Sarah, yes, I'm afraid to trace myself for the same reason. I like thinking I am better proportioned than I really am. But I guess the upside is, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know!

Astrid, we must be related.

I can't for the life of me find it. It could be gone by now, I've had that happen with saved links. Here are some closely related measuring techniques http://www.implantinfo.com/med.....-Size.aspx This one still adds the 4" to underbust though.
And this one looks like you have to buy the 'system' itself harumph. http://www.getsizedup.com/how.html
They both measure the breast with soft tape measure, not a ruler straight across like the thing I read. But same idea of not measuring your back since it's not going into the cups lol!

Mo, that is helpful, thanks. I'm off to read.
Re: that is hilarious about "not measuring your back because that's not going into the cups lol'! I could just use egg sizes for myself, medium, large, extra large or jumbo. All relative terms of course!

This is very interesting - I used to make a lot of my clothes so got to know my body well too. That is why I don't like "rules" as such. A three-dimensional body is not just measurements; it's also visual weight, bone structure, colouring etc.

I just finished reading a book about Balenciaga & one of the things that I found really interesting was, that when they undid some of his dresses to mend them, they found that what looked to be straight seams were really curved, which was apparently really flattering. I'm still trying to work that one out.

After reading this complete thread I came to the conclusion that I used to be elliptical but now I am round. Weight changes, osteoporosis shrinkage, and age has done it. Has anyone else found this to true for them? Claire, did you draw your silhouette?

Caro, that last bit was absolutely mind blowing! Really good clothes may not be straight or symmetrical, but they make us look as if we are! What do you know about visual weight? This is the first time I've heard about it:
http://colourmuse.blogspot.com.....ntage.html

BTW, is Lisa Pippus the one that talks about the three different body types: skeletal, muscular and molded --and the types of clothing that look best on each? Very interesting stuff.

Deb, this old body is definitely aging, but I don't have anything "before" to compare it with, just my measurements, the scale (so misleading) and the way my clothes fit. I don't have the large paper, so no, I haven't measured myself yet. Even if I did, I don't think it would be that helpful unless I did it with a group of people. Hey that could be a fun project for the meet up next weekend!

So you know traditional Japanese kimono, done up with an obi sash, right? Totally made for tubes, i.e. round types vs. elliptical ones. I am ethnically Japanese and consider my body to be more round than elliptical. I wonder if ethnic Japanese are more likely to be round statistically speaking?

Donna, I don't know, but Ceit was saying that some of these factors are determined by race and ethnicity, as well as gender and other things. Fascinating!

Hey, so as I was reading the link love post about, er, crotch fit, I found a post by one of the readers describing how different designers create clothing for different body types in 3-D:

Yep. Some manufacturers design for a woman who has weight distributed evenly around the column of her body. Some design for women who are deep from front-to-back but shallow from side-to-side. Some design for women who are shallow from front-to-back but wide from side-to-side. You’ll just have to try on lots and lots of garments, from lots and lots of brands, to find what fits you best.

Per LinB, halfway down the blog post here:

http://www.alreadypretty.com/2....._source=fe

Claire, you hit on it exactly when you wondered why people were telling you your skirts looked too big. Same thing has happened to me here with pencil skirts! I ended up sending a couple back and ordering petite and then letting the hem down on those! Strange solution, but it worked, because the SEAMS are in a different place on me!!

This has been a great discussion -- I can't wait to follow up on some of the links. Thanks for starting it.

Fascinating! Now that I think about it it makes perfect sense. I have not measured or read all the references but I have no doubt I am round, with narrow hips in front and protruding stomach from the side.

Suz, as I was reading the post I was thinking about slipping between a house and a fence post as a kid when we played hide and seek. I could easily squeeze through a 4" opening.

I have referred to two types of hourglass - the ones with rounder bottoms and larger breasts but narrow rounded shoulders and the longer flatter version like I am. The round vs elliptical is exactly what I was trying to describe.

This is getting really good.

Una, your link sent me off on a very interesting rabbit trail! I need to make sure Peri sees that link since she was talking about crotch fit a while back. The pattern drafting (and how out-sourcing and cheap pattern making try to cut corners to get more garments from the fabric) is the culprit. No wonder premium jeans fit me so much better. Down in the comments I followed a link to fashion incubator and learned all this. Cool.

