Understanding your body shape plays an important role in how well a certain outfit looks on you. Many women struggle with finding the right pair of bottoms and they often end up buying tons of clothes, but yet feel like have nothing to wear. That’s because buying bottoms that do not suit your silhouette can make the overall outfit look unflattering.
Therefore, in curating a functional and flattering wardrobe, it’s good to learn about your specific body shape and choose your bottoms accordingly. When you find a comfy pair of bottoms for women, they can accentuate your silhouette and enhance your overall appearance.
Pick Bottoms for Your Body Shape
Knowing your body shape can help you identify your specific silhouette features so you can start dressing in outfits that align with your body contours. It’s an effective way to create a wardrobe staple that is built to last. Picking the right pair of pants, jeans or the right fit of a skirt will complement your figure and expand your fashion choices.
Hourglass Shape
An hourglass-shaped body has a contoured waist shape which is slimmer compared to the hips and bust. If you have hips and a bust equal in measurements and a narrow waist, you’re most likely to fall under this category.
The goal for women that have hourglass shapes is to accentuate their waist and showcase their curves. Women with this shape will mostly benefit from wearing high-waisted bottoms like flared and wide-leg trousers or jeans, pencil or wrap skirts, fit and flare skirts, bodycon skirts and belted bottoms.
There are so many styling variations to play and experiment with, and these types of bottoms can be particularly flattering to an hourglass body and help bring out the best of the silhouette.
Pear Shape
A pear-shaped body is called so because it resembles a pear. Distinguishing features of this shape are a slimmer top and a broader or wider lower part of the body. So, if your shoulders and chest area appear to be slimmer than your hips, you may be considered to fall into this category.
Here the goal would be to balance out the proportions by visually minimizing the width of hips and thighs. One of the options to achieve that is focusing on buying skirts and shorts with A-lines, women’s bottoms in darker colours, bootcut and flared jeans or shorts, wide-leg pants, high-waisted pants and skirts or straight-leg trousers and jeans.
If you want to incorporate something playful, yet something that will not draw attention to the hips, pick bottoms that have certain patterns or details at the waist. By doing that, you’ll be able to draw attention to the upper part of the body and create a more balanced visual look.
Apple Shape
Some call it apple shape and some define it as a round shape. This body shape is characterized by wider shoulders, slimmer hips and no defined waist. The waist may appear identical or wider than the shoulders and hips.
The goal here is to draw attention away from the waist, and instead, emphasize the other parts of the body. Apple-shaped women should look for pants that will create a curvier silhouette at the bottom and that will create some shape at the waist. You can also opt for shorts and skirts that will reveal your beautiful legs and draw attention to your body parts making you feel most confident. This will help you keep the attention away from the body parts you’re trying to hide.
The most flattering options would be high-rise straight-leg pants and jeans, a flared style of trousers and jeans, or bootcut pants and jeans. If flared pants are not your cup of tea, try incorporating wide-leg pants. High-waist skinny and slim bottoms also work very well on apple shapes since they can visually elongate your legs.
Rectangle Shape
If your body appears to have somewhat equal shoulders, hips and waist measurements, then you may be assumed to have a rectangle shape. This body type is also called an athletic build body. Having this shape typically means that you accumulate weight evenly.
Of course, a rectangle shape can look fairly different on short and tall women, so when choosing a good fit of bottoms, height should also be taken into consideration. If you find yourself falling under this category, there is a wide range of bottom styles and designs that you can experiment with.
Tailored pants work very well for rectangle shapes and you can pair them with nearly any top to create your preferred style. Also, wide-flowing pants can be very effective for creating a more balanced or hourglass-like silhouette if paired with a nice and fitting top. Denim maxi skirts or tulip skirts are another good choice when it comes to creating an alluring silhouette and fitted shape. You should avoid low-rise jeans and pants and opt for mid to high-waist bottoms instead.
Inverted Triangle Shape
The inverted triangle shape appears to have bigger proportions on the upper part of the body than on the lower part. Essentially it means that your shoulders are larger or wider than your hips, and the bust area is somewhat more similar in size to your hips.
Here the goal is to create volume at the hips and add in some curves at the lower part. Various styling options can help you to achieve that. Don’t be afraid to play with bold patterns or colourful pants as they create visually more weight at the bottom which is the desired goal.
Bottoms with pockets such as cargo pants or cargo skirts and trousers with hip embellishments can be a great enhancement of the lower part to help create a more balanced look.
Women with an inverted triangle shape can experience the visual appeal of wearing straight-leg pants, wide-leg cropped and wide-leg bottoms, flared or bootcut pants, A-line skirts and flare skirts as well as culottes. Cullotes are a good fashion choice since they create a wider silhouette at the bottom, which will balance out the wide shoulders and create a more harmonious look.
However, keep in mind that the specific body types are not set in stone. Your body can have a combination of certain features of several body shapes. You don’t need to follow a strict guideline when it comes to choosing bottoms according to the category you fall in. But it can still be helpful to know what types of bottoms for women suit you the best because it opens up an entire world of styling possibilities.