ValApparel

Good afternoon Fellow Fashionistas. I did say last week that I would give you a few pointers on dressing a pear shaped bod. I do feel like somewhat of an authority on it, having been this shape most of my life, even, when I weighed in at a scrawny and quite frankly, ridiculous 8st 7lb,( why did you do it then, you ask, well…..having reached my weight loss target of 10st (many moons ago), I continued to diet, even after getting told not to come back to the Slimming class if I was going to continue to do so, well, I did, surely if I kept going my hips would eventually be in proportion to my top half – WRONG, they are hips, you can keep dieting but they are your hips, your body shape, they have a bone and unless someone was going to cut said bones out, which would make standing and walking a tad difficult, I was always going to have them, yes, obviously they did get smaller but so did the rest of me and the Lollipop Head look back in the 80’s was sooooooooooooooo not a good look (my specs were about the same size as my face!!). So, now, at the tender age of 58, I dress in accordance with my body shape (well, most of the time!!!)

So, what is pear-shaped you ask? In a nutshell, your hips are wider than your shoulders or in layman’s terms, ‘bottom heavy’. From personal experience, the first place I gain weight and last place I lose it, hence the 8st 7lb debacle (Hey, don’t judge…………..I was young and stupid then – as opposed to old and stupid now!!!).

The secret to dressing your pear shape, is to correct the balance, ideally, by drawing the eye up and elongating the leg. To do this we are talking well-tailored and proportioned clothing.

Shallow v-neck – adds shape and gives fuller effect

Strappy

Cropped jacket – emphasise slim waist

Bold jackets

Coats – with belt (and always closed)

Strapless dress

Boyfriend jeans

Flat front trousers – NO side pockets

A- Line skirt/dresses (below knee)

Pear shapes usually have a small (er/ish) waist, don’t be afraid to accentuate this with a belt, (something APPLES would love to be able to pull off as well as a PEAR). If you’ve got it-FLAUNT it.

Remember – we are looking to MINIMISE those hips, so sticking to a darker colour for lower half is always a good idea.

And …. I am going to end on a positive, as PEAR is POSITIVE. Out of all the body shapes out there, the PEAR can wear so many styles of tops that the other body shapes just cant carry off.

Hope this helps, if it does, drop me a wee COMMENT or a LIKE. Go on, make an old woman very happy. xx