‘H’ Body Shape or Rectangle Body Shape or Athletic Body Shape – What to wear for your body type?

Category | June 05, 2021

By Definition – The ‘H’ Body shape or the rectangle Body Shape/Athletic Body Shape means both your shoulders and hips are of the same width, you are usually petite or healthy but not a mix of both (if you are healthy at the hips and bust, but leaner at the waist, then you’re an hourglass figure, so please do not get confused). Usually the ‘H’ Body shaped are well defined at the shoulders and hips without being too lean at the waist (frontal lean but sides are wide), they are usually petite at the bust as well. The plus sizes, are usually almost the same at bust, waist and hip, the waist being about 10-15% lesser in measurement than the bust and/or hip, any lesser and you would be defined as hourglass, here visually in photos or in a mirror, their bust, waist and hip width might almost look the same.

The Idea Is – Due to a wider shoulder and hip, you are usually blessed with beautiful side curves (unless rarely otherwise) and a back, as well as the bottoms but the bust might be more petite (unless being confused to hourglass). The idea is to make your bust look more rounder while emphasizing the more aesthetic parts of your body, you could always flaunt going backless or your well shaped legs, as well as waist, heck! even show off your well toned shoulders if you have to, unless you’re a plus size.

Here, I will not go on whether you’re tall or short, rather my advise would be common for all, targeted towards accentuating the beautiful areas of your figure and improvising the rest of your body. I might give few small anecdotes for the shorter people, but in general the styling would remain the same for both short and tall beautiful people.

Showing you representations of the ‘H’ Body type or the athletic body type from the my own collaboration shoots of my designs at Aphrodite by Nags. See how the waist or bust can be used as emphasis to deviate the line of sight from the wide shoulders and make the wearer look more curvy or show off your athletic waist.

Best to work with – Lets start off by talking about what this case might want not to emphasize – and those are your waist and bust area. The frontal Bust area needs to look more fuller whilst the waist needs to look thinner or less wider, emphasizing on your curves better, which means, you need to emphasize above the bust, the bust and your hips to make these areas look fuller. Which means wear those push up corsets and brassieres, go ahead and flaunt your back and legs. Crop Tops and hot pants, short skirts, etc. will also do the trick. Bottoms that emphasize your hips like skin or slim fits, low waist, etc. will emphasize on your hips. I would strongly advise against low necklines unless you’re using a push up, but shoulder revealing shouldn’t be a problem at all. Actually, a well shaped Jacket/Blazer with ankle length trousers like carrot pants, single/double pleated pants or comfort fits will also look great on you. Avoid Palazzos and Flared pants that will give you more volume downward taking away the emphasis from your hips (unless you’re tall – above 5 feet 8 inches western and above 5 feet 6 inches eastern). Play with restrictive volumes i.e. give volume to your hips and bust and avoid any volume or emphasis other than your hips and bust. At the bust and hips, you should concentrate in making them look fuller whilst emphasizing on the shape of your natural body on the other areas. Another way to balance the look is to keep it petite above the waist and add volume below the waist. Accessorise to be chic and minimal, sometimes minimal gives maximum advantage. Do not accessorise heavily so as to take away the emphasis from the great parts of your body which will make you look leaner and more petite. A good set of stilettos, pencil heels or wedges will definitely be an advantage for you unless you’re quite tall (5 feet 10 inches or so and above), which will emphasize on making your legs look more fuller and lower torso longer, but usually limit to 3-6 inches (invariable to your height, the taller, the lesser), lets not go GaGa.

So, whether you’re short or tall, the ‘H’ body type can carry similar styling, with careful precision of balancing with minimalistic accessorising and targeted volume towards the shoulders, bust and hip, they will look curvier and more pleasing. The waist and in few cases, the legs are their weak points wherein, they need to make their waist look thinner, bust fuller and legs fuller too. That is the golden ticket to a great way to carry of, by an ‘H’ or athletic figure.

I admit I have taken imagery from the following sites purely for visualization and understanding purposes of the reader. They are – Site 1 – https://blog.mysteries-of-style.com/blog/body-shapes-rectangle-or-h/ site 2 – https://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/1012259/how-to-dress-a-rectangle-shaped-body/

Bibliography :Although whatever I have written is original, as well as the Body Shape Images I have used are original, created by me; I have made some references to grab on to the idea, using a lot of my visualization and representation techniques of body types and women. I admit I have taken imagery for visual purposes of the reader to visually understand the looks better from here and there, as well as some study material to refresh me from the below blogs and sites.

Continued from – What to wear (and possibly what not to wear) for your body type and what colours to wear for your skin colour? – For further reading about different body types and how you could understand your body type.