Are you looking for the Perfect Trousers for your Hourglass Body Shape? In this article I will share with you all the information about what trousers suit your body shape best, and I will also present some images so you decide if you believe me by yourself! There’s no right or wrong answers, only opinions!
I will give you some background into your shape, and what silhouettes are best for you based on the “standards”, but remember to look at the drawings and decide for yourself.
Hourglass Body shape
The Hourglass figure is defined as the “standard” and it means that your hips and shoulders have a similar width and your waist is narrow. This means that the shape of your body reminds of an hour glass. You can sometimes look like a rectangle but with more shaping on the waist. How can you find the Perfect Trousers for your Hourglass Body Shape?
The secret to dress this body shape is that it’s already balanced, so you’ll have to play with top and bottom together. In general, your trousers should follow these guidelines:
- Embrace the slim leg-lines to show your curves
- Add attention to your waist
As always, the body proportions will also play a role in some of the trouser characteristics we’re gonna look into so have them in mind. Let’s dive into the perfect trousers for the hourglass body shape.
Trousers Anatomy
Before we start, let’s look into what things we can change in a trouser pattern to make them the perfect fit for you. There are 6 main characteristics and you can combine them to make some unique designs:
- Foundation: The foundations are not related to your body shape but to the level of comfort.
- Waistline: This part of the trousers will be defined by your body shape, body proportions and level of comfort.
- Length: The length is mostly a seasonal choice but it will have an influence on your body proportions
- Leg-lines: The silhouette of the trousers will play the biggest role to hide or accentuate your body shape
- Details: Choosing the right details can draw attention to certain parts of your body and add to your body shape
- Fabrics and colours: These two things can soften your shape and bring/hide the attention to the lower body
And once we know about the trouser parts, let’s look into them one by one and see how they can have an effect on your body shape so you can find the Perfect Trousers for your Hourglass Body Shape.
Hourglass Shape – The Foundations
The Foundation refers to the top part of your trousers and it’s defined by how much ease there’s around the crotch and the upper thigh. The more ease the more confort and the less shaping. There are four trouser foundations: The Culottes, the Trousers, the Slacks and the Jeans. The Culottes being the ones with the most ease and the Jeans the ones with the least.
All these Foundations are for woven fabrics (fabrics without elasticity) but can be converted to be used for sportswear and activewear.
As I told you, the foundations are about comfort and will not change the shape of your body or your proportions as much as other parts of the trousers, so I will not go too much into detail for this article. If you’re interested on the topic, you can read more about it here.
Hourglass Shape – The Waistbands
The waistbands are the part of the trousers that will sit around your waist. It’s the structure that holds the weight of the trousers. This characteristic of the pants will have multiple effects on your body. First, it will draw attention to your waist by saying “hey, this is my waist” and second, it will have an effect on body proportions.
There’s 3 main waist levels: the high waisted, the mid-rise and the low waisted.
As an hourglass, you have the “ideal” shape. This means that you should embrace your silhouette. The best waistbands for you are the mid-rise ones. I think the waistband should be more about comfort and balancing your body proportions, what do you think?
- High waisted trousers: This level is under your bust and it will help elongate your figure. If you have a short/long torso, play around with the length of the trousers to balance it out.
- Mid-rise trousers: This waistband sits on the natural waist, just below your rib cage. As an hourglass, this is the best option for you. Remember to balance your proportions with the length of the pants.
- Low waisted trousers: Low waisted trousers sit around 5cm below the natural waist. Of course, you can choose how low is low. This option will make your torso appear longer and will draw more attention around your hips, which will add volume to your figure. In theory, that’s not the best look for an hourglass, but you can always balance it with the top.
If you’re interested in how wide the waistband should be, that has more to do with what the final outfit is than your body shape. The width of the waistband can be used to balance the look as well as different types of belts.
Hourglass Shape – The Leg-lines
The leg-lines refer to the bottom part of the trousers. This characteristic will have the biggest effect on your body proportions because you’ll be able to add or distribute volume however you see fit. Looking at the picture, which leg-line do you think is best for the Perfect Trousers for your Hourglass Shape?
The general rule is that there are 6 main leg-lines: the slim, the tapered, the straight, the boot cut, the bell bottoms and finally the wide legs.
- Slim: The leg-line follows the silhouette of your legs
- Tapered: It’s wide at the hips and tight at the ankle
- Straight: Falls down from your hips or your knees
- Boot cut: Flares from below your knee
- Bell bottoms: Flares from above or at your knees
- Wide legs: Flare from your waistband
As an hourglass, your body is proportionate, so theoretically you can go for any look as long as you balance it out with the top. For example, if you go for the wide-legs, maybe wear a puffy sleeve on top. If I look at the image I have to agree that I love all the styles, what do you think?
Hourglass Shape – The Length
The length of the trousers is a characteristic that will help balance your body proportions.
There are “official” lengths like the Bermudas, the Jamaicas, or the capri but you can make your pants as short or long as you want. This is how the length can change your body proportions:
- Shorter: This will shorten your leg appearance. This is good if you have long legs or a short torso compared to the legs.
- Longer: Lengthening your leg-lines will make your legs appear longer. This is a great option for people with short legs or with long torsos.
I know it’s very obvious but sometimes these things are easy to forget. The end goal is to balance your proportions so you look proportionate, but again, it’s up to you. If you want to embrace your short legs, go for it!
Hourglass Shape – The Details
Trouser details are not a part of the trousers but something that can be added to your design to draw attention to different areas. This means you can add the illusion of volume by using them and they can have an effect on your body proportions.
There’s a lot of details you can add, but here’s some of them: pockets, pleats, turn ups, and distress.
If you look at the picture, you have the details I mentioned before illustrated. Do your eyes go to the trousers with the details or without them?
As I’ve said before, the Hourglass figure is already balanced, so there’s no need to add volume anywhere. You can either embrace certain parts of your body or just balance out the t-shirt you’re wearing.
Hourglass Shape – Fabric and Colours
The last thing I want to talk about are fabrics and colours. Again, this is not necessarily a part of the trousers but something you can change to draw attention and show your curves. These two characteristics will have an effect on your body shape.
When we talk about fabric, heavy weight fabrics will stiffen your figure and light weight fabrics will soften it.
If we look at colours, they can be used to draw more or less attention to the lower part of your body. Lighter colours will be more obvious and darker colours more discrete. So if you want to add volume, go for lighter colours.
Use these two characteristics to balance your final look. For example, if your top is light and voluminous, you can choose a light pair of trousers.
Look at this picture, do you see think the left shape is thiner than the middle one? They are the same! That’s the effect of colours on our body shapes.
Choose your Trousers
Now you know what your preferred trouser shapes are, but do you know how many shapes there are? Here you have an overview of all existing trousers (that have a name) so you can choose which one you like the most! Of course, you can make any combination you want and add all the details or change the waistlines however you see fit. Have fun with it!
The horizontal line shows you all the trouser leg-lines and the vertical line refers to the different foundations (based on ease around your thighs). From here you can add details, change fabrics and colours and even seam lines. Sky’s the limit! Are you ready to find the Perfect Trousers for your Hourglass Body Shape?
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