The apple shaped women have lovely curves and slender legs but also may be self-conscious about a lack of waist definition and muffin top. The right dress styles can enhance your assets and draw attention away from your weaknesses, while the wrong ones will do just the opposite. This guide will take a deep dive to help you fully understand your body features and thus find the most suitable dress styles for your shape.
MAIN CONSIDERATION
- Wide and prominent shoulders. They are way wider compared to your hips and therefore contribute to the imbalance in your apple figure.
- Pronounced Bust line. You have nicely-shaped breasts that are fuller and rounder, hence having a very desirable cleavage.
- Shapeless Waistline. You have little to no waist definition so the side curves of your midsection are pretty much absent.
- Heavier and Fuller Midsection. Weight gain in this area is a very high possibility which explains why you’re more prone to a tummy bulge.
- Undefined Narrow Hips. Your hips are relatively narrow and they are almost the same width and size as your midsection.
- Slim Legs. One of your best features is your slim and shapely legs so showing them off can totally bring more balance to your apple figure.
These areas of your body should allow you to work around your best features and areas of concern to be able to choose the perfect dress.
FIT
Waist-cinching
Your midsection lacks distinct curves that define your waist from your hips so you’ll need a dress that offers a snug fit at the waist. Dresses that have a belt or particular strategic seamings or darts on the waist area should be able to give your frame a better definition.
Just be mindful of the tightness of the waist cinch to prevent fat spillage from bulging out of the dress. For belted dresses, it’s better to find a belt that is not too thin to avoid this fashion mishap from happening.
Flowy (but not loose)
A flowy fit that smoothly drapes down on your body can help subtly camouflage your lack of curves and your heavy midsection. This type of fit isn’t too loose so it’s just enough to conceal your problem area while still highlighting your figure’s best features.
The key to flaunting a flowy fit for your apple body shape is to go for a fabric that’s soft and drapey. The sense of movement these types of fabrics give can help you achieve a more flattering silhouette.
Tailored
Of course, you can never go wrong with a tailored fit! Dresses that feature a bespoke-like fit allow your figure to bring out its best features through strategic seamlines.
The biggest concern for apple shapes is the imbalanced natural proportions that we have in our body so it’s not always easy to go for ready-to-wear dresses that typically have a uniform fit. In some cases, you may consider alterations to have your dress fit perfectly.
NECKLINE
V-Neck
V-neck dresses are always a fabulous choice for apple-shaped women because of how incredibly flattering they are for your figure! They create a lovely balance for your figure by producing vertical lines that draw attention to your beautiful shoulders and shapely bust, which is a great way to shift the focus away from your heavier midsection.
Dresses that feature a V-neckline also visually elongate your torso to give your upper body more room to accommodate your prominent features. This also has a slimming effect that can make your overall frame look more proportionate without underwhelming your best features.
Scoop
A scoop neckline offers pretty much the same figure-flattering effects as the V-neck, with the only difference being its gentle and curved form. The curved slope scoop necklines have also helped in adding the illusion of curves and shape for your apple figure.
As it shows off a significant region on your upper half, it effectively redirects attention towards the neck, collarbones, and your shapely cleavage. As a result, you can create a focal point that diverts attention from your heavier midsection and lack of waist definition.
Square
Square necklines create flattering lines that softly enhance your best features such as your prominent shoulders and full bust. This visual effect completely diverts attention from the lack of curves in your midsection and hips and brings your beautiful bust line into the spotlight.
The square neckline features a neat, streamlined shape that gives a structured appeal to your upper body, while also balancing your apple figure’s proportions.
Strapless
If you feel like letting go of the straps to fully showcase your prominent upper half, you can absolutely do so! Strapless dresses make your entire neckline the focal point of your frame, which is also helpful as it shifts the focus away from the bulges and bulk of the midsection.
A strapless dress can fully accentuate the bust and give more definition to your torso. By creating such visual balance, you can achieve a more appealing silhouette despite latching curves on your midsection and hips.
Sweetheart
The curved shape of the sweetheart neckline helps create the illusion of curves to naturally balance out your thicker midsection and an undefined waist. The sweetheart neckline also adds softness and femininity to your upper body, for a more visually pleasing silhouette.
This neckline gently curves and dips in the center to gorgeously frame the bust. The sweetheart neckline also helps elongate your neckline to give it a more graceful and flattering appearance.
SILHOUETTE
A-Line
A-line dresses cinch at the waist and then flare out gradually, which creates the illusion of an hourglass silhouette. This helps accentuate the waistline while also subtly concealing the bulges you may potentially have on your midsection region.
The flared skirt of A-line dresses is a great way to bring volume to your narrow hips and therefore balances out your broader upper body. This gradual flare also provides movement to the lower half of the body for a more visually balanced and proportionate look.
