What clothes suit my body shape? - belt guide

What works best for me when it comes to using belts to flatter my body shape? We’ve got tips to help you choose the right belt styles for each common womens body shape. Use these as general guidelines because everyone is unique so the mirror (and / or best friend) should be your ultimate judge. Experimenting is so worthwhile because the right belts make a huge huge huge and we mean huuuuuuuge difference. Once you have done your experimentation you will know what works on you going forward - you can also use an image consultant or some personal shoppers are good but the problem is sometimes they try to sell you what's in the stores and we exist because stores are rubbish at having a wide enough selection of belts. If you want to get very serious about it get someone to take photos of you as it is harder to judge yourself live in a mirror - the brain and the mirror sometimes tricks us to morph image. Photos never lie and we can judge ourselves more objectively in them.

Why not order a few to try and experiment what works for you - you can return the ones that don't as per our returns policy conditions. Just be gentle when trying them on to keep them as new. Remember we have had ladies who thought they could not wear a belt fall in love with a style and buy it in oodles of colours because it makes them look so fabulous!

'Quick links':

• Suit my body shape top tips for belts
• - Short v long waist and empire line dress issues
• - Boyish figure
• - Large waist - apple shape
• - Large hips - pear shape
• - Apples and pears
• - Curvy figure - hourglass
• - Not so slimming
• - I have found that belts hurt me before - is there hope?
• Keep it in proportion
• - Petite women
• - Breast size

Short v long waist and empire line dress issues - some general guidelines

Before we get started with body shapes consider whether you are shorted waisted, normal or long waisted i.e. how much torso do you have below the bust line available to wear a belt on?

Short waist - wear lower than your waistline. Can be on the waist at the back.

Long waist - wear higher than your waistline

Pretty simple really when you think about it, but some struggle without really analysing just why they struggle with belts. If you want detailed advice about how to dress for your personal proportions with all sorts of clothing, it is worth doing an 'Image Session' with House of Colour or similar organisation/image consultant who offers this exact service. You'll be measured and get a handy guide to help you shop as well as have your clothing personality analysed.

My dress has a sewn in empire line or waistline or below waistline

If this is the case you ought to wear your belt so it covers that line or it could look odd, regardless of the advice above for short and long waists.

Suit my body shape top tips for belts

Boyish figure

• As they say in Birmingham, you FLB (flippin’ lucky bitch)! You can wear anything but you might want a wide belt to cinch your outfit to add some curve and definition. Don't go too big if it looks like it is drowning you.

Large / thick waist - apple shape

• Try wearing your belt about 3 inches down from your waist to draw the attention away from it. The best belts for you are V shaped like the Sandra or Stephen Collins hip hook (go up to UK size 20 in popular colours) you'll find in our hips belt page - these will look great especially when they are worn with a long cardigan or jacket over. You should also try asymmetric styles which sit over your tummy. Once you find the belt that works for you, we won't be surprised if you come back to order it in more colours like so many of our customers do!
• If your bust is far larger than you hips, balance it out by wearing a wide belt hipster fashion over your jeans, rather than in the loops.

Large hips - pear shape

• Some say use belts as often as you can to attract the eye to your trim waistline - this works if flared out skirts from the waist work for you so go for it. Don't wear belts on your actual hips - below waist is okay too. But be careful not to wear a belt too low with a cropped jacket - this will draw too much unwanted attention to those hips. However Marta, our founder, is pear shaped with stick pin legs so needs pencil / straight skirts (i.e. she can't lose the hips in fabric or her legs will look daft) above the knee ideally (or she looks frumpy unless it is the other extreme and down to the feet - yes you learn so much when you have an image session with an image consultant!) and wearing belts on her actual waistline is a terrible place because it seems to cut her into little upper body and huge balloon bottom! She therefore finds belts worn below the waist work best from chain belts (these hang perfectly for a pear shape in a U shape) to skinnies through to a 6cm wide V shaped Sandra which avoids having something wider on the hips which is no good. When it comes to jeans / trousers where Marta has to have a belt around her dangerous middle-split-me-into-two shapes area, jeans belts are great (especially the grey snakeskin effect belt she loves) as long as she wears a cardigan or jacket to cover the big butt she doesn't want to draw attention to - the lovely belt makes the statement instead. Without a jacket she'd go long top / dress with leggings with chain belt or narrower belt worn low or if wanting to wear jeans with a very fancy top that doesn't lend itself to a belt, the top comes down past the fly and Marta makes sure the belt stays up by using an invisibelt. Another look she likes is wearing a cute fitted V neck sweater than ends just a bit past the belt loops line with a skinny belt and an invisibelt underneath to hold up the jeans.

Apples and pears

• Wearing a belt the same colour as your clothes has a great slimming effect i.e. going for length and steering away from width.
• Another school of thought says a wide dark belt with an interesting buckle makes a plus size woman’s waist look smaller. We say try both and let the mirror be your judge.

Curvy figure - hourglass

• If you have curves to die for the last thing you want to do is cover them up with long shapeless garments that make them look like bulges. The belt is the hourglass’ best friend for bringing out those glorious curves. You can go as wide as your waist is with belts. A lot of plus size ladies love obi belts - they are soft and go with so much! Short waisted hour glasses can do narrower tie belts. If you are very top heavy you may want to wear a waist belt but a little under the waistline - a Sandra belt worn with shallow V is perfect for this and it is soft too.

Not so slimming

• Belts go with just about everything but for wide waist and obi belts, avoid wearing them with a high neck top without sleeves. This can make you look blocky unless you are very curvy.

I have found that belts hurt me before - is there hope?

• Some of us are shaped such that certain belt styles dig in to us when we sit down. You need to look at soft leather belts like the 'Sandra' belt we sell or obi / tie belts and elasticated belts which might be elastic all the way round or just at the back.

Keep it in proportion

Petite women

• The golden rule is to avoid wide belts as they’ll steal your length. Don’t go much wider than trouser belt width or try wider belts like the Sandra which sit in a V shape on you and match them to the colour of your dress/top as this will lengthen you. A contrasting belt particularly in a colour like black or brown might make you look cut in half.

Breast size

• Big boobs demand a big belt but be careful with very small breasts, as a big belt can swamp you – then it is time for the padded bra or a thinner belt. And if you have very large breasts it is best to wear your belts lower than your waist.