An apple body shape is one where the waist measures close to the bust and the hips. On the rule our body shape calculator uses, the waist is within four inches of both. Other guides call the same shape round or oval, and a few split it further into oval and diamond. The calculator uses one name, because what it means for clothes is the same.
What is an apple shaped body, in numbers?
Measure bust, waist and hips. If the waist is no more than four inches smaller than the bust, and no more than four inches smaller than the hips, the shape is an apple. A waist that is the largest of the three is an apple too. In centimetres the line is about 10 cm.
| Bust | Waist | Hips | Reads as | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | 36 | 38 | Apple | Waist 2 inches under both |
| 40 | 38 | 40 | Apple | Waist 2 under both |
| 36 | 33 | 37 | Apple | Waist 3 under the bust and 4 under the hips |
| 38 | 40 | 38 | Apple | The waist is the widest measurement |
| 38 | 34 | 35 | Apple | Waist 4 under the bust and 1 under the hips |
| 38 | 33 | 38 | Rectangle | Waist 5 under both, past the four inch line |
The calculator checks for an apple before it compares bust with hips. That is why 38-34-35 is an apple and not an inverted triangle, even though the bust is three inches bigger than the hips. When the middle is nearly as wide as everything else, that decides how clothes fit, more than which end is slightly ahead.
Apple or rectangle?
The difference is one inch at the waist. A waist four inches under bust and hips is an apple, and five inches under is a rectangle. The advice overlaps a good deal, so if you sit on the line, read both and keep what works.
Why is the waistband the thing to get right?
Because it sits on the fullest part of you. A waistband that is slightly tight cuts in, the cut shows through whatever is over it, and it gets less comfortable every hour. One that is slightly loose slides down.
For trousers and skirts, look for a mid or high rise with some stretch, a flat front, and a waistband wide enough to lie flat. Elastic at the back with a flat front is a good compromise. Size bottoms by the waist, which is the reverse of what a pear does, and have the hip and leg taken in if they are loose.
What should you wear on an apple body shape?
Clothes that fall from the bust or the shoulder and skim the middle sit better than clothes that grip it. Empire lines, A-line and straight kurtas, shirt dresses worn unbelted, tunics over straight trousers, kaftans. Fabric with some weight hangs clear of the body, where thin jersey clings to it.
V-necks and open collars draw a vertical line down the front, and so does a long open layer, a shrug or a jacket worn undone over a kurta.
With a saree, the drape does most of the work already, since the pleats and the pallu cover the middle. Pleats pressed flat and a pallu pinned in neat folds keep it from adding bulk. How to look slimmer in a saree goes through fabric and drape in detail.
Wide belts at the natural waist are the one thing that rarely works, because they put a horizontal line across the widest point.
What should you wear underneath?
Waist compression does the most here, and how far the garment reaches matters more than how firm it is. A panel that stops at the natural waist creates the very line it was meant to hide: the body is pressed in up to the edge and released above it. A bodysuit takes the whole torso in one piece, so there is no edge in the middle to dig.
The all-in-one sculpt bodysuit is sized by waist, which suits this shape: S-M for 26 to 32 inches, L for 33 to 38, XL for 39 to 44. Read your tape against those ranges or let the shapewear size finder do it, and if you are past 44 the finder will say so plainly.
Do not size down. Whatever the compression, you still have to breathe, sit and eat in it, and a garment tight enough to change a measurement will hurt by the third hour. How tight shapewear should be has the test.
If the bodysuit is more than the outfit needs, high-waisted shorts are the lighter piece, as long as the waist comes up over the stomach and ends on the ribs. A short that ends mid-stomach has the same problem as a short panel.
Does an apple shape say anything about health?
Not from this page. Doctors do use waist measurements in screening, with their own method and their own thresholds, and that is a conversation to have with one. A shape name from a clothing calculator is not a medical reading, and three tape measurements cannot tell you how healthy anyone is.
The short version
An apple is a waist within four inches of both bust and hips. Size bottoms by the waist, choose waistbands that lie flat, and prefer clothes that fall from the shoulder or the bust and skim the middle. Underneath, a bodysuit that covers the whole torso works better than any panel that stops at the waist, worn in your measured size. Your own three numbers go into the body shape calculator.
