Before we can declare your body type, we need to do some measurements. I repeat measurements, not judgments. These are unimpassioned numbers that help us determine how to rule our empires. They are not estimations of self-worth.
So here are the steps:
1. Get into your dainties – most of us don’t wear clothes on top of clothes, so for accuracy’s sake, disrobe. While measuring, keep the tape taut (not too tight, not too loose). You may want a friend, of an intimate nature since you are exposed, to help you (mother, sister, husband).
2. Measure your bust – across the fullest part of your of your bosom and straight across the back.
3. Measure your waist – somewhere in the vicinity of your navel. Feel for a curvature and get the circumference.
4. Measure your hips – navigate the tape around the fullest part of your bottom, around the curve of your hips, and straight across to the front.
5. A little math – don’t worry, just get a calculator or use my spreadsheet below.
- Divide the hip number by your waist number (hip/waist)
- Divide your bust number by your waist number (bust/waist)
- Divide your waist number by your hip number (waist/hip)
- Divide your waist number by your bust number (waist/bust)
Learn More
Upper Figure (Ample Bust)
Hourglass (Curvy)
Middle Figure (Soft Tummy)
Lower Figure (Full Hip, Bottom)
Linear (Straight, Athletic)
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Wow! Great blog you have here!
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Dear Reachel,
Please move to Australia (and bring Anthro with you!) We need your grace, style and gorgeous wit.
Love all that you do 🙂
I always have a hard time with the hip measurement…being a full pear bottomed girl myself…the biggest (you are so sweet to say “fullest”) does not coincide with the biggest (again, you say curve) of my hips. So, where is the best place? I may need to work with you – you are fantastic – I saw you once at Domestic Bliss when I brought my daughter in for a “Make and take” day.
Hi Meredith. Go with the fullest part of your seat for your hip measurement. But also get a measurement of your thigh circumference. Having both measurements will help you determine whether tailoring your clothes make sense. If your strong, sturdy thighs have more volume than the average person who shares your hip and waist size, you may need to make adjustments to your trousers before they fit you properly.
um ok so listen, this might be my new fav blog, just so you know 🙂 and why dont you live in utah so you can teach me how to dress 🙁 k i am going to measure myself tomorrow!!!
Vanessa from inevergrewup.net
Just finding your blog and loving it! Quick question about the measuring. When you say “get into your dainties” (and I’m particulary talking about the bust, obvioulsy) should I leave on the bra to measure…or measure without the bra?
Destiny-
Measure with everything you typically wear under your clothes. Wear your bra, panties, and any shaping garments you wear on a daily basis.
What if you have really broad shoulders? How does that fit in to the equation?
Anonymous,
you can always measure the breadth of your shoulders and compare it to the breadth of your hips and waist. However, most of the time if your shoulders are broad, your chest is also proportionately broad. Therefore the chest circumference measurement will take this feature into account.
Thanks! Love your blog!
My measurements fit in both the middle and linear shapes. 86% and 88% I don’t know which shape to identify with. I have a small bust. And sometimes my soft post baby tummy is more apparent than my bust. So that makes pretty much anything look bad.
Jessica,
If you feel like your tummy is a dressing issue, I would definitely opt for the middle figure category.
Good Luck!
Hi Rachel thanks for helping lots of people to figure out their body type. You make it easy! I do have a question about your excel file, you said there are 4 measures you have to get:
Bust to Waist
Hip to Waist
Waist to Bust
Waist to Hip
But in the well endowed conditions there is one that states the following:
“Less than or equal to .75 on Bust to Hip”
This is one measure you didn’t request should it be included? or did you mean one of the first 4 you requested instead?
Thanks in advance!
Ana Murillo,
This was actually a typo. The information should have read “Less than or equal to .75 on Bust to Waist.” Thanks for bringing the issue to my attention.
Best,
R
You really should add shoulder measurements, my shoulders are wider than my hips, so technically im cone shaped.
My bust is 34, so im not a strawberry.
SydneyChopper,
Shoulder width can definitely make a difference in body typing. If you shoulders are wider than your hips, the strawberry rules actually still apply. Rather than diminishing your bust your diminishing the breadth of your shoulder-line. Just as some lower figure are diminishing their hipline rather than a booty. Same rules still apply overall.
