Body shapes – Triangle (Pear)

Hi, thanks for stopping by.
I’m currently developing an online course about how to dress your body and I want to make it as useful as possible! If there is something that bothers you when it comes to your body shape and you want the issue addressed, you can vent your frustrations here.

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Triangle or pear body shape is characterized by full hips, a defined waist and shoulders that may slope and are narrower than the hips. The top half of this body shape appears small.

Celebrities who possess this body type:

Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Rihanna

To create balance aim to accentuate your bust and minimize your bottom and hips. In other words, keep all the fun on your top half.

Fabrics:

For the lower half of the body:
Choose fabrics carefully. Avoid stiff materials. The fabric you are looking for will be soft but firm (high thread count) and elastic. It may be called viscose/rayon, ponte-knit (combination of viscose/rayon, polyester and spandex), techno jersey, lyocell/tencel. Soft, fluid silks, chiffons, wool crepe, jerseys, fine knits and fabrics cut on the bias that drape easily are also good choices.

For the top half of the body you can choose:

• Light fabrics and wear them layered.

• Medium to heavyweight fabrics

• Textured fabrics which add volume, for example, corduroy, velvet, tweed, cable knits, bouclé

• All types of woolen fabrics

• Crisp cotton and linen, which add bulk.

Patterns:

Any patterns are great to draw attention to your upper half.

Clothing lines:

Be careful with:

Jeans. When jeans are naturally faded, it also gives an illusion of more voluminous legs. Think of when you draw an apple, a ball, a mug, or something else with a spherical shape; you add light and shadow to make it seem voluminous. The same principle applies here.

Picture from risovaniee.ru

Skinny. As I mentioned in my previous post the contrast between slim ankles and full hips may make the latter look bigger and heavier. In this case, add some volume to the ankles, for example, ankle boots.

Stiff skirts, details, patterns, bright/light colors on your skirts and trousers will draw attention to the bigger part of your body and can make your hips look bigger. Then you will need to add some extra volume to your upper half to balance the hips. But after adding volume everywhere, your head may seem small, so you will need to add volume there too. In the end, you may become a few sizes bigger than you are, so think twice before choosing garments which enlarge your hips.

Halter necks, raglan sleeves, tight-fitting/single-layered tops won’t add any volume to your upper half, so your figure will still be unbalanced.

You should avoid:
Tops and jackets that end at your widest point. They should end either above or below your widest point.

Remember that these recommendations are for an average Triangle (pear) body shape. We are all unique with different proportion, colours, style personalities and so on, that need to be considered.

To be honest, I think that this approach to dressing is quite dated.. I described what I do instead in this post:
– How to determine your body shape and proportions.

You may also want to read this post:
– 5 Reasons Why You Don’t Need to Know Your Body Shape

If you have any questions, please comment below.

If you need help defining your body shape and finding the right clothes, then a personal online consultation might be interesting for you 👇

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