Determine Your Body Shape
- Thrift Treasures
- Apr 22, 2019
- 3 min read
Body Shapes or Body Types are a classification system used to distinguish individuals in accordance to the shape of their body.
Classifications of female body sizes are mainly based on the circumference of the bust-waist-hip (BWH), as in 36–24–36 (inches) respectively. In this case, the waist-hip ratio is 24/36 = 0.67. Many terms or classifications are used to describe body shape types:
V shape: Males tend to have proportionally smaller buttocks, bigger chests and wider shoulders, wider latissimus dorsi and a small waist which makes for a V-shape of the torso.
Hourglass shape: The female body is significantly narrower in the waist both in front view and profile view. The waist is narrower than the chest region due to the breasts, and narrower than the hip region due to the width of the buttocks, which results in an hourglass shape.
Pear or spoon or bell: The hip section is wider than the upper body, mainly in females.
Rectangle or straight or banana: The hip, waist, and shoulder sections are relatively similar.
Knowing your body shape allows you to focus on the parts that you like in your body when you style yourself and hide the parts you like less. Since your body type depends on correct measurements, today we will show you how to determine your measurements correctly.
To start measuring, you should be in your underwear or wear light clothes like tights/leggings and a vest (no bras).
a) Bust
To measure your bust area, take a tape measure and circle it round the widest part of your bra. Do make sure that the tape is completely horizontal.
b) Waist
Measure the smallest part of your abdomen (found above the belly button-just below the ribcage).
c) High Hips
Measure the area just below your belly button, where the hip bones begin.
d) Low Hips
Measure the widest part of your hips
Got all four measurements? Good. So next time you want to buy clothes online, instead of trying to figure out if US Size 6 is UK size 10 and so on and so forth, use the table below to determine what size of clothes to buy.
Click this link to a body shape calculator and determine your body shape.
The algorithm used in this calculator is based on a study published in the International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, which breaks down the body shapes of women into 7 categories. There are very wide ranges of actual sizes within each shape. Also, some body shapes may not fit into any of the shapes listed below.
Hourglass
If (bust - hips) ≤ 1" AND (hips - bust) < 3.6" AND (bust - waist) ≥ 9" OR (hips - waist) ≥ 10"
Bottom hourglass
If (hips - bust) ≥ 3.6" AND (hips - bust) < 10" AND (hips - waist) ≥ 9" AND (high hip/waist) < 1.193
Top hourglass
If (bust - hips) > 1" AND (bust - hips) < 10" AND (bust - waist) ≥ 9"
Spoon
If (hips - bust) > 2" AND (hips - waist) ≥ 7" AND (high hip/waist) ≥ 1.193
Triangle
If (hips - bust) ≥ 3.6" AND (hips - waist) < 9"
Inverted triangle
If (bust - hips) ≥ 3.6" AND (bust - waist) < 9"
Rectangle
If (hips - bust) < 3.6" AND (bust - hips) < 3.6" AND (bust - waist) < 9" AND (hips - waist) < 10"
You can now determine the style of clothes to wear to either focus on the parts that you like in your body and hide the parts you like less.
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