Some more thoughts that I've now remembered or have occurred to me. Some shops are better at clothes for hourglass shapes - Phase Eight dresses are generally good as are some Boden wrap dresses, Sainsbury's sometimes has really good things in .
Other shops definitely cater for different shape types - Mint Velvet for example seems to specialise in drapey tops which - whilst good for hiding middle aged spread - also hide a waist and for hour glass sizes tend to make one look bigger rather than smaller.
Also better to have good quality light fabrics, rather than heavy boxy ones - due to my advanced age I try to get natural fibres e.g. cotton or linen. I tend to buy quite a lot of my clothes from charity shops as the brands that work for me as above can be expensive.
I tend to wear mostly dresses to work as the proportions work a lot better than separates for me. At the weekend I wear mostly skinny jeans with a not too baggy top and either boots or ballet pumps. One of the tips is to avoid too much bulk at the waist so side zipped trousers or jeggings are good.
Also as fashions change, some seasons are good for clothes that suit and others aren't. At the moment in the shops it appears to be some sort of gruesome fixation with high necks and weird looking sleeves - neither of these are your friend as an hourglass.
You'd think I was some sort of style guru from this - I can assure you I am not ! Occasionally I buy the wrong thing - like a jumper in a gorgeous blue from Boden, but as it's baggy it totally swamps me, it's just about tolerable with skinny jeans.