Dressing for your body type

[Jabonator]

One thing I've come to realize, that your body type will determine what looks good on you to a pretty large extent. There's plenty of looks I've seen here and elsewhere and thought they were cool, but when trying it myself, I've found it doesn't look too good. Others have made some posts on the issue as well, but I thought it would be useful to many, to gather that advice to one place.

Therefore, I decided to start a thread on the topic (excuse me if there already is one, I haven't seen such). What are typical problems with different body types, what are the solutions. Which things flatter which body types, and what small things you can do to balance out the problems.

For example, I'm not too tall, less than 6ft. But I've got long legs and arms. I'm also ridiculously skinny, but I have some hips. I guess sagging my jeans a bit helps to not accent my long legs and hips too much.

What type of clothes, and what kind of styling do you think would suit my body type? Or some other typical body types? Do you have problems dressing for your body type? Have you had issues finding what works for you for some reason, but then figured it out? This is the place to post it.

 

[crosswound]

May i add hardest body type to work with is short

 

[nahneun]

most of SF, SZ, and sufu's best dressers fall on the short and skinny side so.........

 

[max_r]



Coldsnap posted on here. And few guys PM'd me asking me to post on how I feel muscular guys should wear clothing (just t-shirts and casual bottoms for now).
I’m not here to argue or push my views down people’s throats - just voicing my opinion with some grade level writing and some crappy, not too entirely accurate, diagrams.


First, let’s meet Mr. Athletic Guy.

As you can tell, he’s athletic all around. That means he’s built up top and also his wheels – no chicken legs here. If you’re “athletic” but have chicken legs, you can stop reading right here as this doesn’t really pertain to you.

Some of you reading this might be bigger than Mr. AG or maybe a bit smaller. But if you have muscularity that involves your chest and hips being similar in circumference and are in the possession of large thighs, this should help you a bit if you’re having trouble dressing to your body type.



Many will argue that “slim-fit” t-shirts are best for Mr. AG who has a 7-12” drop. In my opinion, it’s the complete opposite of what you want to be wearing if you want to seem muscular and bigger while also hiding the fact that you have huge hips and thighs.

For one, slim-fit t-shirts usually have more narrow shoulders seams. As you can see from the figure below, it kills the lines form your V-shape and makes you seem more narrow up top.

Another thing is that slim-fitting t-shirts usually huge your body throughout. Hugging your chest and arms is fine, but once it starts being slim around your waist/hips, you’re just setting your thighs up to be the center of attention. Yes, show the world you have a huge drop from your chest to waist. But at the cost of showing everyone your reverse-pyramid from your waist to hips/thighs.

I think regular fit tees work better for Mr. AG. It fits in line with your shoulders better, giving the illusion that you’re wider up top. And if you’ve got some decent size on you, it’s going to hug your chest and biceps already but give you some room in the body and hips. Also, having your tees a bit longer will help hide the initial slope of your thighs going outwards.

Next, let’s move onto your pants/jeans. A lot of people will say that straight-leg pants are best for guys with muscular thighs. This flies in the face of what I feel is best for someone that wants to hide their gigantic thighs. Straight-leg pants are going to be pretty slim in the thighs for an athletic guy to begin with and the lack of a hard taper just makes his legs look stumpy (figure below). A hard taper below the knees in conjunction with minimal stacking will make your legs seem slimmer and longer.

Now onto the rise of the pants/length of the crotch. I think drop crotch (even a slight drop crotch or just a higher rise with some sagging) is far superior to a normal rise for someone who wants to mask his thighs. A normal rise is going to show the tightness throughout your thighs with nothing to hide it (unless you have a dress on). A drop crotch will give you more room in the seat/thighs and it your thighs won’t look like sausages being stuffed into casings.

This last part is just putting A and B together. What most people think Mr. AG should wear is a slim-fit tee to show off his muscles and straight-leg pants/jeans due to muscular legs.

I argue that a regular fit, longer tee that has wider shoulder seams will help hide his hips/thighs and that a drop crotch with a hard taper below the knees will give the illusion that his thighs are gigantic.

I know this just covers your basic tee and pants, but if you’re smart about it, you can apply it to most garments.

Some of you guys might not agree with this assessment. That’s fine. I’m not 100% sure of what I just typed out anyways

this is a good quote to have here.

 

[RiesigJay]

Tag because this is going to be gold! Thanks for the thread creation OP!

 

[Averon]

Having issues regarding this.