Shift
The beauty of a shift dress relies on its simplicity and versatility. Its relaxed and tailored fit flawlessly skims over the midsection, not only to provide comfort but also to neutralize the emphasis on your belly area.
It has a straight silhouette that features subtle darts to embrace your shape and give you a natural waist cinch for additional definition. Thanks to its simple and sophisticated silhouette, the focal point is not the dress itself but more on your prominent features such as your shoulders, bust, and if you choose the right length, your slim legs as well!
Wrap
It’s almost impossible to ever go wrong with the ever-flattering beauty of a wrap dress! Its design just ticks all the boxes when it comes to flattering an apple body shape such as an adjustable waist cinch, flattering neckline, and well-balanced fit.
Wrap dresses usually feature a waist tie wherein you have full control over how tight you want to secure your waistline. This effect gives your frame a better definition and resolves your issues about your figure’s lack of curves.
As the fabric that overlaps the bust line results in diagonal lines forming a V shape, then it creates an open neckline perfect to showcase your prominent upper half.
Ruched
Ruched dresses, as the name suggests, are dress styles adorned with ruching details that produce texture to tweak the shape of your frame. To flatter apple body shapes, go for dresses that feature ruched details on the sides or at the front, as this can help naturally conceal a belly bulge.
In addition to this, they also create the illusion of a more defined waistline as the fabric pleating gets nipped in. The strategic placement of ruching at the waist can be incredibly helpful for visually narrowing the waist to achieve a more hourglass-like shape.
SLEEVES
Flutter
Flutter sleeves offer a graceful way to provide coverage without overwhelming the best features of your upper half. Its delicate and flowing design attracts attention to veer the eyes away from your midsection area.
Because of the elegant movement of the sleeves, they tend to grab more attention to have your problem areas become less noticeable. This visual effect balances out your frame while still giving your dress a sense of style and femininity.
Spaghetti Strap
Going for dresses that come in spaghetti straps is also quite ideal for your apple-shaped body to showcase the best features of your top half, most particularly your broad shoulders and prominent bust line. You can pretty much get the same flattering effect of strapless dresses but with enough support coming from the thin straps.
Three-Fourths
If you’re looking for a dress that provides modest coverage, you can definitely try out dresses with three-fourth sleeves. They hit just at the right length (usually between the elbow and wrist) to open up enough space on your torso and minimize emphasis on your thicker midsection area.
It creates a subtle horizontal line right where the sleeves end to visually balance your proportions by not making your upper body look too dominating.
FABRIC
Apple-shaped bodies should always be extra mindful about their fabric choices, not just because of comfort but also for visual balance. Structured fabrics, such as denim, cotton twill, or linen, are highly ideal for apple shapes because of their ability to hold shapes such as flares or certain fabric flounces to add subtle volume to your less prominent lower body.
If you feel like structured fabrics are too “heavy” for your liking, you can also opt for flowy fabrics as long as they don’t cling too close to the body. Fabrics that are too tight or body-hugging can only highlight your problem areas and make you look more imbalanced.
STYLES TO AVOID
Drop Waist
This particular dress style can be quite comfy and trendy for some body shapes, but not Apple figures. Because of how it’s constructed, where the waistline seam falls below the torso (usually at the hips or even lower), babydoll dresses eliminate the appearance of curves.
This can make you look even more shapeless, which is already a concern for apple shapes to begin with. Since having unbalanced proportions is already present in your figure, drop waist dresses can further emphasize this and therefore make you look unflattering overall.
Babydoll
They are typically loose or baggy so they tend to give your body a wider appearance. This type of silhouette will erase your curves and make you look shapeless.
As the waistline is also raised higher (right under your bust), it restricts the space where your prominent bust is and this can only highlight the fact that your upper half is way larger than your bottom half. This instantly makes your frame look imbalanced and unflattering.
Bodycon
Anything tight can be a problematic style choice for apple shapes, because the more you allow your clothes to cling too close, the more it highlights your uneven body proportions. Bodycon dresses won’t provide proper coverage and support to hide your tummy bulge so your love handles will be way more obvious.
They also don’t have the ability to cinch the waist because they tend to be form-fitting all throughout the garment. This will also highlight how the supposed curved transition from your waist to your hips is almost nonexistent.
Turtleneck
Ideally, apple body shapes should just stick to open necklines to prevent your torso from looking too constricted. Turtleneck dresses can be warm and cozy but their structure fully covers up the prominent features on your upper half, most especially your fuller bust.
This highlights the fact that your upper body is way larger compared to your less noticeable lower body. This will overwhelm your best features and make you look even more imbalanced.