How to Dress for your Shape: Apple

Following on from our recent blog post about dressing your shape – which you ladies seemed to love - we thought we would take a bit of time to talk about each shape individually. It is really important to know what your shape is, as then you can look at how to dress it well in order to flatter your good points, and hide the bits you aren’t so keen on. Always remember too, that shape is different to size; you can be an apple if you are a size 6 or a size 22, the same rules still apply.

This month we are going to talk about the apple shape. The apple is a wonderful fruit, but having an apple shape can be quite hard to dress. The main characteristic of an apple is a larger midsection, unfortunately for apple’s they tend to have an undefined waist, with a soft middle, and any weight they gain goes right here. Apple shapes can appear to be a little top heavy too, with a large bust and broad shoulders.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom! As an apple shape myself, I know it can be quite easy to hide away in tent dresses and sweatshirts – but we need to banish those from our wardrobes. Wearing vintage style clothes which help to balance us out, and draw attention to our face and other assets (nudge nudge, wink wink). Choosing clothes carefully can help to make our shoulders and waists appear slimmer, and therefore make our torso’s look longer.

So, which Vintage style dresses will suit your shape the best?

One amazing dress for you would be the Lindy Bop “Lavonne” Vintage Dress, as it has a patterned top to draw attention to your upper half, and a beautiful sweetheart neckline with bow detail which will get people looking at your face and shoulders rather than your tummy. The circle skirt part of this dress is also really flattering as it will skim over any lumps or bumps, and balance out the top part of your figure:

                                                                                         Lindy Bop 'Lavonne' Dress

If the waistline hits you at the smallest part of your body, you can always add a belt here to really accentuate that area too – a red patent belt would look lovely.

Another good dress for apple shapes, is the Lindy Bop Ophelia style. Again the neckline with its contrasting panel is a great way to draw attention to this area, and move it away from your middle. If you go for the Ophelia in a pattern too, like the Red Floral Ophelia pictured below, this will help to draw the eye all over the body, camouflaging your actual shape (in the nicest possible way), and again the flared skirt helps to balance out your upper body.

                                                                            Lindy Bop 'Ophelia' Red Floral Dress

Don’t be too downhearted if you are an apple, many vintage style dresses are perfect for you. Also, you are in good company, as the delicious Jennifer Hudson, Elizabeth Hurley and Rosie O’Donnell are apple shapes too – and they don’t look too shabby do they? So, celebrate your shape, show off your curves and top off your fabulous dress with a wide smile!