Published 23rd April 2014
By Ashleigh Randall
Choosing the perfect wedding dress can be such a battle and you usually have an idea in your head of what you like, but then go for something completely different. There are a few factors you may want to consider before even looking at designs, such as your body shape and boob size plus making sure the dress is in proportion to your body. You really want to ‘flaunt what you’ve got’.
BODY SHAPES
Stereotypically, there are 5 body shapes or types which include the hourglass, rectangle, pear shape, apple and inverted triangle. These are the 5 most common and almost every woman can categorise themselves to one of these.
HOURGLASS
With an hourglass figure, you want a dress which compliments both curves – hips, thighs and bust. If you are this shape, you will likely have a small waist so why not emphasize it? If you like your shoulders, a strapless more boob-tube style dress which cinches in at the waist and shows off your curves would be a perfect option. Choose one that has a slight dip along the neckline, like a sweetheart, rather than a style that goes straight across which will make your bust appear even larger. In terms of the bottom of the dress, as long as your curves have definition in the dress, just choose what you like the most. The dress pictured is the mermaid/fish tail dress.
INVERTED TRIANGLE
With an inverted triangle figure, you want to emphasise your bust and make yourself look like you have hips. Again, a strapless dress brings out the bust, then stopping at the waist and flaring out to cover over your hips. In this dress below, the top half is structured yet the bottom half is flowing. You want to bring more attention to the assets you do have and maybe using a hoop skirt depending on the style of dress you go for which will still highlight your slenderness and camouflage a lack of hips.
RECTANGLE
As a rectangle body shape, you have more of an option to what style would look best. Like the inverted triangle, you can enhance your hips by going for a ball gown style bottom or go for a completely straight dress. A dress with no straps again would look great on your body shape but if want to bring more attention to your top half, try choosing a dress which has larger detailed straps like the straight dress below. This takes away your bust being smaller and makes the dress in proportion to your shape. Plus a ruched bodice, like the first picture, with extra fabric up top will help fill out your upper body and create the illusion of curves.
PEAR
With a pear shaped figure, you want to find a dress that gradually flares out in an A formation from the waist highlighting the narrowness of the midsection and floating away from the hips and thighs as in the first picture below. Sturdier fabrics are especially effective as they won’t cling. A V neckline or thinner straps will make the upper part look more slender, like the second picture. You don’t want to emphasise the pear shaped hips so you would want to keep away from styles which are tighter in that area. The waist needs to be cinched in, showing off other parts of your body.
APPLE
With an apple shaped figure, you want a dress that cinches in at the smallest point on the waistline, then flares out into a gradual A shape. Opt for a top half with a lot of texture to it as that will camouflage and fit snugly. The most slenderizing neckline for you is one with a deep V, which will draw eyes toward the vertical, not the horizontal. Again similar to the pear you want to show off the smaller parts of your waist and drawing less attention to the larger parts. The dress pictured below shows a deep V neckline which is flattering for the upper body with a nice non-cling material flowing again over the hips.
