Men’s Body Shapes & How To Dress For Yours
- Blog Post
We’ve previously discussed here on the Coathanger blog all about female body shapes and how to make the most out of your figure. In today’s article we will be discussing all the different male body shapes out there and how to dress yours up to look powerful, stylish and sexy.
We all come in different shapes and sizes; it’s all about embracing your body and owning what you’ve got! Whether you have broad shoulders and a small waist or are larger in your centre with slimmer arms and legs, you can enhance or disguise your proportions with a few easy tweaks to your outfits.
The Inverted Triangle
If you have broad shoulders and chest compared to your slimmer waist and hips then your body shape would be considered as an ‘inverted triangle’. This is a common male body type and a lot of garments tend to be designed for men with these proportions. The trapezoid is often referred to as one of the most athletic male body types and is enhanced with well fitted tops and shirts to enhance your figure. Wearing tops and bottoms in similar shades will help create a uniform outfit and vertical stripes can be worn to elongate your body and make your small hips look better proportioned with your wider shoulders.
The Triangle
Opposite to the inverted triangle, the triangle body shape is where you have quite narrow shoulders and chest with most of your weight being in the centre of your body. Men who fit this body shape tend to have wider hips and thighs which is why skinny fit trousers are something we usually swap out with straight leg trousers to ensure there is no one part of your body that stands out the most (if you don’t want it to!). Triangle body shapes also suit vertical stripes as this gives the illusion of a slimmer silhouette along with structured jackets. If you have this body shape you should try to avoid oversized jackets with unstructured shoulders as this will make your silhouette look larger, jackets with structure at the shoulders will frame your body nicely and draw the attention upwards to where your body is slimmer.
The Oval
Whilst the triangle body shape holds most of their bulk in their centre, it mainly rests on top of the hips. Oval body shapes find that their overall centre is quite rounded, their shoulders and hips are in proportion and their arms and legs are small in comparison which can make it difficult to find clothes, in particular shirts and tops, that fit well. Ovals should go the extra mile to ensure that the lengths of sleeves and trouser legs are correct as excess material will make you look shorter and draw attention to your centre. Loud patterns and prints should be worn towards the lower half of the body and you should avoid wearing boots as these will shorten your leg length. Try purchasing some loosely tapered trousers to add structure to your leg without making them appear disproportionately slim to your frame as slim fit trousers would.
The Rectangle
Rectangular body shapes are generally evenly proportioned from their shoulders and waist through to their hips and legs. Men with rectangular body shapes often like to create the illusion of wider shoulders whilst maintaining their slim frame by layering shirts, jumpers and scarves to make your upper body look more strong and structured. Colour and prints are especially good for this frame and it can help make your figure look shapelier.
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