Please help me identify my body type (pic included) - YouLookFab Forum

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Body Type

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Please help me identify my body type (pic included)

Aziraphale

Veteran

All right, let's see if this works.

Like I said, I'm going to start posting pictures, but they will be drawings. I'm making myself into a fashion doll! So I'll start posting outfits once I get around to drawing them on a template. But before I start, I was wondering if the YLF sisterhood would like to take a shot at assessing my body type is. I know what I think it is, but I'd love to know if what I see is what you see.

This drawing is accurate. I even double-checked it (arm, leg, torso and head lengths) using a tape measure on me and a ruler on the 2D image. It's a mirror image, of course (I'm right-handed, despite the fact that the pencil appears in my left hand -- it was too much of a pain to keep putting it down), but I'm sure that doesn't matter. Sorry about the nakedness, but it's the best way. Somehow drawing undergarments on makes it seem even more naked. Instead I just left out the x-rated details.

Thanks for looking!

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Body Type

20 replies

Latest reply was from Scarlet

catgirl

Veteran

I see rectangle with strong shoulders. You look like a skinnier, less broad-shouldered version of me.

dizzys

Rectangle

dizzys

Great drawing BTW, my figure drawing classes yielded inferior results although I tried.

Tina.b

Veteran

First, can I say that I am tremendously impressed by your illustration of yourself. I'm in awe! I say rectangle too. You have a great shape and I bet clothes hang just beautifully on your frame.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Thanks, ladies. I've been calling myself a rectangle too. That seems pretty clear because of my relatively undefined waist. But there's always a bit of confusion because I have such square, angular shoulders (but not linebacker -- they're really bony and not very muscular) so sometimes the IT guidelines seem to work for me. Also, the guidelines for rectangle often assume you have not much in the bust department, but mine is not exactly small (32D). Often guidelines for hourglass -- especially those for what to wear on the top half -- seem to work for me, too. It's all very confusing.

So I guess I'm a slender rectangle with a strong shoulder line and moderately full bust?

ETA thanks D and Tina for the sweet comments. I've had a lot of practice.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

WHERE did you learn to draw like that? I'm so impressed Ms. Arty Farty!

Your body shape looks similar to mine. I straddle the lines between straight-ish hourglass and rectangle. I have a clearly defined waist, but am not that curvy - if that makes sense. I have a dainty shoulder line and medium sized bust. Neither long nor short waisted. Neither long nor short legged. I do have a giraffe neck, gorilla arms and small feet. I wear a US 6.5 at 5ft 6.

Woohooooo! You little Artist

Aziraphale

Veteran

Lol, Angie, like I said: practice, and nothing more complicated than that.

I agree that I'm not truly short-waisted -- my top half and bottom half are roughly equal -- but my waist IS very high. It lines up with my elbows, as the waist normally does (almost everybody's elbows bend right at the natural waist), which means my upper arms are short in proportion to my lower arms. Same weird proportions with my upper and lower legs. Funny.

Anyway, since my waist is high and my bust is not tiny, sometimes my torso can appear very short. And, well, *I* am very short, so that doesn't help.

And yes, Angie, you definitely have more of a defined waist than I do. If I were taller, like you, I'd probably have a defined waist. It's just that there's not actually that much space between my rip cage and my hip bones, so no room for my silhouette to curve inwards. My innards have got to go somewhere, haha.

Now onwards and upwards...gotta get a fashion doll template drawn. I might have to have more than one, because heel height affects how the legs look. So maybe one for each type of shoe!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Ah! A good analysis of "appearing short waisted" when you're not. You are long in the rise for your height too.

Ingunn

(website)

Veteran

I am very intrigued by your drawing! I wish I could do the same. We share a number of measurements, i.e. waist and bust, and your hands are small like mine. I am a bit taller at 5"3', and my hips are wider than yours, so I'm more of a pear/hourglass. I also identify with the high waist. I think rectangle is the best description of your body shape, just like many others have mentioned.

RoseandJoan

Veteran

Love the sketch, great job with the hands!

I think you may fall somewhere between the traditional rectangle and the X-shape hourglass. I think we share certain body traits but I'm more of a rectangle 8-shape hourglass hybrid and my short waistedness is emphasised a little more by the larger high hip shelf too.

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

This is cheating

From seeing you partially on the wedding dresses thread, I was hoping to see more of you here (just look at that teasing title, my oh my)... but, great illustrations by you will have to do, it seems. Either way, you'e brought another fab aspect to visual content of YLF, looking fwd to seeing more of / from you.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Great illustration!! And funny, looking at it...I could almost have been looking in a mirror!

