In order to understand how to dress the pear shape, you need to first understand the strengths and weaknesses of the pear. To summarize, a typical pear shape has slender waist but prominent butt and thighs. In short, the pear comes across as “bottom heavy”, and that is why you need to choose coats, bathingsuits, dresses, jeans , shorts and wedding dresses accordingly to balance out the heavier bottom of the pear.
The best pear shaped outfits I’m about to tell you in this post are inspired by pear shaped body celebrities. By observing what they wear, we can learn what works and what doesn’t work so well.
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Pear Shaped Celebrities
The pear body type (sometimes called the spoon shape) is quite common, as I mentioned earlier. So, in today’s Hollywood, you will notice a lot of popular celebs with pear shaped body. Pear shaped women could be skinny or curvy, so here I’m going to give you examples of both.
Skinny Pear
Hollywood actress Rachel Bilson (5’2″) has the most typical skinny pear shaped body.
Curvy Pear
Kim Kardashian (5’3″) and Jennifer Lopez are the most typical pear shaped celebs with curves.
Although both of them are often been mentioned as hourglass figure by a lot of fashion magazines, they actually have pear shape figure. Both of them have the main characteristics of the pear shape, i.e. prominent hips and thighs. Also, when they gain weight, it is most noticeable on their hips and thighs.
Both Kim and Jlo are expert of styling themselves well, so that their assets (full chest and small waist) grab all your attention, and then you won’t be noticing their weaknesses (the prominent thighs and hips). That explains why both of them are commonly quoted as the hourglass figure by most media. That’s exactly what I am about to share with you, i.e. some of their top styling secrets, later in this post, so that you know how to balance out your pear figure!
Another celebrity with pear shape is Kristin Davis (Charlotte in Sex and the City).
Remember the episode when the girls were in the steam room together? Charlotte told Carrie “I hate my thighs!” Carrie responded “The problem is not with your thighs. It is with your head, sweetie!”
What Charlotte was saying reflects the common concern of pear shaped ladies, which is they are quite self conscious of their thighs.
I have summarized the tips for the pear shape women on my Youtube video, but I suggest you also read the full post to get all the details you need after you watch the video.
How to Tell if You are a Pear
I believe each body type have their own unique treats and everyone has the potential to be attractive, as long as we use the right dressing techniques to enhance our assets. First things first, let’s take a look at what is a pear shape. If you have a pear shape, your body generally have the following characteristics:
- Your hips are larger than your bust, and your hips are wider than your shoulders. In many cases, your hips are the widest point of your body
- You have a nicely defined waist
- You have an elegant neck and proportionately slim arms and shoulders
- You first gain weight in your bottom and legs flowed by your tummy and upper body
- You have round, sloping shoulders.
- Your buttocks and thighs are full and round.
- You tend to have a long waist.
Above are the typical features of the pear shaped body. However, because human bodies have some many different variations, most likely not one body would fit into all features of one body type. If you feel like you have some but not all of the traits above, it is possible you are a combination of pear shape and other body types. Click on Body Type Quiz to read more and take the quiz and find out what body type is closest to you.
Dressing a Pear Shaped Body
Now that we talked about how to define the pear shape, it may have become clear to you that the best asset is the well defined waistline, and you may even have killer abs.
When looking for the best pear shaped body clothes, your goal should be to create an hourglass like silhouette through:
- Balancing your narrow/sloping shoulders
- Drawing attention to your narrow waistline
- Showing off your firm abs (if you have them)
Best Tops for Pear Shaped Women
The Length of the Top
Before I get into what are the best coats and best tops for the pear shaped body, I want to point out the length of your top is critical. This applies to all tops, whether it’s blouse or jacket or T-shirt.
If you have a pear shaped body, then you want to avoid the length that hits the widest part of your thighs. Because that is going to draw too much attention to your prominent thighs, the opposite of what you want!
For the pear shaped women, generally speaking a longer jacket that bypass the widest point of your hips is the best choice. The cropped length jacket normally draw attention to your hips, which is not the most flattering point of your body.
