The Four Major Shapes

July 11, 2025

In the world of fitting all sizes, shapes and styles, there are four major shapes in fashion.  Many times you will see more, but the four really cover most of the shapes I've fitted.  That doesn't mean that you are 100% one and 0% of another, sometimes you can blend over from one to another, but the guidelines of the shapes and how to flatter each one, hold true.  

When I meet a client for the first time, my main goal is to case them out and see what major shape their body matches.  Usually I will ask questions while taking measurements, "What's your favorite part and least favorite part of your body?"  This also gives me a good idea, because the client will lead me to the danger zone and the happy zone.  These are the same tools you can use on yourself.  What's your favorite and what's least favorite and that will tell you what shape you are and go a long way toward making sure that you flatter that shape to the best of your ability.  

Rectangle, Hourglass, Apple and Pear

The Four Major Shapes are Apple, Hourglass, Pear, and Rectangle.  You can have part of Apple and Rectangle, but still be a majority of one or the other.  The same is true of Pear and Hourglass, with large hips, small waist fitting the hourglass, but small chest fitting the Pear.  The point is to find the one that feels most like you.  

Apple

• Start with the hips - anything that flatters or shows off the hip.  White pants are particularly divine on this figure, and even pants that hang straight are great.  
• Wearing a skirt, means it has to be long and tapered in slightly.  NO FULL SKIRT.  
• The top needs to be dark and tailored or at least fitted - not tight.
• There is the illusion of the waist either below the bust or a little above the waist.  Use this to give the hint of a waistline, and then drop straight, but not long from the upper waist or just under the bust to leave room for the fuller waist or stomach area.
• KEY:  Accent the hip, thighs and legs.  Deaccentuate the top (dark color), a sculpted, not full or frilly.  

Hourglass

• The waist is the danger zone here.  It's usually too small for the hips and shoulders, which means it's out of proportion to the hips and the shoulders.  So best to wear something hanging loose, but still shaped in.  For reference here, Christian Dior wanted to over-exaggerate the hourglass shape, so not only did his models have very thin waists, but he also padded his jacket to make the waist look even smaller.

This type of trick of the eye always makes things appear larger or smaller than they are.  The larger hips, as much as this may look like the dreaded "muffin top."  But Dior used it to exaggerate the waist as being tiny.  After decades (from almost the early 30s through the mid 40s), the world had been at war and rationing.  The styles featured long, straight silhouettes that required at most three or sometimes less yardage.  Dior came in and not only trashed any rationing, but way overdid his silhouette so that it would look like a new change, a "New Look."  

All of these gals have hourglass figures, but what's different here is the moderation in the waistline.  How to do that?  By making the waistline, artificially a little higher, where the bones of the lower rib cage create a little larger waist, the moderates the line from the waist to the hips to be smoother and not nearly as highly exaggerated as Dior, and voila - the hourglass looks in proportion with the shoulders, waist and hips all moderating.  

On the other hand, if you prefer a look that emphasizes your prominent hips and large shoulders and want to accentuate your waist, more power to you.  

Pear

• Pear has the bulk of the body below the waist.  Most of the time, a pear shape has a nice, attractive waist, sometimes even a small one, but the difference between a Pear and an Hourglass is that the Pear has almost all her weight on her buttocks and upper thighs.  An Hourglass will have it distributed between her hips and her shoulders.   BUT, with that small waist, it makes the hips look even bigger than an aircraft carrier!
• The first thing a Pear can do is get some shoulder pads.  I'm not talking about the 80s model shoulder pads, but even ½" to ¾" can make a huge difference.  If you don't want anything too dramatically tailored looking (that sharp drop off the shoulder seam), using rounded pads

This makes for a very soft and friendly oomph in the shoulder that can balance the pear figure beautifully.  

• All the other stuff applies - no gathering around the hips, unless it's challis or some other draping material and it drops to shape around the hips - not to add extra bulk.
• Avoid white or light-colored garments around the hips.
• Use light or white above the hips, and making it full, like a Carolina Herrera blouse, is great on a Pear shape.

This blouse is perfect for a Pear.  Mrs. Herrera always wore her tucked in because she had a rectangle shape (that's below), but for Pears, it's better to modify this style and have the white top over the black or dark bottom with tailored and shaped to the body at the hips, but full and flouncy at the top.  This is the perfect top for a pear.

• Finally, with the light on top and the dark on bottom, the pants look smart if they are slightly nipped in at the lower thigh and upper knee area.  This gives the impression of a thinner leg and adds a little length, particularly for short Pear shapes.

Rectangle

• Rectangles are in want of a waist.  I've never met a Rectangle shape that didn't want a waist, while the Pear is in want of those wonderful Apple hips!  It's the way things work in this world.  But alas, a Rectangle doesn't have a waist, and a Pear does have lots of hips!  However, there are ways to make it appear as though she has a waist.  

Diana never looked worse than when she was trying to accentuate her waist, and this is an excellent example of why this is a folly for the Rectangle shape (above)  such as the one Princess Diana had.  

You can't even believe this is the same person.  When a rectangle accepts she has no waist, and starts showing off her elongated body, she suddenly gets the WOW factor.  Even if you don't have a svelte figure, you can make yourself look like you have a waist.  Check out last week's movie stars who none of them have a waist, but because of color blocking, or excellent shaping in garments, they all look like they have waists.  This is the same thing the rectangle can do.

• So looking for the waist - you can either nip in the silhouette right below the bust, fall straight down OR you can nip in a little lower if there is a natural indentation.  If not, stick to the area just below the bust.  There is always an indent there.  If you need to flare out slightly to accommodate a large tummy or waist, that's okay too.  
• The Rectangle's best friend is the up-and-down look, and that goes for short Rectangles, too.  Keep the line - whether it's striped pants or a same-color top and bottom. DO NOT cut it in half with a waistband or tie or belt.  It just doesn't work.  

All one color is another friend of Rectangles, of course, not the neckline dropped to the waist, but all red works in a Rectangle shape.  

The most famous of the Rectangles were the Princesses of Wales.  One tried for the fairy-princess look with the basque waist, full skirt, and sleeves, and you would think if anything would make her look like she had a waist, it would be this.  But the problem is that there was so much fabric that...where was the waist?  The second one knew her figure and had learned how to dress for it.  She was also older than her predecessor and had much more experience by the time she got married.  It was also as impressive in size as her predecessor, but it looked so much better on her.  The skirt was totally in proportion to her rectangle shape, and her whole look flattered her from top to bottom.  

That gives you some ideas about how to flatter your figure, regardless of your shape.  And I still love the idea of a core pattern using these guidelines.  If you have a core pattern, try variations, try another fabric (this is shocking how much different it will look), try blocking or doing interesting abstract sections, try using your dart lines as seam lines, and many other variation ideas.  Once you have your style set, the variations become a fun exercise that doesn't fail, because the initial shape of the garment is set as one of your styles.  

Wearing something flattering every day does make you look as if you've lost 10 pounds.  But the truth is that you move differently, more comfortably, and certainly more confidently when you know you look good.  It's like you feel that the rest of the world would love to be you -- and to a certain extent, that's true - it's just they don't know it yet!  Heck, they don't even suspect it cause they can't sew and don't know the excellent ways to look good, with variations!

The SewingArtistry Resource Library is designed to contain information to not only make your sewing better, but to aid in you fitting and flattering your shape, size and style.  Check it out. 

Look for future classes coming in 2024
The Core Pattern Shirt, (one of my favorites for woven core pattern that you can make into a myriad of different garments), 
Basic Knit Top (core pattern class for knit basic tops, shells, tees, dresses, and tunics)
 

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