These days we have categories for everything, from eggs to music genres to bikes to banjos, and the shape your body takes is no exception.
Categorizing the shape of your body can be helpful in breaking down what types of clothes best suit your specific body, so taking these three most basic body type categories into account when assessing your own shape should help you find the right clothes for you.
Banana
The most basic of body shapes, “banana” people are roughly the same size and shape from shoulder to thigh. It’s actually something of a misnomer, as our bodies aren’t actually curved like a banana, but it gives you the main idea of a consistent body size from top to bottom.
Apple
“Apple” people are those of us who are more, shall we say, top-heavy. If this is you, you tend to retain weight higher up than lower down, or are simply slimmer through the stomach and hips than the chest.
Pear
These are the exact opposite of “apple” people. If you’re a “pear,” you’ll notice most of your mass storage around your hips, tummy and buttocks rather than the chest.
It’s another of the many common debates in the world of simple slimming methods. For those of us many women out there looking to keep slimmer appearances with quick fixes, stripes can be your friend or enemy in theory, so we’ll get to the truth of whether or not horizontal stripes have a place in your wardrobe.
The Case For
The case for this theory is that horizontal stripes bring along a “widening” look for the wearer, leading viewers’ eyes to perceive said person to actually be taking up more lateral space than may actually be true.
The Case Against
There was a scientific study nearly a decade ago that made the case that horizontal stripes actually do the opposite, making wearers look thinner due to something called the Helmholtz illusion.
The Verdict
But then a UK study came out a few years after that asked 500 participants to decide for themselves from a series of images, and the fact is – whether you need scientific proof or not – that people who wear horizontal stripes are likely to be seen as larger than those wearing vertical stripes.
It’s one of the most common, storied and – if it really does work – easiest shape slimming solutions there is, but can it actually be relied upon to make you look slimmer? For today’s post, we’ll take a deeper look into this tactic to see if this is really all there is to getting an instantly trimmed-down look!