I'm a wee bit taller at 5' 4". My bust is a bit smaller. My shoulders are a bit broader (but also not linebacker). I also have the high waist thing going on. My legs aren't technically short, but they're not long, either, and for me, the shortness shows up in my calves, vs. my thighs. And my waist is a couple of inches smaller. But we are pretty darned close!

Angie pegged me as smack dab in the middle between a rectangle and slim hourglass. So that's my story and I am sticking to it!!

As far as the strong shoulder line goes....I actually feel as if I lucked out in that department. And instead of following IT guidelines, I like to flout them and emphasize my shoulders, the way you did in your wedding gown. I feel that having the breadth without too much beef (IYKWIM) can lends a sort of natural structure and gives me a certain presence -- while at the same time not making clothes too hard to fit. I feel like letting my shoulders assert themselves can make the rest of me seem slim, too.

Of course I may be deluding myself on this point!

Mamapicklejuice

Veteran

Yes, rectangle!

Aziraphale

Veteran

RoseandJoan -- sounds like you've been reading Imogen! I like her body type descriptions too. I used Angie's and Imogen's to try to figure out what I am, but of course not many people fit perfectly into one category.

Ornella -- aw, c'mon, it's not cheating. I look just like that! Only in real life, I have a face.

Seriously, though, this works better than a photo in a way, because it's hard to get the right angle with a camera. Something always gets distorted -- whatever's closest to the lens is bigger, unless you take it from really far away. I think it's less distorted when I just use my eyes. Plus, this is way more fun.

Ingunn, Suz -- sounds like we have some similarities! Suz, I'm not saying square shoulders are a bad thing in and of themselves. But on me, because I'm quite short, they can easily look a little "linebacker-ish" with the addition of even a little bit of shoulder padding, like on a coat or blazer. Even a few additional inches in height would help, as it is with you. The IT shape is always described as "statuesque", and despite my strong shoulder line, it's hard to be statuesque when you're really short!

rae

(website)

Veteran

Love the drawing! You look a bit like my shape from the front, though my measurements are a bit different, since my curves are mostly visible side-on. For that reason, I say rectangle/straight-ish hourglass. Can't wait to see the sketches of clothes!

Aziraphale

Veteran

Thanks, Rae!

You know what's weird? I had always thought my body was a little atypically-shaped, and yet here are all these people saying that it resembles their own: Una, Angie, Ingunn, Julie, Suz, Rae. It makes me wonder *why* I thought it was atypical. Maybe it's because, when I try on off-the-rack clothes, some element of each garment is often not right? So I assumed my body was just shaped funny?

I've often read the assertion that "It's not you; it's the clothes". I think there must be some truth to that. I bet if we all had our clothes made to fit (if that were a reasonable option!), we would grow up feeling more comfortable in our own skins. I'm getting better at guessing what things will fit, and my recent discovery that I should be buying petite sizes was a true epiphany (duh, I'm a slow learner), but still, fit is an issue. It always has been. YLF has helped me see that I'm not alone, and that my body isn't "weird" and neither is anyone else's.

catgirl

Veteran

Well, you've seen ALL of us - who do you feel most resembles you in body type?

Aziraphale

Veteran

Una, your body looks quite a lot like mine, especially since you're the same height. But you're more IT than me. You have more muscle development in your arms and shoulders (must be all the rock climbing), whereas I have weak little twiggy arms with bony joints, which end in fingers that resemble bird claws.

I think, if pressed, I'd have to say I'm somewhere in between you and Suz. Or maybe like a squashed-down version of Angie. Maybe a little like Rae, too, although she says she looks different from the side, and I can't remember what she looks like from the side.

ETA you know what, I posted three actual photos of me on Angie's wedding thread. I'm going to take them down in a bit, but if you're really curious, you could look at them. I'm still pretty much the same size. It's only my face that looks older, and I photoshopped that out anyway.

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

Really great skills here. You have a fantastic shape. It is very well balanced and symmetrical. Leonardo would love to draw you. I see a rectangle.

Scarlet

Veteran

What a great idea! I am also intrigued because I think my measurements are very similar, but my shape is still a bit more hourglassy? Maybe I should try drawing it and the proportions would probably become more clear to me. I love your explanation about your waist. I think I have the same phenomenon--the organs have got to live somewhere, right? but my hipbones are just wider set.

ETA: I read that book but didn't get the reference. I had forgotten the names. Mainly the ending is what stuck with me. Bad grade for reading comprehension for me I read it while on a Terry Pratchett kick where I read several books quickly. I have a new one on my dresser awaiting me, actually. It's been awhile. I think I overdosed on his humor.