As a T.V. style expert, I have appeared on 100's of cable makeover shows assisting women of all shapes and sizes in their fashion transformations. My role has been to select clothes that transformed each of these makeover candidates into a new, improved and more fashionable version of their former selves. Although this role could sometimes be challenging, through trial and error one thing became abundantly clear. I found that I could use clothes to visually transform a candidate's body shape so as to appear more hourglass, consistently delivering incredible makeover results. Each time, at the show's big reveal, the candidate looked more youthful, shapelier, thinner and more feminine. The magical thing about this discovery was that no matter what a candidate's body shape or size, the "right" clothes could visually redistribute her weight to appear more hourglass. I decided that this simple dressing technique needed a name; I call it "Body Balancing."
My Body Balancing technique does not involve expensive surgeries, fad diets, starving or boot camps. It simply asks you to examine your body shape and consider where their body might be "out-of-balance." To properly Body Balance follow these three steps:
1. Determine Your Body Shape - If You Were a Fruit What Kind of Fruit Would You Be?
Before you can determine where you are out-of-balance, you first need to determine you body shape. Women's body shapes tend to fall into five general fruit shapes:
Pear: Hips fuller than chest and shoulders
Inverted Pear: Shoulders and bust fuller/broader than hips
Orange: Full chest, tummy and hips
Apple: Evenly distributed weight but heavy
Balanced Squash (Hourglass): Bust and hips equally full with small defined waist. Bust and hips are roughly 10 inches wider than waist (and, yes it is a fruit!).
Figure out which of these delicious fruits you are and you will be on your fashionable way.
2. Are You Body Balanced?
Now it is time to compare your fruit shape to that of an hourglass. An hourglass is balanced. Its top is the same volume as its bottom and both top and bottom are wider than its center. Let's imagine you are pear-shaped with your hips and rump much fuller than your chest and shoulders. When you compare your pear to the hourglass, you can see that in contrast you are bottom-heavy and for these purposes out-of-balance.
Once you have figured out where or if you are out-of-balance, it time to work with the beautiful body you do have. Let's go back to my previous example, using the pear-shape. To look less bottom-heavy and more balanced, you must choose clothes that "counter-balance" of your shape. For instance, as a pear, you would want to buy clothes that diminish your hips and rump and emphasize your chest and shoulders while they also narrow your waist. Don't worry these kinds of magical clothes exist and once you learn how buy "right" colors, patterns, silhouettes and textures for your fruit shape, you will find them everywhere!
3. Discover The Clothes That Flatter You - Complimentary Clothes
Selecting the "right" clothes for your fruit shape is the most crucial step when Body Balancing. It is your job (and mine) to find clothes in your closet and elsewhere that work for you, it is your clothes job to put your fruit shape back "in-balance". Below is a short list of general clothing items that are my picks for Body Balancing each fruit shape.