So, if you do want to wear a cropped jacket, you need to be very strategic. You probably want it really short, and also wear it with black skirts or pants to balance it out. The reason why a shorter length could work on a pear shaped body is it could have the effect of a shawl, which I will talk about in greater details in this post.
This rule of thumb applies to all the tops I’m to tell you about.
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1. Structured Top
So, how can we balance out the sloping shoulders of pear shape? A fitted and structured top is a good choice.
Now, you may have heard the word “structured clothing” many times, but not really understand what it refers to. It is just a fancy way of saying garments that are deliberately shaped and carefully tailored, like this Plaid Boucle Tweed Jacket ($148.00).
Fitted and structured tops look especially well in a pear shape because they create definition around your narrow shoulders and draw attention to your small waistline. A good example is jackets with full or structured shoulders and a nipped-in waist in hip-length. If you have a pear figure, light shoulder pads work the best to balance out your narrow top, like this Plaid Boucle Eyelash Tweed Jacket ($148.00).
If you are petite, generally speaking, a fitted and structured top is much more flattering to petite women than a loose and slouchy top, because the latter swamps the small frame of a short person.
2. Tops with horizontal neckline
Pear body shape should use neckline to visually expand your shoulders and create the illusion of a wider top. The most flattering neckline designs for pear shape are boat neck and off-the-shoulder, like Off-The-Shoulder Puff Sleeve Top ($69.00).
Both boat neck and off-the-shoulder create the horizontal line in shoulders, which serves to balance out your wide hips, like this Off the Shoulder Double Ruffle Top ($32.97)
3. Wrap Top
The slender waist is a valuable asset of women with pear-shaped bodies. You should absolutely emphasize and make that the focal point of your outfit. Wrap tops are top choices to bring attention to your waistline, like this Ribbed Wrap Top ($26.97).
Alternative, add a belt to any basic tops, tube tops, knit tops, sleeveless tops, etc. Blouses with built-in waistbands also serve the same purpose of highlighting your slender waist, like this Wrap Tie Waist Long Sleeve Top ($39.99).
4. Shawls
This is a well-kept secret that you probably have not heard about. The shawls are heaven-sent for pear-shaped figures, because for several reasons.
First, it draws attention above to your face, and strategically expands your shoulders.
Additionally, they are chic and functional at the same time. They keep you warm when you need the extra layer, without adding any bulk to your body, like this Sheer Capelet Shawl ($29.00).
If you are going to a formal event, you can opt for an evening gown that comes with a shawl like this Pull-Through Shawl ($69.00).
The details will not only make your shoulders look broader, but also draw attention above and away from your butt and thighs.
A-line skirts that gently skim your body help to de-emphasize your bottom, and they are generally flattering to women of pear shape, like this Tweed A-line Skirt ($83.99)
Look for lightly gathered skirts that skim your bottom without adding volume. Simple, dark-colored skirts with no (or minimal) pockets with a mid-rise or high-rise waist will look great on you. For casual looks, choose relaxed fits that fall straight down from the widest part of your hip.
I want to once again stress the length of the skirt.
In general, longer skirts are better for pear-shaped. The reason is that mini-skirts will easily draw attention to your thighs, which is something you want to avoid. If you do want a shorter skirt, make sure it is structured and heavily weighted like this so that it does not cling to your thighs.
Should pear shape women wear pencil skirts?
That is totally up to you because it all depends on how you look at your body and what you view as the assets of your body shape.
Kim Kardashian has very prominent hips and thighs, and she never shies away from flouncing those curves. In fact, a cropped top with a high-waisted skirt is one of Kim’s most famous signature looks.
If you decide to show off the curves of your bottom, then you have many choices when it comes to curve-hugging skirts. Just keep in mind that because of your height, pencil skirts of shorter length will create the illusion of longer legs.
On the other hand, some pear shape women are self-conscious about their prominent thigh area (remember we mentioned earlier Charlotte in Sex and City was telling Carrie how she felt about her thighs?). That is totally fine and understandable.
