Having a bottom heavy body means you carry extra weight from your waist down, i.e. wider hips, full thighs or thicker legs. While this can make you feel frustrated at times, it is definitely possible for you to look stunning. The key is to only wear clothes that highlight your best assets and avoid anything that brings attention to the parts of your body that you feel self-conscious about. Let’s start by taking a deep dive to understand the unique characteristics of your body shape!
Traits
- Wide hips and thick thighs – This is what defines your bottom-heavy figure as your hips and thighs are way more prominent than your upper body. In fact, your hips are the widest part of your body.
- Chubbier legs – Since you carry most of your excess weight in your bottom half, you most likely have thicker legs as well.
- Narrow and sloped shoulders – Your shoulders may not necessarily look too narrow but they are quite less pronounced compared to your wide hips.
- Distinctive waistline definition – Because of the drastic size difference between your smaller upper body and wider lower half,
- You may also have a small bust size – Bottom-heavy women may have varying bust sizes but it’s quite common to have a smaller bust size, or sometimes even a flat chest.
- Slender arms – You don’t carry much volume in your upper body, which also means that your arms have a slimmer appearance.
Because of the above, it is critical that you stay away from the below styles because they make your heavy bottom half appear even larger.
Peplum Tops
One of the things I’d like to mention first is peplum tops. Running my own clothing line, I have worked with all types of body shapes and while I totally agree that peplum tops are just alluringly pretty, they are not quite flattering for bottom-heavy girls out there.
Well, it’s because while peplum tops are designed to add interest and flair around your waist, this voluminous overskirt also draws attention to your wide hips. This silhouette can create a widening effect that may not go so well with your already prominent hips, as this will only overwhelm your figure.
Tunic Tops
Because of the fact that your hips are overwhelmingly wide, I can understand how tempting it is to go for tops that can somehow cover this particular area in your bottom half. This is why some bottom-heavy women would think tunic tops are a good idea, but they are actually a huge no-no.
The loose fit of tunic tops, together with their long length, can create an overall voluminous and boxy silhouette that can disrupt your proportions. Other than adding unnecessary volume to your frame, its loose fit can also conceal your well-defined waist.
So instead of tunic tops, look for tops that feature a more tailored and structured fit. Go for those that have seams and darts that nip in the waist, without putting too many details around the hip area.
Skinny Jeans
Wearing skinny jeans clearly has potential disadvantages for bottom-heavy body shapes because the snug fit and tapered leg characteristic of skinny jeans will only highlight your wider hips and thicker thighs even further. Because of how tight-fitting they are, it will only make the imbalance you have between your upper and lower half more obvious – it doesn’t sound too nice, does it?
Since you carry the majority of your weight in your lower body, this could also mean that you are dealing with bulges in these areas. With this mentioned, the skinny fit of these jeans will only make these bulges more distinguishable.
A good fashion alternative would be straight-leg jeans or bootcut jeans as these leg shapes can accommodate your heavier bottom half without clinging too tightly.
Pants with Pocket Details
Pocket details such as flap pockets, embroidery, or buttons are just some of the things you really have to stay away from if you’ve got a bottom-heavy figure. Basically, the very last thing you’d ever want for your wide hips and thick thighs is the additional volume, and pocket details do just exactly that!
Your goal should be to bring balance to your look by drawing attention away from the hip and thigh region. Intricate pocket details will only bring unwanted attention to the lower body, making it appear heavier and wider.
So when it comes to pants, less is more! Go for minimal to almost no extra details such as flat-front pants, dark-colored pants, or straight-leg pants.
Cargo Pants
Cargo pants are quite stylish and their super casual-looking utilitarian side pockets totally have their own distinct charm. But just like what we have discussed earlier, you have to stay away from anything that brings more volume if you are bottom-heavy.
Cargo pants feature large pockets that are usually placed right at the thighs so this will definitely draw attention to this area and make it a focal point. Since you’re bottom-heavy, you would naturally want to downplay your thicker thighs, so choosing pants with a simpler design should be a more flattering option for you.
Bright-colored Pants
One general rule when it comes to styling is to never draw too much attention to the area you want to downplay – so of course, no bright-colored pants for my bottom-heavy girls out there. Bright colors are fun and youthful, but they should be something you’d like to incorporate into your tops and not your pants.
Bright-colored pants will attract too much attention, which is not very helpful if your wider hips and thicker thighs are already attention-grabbing to begin with. Having the eyes focus too much on your bottom half, will only accentuate the fact that your narrower upper body and wider lower body are of great imbalance.
As I said, bright colors are fun to mix and match in terms of styling but have them grace your upper body rather than your bottoms. This way, you will help bring more prominence to your less pronounced upper half and create a pleasing balance.
Baggy Pants
Again – too much unnecessary volume! Baggy pants share pretty much the same voluminous structure as cargo pants and in fact, baggy pants may be even worse because they also usually come in cropped styles where the hem can visually divide your frame in unflattering proportions.
Most baggy pants also have an elastic hem cuffing which makes the entire leg shape look even more voluminous and wide, this silhouette will only make your already wider bottom half even heavier-looking.
But what if you love the roomy comfort of it? Well then, go for wide-leg pants instead as they feature the same comfort but since they feature a consistent leg width, they won’t add unnecessary volume to your lower body.
Leggings
Now, about leggings and being bottom-heavy – it’s not really about entirely avoiding them, but more about finding the right balance. Leggings can be quite useful as a workout buddy or something you can wear when layering your fall/winter ensembles, but since they are very tight-fitting, you have to be careful in wearing them as a bottom-heavy girl.
As they cling too close to your hips and thighs, leggings will accentuate their broadness, hence making your bottom half even bigger and your upper body even smaller. But then again, there are ways to make leggings work and that is by layering them with other wardrobe pieces that can help neutralize your heavier bottom half.
Mini Dresses
Mini dresses usually feature a length in which the hem hits right at the thigh level and this alone is enough reason for you to give mini dresses a hard pass. Since the mini dress ends right at the widest area of your bottom-heavy figure, it will create an abrupt division in your lower body, causing a more obvious imbalance in your proportions.
A better choice should be dresses that are just slightly above the knee, not too short but not too long either. Be mindful of the dress’ silhouette too as this, along with the length, can really affect your proportions.
Light-washed Jeans
When you wear clothes that come in lighter hues, you may have already noticed how they seem to add more weight to your frame. This is because lighter colors have the ability to visually expand the space they cover and this is exactly what light-washed jeans can do to your heavier lower half.
So to my bottom-heavy beauties out there, let’s skip light-washed jeans and opt for darker-colored jeans instead. We all know that darker colors have a slimming effect so dark-washed jeans can create a more streamlined and elongated look that can balance out your bottom-heavy figure.
Jeans with Distressing
Tattered jeans or distressing details visually add volume to your lower body because they tend to attract more attention. I have to admit that jeans with distressing details are quite edgy as well and they can truly amp up any casual ensemble, but when you’re already bottom-heavy to begin with, this can only disrupt your proportions.
Plus, most denim distressing details go horizontally so they draw the eyes from side to side, therefore making you look wider than you actually are. I can’t stress this enough, but if you’d like to bring balance to your bottom-heavy figure, stick to minimal designs for your jeans.