Hope that helps 🙂
R
Do I measure the narrowest part of my waist or where my navel is? Narrowest part is 27, but navel area is 29. Huge difference!
Taylor,
You are right it makes a huge difference 🙂 Measure at your narrowest point.
R
Hello,
This is a great blog! I love that it uses actual measurements instead of just perception. I am having a hard time understanding which category I would fall into. I seem to fall into all three, full hip, well endowed, and curvy? How do I narrow it down to the right one?
In the excel chart, there weren’t categories for middle figure or linear. How do I know which I am? It looks like the ratios for the linear and middle figure are the same. Is that right? Or what is the different between the two? My hip and bust are the same measurement, does that make me linear? I’m pretty petite all around, yet still have post baby pooch so I can’t tell which of the two figures I fall into…Thanks for any insight you can give. 🙂
Haha, I just came to check if there was a response and saw that a year ago I asked pretty much the same question! Sorry. If my bust and hip are the same and middle is less 36-34-36 is that linear, but if middle is more then the hip and bust then thats middle figure? I just fluxate…
Hi Reachel,
Your blog has helped me a lot! I did my measurement carefully, but my body type is not clear to me. I am an exact linear figure except for my hips/waist that equals 1,29. Am I linear or lower figure? I definetely feel like a linear figure and my hips aren’t really wide in comparisson to my upper part (I look pretty much straight).
My numbers are:
hip/waist=1,29
bust/waist=1,20
waist/hips=0,80
waist/bust=0,80
Could you help me? Thank you SO much for sharing all your creativeness and inspiring ideas!
Greetings from Uruguay!
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Hi Reachel,
Your spreadsheet doesn’t seem to be working…is there another spot where I can enter in my details to look up my body type?
x
My measurements are 43, 36, 51. After the calculations, I discovered that I didn’t really fit anywhere. What would you suggest?
Hi,
I may not be looking at the right place but I’ve used 3 different browsers (Safari, Chrome, & IE) but can’t seem to find the “Edit” button referred to on the instructions. Even changed from my iPhone to my desktop – thinking it must be a display version issue – still the same result 🙁
Sorry about that. I think I finally figured out the problem. Please feel free to enter your own measurements again.
the formulas dont work, please explain, thanks!
Mercedes, I just changed the editing rights of the embedded spreadsheet. Feel free to try and enter your measurements again. Good luck.
Thanks, rounder and softer is the same as lean and angular? sorry but i dont understand. my formulas are hp 1,28, bw 1,18, wh 0,78, wb 0,85, what is my body type? thanks!
I’m so confused – my measurements seem to indicate 2-3 of the body types, and I am not sure what I am. My stats are: b/w- 1.24, h/w – 1.28, w/b – .80, w/h – .78. My hip and bust are only an inch apart, but my waist is definitely visible. I consider myself thin, but I don’t think I have a model-type figure at all (maybe if I was 10-15 pounds lighter – I have always been fairly skinny, I guess, but after 4 kids I’m not as thin as I once was.) I guess I am mostly linear, but I don’t really think the clothes from that description suit me. Help!
Based on your numbers alone, I would look at the hourglass body type. It’s probably a slight hourglass, but there are definitely more curves than a linear body type. If you’d like more assistance, I offer a full body type analysis + color and signature style discovery in the lookbook service. If you’re interested, feel free to link to my services page at https://cardiganempire.com/services
Thanks for the tutorial. My measurements indicate hour glassy (b/w 1.3 h/w 1.38 w/b 0.76 and w/h. 0.72) …but I look more rectangle shaped due to a short, short waist from high hip bones. This can make me look blocky (!) , do I still follow the rules set out for these measurements or another shape? Seriously my waist is really short…and my shoulders are square and the same width as hips.
Thanks.
