help for determining your body type

After working with hundreds of women, I have discovered that most of us fall into one of four body type categories…and there are certain styles and designers that work for some and not others!

Last year, Wardrobe 911 conducted a body type survey in which over 100 women responded with their measurements and perceptions.  Combined with the measurements I had from an additional 200 women who attended my body type workshops, I discovered some interesting things.  The verdict?

Most women are either rectangles (41%) or hourglasses (40%).  The rest are triangles and of those, only 4% are inverted.  It was amazing to me that the perception out there was that a lot of women were triangles (aka pear-shaped.)  What was also uncanny was that 67% of the women that were triangles, thought they were hourglasses!  This misunderstanding happens a lot with my clients as well.

I started putting together a body type calculator in 2006.  After a few years of developing tons of calculations and tweaking them relentlessly with real data, I have come up with a not-quite-100-percent-but-really-really-close-to-being-accurate-all-the-time body type quiz.

There is something to be said for meeting someone in person and determining their body type.  The quiz doesn’t get it right all the time but it should help you as you try and determine what works best for you.  Most fashion experts completely ignore the shoulders in determining silhouettes — InStyle’s body type calculator is a perfect example.  They cannot be ignored and the quiz takes them into consideration.  Make sure you take the right measurements as you go through it.  I hope you find it helpful!