To ask if I look frumpy

Try a French tuck which can work with many of your existing tops, OP. Works wonders for showing you actually have a waist but doesn’t look as severe as tucking fully in.

This. I actually rather like the jumper. Perfect to wear with jeans / trousers when doing some autumn gardening (or whatever OP likes to do in her spare time). But the combination is incredible unflattering.

The other top is still shapeless and saggy. It’s ill fitting office wear from over a decade ago by the looks of it.

I’m pretty sure one poster on this thread is trolling us.

If that’s what gets them through the day, who am I to judge …

But if they turn up on a board I care more about I will report.

Do you remember the Trinny and Suzanne show where they talked about the importance of a good bra, good underwear and obeying the principles that flatter your body type? I think a rewatch of those shows would help a lot here.

I am more pear than apple-shaped so I know nothing about dressing for an apple but I think if you researched it all you could find a capsule wardrobe that was flattering.

The whole look is very dated and frumpy - sorry 😔

Black thick tights, knee length skirt and thick jumper just aren't doing you any favours and a horrid dull colour for the jumper too.

Lighten up the whole look

@keepcalmanddanceif you are going to pay for one thing have your colours done. Then you can go through your wardrobe get rid of the stuff you shouldn’t wear, sell it.

Then book yourself in for free styling session at John Lewis and buy a few things from selling the clothes that don’t work.

Pop over to the style section on here for advice on specific items.

See to me @Starling7 OP has broad shoulders and narrow hips and adding some volume on the bottom would balance that out. An apple shape wearing a tight fitted skirt would also only emphasise their bigger top half.

No one will notice good legs if everything else looks awful.

Nothing wrong with the skirt, though an inch or so shorter might look better (on the knee or just above rather than below the knee) but the jumper is just too big, shapeless and baggy. Save it for cold days with jeans.

Yes.

Deleted as they've sold out since yesterday.

I, too, am an ex-athletic apple. You're not wrong but I take issue with the whole precept of trying to make one's body look a different shape. If you aren't wearing industrial-strength scaffolded underwear, your body will not look a different shape. The best you'll achieve is to confuse the viewer's eye with an overall impression of "much clothing, nice chest and/or legs".

This has its place - I wear a lot of oversized dresses with necklines for exactly this effect. I also wear fitted clothing - or fitted-ish, as nothing I can afford will actually fit a body like mine. I don't tuck tops in because one cannot enhance a waist that isn't there. I can still come off as a 'neat shape'. My neat shape has a tummy. Boo bloody hoo 😏

And I love wide-legged trousers! Love 'em. High-waisted only: apart from the fact this looks more proportional, low waists fall right off me due to the lack of expected curves. I'm sure I do look rectangular in them. These trousers are meant to create a rectangular profile. I am rectangular! It's a win!

Here endeth my fortnightly Ted Talk on "Dress YOUR shape, you'll be glad you stopped trying to disguise it."

I'm in my 60s and there's no way I would wear that jumper or the outfit.

Sorry @keepcalmanddance that jumper is awful - seriously would you buy that outfit?

😬😬😬😬

I know what you mean @Starling7, I think some people are taking your first post too literally.

A tunic could be like the one I posted earlier, it doesn’t have to to be floral with leggings circa 2005 😆

A statement necklace doesn’t mean one of those large ones that was worn around the next in the noughties, it means a necklace that’s up to date.

etc etc

She is right about not following trends. You should update what suits you / what you normally wear with pieces from the current season.

This is better but if iron the top, pull the skirt up and lighten up the tights. ☺️

If I had to put my hand on The Holy Bible and swear under Oath then yes by that picture and in my opinion “Yes you do”. However to know for sure I’d have to see a full picture. You could have a face full of perfectly applied make up and your hair could be perfectly styled for all we know, which on some people can make a huge difference Although, I’m not expecting you to post one on a public worldwide site.

Good necklace advice!

Touche darling, but i stand by it all 😘

I would say boring. I like the colou of the jumper but it doesn't fit. You need either a fitted top and a fuller skirt, or a looser jumper that fits, and a straight skirt. These two are similar width so just make you look like a walking rectangular.

Sorry to be blunt. Also if you wantbto hide an area dont wear baggy clothes over it, draw the eye away from the area you want to hide. If it's your belly then you want an interesting neckline or a dramatic necklace.

This is where someone who knows the theory but doesn't have the practice falls down.

An inverted triangle shape is an athletic shape with broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. In this case your theory works.

However this lady is NOT an inverted triangle she is, like me, an apple.

If you put wide trousers or skirts on an apple shape you double our weight because everything drops from our waist which is our widest most unflattering point.

The best way to dress an apple shape is to divide the wider areas with a cami under deep V necks and/ or draped layers - sorry if that's unfashionable - and to show off the legs.

I'm getting loads of All Saints ads on this thread some of which are eerily appropriate (based on the short skirt comments) .
OP I'd try a session with a John Lewis stylist. You don't have to buy anything, but you can tell them you want to try some different shapes to work out what suits your figure, and you will get some ideas anyway.

Alternatively wear a cardi over a deep V dress or tunic - darker colours on top.

From your first post, hen @Starling7