Do you ever feel you are a IT/apple/pear/rectangle/hourglass? - YouLookFab Forum

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Body Type

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Do you ever feel you are a IT/apple/pear/rectangle/hourglass?

anne

Veteran

I do!
IT - I have broad square shoulders and slimish high hips
apple - sometimes my tummy seems to stick out more than my bust (plus get preggy comments from my kids at times)
pear - any excess weight is on my bottom and thighs
rectangle - bust and waist not too different
hourglass - shoulders and hips similar breadth and waist visible!

I was thinking about this while answering harmonics body type post
but I don't want to you think that I haven't worked anything out in 4 years here at YLF!
I have found the most helpful guidelines to be those for
pears for bottom half (not that different from hourglass anyway)
rectangles for top half
muffin top
and most of all those relating to long waistedness and short legs (these are the hardest to actually put into practice however!)

Body Type

15 replies

Latest reply was from Jjsloane

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

Yes! I feel the same way and am still trying to figure out what silhouettes I should really be focusing on buying and wearing.
I feel the least IT, though I have thought fleetingly that I have IT tendencies, because I think my shoulders look perhaps a teensy bit wider than my hips.
Hourglass because hips and shoulders are basically balanced, and I have a waist, though not overly defined.
So that makes me feel rather rectangular.
I've often felt I have pear tendencies, because I feel I gain weight from the waist down, and I'm usually a slightly larger size in the lower half.
Go figure!

Aziraphale

Veteran

You're right, Anne; I've had this problem too. I used to think I was an IT because I have fairly square shoulders, moderately big boobs and slim hips, a lot of the suggestions for IT seem to work for me. But then my bust and hip measurements are exactly the same, which you would think is hourglass, right? But looking in the mirror, I definitely don't have enough of a defined waist to be an hourglass. So, maybe rectangle? Aaaargh.

But looking objectively, I think the bigger issue is that I have a high waist. The tips that work for me are those geared toward dressing either hourglass, IT, rectangle, petite or high-waisted figures. Some of these tips help, and some don't. The tips that ALWAYS work against me are ones geared toward dressing pear shapes or long torsos. I just sort of use the tips that help, and ignore the others!

Fruitful

Veteran

This is very interesting Anne!

I haven't figured out the vertical stuff yet. I know I have short calves, so I assumed I have a long waist, but I don't know. The terms long-waisted and short-waisted, plus high waist/low waist, boggle my mind. I thought a waist was a horizontal line on your body, so how can it be long or short... I don't like that because I'm a very literal person

I've never actually posted a "what's my body type" question, because I've believed I'm a pear since I was a teenager. I have noticed people saying balanced hips and shoulders means hourglass, but although my shoulders balance my hips a bit I will always be most concerned with dressing for pear tendencies.

Also, I have apple tendencies too lately, because weight has crept on. I find this really interesting because it hasn't taken my pear shape away, just complicated it and tbh some clothes are actually easier to wear than they used to be!

anne

Veteran

Firecracker - hope you can work it out soon! Maybe being between a lot of types gives us more leeway
Elisabeth - thanks. From the few pics I have seen of you I would have called you rectangle. Great to know what guidelines are working for you

Fruitful - I wonder if the vertical stuff is to you what makeup is to me (still processing all the eyebrow info:-) Have you seen Angie's posts on it? eg http://youlookfab.com/2009/06/.....g-waisted/ I agree that you are definitely a pear - no question in my mind. Angie said once that pears and hourglass with a bit extra around the middle were her most frequent client body types. How has putting on extra apple tendencies helped with your clothes fit? I think the waist enlargening I have experienced with having had 2 kids makes jeans a bit easier to fit!

ManidipaM

Veteran

Ha, yes, I sometimes feel like my shoulders are going the IT way and my belly heading towards appledom, while in between my waist suddenly decide to put in an appearance hourglass-wise after months of being square (rectangle). Of and of course my butt and thighs have always been the most slimming-proof part of me!

harmonica

Veteran

what an interesting topic! When reading other guidelines on body type, it sometimes seem so square in a way. I often get the impression that you should fit into one type, but I feel pearish, appleish, short leggish, petite, rectanguralish and sometimes even boyish (but that I think i related to my early 20's when I was slimmer all over - before 3 pregnancies and age took me :- )). Interesting that personal history is hard to slip mentally

Laura

(website)

Veteran

Okay, Anne, your subject line is hilarious

I never feel rectangular or even remotely IT-ish. My potential for supermodel stardom is over before it ever started ...

