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Name your clothing silhouette from tape measures
What this label is — and is not
The silhouette name comes only from the circumferences you type (bust/chest, waist, high hip, hip, optional shoulder). It does not estimate body fat, muscle, health risk, or attractiveness. Tape height and posture can move a border case. Use it as fit vocabulary for clothes and patterns.
Which clothing body type matches your bust, waist, and hip?A ratio map for size charts, jeans ease, and pattern grading
Enter bust or chest, natural waist, high hip, full hip, and optional shoulder width. The calculator ranks how those widths relate and returns one clothing shorthand—hourglass, pear, rectangle, apple, inverted triangle, or V-shape—so you know where a garment usually needs ease.
Same landmarks size charts already list
Fields map to bust/chest, natural waist, high hip (low-rise waistband height), full hip, and optional shoulder span—the points pattern makers grade. Weight and photos are never part of the input.
Gaps between fields beat absolute centimeters
A 90 cm bust means little alone. What matters is whether the hip outruns it, whether the waist dips under both, or whether high hip closes the gap toward the seat. The label is a story about those gaps.
Two pattern banks: curve-first vs upper–lower
Female mode favors curve vocabulary (hourglass, pear, apple…). Male mode favors upper–lower balance and more often surfaces V-shape when chest or shoulders lead. Switching banks changes the dictionary, not your body.
High hip and shoulder resolve close calls
When waist and hip are nearly tied, high hip shows whether fullness starts just below the waistband. When the upper half dominates, shoulder width keeps inverted-triangle / V-shape reads honest instead of guessing from bust alone.
Use the silhouette name when buying or sewing
Treat the result as a one-line brief: where width sits, and which piece of a garment usually fights your tape. Skip anything that sounds like a personality type or a health grade.
Online shopping & wardrobe tweaks
- Size charts that assume “hourglass” or “pear” proportions, not a single bust number
- Jeans and trousers when hip needs more room than the waistband implies
- Jackets and dresses when bust and hip want different sizes on the same chart
Pattern work & alterations
- Decide whether to grade the waist, the seat, or the shoulder first
- Explain to a client why an RTW size fits the bust but pulls at the hip
- Still cut a muslin—this page names a silhouette; it does not replace a fitting
Measure once, in one unit, at clothing landmarks
Soft tape, level to the floor, over skin or thin fabric. Pick cm or inches and stick to that unit for every field—mixed units scramble every ratio.
Hit the four torso rings (plus shoulder if shown)
Bust/chest at the fullest point. Waist at the natural indent (or where you crease when you bend sideways). High hip where a low jeans waistband sits. Hip at the fullest seat. Add shoulder tip-to-tip if the form shows it and the upper half looks wider.
Choose the pattern bank that matches your wardrobe
Female bank → curve-oriented names. Male bank → upper–lower names including V-shape. Submit. The engine compares waist-to-bust, waist-to-hip, bust-to-hip, and shoulder cues, then picks the closest silhouette for that bank.
Read the gaps, then steal the fit notes
The name is a headline; the bullet list explains which measures drove it. Use the fit notes for ease and seam placement. If a second careful measuring day lands on a neighbor type, keep advice from both—real bodies sit between textbook bins.
What each silhouette means on this page
Hourglass & pear — where the width sits
Hourglass: bust ≈ hip with a clear waist dip. Pear: hip larger than bust, waist still under the hip. Both tell you tops and bottoms may want different ease.
Rectangle & apple — midsection story
Rectangle: bust and hip similar, softer waist. Apple: waist closer to bust, hip, or high hip. Fit notes lean toward drape, empire lines, or midsection ease.
Inverted triangle & V-shape — upper lead
Both describe an upper-dominant tape set. Inverted triangle is the curve-bank phrasing; V-shape is the male-bank phrasing when chest or shoulders clear the hip.
Questions about this silhouette calculator
Q1.How is this different from waist-to-hip ratio alone?
Waist÷hip is one number. Here, bust, high hip, and optional shoulder join the comparison, and the output is a clothing silhouette name—not a single ratio band. You may still see waist–hip ratio as a side metric on the result.
Q2.Why ask for high hip if I already enter waist and hip?
High hip sits between natural waist and fullest seat. It separates a soft midsection from a full seat when those two numbers are close—useful for low-rise bottoms and for apple vs pear border cases.
Q3.Why can female and male mode disagree on the same tape?
Each mode scores against a different silhouette dictionary. The circumferences stay the same; the name that “wins” can change because the banks prioritize different balances.
Q4.What if I’m between two silhouettes?
Raise or lower the tape a centimeter, or change breath, and a border case can flip. Treat neighboring names as neighboring fit advice—especially for ease at waist vs seat.
Q5.Does shoulder width change the result?
When the form includes it, yes—mainly for upper-dominant reads (inverted triangle / V-shape). Leave it blank only if your locale hides the field; otherwise it stops the tool from over-trusting bust alone.
After you calculate
The result block lists the silhouette name, the measurement relationships that triggered it, and fit notes aimed at ease, seams, and cut. Keep what matches how clothes actually sit on you; discard the rest.
Re-run only after you re-measure carefully. Because the logic is ratio-based, a mixed unit or a slipped tape can rename the whole silhouette. Clean numbers give you a compact shopping and sewing brief—not a fixed identity.