Short, Regular or Long-Waisted? - YouLookFab Forum

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About: 12 Tips: How To Dress a Short Waist

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Short, Regular or Long-Waisted?

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Many of my clients are short-waisted, and it seems that way on YLF too. Fascinating. Lets take a poll. Are you short, regular or long waisted? (Do the test).

I'll go first. I am regular-waisted. I can fit 2 hand widths between my under bust and natural waist. The distance from my shoulder to hip, and from hip to the bottom of my knee-cap is exactly the same.

Over to you.

General

100 replies

Latest reply was from Jeweled

Astrid

Veteran

Definitely short-waisted - I can fit one hand width.

Kirstjen

Veteran

I am long waisted. By your hand width measurement, I'm approximately 3.5 hand widths from underbust to waist.

Sara L.

Veteran

I can get more than two hand widths between bust and natural waist so that must mean I'm long waisted. I've been told I'm long waisted but I never knew there was a measurement for it until today. I haven't done the shoulder/hip/knee cap measurement yet. I'll have to wait until I'm home this evening to check that.

carter

Veteran

Short! I am one hand width to my natural waist and two hand widths to my hip bone!

Joy

Veteran

Short waisted, one hand.

Dee

Veteran

Short! Just over a hand for me.

Diana

Veteran

Less than one hand here. And I have small hands.

Sheila

Veteran

Short... I bit more than one.

But I think my bust is low slung on my body - genetically and by that awful gravity. Even wire torture devices can't get them higher. It looks like there is about two feet from my neck to the bottom of my bust. I may not look short waisted from behind but the front is a different story.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Short. One hand and a finger to where my waist bends.

Now here's something fun. I did the waist to high hip by hand like Carter, and got -- one hand. There is also one hand between my high hip and my low hip. Ha!!

I do have a slightly long rise and slightly longer thighs in proportion to the rest of me. Also the measurement from mid bust to top of head is long on me. I have a long head, and a long (ish) neck.

I look like Alice when she gets all stretched out....

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Regular bordering on long, 2 1/2 hands

Banoffi

Veteran

Short-waisted. A little over one hand.

Aleta

Exactly two hands between bust and waist, and one inch longer from shoulder to hip than from hip to knee. I think that makes me regular waisted.

Gaylene

Veteran

Easily 3 hands, measured with LARGE hands (size L in a woman's glove is too tight, so I'm usually in a man's S-M). My shoulder to hip and hip to kneecap measurements are exactly the same.

DizzyLizzy

Short. One hand.

gryffin

Veteran

Borderline. I am 15.5" shoulder to hip and 15.5" hip to patella. But hand widths I can fit two hands minus a pinky. I usually test out average but I feel slightly short waisted and I use all the suggested tricks to give a long body line. But I'm pretty close to average. Perception is weird!!

old chic

Regular.

viva

Veteran

Short-waisted and long-legged, I think. (This makes sense to me. High-waisted styles do not work on me, and I've only had to have pants hemmed maybe twice in my life.)

Definitely only one hand to my waist (the smidge from this morning was a result of not standing while measuring!) and a 4-inch differential between shoulder-to-hip and hip-to-knee.

Now I have to figure out how to understand the short v long rise thing.

This is all so interesting! So much of dressing is art; it's fun to focus on the science.

deb

Veteran

I my case, the first step is to push through the fat to find the hip bone. Hmmmm.....The bone used to protrude, what happened?? Anyway, I am 19 inches from shoulder to hip bone and 21.5 from hip bone to below the knee. So short waisted. I always though I was regular.

But Angie, I can fit two hand widths from under bust to natural waist. I am confused. And maybe just my body is weird?

kerlyn

Veteran

Short. One hand plus one finger.

Parsley

Veteran

Definitely short-waisted by both measurements here. It's interesting to confirm by measurement what I've pretty much always known.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

So far, short waisted ladies rule YLF. Fascinating. I'd have guessed regular.

Make sure you are measuring correctly, Deb. Have some else measure you using the second method.

Author Linda

Veteran

Regular waisted. Two hands easily. My shoulder to hip and hip to bottom of kneecap measurements are within an inch of each other. I figured I would come up average in the waist department because I've never experienced some of the fit issues others have talked about.

merwoman

Veteran

Fascinating!

I can fit two widths from under bust to waist.

Shoulder to hip measures 19". Hip to knee-top 17". For hip measurement I chose the iliac crest which approximates the 'fullest' part of my hip.

This confirms exactly what I thought. I am 'regular waist' but long bodied/torsoed with my extra length arising from 'my rise' so to speak. My main fitting issues have always been getting enough length in the rise of a pant/swim suit etc. Great exercise - thank you Angie!

Kat

Veteran

Two hands and a pinky, even measurement shoulder/hip/kneecap bottom. I have a giant head and long neck, though, so look longer from top of head to hips than from hips to the ground..... Hmm. I guess I'm a regular waisted person. (I always thought I was long waisted because I have a hard time with one-piece swimsuits and jumpsuits being too short in the body on me)...

E

Veteran

At 3 handwiths, I'm long waisted, which causes so many fit problems. Especially since I'm also long in the rise. Sigh. Only vintage clothes have a waistband that hits my natural waist; almost all modern dresses/blouses/jackets hit at my significantly wider ribcage instead and until the new high waisted trend, jeans always hit too low on me. My shoulder to hip length is 1" longer than hip to knee.

Gwennie

I'm long waisted at about three hand widths. My hip to knee measurement is a bit longer than shoulder to hip measurement. I do find that peplum and fitted waists usually hit too high and look for things that are relatively straight or non structured at the waist.

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

Barely one hand for me so I am definitely short waisted.

Aquamarine

Veteran

1.5 hands...short-waisted for sure.

Word Lily

Veteran

I'm confused. I can't seem to figure it out.

All my life I've struggled because my torso is long, but these tests make it appear I'm short waisted. I suppose that's possible, right, if my rise is just very high? (And only once ever has someone ever said I had long legs. I don't think that's true, at all.) I've never exactly noticed that, although these days I certainly prefer high-rise jeans.

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