Hourglass figures commonly have short waists as well as equivalent hip and shoulder widths. It’s important for your clothes to circle in around your narrow waist. Use belts, tailoring, or knits to achieve this goal. I don’t think the Linear recommendations would serve you as well. But since you do have strong architecture, you can experiment with fluid shapes which don’t necessarily hold but do float and showcase your shape. Think boyfriend tees in thin knits, dropped shoulder tees, and dolman or batwing sleeves on top. If you are on the taller side, you can experiment with fluid wide legs, sailor styles, and flares on bottom. Regardless, do your best to either hug your waist or at the least don’t hide it underneath a thick, blocky fabric. 🙂
My bust is 33, my waist 26 and hips 33. My hip waist ratio is 1.269 same for my bust waste ratio. My waste hip is .7878 same for my waste bust. With these ratios I am all 5 body types. What am I really?
Kristy, I think hourglass would be the best fit for you. Although your waist/bust and waist/hip ratios are slightly off the .75 threshold, your bust/waist and bust/hip are clearly over the 1.25 ratio. That’s why I do two sets of ratios, just as a backup. Hope that helps.
My bust is 37, waist 28.5, hips 39. I could be hourglass or lower, but I’m not thinking hourglass, as I don’t have a very full bust, but I have broad shoulders. Because of that I’m not sure about the lower figure? I’m 5’8″ and I’ve always thought of myself as rectangle. ? I appreciate any help! Thank you!!
Hi Jenny, if your shoulders are broader than your hips, you might be an architectural hourglass. This is different than a voluptuous hourglass that has high levels of differentiation from circumference curves. An architectural hourglass has contrasted widths but they are more angular. Draped clothing looks great on this figure. (Think dropped sleeves, batwing shirts, asymmetrical/structural looks). If your shoulder breadth is at least an inch smaller than your hip breadth, I would stick with Lower figure though.
Thank you!!
Great post! Although Im also a bit confused! My measurements are
Wid Hip 39″
Smallish Bust 33″
Average Waist 27″
But then I have broad shoulders: 39″
What would that make me? It’s quite hard dressing for an hourglass without the bust to go with it! Looking forward to hearing your advice! 🙂
xx
Based on just your numbers I would say Lower Figure, I’d be curious to see what the breadth of your hips is. But unless your shoulders are more than an inch broader than your hips, I would stick with Lower Figure as your dominant body type. You could borrow tips here and there from the Upper Figure if you wanted to minimize your shoulders. Hope that helps dear.
Love your website! Just came across it and did the numbers:
Shoulders 37
Bust 37
Waist 29
Hip 38
From these numbers I am assuming that I am a Hourglass figure?
Sarah, your numbers certainly indicate an hourglass. You can also compare the breadth of your hips (side to side) and shoulders (tip to tip) to see if they are balanced, but if you have difficulty finding clothes that clasp your waist without clinging to your bust and hips, assume you are on the right track. Good luck!
Hi! I enjoy your website and this post. My measurements are the following:
Shoulders 42, bust 38, waist 31, hips 41
Calculating the equations I am full hip. My hip measurement might be higher due to my rear. Is there a difference for someone with smaller hips but larger rear vs large hips and flatter rear?
Good question, there are many different varieties of bodies within each body type category. For lower figures, whether your volume comes from the hips or the rear, the diagnosis and most of the strategies are the same. If you want to plump up your rear, pay attention to the back, specifically pockets. They end before you seat does and you can experiment with flaps, stitching, and other enhancing details. If you want to reduce your hips, pay attention to the front. Be sure to avoid striation or whiskers which bring visual attention to these areas. Keep it neat and clean and opt for a classic 5 pocket to break up the visual expanse. If you want more help, let me make you a lookbook. There’s a link at the bottom of this post to purchase.
Really good explanations and examples and I loved the math approach, but I have a problem. I’m 35-26-41, so I have both bust/waist and hip/waist bigger than 1.25 like a hourglass, but I can’t be a hourglass with a difference between bust and hips bigger then 2″ (5.5″ in fact), can I? 🙁
Marina, I wouldn’t say that hourglass isn’t a possibility. Here’s what I would use to decide. Measure the breadth of your shoulders and the breadth of your hips. If they are within about an inch of each other, go with hourglass. If they are several inches different, then I would use Lower Figure as your primary body type, but you could probably still borrow some tips from the hourglass ladies.