 36. (Also closer to Tanya's measurements....and at that age, I appeared more "willowy" than I do now.)

Now my measurements are 33-25 or 26-34.

So that's why I say I am more rectangular than I used to be. From the front you might almost but not quite say IT. I probably would be IT except that my thighs are not slim. I don't have the IT's slender long legs.

(And what E said about the numbers. The ratio is what matters.)

E

Veteran

Definitely interesting Suz! It's crazy how small number changes can create different impressions, probably because it has to do with the ratios which would change more quickly. I expected my shoulders to be wider around than they really were so I was surprised by that too!

I don't think I've ever been willowy, because I tend to appear short & little & words like that, in person at least. In fact, most people in real life think I'm shorter than 5' 3"! I didn't realise ITs needed slender long legs, I thought it was all about having a strong shoulder line. Clearly I need to reread Angie's guidelines! Whatever my label is, I think I have a good grasp of what flatters my own quirks and which silhouettes I feel happiest in.

Flames & Angel Wings, sorry about the thread hijack! If you don't want to do pics, you could try doing the front measurements like I did to get a sense of where you're round & where you're elliptical. I just stood in front a mirror and lined up my measuring tape with the 'edges' I saw there.

Tanya

Veteran

Suz and E, I find this whole discussion about body types and proportions absolutely fascinating, as I have extremely similar measurements to both of you, and coloring too (not that it is relevant here).

So you made me take a tape measure and measure more of myself, including front only dimensions, which I have never done before. What I came up with is, when the first measurement is shoulders, and then the second bust is, that I am: 37-34-24-36, and from front only, it is 16-13-9.5-14.5 (almost identical to E). Other relevant measurements are under bust of 28", and I am 5'6", bit taller than both of you. And I also have similar thighs/hips as E describes.

Now I have missed the whole round/elliptical thread , but my guess would be that I more elliptical. I do not know what my front measurements mean for the analyses, and I welcome any input. I think I do recall Suz once calling me "willowy", though I could be mistaken.

When it comes to body typing, I am pretty certain I am a hourglass - a slight/slim one, but hourglass nevertheless . Obviously, 2 extra inches my bust would make that absolutely certain, but I do not have those In Imogen's system I have X shape. I do not think I have a secondary body type, but I could be wrong. If I wear fairly fluid/loose clothes, like it is fashion forward today, I can appear as a rectangle, as it hides my waist. But in tailored/bodycon clothes, the waist is very obvious. I do admit to take some tips from both pear and rectangle body type guidelines to enhance the appearance of my chest from time to time.

Oh, and starting some point next week, when I am done with my treatments, I plan to post gazillions of various posts in order to dissect everything about my body, style preferences etc. to the tiniest details. I do not even know my fashion persona or have a moniker or style words etc. I will start with body type posts, so that will give us lots of chances to continue this types of discussions.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

E - you are right - an IT doesn't necessarily have long slender legs, but they typically do. It really is more about the shoulder line, but other factors will modify that. So in my case, although I have the strong shoulder line, I also have such muscular thighs that I look more like a gymnast (uh...when I am actually quite fit) than I do like a fashion model. No coat hanger here. And also no linebacker. My shoulders are wide but not thick. So that's another reason I'm not a classic IT.

Tanya, you are a perfect slender hourglass. Angie told me I was smack dab in the middle of slender hourglass-rectangle. Which is basically her body type as well. So I am going with what she said!

Anonymous

Tanya, I'm also an X by Imogen's system, and find her advice for this body type to be quite helpful.

Alassë

Veteran

Looking forward to reading your spate of posts, Tanya! (End threadjack)

E

Veteran

Tanya, I'll definitely be all over your posts! Your body is definitely more hourglass-y than mine, and I'd say there's no doubt which body shape you fall into. You're bustier than me too, although we have such similar bust/underbust measurements. It's really fascinating how an inch or two can make such a difference.

In Imogen's system I think I'm an X shape too, but not as dramatically as you!