When finding the perfect cotillion or prom dress can be a daunting task, but you’re in luck. You’ve found the perfect guide to help find the most flattering dress for your body type.
First, there are many different shapes and sizes of women. Just to generalize it a little bit there are pear shaped, slim or straight, apple shaped, hourglass, and petite. Obviously there are more types but it’ll be a very, very long list if I named all the body types.
The next step is figuring out which type you are. To help make the process a little easier you can measure your shoulders, waist, bust and hips. You can use those numbers to determine which shape you most closely fit. Normally, pear shaped girls have a bigger bottom half than they do top meaning that their hips comes out more than their bust. If you are slim or straight then your hips and bust are basically the same size. Apple shaped girls tend to have a larger upper half than they do top, you may have large shoulders, a larger bust or a wide back. And lastly petite girls are shorter and smaller than average. Keep in mind, the size of the dress and the maker are printed on the inside tag, so no one will ever know what size dress you are wearing and probably not know the designer either. Since now that you know your shape, onto the dresses!
According to PromGirl.com when dressing a pear shaped body your goal might be to balance out your bottom half so it’s equal to your bottom half. Look for natural waistlines, details on the bust, form fitted tops, V shaped necklines and definitely avoid full poofy skirts.
For an apple shaped body you might want to look for a dress with an empire waist to draw attention to your midsection and create a more defined waist.Naturally, you’ll want to avoid horizontal stripes, natural waist lines, fitted hips or anything that can draw attention to your middle.You just want to have a tight waistline and a free flowing bottom so the attention can be on your middle. Apple shaped girls tend to have nice legs so you may want to consider a dress which showcases those legs.
Slim or straight can be a little trickier if you want to create the illusion of curves. A two-piece prom dress with full skirt and dresses with mermaid or trumpet skirt shapes are great choices since they will can give you a curvier figure. Otherwise it’s important to make sure the dress does not disguise your shape or wash you out.
Next, the easiest shape to dress for is hourglass. As an hourglass shape you can pretty much wear whatever you want. If you want to accentuate your curves just be sure to avoid any shapeless dresses. Overall, if you have an hourglass figure just have fun with your dress and pick one that suits your personality the most.
Finally the last type is a petite body type, the petite body type is smaller than average and shorter than average. But you can be petite and fit into the other body types as well. So for petite girls just don’t chose a dress that’ll down you out, like a ball gown for example or dresses with a lot of tulle and volume. If your dress is too long for you make sure you get it hemmed. Hemming could cost some money depending on how much has to be cut off or if the dress has to be deconstructed. Alterations costs should be kept in mind when picking a dress as well.
Hopefully this helped you and gave you more insight on how to find your perfect dress and made the prom or cotillion season a little less stressful.
