In some ways, women have a harder time than men when it comes to finding clothing that fits and flatters. From bra shopping to selecting swimwear, jeans and dresses, this guide from Woman’s Day has you covered.
As with men, the shoulder area is the most important area to look at for things like shirts, suit jackets and dresses, because the seams there are very hard to adjust and not worth the tailoring costs. Women, however, should also look at how button-down shirts fit on their hips:
A surprising but critical area to fit is the middle of your hips — “the sweep,” as it’s called in the apparel industry. “If you have fuller hips, button-down shirts can become tight and bunch and ride up when you walk around,” says [clothing industry expert Ed Gribbin]. Take a stroll around the dressing room to be sure there’s ample room in this area.
You can also tell when a dress is well-made by looking at the hip area:
Dresses tend to be more forgiving through the middle, and if the garment is well-made, properly fitting shoulders should signal properly fitting hips because the two are in alignment.
There’s lots of other interesting advice in the article, such as asking your tailor to reattach the original hem when shortening your jeans and getting the pockets removed from pants if you want a smoother silhouette.
Ensure All of Your Clothes Fit Properly [Women’s Day]
Comments
6 responses to “Check The Critical Hip Area For Properly Fitting Women’s Clothes”
Perhaps you could change the title to “.. if you’re skinny”
I think you mean ‘…unless you’re a morbidly obese fleshpod whose proportions have somehow defied these characteristics.’
… Or it may just be that you didn’t actually read the material and got all fat-acceptance-outraged by the header image.
…Or maybe, Cupcake, the dude has a point.
Women are shaped in all kinds of ways. A year ago, I fell into the category of, as you so lovingly put it, the “morbidly obese fleshpod”. Now, I fall into the category of “Half-my-previous-weight-but-shit-still-doesn’t-fit-properly-because-I-have-a-great-rack-and-an-ass-that-just-won’t-quit”; I’m a size 14-16 AU. The dude above is right. This entire article is aimed at Le Skinnies and while I’m not blaming Lifehacker in any way, it’s pretty exemplary of how the world seems to think that looking borderline malnourished = “average” and acceptable – you included.
When womens’ clothing manufacturers starting making clothes that fit women above a size 12 as an average, I’ll let your ridiculous, narrow-minded, scumbucket opinion slide.
Until then, you can go right to hell, Sweetheart.
A cupcake AND a sweetheart. I feel special 😀
Congrats (or commiserations, no undue value judgements here), but you’ll find that, even with the extra dimensions you will still follow the basic proportions: shoulder width roughly proportionate to hips (considering how you described yourself, still true), picking shirts based upon sweep and button placement, bra fitting (there are more comprehensive guides obviously).
Probably the most important advice: tailors errywhere. Practically no one has perfectly fitted clothing off the rack. Women (all people actually) may be shaped in all kinds of ways (not really, humans follow a basic format but with shifting emphases and proportions), but so is clothing. Buying based upon select criteria (shoulders, waist-to-hip ratio) and then altering works for more than the ‘borderline malnourished’. ‘All in the fit’ isn’t just for guys buying suits.
My point: unless you are literally that deformed that you somehow have become an outlier in humanity (i presume there are different guides out there for those kids) the advice will work for you.
Alright, I’m going to apologise. While I think your original comment in response to Michael was unwarranted and crass, my reaction was a tiny, tiny little bit overboard.
Thanks for not being a douche when I was clearly out of line, and for coming back with a reasonable rebuttal.
Have a good weekend, my friend.
Hey, you too. 🙂