Why Dressing For Your Body Type Is Holding You Back
“Dress for your body type” has been the advice for as long as most of us can remember. Apple. Pear. Hourglass. Rectangle. A lot of “dress for your body type” rules were created to help people shop quickly in a world of limited sizing. They weren’t about personal style, they were about efficiency. Moving product and reducing returns in the retail space. And when you continue to dress by those rules now, you’re styling yourself for an old retail system that is so outdated.
Those rules were also inherently restrictive. They narrow your options down to what’s considered “flattering,” rather than what’s interesting, expressive, or simply appealing to you. Don’t wear that, it makes your hips look wide. Avoid this, it shortens your legs. Try this, it hides your stomach. Once you start thinking this way, getting dressed quietly becomes about fixing yourself instead of enjoying what you’re wearing. And once your body starts to feel like a list of problems, it’s hard to stop seeing it that way. Fashion is expression. It’s about wearing what you like, not what a rulebook says you should.
If you’re still stuck in the body type mentality, the only way out is to break the pattern. You have to try things properly and experiment. Test silhouettes you’ve been told aren’t “for you.” Style isn’t discovered through rules - it’s built through repetition, adjustment, and a bit of trial and error. That process takes time, but it’s the only way your style actually becomes yours.
It also helps to look at people whose style really stands out. They’re rarely concerned with whether something is technically flattering. They’re trying things. Big coats, unusual proportions and pieces that don’t work every time, that’s exactly the point. When an unconventional silhouette works, we often credit the body instead of the styling - “They can pull that off.” But more often than not, the outfit works because it’s intentional. The proportions are deliberate, the pieces support each other, and the look feels considered, it’s not luck.
