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What Are the Best Tips for Dressing an Apple-Shape Body?

M.R. Anglin

Last Modified Date: March 02, 2024

Some of the best tips for dressing an apple-shape body involve wearing clothes that accentuate the bust and legs while detracting attention from the hips and midsection. The idea is to wear clothes that will balance out an apple-shape's broader top with her narrower bottom. Shorter skirts are often great choices for women with this body shape. In addition, tops in darker solids and brighter patterns for bottoms may also be a good choice. Clothes that are narrower around the hips can also help to give her the desired silhouette.

Before deciding how to dress an apple-shape body, a person should decide if she indeed has one. Such a body shape is characterized by a broader shoulder and torso and a fuller breast. Women with this body type do not usually have a well-defined waist, may often gain weight around the midsection, and may have a flat bottom. Attributes generally considered positives in an apple-shaped woman are often breast size and shapely legs. In order to truly flatter her chest, a person with an apple-shape body should wear a brassiere that supports and holds her breasts properly.

Someone with an "apple" body shape carries weight at the waist and upper body, not just in the hips and buttocks.

Tunics and empire waist dresses are both good choices for a person with an apple-shape body. Tunic shirts are usually loose and won't often show off the person's lack of a waist. Similarly, the empire waist dress is tighter just under the bust line and flares out to deemphasize the waist. Tops and single-breasted jackets that hit at the top of the hips instead of the waist can also help to conceal the waist and tummy. Drop-waist dresses or tops can also help to elongate the torso since they are tighter around the hips instead of at a person’s waist.

Dark colors and shorter skirts are usually more flattering to women with apple-shaped bodies, such as the model on the left.

A-line skirts are also a good choice for a person with an apple-shape body. These skirts flare from the waist and help to put the lower half in proportion to the upper half. A person with an apple-shape can also wear skirts that hit above the knee in order to show off her legs. Jeans and pants should hug the hips but should be straight cut or flare slightly. To give the appearance of more of a bottom, jeans with back pockets can be worn.

Even shoes can act to enhance an apple-shape body type by lengthening the look of body. Some examples of shoe styles that an apple-shape can wear successfully are kitten heeled shoes and, for those who are shorter, pointy shoes. A wedge shoe is also recommended for this body type. The chunkiness of the shoe can help to balance the body’s top and bottom halves.

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Discussion Comments

Grivusangel

December 26, 2014

Well, you can wear empire-waist styles if you want people to think you're pregnant! That's about the effect you get, to say nothing of looking like a shapeless mass, with a big bustline sticking in everyone's face.

Actually, a better way to do it is to get things that nip in at the waist. I have a tunic with vertical pleating through the torso. It clings to my waist and makes me look like I have one!

A-line skirts are great, along with anything that has a tie at the waist. You don't really want to go with the shapeless look, since that tends to make for a pregnant look, too. You want to avoid that, at all costs.

Anything that gives you a waistline is what you're looking for.