The Secret to Dressing For Your Body Shape
Posted by Jen Anderson on
I get asked about this a lot. Like, A LOT. There's so much delightful variation in how our bodies are shaped - a lot more variation than in how our clothes are shaped. Which is where it gets confusing.
How great would it be if our clothes came with little icons on the tags letting us know which body shapes will be happiest in each garment? Clothes shopping would be so easy! But the women's apparel industry can't even manage standardized sizing, so that's not going to happen anytime soon.
You can dive into my previous posts (starting with the epic The Ultimate Plus Size Guide to Dressing For Your Body Shape) but that's an overwhelming amount of information and quite the time commitment. So I'll give you the overarching secret that leads to all the detailed rules.
The Secret
On the most basic level, dressing for your body shape comes down to giving your body the room it needs to move and breathe, and not much more.
For example, if I try to put a straight up and down sheath dress on my apple pear body, it's going to be either too tight across my hips or too baggy across my chest. Either way, I'm going to look sloppy and uncomfortable.
Sure, if I were a celebrity or wealthy or good at sewing, I could buy the larger size and have it taken in here and there so I get a perfect custom fit. But who has the energy? Especially when there are easier options.
Option 1 - Reject certain styles
Not every style is right for your body. And that's OK. If you try on something and you don't love how it fits, garments shaped like that one probably aren't for you. Taking this approach lets you quickly eliminate pieces so you can focus in on clothes that you're going to love.
This sounds like it could get boring, but it really isn't. (Besides, knowing that I can reach into the closet and grab something I'll love to wear every single time is the kind of boring I can get behind.) Vikki Vi's T-Shirt Style Dress makes up a substantial percentage of my wardrobe. Different colors, prints, and fabrics bring so much variation that I'm not sure my friends have even noticed that I keep showing up in the same style.
This is one of the reasons why Vikki Vi has such a devoted following. Once you find a few styles that you like, you just have to keep an eye out for new colors and prints that catch your eye. You don't have to worry about how it's going to fit.
Option 2 - Look for wiggle room
Pun intended. Kinda. Anyway, to go back to my sheath dress example, there are sheath-style dresses that get a little a-line in the skirt area. So if I really want that look, I just need to find specific garments that give me everything that I need.
You can also get that wiggle room from the fabric. Vikki Vi knit fabrics stretch without losing their drape. If you lay our Maxi Tank Dress flat, you'll see that it has straight sides. If you look at photos of our models wearing this dress, you'll notice that their bodies don't necessarily have straight sides. The fabric stretches to accommodate their hips without pulling or clinging.
Not all knit material behaves that way - you need to look for fabric with a little weight to it.
OK, but...
Yeah, I know. You could really use some specific-to-you advice. To get that, you need to start with a long, non-judgmental look at your body so you can figure out which body parts need more room. Then you can dive into my Ultimate Guide, or ask for advice in our welcoming Facebook Group, We Love Vikki Vi.