My advice as your Fairy Godmother Extraordinaire is to think carefully about the occasion and choose a dress that is appropriate for the event – and your body type. You may decide to follow the latest trends – or opt for a classic style that never goes out of fashion. Ultimately, choose a dress that makes you feel comfortable, confident, and beautiful. Let’s get started!
The 1, 2, 3s of Choosing the Right Dress
- Analyze your body to understand your archetypal body shape
- Focus on emphasizing your assets
- Choose a dress that reflects those qualities
6 Most Common Archetypal Body Types of Women
- Round/Apple-Shaped Body (broader waist compared to bust and hips, often with a fuller bust)
- Pear/Triangle-Shaped Body (hips wider than bust with a well-defined waist)
- Inverted Triangle-Shaped Body (broader shoulder or bust compared to hips)
- Regular/Athletic Body (well-proportioned)
- Hourglass Shaped Body (balanced bust and hips with a significantly narrower waist)
- Rectangle/Straight-Shaped Body (bust, waist and hips are roughly the same.
To determine your body shape, accurately measure your bust, waist, and hips with a flexible measuring tape, note the numbers, then compare to the characteristics above. Once you’ve accomplished that, you’re ready to choose a flattering dress that will look terrific. Oh joy! Master The Art of Shopping!
What Style of Dress is Best for Me?
First things first: you never want to visually break your body in half. Rather, you want to break it into thirds (from shoulder to toe) — usually with the
bottom third being longer than the top. With that in mind, here are some specific dress styles for each body type that can help you make the most
of your figure:
 | For a Round/Apple-Shaped Body:Focus on accentuating the bottom half of your body to round out any perceived top-heaviness. You can do this by accentuating your legs while wearing dresses with v-necklines to help elongate your torso. A-line dresses and empire dresses are good choices. |
 | For a Pear/Triangle-Shaped Body: Pear-shaped bodies are wider on the bottom than the top, so people who have this body type are often best served by choosing dresses that draw more attention to the top half and balance it out, such as those with ruffled or puffy sleeves. Another trick is to layer dresses with a wider-shouldered jacket. |
 | For an Inverted Triangle-Shaped Body: To dress for an inverted triangle body type, it’s best to draw visual attention to your hips. That often means choosing dresses with a simple upper half and more going on in the bottom half (i.e. dresses with ruffles or patterns on the bottom half). |
 | For a Regular/Athletic Body: You may want to consider showing off your arms and legs. Alternatively, you could choose a dress that accentuates both your bottom half and top half by creating the illusion of an hourglass figure. |
 | For an Hourglass Body:Dresses that accentuate your curves are ideal for this body type. This often means choosing dresses that have a clear and well-defined waistline or making one by wearing a chunky belt. |
 | For a Rectangle/Straight-Shaped Body: Wrap dresses are especially nice for this body type, since the draping falls nicely over the straight body frame and creates the impression of curves. Princess seam dresses are also great choices for the rectangle body. |
Dressing for a special occasion or event should be a magical experience, not one that triggers nightmares. If you feel uncertain or anxious about buying a dress or dressing for your body type, Master the Art of Dressing with your Fairy Godmother Extraordinaire (me!). Let’s talk!
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