Does anyone super hourglass feel really self conscious ?

[hendricksyousay]

I’m a bit Jesica rabbit , small rib cage and waist , big boobs and a curvy bum and thighs . Whatever I wear I sort of look like I’m trying too hard and it makes me self conscious . I’m a size 8-10 but I tend to wear looser tops so it doesn’t show it off as much . Am I alone ? Or crazy ? 😳😳

It's harder to look elegant or understated cool with this sort of figure. I don't feel self conscious about it (I'm a fat hourglass) but I do get the odd pang of envy of my slim, small boobed friends who can chuck on a tshirt, jacket and skinny jeans and make it look chic!

I’m an hourglass 10 but feel conscious of my large hips as when my waist is smaller it feels like my hips stick out more. My bust is a DD and I don’t feel happy drawing attention to it now I’m not a spring chicken. So I do know where you’re coming from. I tend to wear looser clothing to be honest. Dresses, tops and leggings or jeans and a comfy tee. I also still have quite the tummy so like to conceal that.

And yes, shirts and blouses are a real pain.

I am surprised by the comments here

yes OP I can understand your feelings

I'd love so much to be straight up and down

I used to be a B cup and I miss it so much

I'm 36 24 35
It's horrid.
Size 8 trousers don't fit around the hips.
Size 10 tops don't do up over the bust.
I would love to wear a high necked top or have a shirt that fits.
I don't like pepperberry clothes.

ugh, the search for tops that don't go up to my neck, and at the same time are not too revealing. And necklaces, I have learned to be careful with them.
Just remembered I used to slouch to try and hide my shape. Only recently stopped doing this, it was affecting my back.

I was a skinny pear shape before pregnancy, so wore baggy tops with tight trousers to balance out my silhouette. Now post baby I am most definitely an hourglass (36-24-36) having gone from a B/C cup to an E and everything looks wrong, but I'm also a stone heavier than before pregnancy. I used to dress quite androgynously which just doesn't work with boobs, and more fitted things look too sexy now.

On the bright side, I look much better naked now than I did before! I am still hoping my boobs deflate a bit once I've finished bf though as I have some beautiful tops that I can't wear as they won't button up over my boobs.

I agree it's hard to look good in casual clothes when you are curvy, and I am a resolutely casual dresser, I'm also in my early twenties and smarter things just look too old on me and either make me look frumpy or like a tart.

I've always liked the French/Parisian casual look and they tend to be quite flat chested straight up and down women, but Sabina Socol on Instagram does slim but curvy dressing so well.

Yeah i do a bit.

@IJustLostTheGame ... pepper berry are very frumpy in my opinion 😬😬

I agree with the pp who said that it is a bit sad that so many of us feel uncomfortable with a curvy figure, that we look "tarty", "too sexy", too conspicuous with feminine curves.

AccrualIntentions that is exactly it - cant do cool or understated elegant. I look terrible in "fashionable" clothes - i.e. baggy but interesting tops. gah. it always looks like i've tried.

Pepper, I'm not sure people are saying they dislike their figure, but that it is hard to find clothes that fit and flatter and somehow look elegant and understated.

I have a slim athletic friend and she loves leopard print and animal print clothes. She can wear a body or tight t-shirt, leopard print leggings and a shirt thrown over the top and look cool, casual and not in anyway sexy. If I wore that I would like I was going to a nightclub.

I think some of us are saying we feel uncomfortable with our curves (not necessarily that we like/dislike them) because they make us look sexy etc. Me included! It just hadnt occured to me before this thread to think about why that is, I guess. Does that makes sense Margo?

I do wear very low cut tops but always with a coordinating vest underneath - it doesn’t seem to interfere with the boob slimming effect of the v shape necks

I used to be a normal hourglass but post 2 babies am now very booby (30G). I hate it, I have already planned a breast reduction after last child - not even necessarily for vanity purposes but just so I can feel comfortable in my skin again!

And this was way back in the thread and I think subsequent posters have addressed it but it’s possible to wear size 6/8s and be an hourglass - I was in my twenties and early thirties... I miss the breasts I had in my twenties

Back on topic I do wear clingy stuff that defines my figure but dress down the look with biker jackets and trainers etc. A big scarf also helps

Hourglass/pear here. 10 - 12, 28F
I agree, casual dressing is v hard, I can look like a sack. I've never found a solution really. Thank heavens fashion silhouette is finally changing.

The other thing that gets me, is that I never look 'slim' in photos. I always look 'round' and 'soft', IYKWIM. My bigger, boyish-shaped friend looks slimmer. I don't understand it. Anyone else find this?

Yes ! If I wore a leopard print top I would look very tarty and I don’t want that . I do like my figure as does my dh but it’s dressing that can be tricky .

I would like to add, to the comments about internalised misogyny, that this is more likely external hassle, leers, stares, comments, images in print with associated comments, that makes me feel this way. Sure, perhaps I have internalised it, big fucking surprise, but my life is much easier if I don't look like a walking cartoon type stereotype of 'sexy'. Equally, though, i'd rather not look like I am wearing a shapeless sack. Tall and blonde doesnt help to be honest.

I actually love my shape, but always thought it looks best naked, an impractical everyday look

Agree Painting - I've always thought that too! In my more positive moments, I think of all those lovely Renaissance paintings of hourglass women in the nude & feel like them.

I'm a really short (under 5 foot) hourglass and I have to either have a fitted top or bottom half or a dress that defines my waist or I look like a weeble! My friends often comment that I am always smartly dressed and I often feel over-dressed for casual occasions but I look really short and fat if I don't define my figure. The fashion industry loves tall, skinny shapes that act as coat hangers for the clothes and this androgenous look has now become the default "fashionable" shape and clothes are designed and cut for this shape and not for hips and boobs.

Just to add - I really like my shape as well and think I look pretty good naked! It's the clothes that are available that let me down! (How's that for a stealth brag!)

The woman fitting me at bravissimo said that she's had women become upset when they've been told that they aren't a 32C, but instead a 30E - whereby they feel that it's shameful to have a bust that in that instance becomes hyper-sexualised.

Don't let society tell you that because your body looks a particular way it's inherently sexualised. It's your body, it's doesn't need to be categorised into a particular fruit or shape. No one discusses men's bodies like this.

Have any of you found decent t shirt bras? I'm 32gg so need support but not seams!

I know what you mean. Things that nip in the waist can look too on purpose sexy, but baggy tops make me look just wide all the way down ( have wide shoulders too).
I feel matronly in anything 50s and also wrap dresses but have found that a sort of 70s style A line dress (narrow around the rib cage) works well. Also pinafore dresses. I can't wear t shirt /stretchy close fitting tops without anything over the top as other looks kind of obscene.
Another look I have found works is Katherine Hepburn style wide high waisted trousers with a narrow fitted shirt. I love the manly/boyish look but that's the only way I can do it without looking frumpy.

Debenhams range for larger cup sizes used to do good t shirt bras. I forget the name of it...