Dressing For Your Body Type 3: The Pear Shape

This is part three of the “Dressing for your body type” series. Today, we are taking a look at the Pear shape.

The pear shape has a well-defined waist with the hips wider than the bust. The arms are slim with well-proportioned shoulders. A lot of women have this body shape. The key to dressing this shape is to emphasize the waist, de-emphasize the lower body and add volume to the upper body to give an illusion of an hour-glass appearance.

A major challenge in dressing this shape is finding dresses that will fit both the tiny waist and wide hips. This is because slim-cut dresses may not be wide enough to accommodate the lower half of the body.

Dos

Bright colours and bold patterns for tops
Focus attention upward. Pear-shaped women should focus attention on the upper half of their pear-shaped body by choosing slim, fitted tops, button-down shirts and cardigans
Embellishments around the bust and shoulders to balance out the lower body
Off-shoulder, boat-neck tops, wide V or U neck tops
Tops with fitted waists, draw attention to bust with pockets or details
Lightly gathered skirts that skim your body without adding volume
Pants that fall straight from the widest part of your hip.
Darker coloured bottoms with clean lines and simple stitching
A-line skirts and dresses.
Layer it up. Layering garments can balance a pear-shaped body by adding visual interest to the top half of the body