Honestly I feel that recognizing that I am short-waisted and carry most of my height in my legs has been at least as helpful as body type. At least, it definitely explains why dresses work so well for me!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I do sometimes feel I have every one of these tendencies! And I agree with you, Anne, and Laura, that sometimes proportions are more valuable than shape alone for figuring out what looks best.

Imogen (on Inside Out Style) has some great ideas for how to measure your proportions: http://www.insideoutstyleblog......tions.html

And we've had some discussion threads about this here, too, for those new who want to check the archives!

krishnidoux

Veteran

Yes, I do!

How the body changes all the time...

The constant:
IT;
Torso: definitively long;
Hips: non existent! Even after pregnancy!
Thighs: muscular;
Legs: short.

Most weight gained in the legs and tummy. Whether thin or thicker, I was never "curved" as my waist and hips merged into one long tube. On hormonal days I have a tummy that can stick out.

In the last year I have started new physical activities that have brought me to become more fit all over. It has also made me work my chore muscles like never before. My body changed quite a bit from this. The biggest change I noticed was the apparition of a waist in the middle of that long torso. Except it's much higher than where I thought my "waist" was! Now I have a waist definition, but it's high, and my hips are developing as well, but they're low.

I thought I was IT secondary rectangle, but am discovering I might be IT secondary pear.

And from Trinny and Susannah's shape guide I think I fit the skittle description to a T, except I do not look like the model chosen (and my shoulders are wider).
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....--you.html

Fruitful

Veteran

Thanks Anne, am reading up on those posts. Still have trouble accepting that the part of the torso from bust to waist is called "waist" (i.e. this is the part that's short or long). I read an article somewhere about how shortwaisted women shouldn't wear highwaisted skirts, it's still a bit odd to me, I don't see what's wrong with having a short waist... and then the height of the hip is a separate thing...

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Like Laura, I have never felt in the least like a rectangle or an IT. I've always straddled the hourglass/pear line, ever since I was a teenager. Running and weight loss haven't changed that -- in fact, sometimes I feel like I lost more weight in my upper body than lower, and I might be more pearish now. Oh well.

But here's something funny. If I stand in front of the mirror and tighten my glutes, my saddlebags "disappear" and I magically become more of an IT-ish hourglass -- if only I could make this really happen without liposuction!

anne

Veteran

Janet - I had to try your glute tightening trick - yes - some diminuation of thighs!

Fruitful - yes that is a good point - why does "ribcage" seem to equal "waist"? I don't think having a long or short waist is a bad thing - just a matter of trying to balance things out. FWIW I think you might be average (like Angie) so maybe it isn't a big deal for you.

Krish - I think I might be a skittle too. Maybe a little broader in the shoulder and my hip line is smoother and calves smaller - but when I first saw that skittle picture years ago I thought I was looking in a mirror.

Suz - thanks for putting in the links.

Laura - another person for whom vertical dimensions are important

Harmonica - I think body type can be very useful and as I have said I found some guidelines to be helpful. But as your own experience shows not every one fits every category. Angie is very flexible which is helpful

harmonica

Veteran

it's also funny how one perceive oneself opposed to a more "objective" (or at least not that scrutinizing and critical) eye. I find it hard to look at my body or style and pin down a fairly accurate description. I don't mean that one should label oneself and not go out of the box. I rather believe that labelling can be very helpful guidelines and can also be producive when it comes to knowing when you break a "rule" and why you do it.

catgirl

Veteran

I've always been an IT/rectangle with apple on the side. No chance at all of hourglass or pear for me. With my shoulders about 2 inches wider than my hips, I'm pretty much the definition of an IT!

Jjsloane

Veteran

I am confused by this as well. I did the Imogen measurements and found I'm short waisted. Interesting. I know I'm an apple, but a busty one. I am pretty straight which kind of makes me an 8 or an X (I can't find the post which told me this part) so I just keep trying things randomly. Some days I'm good, others not so much.
The spice of life. This is why shoes are a joy -almost always same size and they either fit or don't. No worries that it's my hips or my waist or something else.