To determine what to wear for an A (pear or triangle) Body Shape, one needs to understand what design lines enhance this shape. If you’re one of the many women whose bone and muscle structure creates this Body Shape, be encouraged and learn to love your body.
Women with this Body Shape are beautiful. In the middle ages this Body Shape was revered because after the dark ages of death and disease, people wanted to repopulate and this Body Shape was the best for carrying and giving birth. This fact is still true today. But with modern science All Body Shapes survive giving birth.
Maybe we aren’t giving birth to babies under dangerous circumstances as in the past, but we are giving birth to new ideas. I have an A Body Shape and gave birth to one human baby; and I’m in the process of birthing the idea that all women were born with greatness that needs to be shared with the world to make it a better place to live. This Body Shape gives you the energy to grow and birth your great ideas.
I believe all women are born beautiful. One needs to understand what clothes have the right design lines and colors to enhance this natural beauty. For any Body Shape it’s about understanding the silhouette of the clothes and placement of horizontal and vertical lines. To learn more about Body Shape and the clues it gives you, read my blog post, What Are Your Body Shape Clues.
Anatomy Of An A (Pear, Triangle) Body Shape
What is an A (pear or triangle) Shape? It’s when the:
- Waist is smaller than the shoulders
- Shoulders are smaller than the hips
- Hips are wider than both the shoulders and waist
Bone and muscle structure create this Body Shape. Hip bones are the widest part of the bone structure. It’s something that can’t be decreased through dieting. Many women with this bone structure have more muscle structure around the butt and thigh areas. It also can’t be decreased through dieting.
My hip bones are slightly wider than my shoulders. In my younger days I had more muscle structure in the butt area. I also have side saddles where my legs and hips meet. They stick out causing my hips to appear even wider. This area isn’t all fat because I have had them since I was 12 years old and weighed 105 pounds. At that time I was 5’7” so I wasn’t fat. All through my twenties and for the first half of my thirties my waist was 23 inches and my hips were 37 inches. I had an A Body Shape and was never fat. In fact I was considered underweight.
Now that I’m older some of the muscle has disappeared and fat has replaced it. I still have the side saddles and my hips are slightly wider than my shoulders.
Now that you understand the anatomy of an A (pear or triangle) Body Shape, it’s time to determine what to wear by understanding which design lines will enhance this Body Shape. As I said above there are three design lines that need to be evaluated:
- Silhouette of clothes
- Horizontal line placement
- Vertical line placement
The sections below will be divided up into these three sections.
What To Wear -- Silhouette Of Clothes
Clothes’ silhouettes are divided up into two different categories:
- Angular
- Curved
Clothes with an angular silhouette have no indentation at the waist. In most of these clothes, the shoulders, waist and hips appear to be all the same width. Angular Body Shapes should wear clothes with angular silhouettes. These Body Shapes are:
- H or rectangle
- V or inverted triangle
- O or apple
In a curved silhouette, the waist appears to be smaller than both the shoulders and hips. Curved Body Shapes should wear clothes with curved silhouettes. These Body Shapes are:
- A or pear or triangle
- S or figure eight (transition at the waist is curved)
- X (transition at the waist is angular)
Since the A (pear or triangle) Body Shape is curved, look for curved silhouette clothes where the waist appears smaller than the hips and shoulders.
How can you tell? In most cases hold the clothes up and you can see that they indent at the waist. These are a few examples:
One thing you need to understand is that the fashion industry doesn’t design a lot of curved silhouette clothes. They design for an H or rectangle Body Shape which has an angular silhouette. I believe they do this because most design lines look great on this Body Shape. You’ll understand this point in the sections below when we discuss the placement of horizontal and vertical lines.
That being said this fashion season, spring 2021, there are a lot of flowy dresses with lots of space in the hip area, which is perfect for us A (pear, triangle) Body Shapes:
What To Wear -- Placement of Horizontal Lines
I wrote about horizontal lines in, Horizontal Lines: Friend Or Foe. Horizontal lines:
- Stop your eye and bring focus to an area
- Widen the area
- Shorten the area
Look at these rectangles and notice where your eye stops, how the rectangles with a horizontal lines appear wider and shorter than the one without a horizontal line:
The first question you need to ask yourself is: “Where do I want the focus to go?” And then ask yourself: “Is there an area I want to add width?”
Now let’s first look at how horizontal lines look on an H or rectangle Body Shape.
Notice how the horizontal lines look great anywhere they’re placed. Now let’s look at the A (pear or triangle) Body Shape:
When the horizontal line is placed at the hips focus goes right there and the hips appear even wider than they are. On the other hand, notice when the horizontal line is placed at the shoulders: the focus goes to the shoulders, and they appear wider and magically the body appears more balanced.
When the horizontal line is placed at the waist it emphasizes the waist. Because it’s the thinnest part of the body the added width isn’t noticeable. Also if you carry weight in this area, a horizontal line will emphasize it.
What does this tell us? If you have an A (pear or triangle) Body Shape, place horizontal lines at the shoulders because they create overall balance.
Now you may wonder where you can find horizontal lines at the shoulders. Here are some examples of horizontal lines at the shoulders:
What To Wear -- Placement of Vertical Lines
I wrote about vertical lines in, Vertical Lines Can Be A Foe. Vertical lines:
- Draw your eye up and down
- Elongate your appearance and make you look taller
- Cut your body vertically, creating a slimmer profile
Look at these rectangles and notice how your eye is drawn up and down. Also notice how the rectangles with a vertical line appear taller and slimmer than the one without a vertical line.
The first question you need to ask yourself with respect to vertical lines is: “What area(s) do I want to draw my eye over?” The second one is: “Which area(s) do I want to make slimmer?”
Vertical Line Placement For H Body Shape Vs A Body Shape
Now let’s first look at how vertical lines look on an H or rectangle Body Shape.
Notice how all the vertical lines look great on this Body Shape.
Look at the vertical line in the last picture. It represents the center front line of a pair of pants. Notice how the H or rectangle Body Shape looks great.
Now let’s look at the A (pear or triangle) Body Shape:
Notice how your eye flows over the hip area when the vertical line goes through the hips. When the princess lines start at the arms (fifth picture), the shoulders appear more in balance with the hips. Finally when the vertical lines go from the neck/shoulder and transition to the armpits, the shoulders appear even smaller than the hips. This vertical line represents a raglan sleeve, so it’s best to avoid this type of sleeve.
For the A (pear or triangle) Body Shape the center front vertical line of pants is perfect. The eye passes over the hips and they appear thinner.
Here are some examples of how to create other vertical lines in clothes for this Body Shape:
Summary
For the A (pear, triangle) Body Shape the placement of design lines is critical. These lines create horizontal and vertical lines. Horizontal lines stop your eye, create width and make the area look shorter. Vertical lines move your eye up and down, making the area look thinner and taller.
You want horizontal lines to be placed at the shoulders to make them appear wider creating balance with your hips. You can also place them at your waist, below your bust and mid-hip. Horizontal lines are created by:
- Necklines
- Collars
- Pockets
- Plackets
- Horizontal ruffles
- Hemlines
To determine where they are on an outfit, ask yourself: “Where does my eye stop?”
For vertical lines, place them through the hip area to move your eye over the hips and make them appear thinner. Vertical lines are created by:
- Openings
- Princess lines
- Pockets
- Vertical ruffles
- Belt ties
To determine where they are on an outfit, ask yourself: “Where does my eye easily move up and down?”
In the next blog post you’ll learn which design lines enhance an O Body Shape: What To Wear For The O (Apple) Body Shape.
Wear Your Greatness!!