Dresses for Pear Shaped Women
1. Empire waist line dresses
Best dresses for a pear-shaped body? They should draw all the attention to your slender waist! The empire waistline dress is the most ideal for pear shape women, like this Leopard Print Wrap Dress ($54.97)
The empire waist is a dress where the waistline is high, which is normally placed just below the bust line. This Empire Waist Dress ($89.00) is my top pick from Nordstrom Rack.
Or you can try this Halter Neck Maxi Dress ($79.00).
2. Fit and Flare Dresses
A skater dress (also known as fit and flare dress, or A line dress) with a higher waistline is heaven-sent for our pear-shaped women. The A shape of the dress will perfectly camouflage the heavy bottom of a pear-shaped body. Skater dresses do not hug the curve of your bottom, thus they will draw people’s attention away from your butt and thighs, like this Fit and Flare Mini Dress ($45.97).
This Tie-Shoulder Smocked Maxi Dress ($99.00) looks flattering on pear-shaped ladies because they are the classic A-line silhouette.
But again, if you decide to emphasize the curve of your bottom half, then you have many other choices of body-conscious dresses that can draw attention to instead of away from the curves of your thighs and butt areas. Your fashion icon? Kim Kardashian (regardless if you like her as a reality star or not) shows your many examples of how to do so. Just copy what you like about her looks, and ditch what you don’t.
3. Off the Shoulder Dresses
Notice how flattering this off-the-shoulder dress looks on pear-shaped Tamara?
The rationale is the same as the off-the-shoulder tops. Because the neckline creates a horizontal line, it balances out the narrow shoulder of pear-shaped women.
This Off-the-Shoulder Tiered Maxi Dress ($79.97) has the belt to highlight your small waist- a bonus point!
Better yet, off-the-shoulder also draws attention to your upper body, distracting from your wider hips. You can also try this Off the Shoulder Dress ($89.96).
Best Dress Length
Dressing for pear-shaped should always keep the length of the hem in mind. I have talked about this on the tops and skirts, and the same applies to the dresses.
If you have a pear figure, you generally do not want the attention to be drawn to your thighs, especially not the widest part.
So, when you choose the best dress for the pear-shaped body, it is important to go with a length longer than the widest part of your thighs. That means, if a mini dress is not long enough to cover your thighs, then it is not the best option for you.
You could opt for a dress that is just above your knees or a midi dress that ends between your ankle and your knees.
If you are petite, the former is a better choice, because it makes your legs look longer.
Best Jeans and Pants for Pear Shape
The Color
As a pear-shaped woman, the important thing in choosing pants and jeans is to keep in mind that you generally want them to be darker than your top.
Since the goal is to distract attention away from your wide butt and thigh, you can achieve that by wearing a brighter top with darker color pants or jeans.
Dark colors generally have the slimming effect, while light colors have an expanding effect. To make your thighs and butt look more slender, you can go with black or navy, or subtle prints.
The Leg Shape
For the pear-shaped body, the key is to balance out your wide butt and thighs with your choice of pants. The wide-leg pants do a wonderful job, like this Body Contour Wide Leg Pant ($98.00).
Your best choice is a pair of dark color wide-leg pants which drape down from your hips, like this Mid-Rise Wide Trouser Pant ($80.00).
Fabrics
You need fabrics with enough structure and weight so that they won’t be clinging to your thighs.
Avoid any Details on the Thigh
Since our goal is to camouflage your prominent thighs, it may sound obvious to you that we should avoid any pants details on the thigh.
For instance, utility pants are a big trend right now. They normally have big pockets on the thighs, which is a no-no for the pear-shaped figure.
Should pear shaped women wear skinny jeans?
If your goal is to camouflage your prominent thighs, then you should stay away from skinny jeans. The reason is obvious. The skinny jeans hug your legs so tightly, they show your thighs and butt exactly the way they are.
Best Accessories for Pear Shape
Create horizontal lines with accessories. Try a variety of long necklaces with vivid colors and collar styles in order to make your neck look longer and for you to look leaner. Wear statement earrings to add volume and texture to your attire to make your face look slimmer. Add a big pair of sunglasses to add more character to your look. Circle a scarf around your neck and shoulders to add more symmetry and dimension to your outfit.
Everything Else You Need to Know
I highly recommend you read my other posts on the pear shape:
