Female Body Shapes : "What body shape am I ?" among the 7 basic figure types

The human body is beautiful. Whatever body shape you are, it is the ideal one. Let me start with this disclaimer, before going into the different body shape types as they are generally categorized.

It is always nice to know what your particular body shape type is. Not only for health reasons ( as it says in this article) but for the sake of fashion as well – to get (buy or make) the fitting clothes that your body deserves.

Check out this post on how to find the best clothes for you depending on your body shape

How to determine your body shape

Measure yourself and compare this with the directions given below and you will know. You need to take body measurements with a tape measure – around the bust, waist, and hip.

On the bust line place the tape on the fullest part of the bust and measure the circumference. On waist place tape measure on the narrowest part and on the hip on the fullest part.

Types of body shapes

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1. Ideal Body Shape

This body shape has bust, hip, and waist in correct proportion, the curves progressively sloping. This figure is shapely without being too much curvy or angular. The difference between hip round and waist round is between 9 – 12 inches. Difference between Bust round and waist round is about 4-5 inches. (The Bra cup size is usually B)

2. Hourglass Body Shape

This is the kind of figure women aspire for, because of the unnaturally thin waist, and bigger than usual hip and bust. Bust round is slightly more than or equal to the hip round with a pronounced small waist.

In this body shape the waist round could be 13 inches or more smaller than the hip round resulting in a very curvy figure.

A celebrity with an Hourglass Body shape : Scarlett Johansson.

3. Triangle body shape

In this body shape (also called Pear) lower body is broader/heavier than the upper body. This is either because the Bust round is less than hip round (by 2 inches or more ) or because the figure has a narrow shoulder and wide hip.
The difference between Waist round and bust round is less than 4 inches. If the Hip is way more heavier than bust with a narrower waist the figure is called a Spoon.

A celebrity with a Triangle body shape: Jennifer Lopez.

4. Inverted Triangle body shape

This body shape has upper body bigger than the lower body. This is either because Bust round is more than the hip round (Bra cup sizes C, D, DD) or because the figure has wide/broad shoulder with a narrow hip.
Typically Waist round is more than 5 inches lesser than bust round

A celebrity with an Inverted Triangle body shape: Angelina Jolie.

5. Rectangle body shape

Also called a Banana shape or the straight shape.
In this body figure, bust and hip are almost the same measurement and difference between hip round and the waist round measurement is not much ( less than 9 inches ) resulting in a straight columnar figure without much curves. If you have this figure you may have an athletic figure.

Learn more about this body shape and the dressing styles that suit a rectangle body shape here

A celebrity with a Rectangle body shape: Cameron Diaz.

6. Diamond Body shape

This body shape has a thicker waist circumference than the bust round or hip round.The stomach area may appear protruding. Some may call it an Apple when the upper body is slightly bigger than the hip.

Learn about many tricks you can use to hide a big stomach here.

Celebrities with a Diamond Body shape: Queen Latifah, Adele.

7. Oval body shape

Also called a round body shape.This is a body shape with a thick waist (waist is not defined) accompanied by a thicker upper body and/or lower body. Legs and arms may or may not be slender when compared to the rest of the body.