http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2533267/Sorry-ladies-think-youre-hourglass-youre-probably-rectangle-Straight-shape-common-body-type-Britain.html

[bettybleep]

can relate to this, but feel if I don't do something fast, I will soon be an apple.. In my desperation I'm thinking of Nordic Walking, even if I do look a plonker. Can anyone encourage me with success stories?

The article would have been more useful if it had provided actual measurements or ratios. As it is, I have no idea whether I'm a triangle, a spoon, an hourglass, a pear, a rectangle...

Sorry... www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2533267/Sorry-ladies-think-youre-hourglass-youre-probably-rectangle-Straight-shape-common-body-type-Britain.html

I can't follow the link, but I'm guessing that it's more misogynistic shite from the DM. Does it say something like "Hey, ladies! Think you're ok? Acceptable to the male population? Not worthy of ridicule? NICE even? Well, guess what? YOU'RE NOT, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!". I'm paraphrasing, of course.

Am I close?

Oh well it must be true if it's the daily mail

It does explain why most clothes don't seem to factor in women who have hips and a defined waist, though, if most women are now "rectangles"...

Funny, as I thought the hormones in the Pill would have made more of us hourglasses or pears.

I am Me shaped.

I'd have thought the ladies in the top pictures would have looked more like the ladies in the "hourglass" ones if they had dresses on that were designed to boost their cleavage and bring their waist in too.

Tethers you are pretty close yes

I am an inverted triangle. I would be quite glad if clothes manufacturers would stop making clothes to fit hourglass figures if so few people really are that shape. I am fed up with trousers that flap at the hips and are baggy at the bum.

While the article is likely correct,I am very much indeed an hourglass!

I'm classic hourglass, my waist is anywhere between 10-11 inches smaller than my hips and bust, which are never more than an inch apart in width regardless of how much I weigh. I can never find clothes in my proportions, if it fits the boobs and hips, the waist is always too big.

I usually find in trousers that the waist is too big and there's a horrid gap at the back, but tight around the hips and thighs.

Think that means that most trousers that I find are meant for rectangle shapes for women with no defined waist.

Same here snowdown,always at least 12 inches smaller on the waist and it's a nightmare with clothes! Hence I tend to wear 'hipsters' because they are more likely to have a reasonable fit!I usually wear skirts on my hips too.

Clothes are made for rectangle shapes and given that most women don't have the issues with fit then it's quite clear that most women are 'rectangles'

I quite like DM in some parts, tho I do have a robust sense of humour, and an independent mind. If I hadn't read that a round pearly growth on my face might be cancer, I'd still be concealing it, and not having it treated. I also like some of the clothes in M&S and Next, so there!
Nordic Walking anyone?

Jemima, where are these clothes? I need to know! I'm a size 8 and have at least 11 inch waist hip difference still- everything to me seems cut straight up and down apart from the more expensive end of the high street, eg reiss, french connection. Dorothy perkins seem particularly appalling at cutting for people with a waist. I've stopped even going in there now.

Yes, tethersend, I believe you have summed up the Essence of the DM article succinctly.

I must disappoint them, however, since I know quite well that I am a straight up & downer. Sorry, DM! I am not deluded. Luckily I and people like me have many shops dedicated to our shape (e.g. Karen Millen. Try buying a frock there if you have boobs & hips).

Does anybody remember Trinny & Susannah's body shape bible? They seemed to have it right. I was a cornet in their classification system.

Louwn, I have a 12 inch waist-hip difference (though my hips are set quite low - you might be a true hourglass rather than a pear) and I find that their dresses tend to the only ones that ever fit me perfectly. The Billie & Blossom label is particularly good.

For example these are brilliant shapes cut at the waists:

www.dorothyperkins.com/en/dpuk/product/sale-offers-203529/view-all-sale-1724247/ditsy-floral-top-flare-dress-2343158?bi=1&ps=20

www.dorothyperkins.com/en/dpuk/product/dresses-203543/view-all-dresses-2523253/tall-blue-floral-bardot-dress-2561614?bi=1&ps=20

www.dorothyperkins.com/en/dpuk/product/dresses-203543/view-all-dresses-2523253/tall-floral-wrap-dress-2512587?bi=81&ps=20

I find Parisian in New Look to be good too.

jemima where are you finding these clothes?!?!?! Shops don't cut for an hourglass figure!

If your trousers flap on the hips and bum,where do they fit?

Dorothy Perkins is my favourite shop as they are the only place where the jeans actually fit. As I say I am an inverted triangle - broad shoulders and slim hips. I think there is around five or dix inches difference between my waist and hips. Very rarely do I find trousers that fit well.

That's nothing to do with being cut for an hourglass!what you mean is they are cut for rectangles,you have a big waist in comparison.

Argh,stupid touchscreen! They aren't cut for inverted triangles,nor for hourglasses

How odd, I am a rectangle ie quite straight up and down with around 6-8 inches between my waist and hips and find it very hard to find clothes which fit me well. I have broad shoulders and ribs too which doesnt help.
I think it would be really useful if shops labelled clothes for different types (have seen this done in M&S) ad it would cut out all the tedious traipsing around and trying on myriads of styles.

No Trip, I'm an inverted triangle. My shoulders are much wider than my hips. See the picture of Renee Zellwegger in the article, I am that sort of shape (although not quite as thin - I am a size 8 bottom half and a size 10 top half).

If my top half was the same width as my bottom half I would be a rectangle. But it isn't.

If I put weight on it goes straight to my middle and I become an apple. But I still have a flat, almost non-existent bum.

I know you're an inverted triangle/apple.but your waist is big in comparison/hips small in comparison-both the same thing.

I know shops don't cater very well for true apples/inverted triangles.

But the point is that those clothes are not actually cut for hourglasses,they are cut for rectangles