Suz, thanks for bringing up the point about the skirts. How brilliant you were to find a solution with lengthening the petite skirts. You are really into the fine tuning now. A bunch of this stuff has been rattling around in my head and I haven't had time or energy to type it out until now. More to come!

Shevia and dianthus, thanks for weighing in. Dianthus, it sounds like you were a wee slip of a girl (pun intended)! Amazing all the different body types, and types of types there are. We really are all as different as snowflakes, aren't we?

So interesting! Thanks, Claire for the post. I'm swamped at the moment, so I'll must upon this for awhile.....

CC I first heard of it from the art world - it's to do with which parts of the composition advance or recede. So it's like treating your body, the colours you wear & the clothing shapes as a composition. Carla Mathis wrote "The Triumph of Individual Style" where she explores these concepts. I think Lisa Pippus must have trained with her.

Wow, ClearlyClaire, thank you, you are brilliant!! That is absolutely mindboggling and it never, ever would have occurred to me. It really explains SO much. (And Ceit, yes! I could have written the exact same thing!) As a tall, fairly athletic IT, I've never been overly preoccupied with my weight, EXCEPT when I see myself in photos straight on from the front. I absolutely cringe. I can be standing with others who may be shorter, heavier, etc. but I always look flat-out (pun intended!) gigantic by comparison, even if I know I probably in actuality weigh less. With a wide ribcage, broad back, no defined waist, angular body, and broad shoulders, 2-D front-view photos are not my friend! (Yikes, this may not help me get over my fear of posting pics...or if you only see the side of my outfits, now you'll know why!)

I'd like to know more about visual weight. I do believe you can't just look at someone's measurements and know their body type. Height, bone structure and vertical proportions also come into play.

I wear a 34B bra, which on a taller woman doesn't look like much at all. People look at me and say I'm busty. Also, I'm short waisted, so there's not as much room between my bust and my waist. That makes the bust-waist-hip ratio (on me it's 36-27-36) more pronounced. I'm definitely an hourglass, and the style tips in the article below really work for me:

http://www.joyofclothes.com/st.....rglass.php

This website provides help for other body types as well, so it's worth taking a look.

I saw this thread yesterday and was intrigued by the topic. I realized that the perspective discussed would be looking down on the body from above while standing. Then it became easy to understand round or elliptical. (Eureka!)
So I realized that I am round not elliptical. This answers the question why some trousers ands jeans sadly bag and slouch where if I were elliptical my hips would be. This is why you'll never see a side profile of me there is way too much rollercoaster action going on and why I look better from the front (3/4 views are best for me.) Now I'll read everyone else's responses.

A-ha, now I have a name for why I always look so much thinner from the side view. Interesting thread, thanks Claire and everyone who's replied

I followed your links, Claire, and Una's. So interesting. I know about visual weight from art as well. But I never really applied it to myself and clothes. Had no idea how to, actually. It was bookending that helped me make sense of it. Bookending is a way of balancing visual weight. Now, I still have a long way to go to do this successfully in practice. Lots of my outfits fail because of visual weight issues. This is especially true in winter because I end up relying on dark bottoms. In my climate they are more practical, plus, it is next to impossible to find light coloured boots! So I'm left in a bit of a quandary. If I have dark bottoms, I need dark on top too (because of having light hair). But too much dark is too heavy feeling for my face and features and colouring.

"Pops" of light can help....and using a lot of midtones.

Aha! Visual weight! This thread is one light-bulb moment after another for me! Thank you, Suz, for putting into words and so succinctly explaining something I just couldn't quite put my finger on. With my fair skin/fair hair/low contrast somehow I have always known something is *off* when I try dark bottoms or dark outfits, and I have begun to understand bookending, but this just makes SO much sense. This, coupled with Angie's blog post on white jeans today and ClearlyClaire's explanation of "elliptical" body shapes, is so eye-opening and revolutionary to me. Now, if only I could figure out how to take this newfound knowledge and apply it to my real-life wardrobe!!

Another light bulb just popped on here. Elliptical all the way. I love the oversize slouchy sweater look...think Vince...however I'm always putting on a long pendant necklace with it. My shoulders and ribcage are so broad that I need something to break up all that real estate.
Thank you Claire and all posters on this thread. This has been one of the most enlightening threads that I have read here.

i'm tagging this thread for a more through read tomorrow when i can click thru all the links.
i never really thought about most of these issue- i kind of just thought about over all height and weight....