My measurements are:

Height: 5 ft 11 inches/180 cm

Chest: 42,1 inches/107 cm
Waist: 30,3 inches/77 cm
Bottom: 37,4 inches/95 cm
Legs: 34,6/88 cm, (my hamstrings are a bit underdeveloped, quads are desently proportioned)

The main issue is T-shirts/shirts where european medium become very thight over my chest, while large becomes too baggy, especially in the waist area.

I'm currently browsing for some leisury clothes for the summer online, mainly because I have a hard time finding clothes I'm satisfied with in stores.

Any advice? Any good retailers that can accommodate me that ship to europe.

 

[Urthwhyte]

This has the potential to be a great thread, hopefully it attracts some interest. Proportions are hard.

most of SF, SZ, and sufu's best dressers fall on the short and skinny side so.........

My impressions are:

SZ: tall and thin - Christian, SeptSeptSept, Shucks, BSR, Shuit all come to mind
SF: Similarly tall to SZ but more athletic in build - Synth, Spacepope, The-Arm all come to mind as taller and stockier.
Sufu: I just assume everyone who posts there is Asian, but don't follow WAYWT. I find the most 44s on the market there, so I'll call that agreement.

Honestly, you and snow are the only short folks I can think of, and you're both 46/48s, no?

 

[rjbman]

I've got some fairly large hips relative to my waist, and sometimes struggle with it. I've found less-skinny-fitting pants help in that they don't follow my body lines quite so much so the hips aren't as evident.

Still working on other ways to help make it less noticeable though, so any tips are welcome.

 

[nahneun]

People like merz and art also fall on the shorter end of the spectrum. There are more but I'm too feverish to look it up right now

 

[RXS09]

Great idea for a thread man.

 

[Fuuma]



This has the potential to be a great thread, hopefully it attracts some interest. Proportions are hard.


My impressions are:

SZ: tall and thin - Christian, SeptSeptSept, Shucks, BSR, Shuit all come to mind
SF: Similarly tall to SZ but more athletic in build - Synth, Spacepope, The-Arm all come to mind as taller and stockier.
Sufu: I just assume everyone who posts there is Asian, but don't follow WAYWT. I find the most 44s on the market there, so I'll call that agreement.

Honestly, you and snow are the only short folks I can think of, and you're both 46/48s, no?

Christian: very tall and thin, BSR isn't particularly tall but he's thin (so like me), septseptsept isn't that tall either (I think, never met him). In other words picture make it hard to judge because, well, they dress for their body type.

 

[Peter1]

I'm 5'11, 39-40" chest, 32" waist, with broad shoulders. But only weigh 160. I'm a cyclist so my thighs and glutes are developed, but I have skinny wrists and ankles. Hardest thing for me is shirts -- anything that flatters my chest/shoulders balloons around my waist. I've found best cuts for me are BB ESF and GV, though even Gitman is a little baggy around the waist. I agree that slightly tapered pants are best for athletic legs -- my go-to is Ep Rivet Chinos. I live in Paris and the brand La Panoplie is also a good slightly tapered choice.

With the caveat that if you have big feet you might want to go straight leg.

T-shirts are a tossup but I usually go with AA (both Alt-A and Amer-A) mediums. I go slim-straight for denim because I ususally wear some kind of boots. I also am a little more traditionalist with jeans. I keep trying on APC PS but I think the thighs are just too tight. I may have a go at the Petit New Standard, though.

What I've learned from living in Paris is that fit is absolutely central. You'll never see sloppy cuffs or pants with a break here. There are tailors all over the place and guys bring in stuff from H&M and Uniqlo all the time -- most people don't wear designer clothes because they're really expensive.

 

[notwithit]

Shirts for people with a difficult chest-to-waist ratio:

- WvG is the best fit I've found off-the-rack. The "monkey arms" option now makes them a viable choice for tall people.
- MTM is a good option, but a) you don't always know what you're getting in terms of fabric and details until the shirt shows up at your door, and b) you should be prepared to screw up your measurements the first time or two around. Always measure off of a shirt instead of your body.
- Shirts with box pleats tend to look terrible on me, but it's really cheap and easy to have a tailor sew down the pleat and take in the extra fabric at the waist.

APC PNS is an interesting fit. The waist is identical to NS, but the rise and thighs are ~ 1/2" smaller. The taper below the knee is pretty severe, so they might not be a great choice if you have big feet or large calves.