By now, I hope everyone’s figured out his or her body type. If you’re still not sure, email me and we’ll figure it out together. So, now what do you do?
Let’s start with the A-frame, the person who has hips wider than his or her shoulders. The trick here is to balance the shoulder so they appear to be the same width as the hips. First, some things you should avoid:
- Avoid pants and skirts with pleats. These will only accentuate the width of your hips.
- Avoid sleeveless tops. These will point out your narrow shoulder width.
Let’s look at an example. I’ve chosen the lovely Jennifer Love Hewitt. Oh, how I wish she would hire me as her stylist. Whoever dresses her now just doesn’t get it. Take a look.
Notice that you can see exactly how much wider her hips are than her shoulders. I know she likes to show off her, ahem, assets, but she can do that and still wear sleeves. Take a look at this other picture of her.
Now, I know this is not full length, but you can see a difference anyway. Your eyes are drawn upward. There is a balanced appearance. The sleeves aren’t much, but they make a big difference.
Other things you can do to create that balanced illusion:
- Add shoulder pads. Automatic width.
- Buy separates to get the perfect fit for both your top and your hips.
- Fit your hips first, and alter the rest of the garment to fit (we can all sew, right?
) - Choose billowy tops paired with straight, smooth bottoms
- Above all, accentuate your waist. Even when we are overweight, accentuating the waist creates the illusion of the hourglass. Wear a belt. Tie a scarf around your waist. Accessorize!
And remember, all of this can be done with modesty in mind. Form-fitting clothes obviously will not work for us the way they do for J-Love.
I’m sure I’ve missed something, so feel free to ask questions and I will answer as best I can.
Thanks so much for these “classes”, Janna.
So does this mean I should wear my shirts tucked in? I never do…And like I have no idea what kinds of belts to wear. Yes, I am pretty pitiful when it comes to fashion. Admittedly, I go for comfort first. It’s just my stage of life. But I do want to look my best. Can you dig up any pics of “real people” wearing casual, comfortable clothes that help the A frame look more hourglass?
Again, thanks so much for doing this…I think it is so cool!
Comment by Brandi — April 16, 2007 @ 8:04 am
Brandi - I’ll see what I can find! You have no idea how many hundreds of pics of J-Love I had to go through to find one where she had sleeves!!
Try wearing your shirt tucked in, but even wearing a belt over a longer shirt would work well.
And we’ll get into what types of clothes and accessories more later!
Comment by Jana — April 16, 2007 @ 8:43 am
I’m not sure that the 2nd picture of Jennifer draws the eyes upwards. ;O) She is definitely not following the “4 fingers under the collarbone” rule of modesty. Brandi - have you every watched “What not to wear” on TLC? I think they have really great pointers. One of the things they are always saying is to buy shirts or jackets that have darting (i think this is the spelling) that accentuates your waist.
Comment by Mandi — April 16, 2007 @ 9:25 am
Tucking your shirt in can look okay, but it can look really *wrong* too.
Rather, I’d try for the tailored, button up type shirt with some sleeves (a small ‘puff’ is in right now). Something like this:
And you can add some jewelry to draw focus upwards (maybe something Blest has crafted??
)
Comment by Cara — April 16, 2007 @ 9:31 am
Hm. Picture didn’t post. How do we post something - I use a photobucket account?
Comment by Cara — April 16, 2007 @ 9:32 am
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/Caramommy/shirt2.jpg[/IMG]
Comment by Cara — April 16, 2007 @ 9:32 am
Nope, still didn’t work.
Comment by Cara — April 16, 2007 @ 9:33 am
I don’t think you can post pictures in comments. You can post links though. Likethis.
Comment by Bekki — April 16, 2007 @ 9:57 am
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/Caramommy/shirt2.jpg
How do you make it go *this*??(with the link in the word like that?)
Comment by Cara — April 16, 2007 @ 10:19 am
With xhtml tags.
My code for the link looks like this, but with angle brackets instead of square brackets.
[a title=”Cara’s pretty shirt” href=”the url of the picture”]this[/a].
Comment by Bekki — April 16, 2007 @ 10:35 am
Cara - absolutely right! One of the things I forgot to mention was puffy sleeves. A-shape figures can wear puffy sleeves almost with impunity (there is such a thing as TOO puffy, of course!). Jewelry is also a good idea, particularly necklaces and earrings that dangle. If you are larger-chested, though, keep the necklace above the bustline.
Comment by Jana — April 16, 2007 @ 10:45 am
Mandi - LOL! Upwards, like not toward her hips. True, your eyes might not make it all the way to her face…
Comment by Jana — April 16, 2007 @ 10:47 am
Jana, thanks so much for the info! When will you be covering style for H frame? I think that’s what I am but I’m really not sure. Can you help? I don’t think I’m narrow anywhere, but who knows.
Comment by Cristina — April 16, 2007 @ 11:07 am
Thanks, Jana, this is a great post. I look forward to more!
Comment by missy — April 16, 2007 @ 12:24 pm
Cristina - I think I’ll do H next, as time allows.
Comment by Jana — April 16, 2007 @ 7:14 pm