WHAT NOT TO WEAR Based on our body shapes and sizes

Shapes and Sizes  Women’s and men’s bodies come in all shapes and sizes.  Five basic body shapes.  Know your body shape

The five body shapes are  The Hourglass  The Triangle  The Inverted Triangle  The Slim Rectangle  The Wide Rectangle

The Hour Glass Defined as  Balanced figure  wide shoulders  full bust  narrow waist  wide hips  Shoulders and hips almost equal

What to wear for The Hourglass  Show off your narrow waist without overemphasizing your hips and bust.

What not to Wear  Empire dresses or tops, especially if you have a full bust.  Large tops

The Triangle Defined as  Narrow shoulders and a small bust extending to significantly wider hips.  Also known as pear shape.

What to Wear – Triangle Shape  Choose designs that have detail at the neck and shoulders, drawing the eye up and out.  Accent scarves and boat necklines  Neckline embroidery  Shoulder yokes or wide collars.  Dark colors on lower body with lighter color above to draw the eye up.

Clothes for Triangle Shape Boat neckline Shoulder yoke

What not to wear – Triangle Shape  Tops or shirts with hemlines that fall directly in line on the hips (drop waist)  Skirts or pants with patch or inseam pockets, bulky side seams, or pleats draw attention to your hips. (e.g. cargo pants)  Short skirts that end well above the knee.

The Inverted Triangle Defined as  Broad shoulders, a full bust, heavy upper arms extending to narrow hips

What to Wear – Inverted Triangle  Details below the waist  Pockets  Pleats  a dropped waist  peplums, yoked skirts  skirts with border prints.  Tops  V-necks  Raglan sleeves  designs to pull the eye down.  Dark colors on the upper body  Lighter colors on the lower body.

Styles for Inverted Triangle Dropped waist Peplum jacket Raglan sleeves

What not to wear  Garments with a lot of upper body detail  wide collars and lapels  Yokes  Ruffles  shoulder pads  Capris or strongly tapered pants

The Slim Rectangle Defined as  Shoulders and hips are very similar in width with little definition at the waistline.  Straight up and down with a lack of curves.

What to Wear – Slim rectangle  Detail on the bust and hips  Horizontal lines  Wide lapels, wide shoulder.  Contrast colors on top and bottom.

What not to Wear – Slim rectangle  Wide waistbands  Blocks of colors at the waist  Large belts  Anything that draws attention to the waist  Large plaids, patterns with vertical stripes should be avoided as well.

The Wide Rectangle  This body shape is nearly straight up and down.  The figure is wider.

What to Wear – Wide rectangle  Muted shades or monochromatic colors  Shoulder or neckline details to draw the eye up.  Princess seams, or center front seam create a vertical line-drawing the line up and down.  Wear narrow pant-legs, straight skirts, shirts with sleeves that taper toward the wrist and vest jackets that fall below the waistline.  Think long!

What to Wear – Wide rectangle

What not to Wear – Wide rectangle  Blocky, bold, contrasting colors  Boxy garments  Large patch pockets, belts and peplums.