The hourglass is known for its feminine beauty, because of its full bust, curvy hips and slender waist. The right bikini styles can accentuate your assets, while the wrong ones can do the opposite. In this detailed guide, we’ll walk you through the most flattering bikinis for the hourglass figure.
Characteristics
Picking the right bikini for your hourglass body type starts with understanding your assets and how you can play to your strength. Most hourglass women have hips and shoulders that are proportional in width, accompanied by a well-defined waistline.
You could also have full thighs and round backside. However, the biggest feature of the hourglass body type is the curved hips and tiny waist which creates the perfect natural curvy outlook.
Your bikini style should balance your curves and hold your body shape together without creating discomfort.
Tops with plunging V-neckline
One of the best ways to enhance your bust as an hourglass-shaped woman is to wear a bikini top with a plunging v-neckline. Plunging styles are perfect for this body type because they accentuate the cleavages.
You already have a naturally curvy outlook which you should try to play up as much as possible. An effective way is to use the plunging v-neckline to draw attention towards the center of your chest.
This way, you look absolutely sexy without being top-heavy. Plunging v-necklines will also enhance your curves, making your hourglass look more defined and classy. Usually, this can be on a top with a thin strap, so there’s room for your shoulders to come into focus as well.
Tops with wide straps
Tops with wide straps will help to lift your bust, so you can always look and feel your best. Since most hourglass-shaped women have a full bust, wearing a bikini top that doesn’t provide the right amount of support would only lead to several hours of discomfort.
You’re out at the beach or poolside to have a good time, and the last thing you need is a bikini that leaves your cleavage spilling out unnecessarily. Therefore, these wide straps are usually thicker and will stay firm on your shoulders to give a super flattering result.
Apart from the extra support on your bust, wide straps help to draw attention away from your tummy and towards your chest area. So, if you’re worried about a muffin top, this should allay those fears. Choose adjustable straps with underwire.
Halter neck tops
Feel free to show off your best assets with the halter bikini top without shortening your torso. The halter bikini top helps to accentuate your full and round busts, so you can easily show them off and truly look as sexy as you want.
Typically, this can be a low halter style that helps to draw attention to your well-defined shoulders and neck area. Drawing attention upwards helps to show off your cleavage and keep people from focusing so much on your midsection area.
With this, you’re showing just enough skin to look classy while enjoying the pleasant weather. The major purpose of the halter neck style is to draw the eyes higher, which emphasizes a curvier outlook and makes your narrow waist even more amazing.
Tops with bra cup
Just as a bikini top with wide straps provide a great deal of support to keep your full bust from being a source of discomfort, you can achieve the same effect by wearing one with a bra cup.
It would be distasteful to wear your bikini top with a bra. However, a handy and efficient alternative is a swim top with a bra cup which will provide even more support than a bra.
Look out for specific cup sizes that are not too small or big on your frame, as you need the fit to be just right. With this, your boobs won’t be all over the place while you’re running around on the beach or playing in the pool. A bikini top with a bra cup is both effective and stylish.
Vertical stripes
If you’re a petite hourglass shape, you’ll benefit a lot from a bikini style that helps to elongate your overall body frame. A style that does this perfectly is the bikini with vertical stripes. Since the lines run from up to down, they draw the eyes in this direction.
This helps to create the illusion of a visually elongated figure, making you look taller than you actually are. Of course, since no one expects you to wear heels on a bikini, you’ve effectively solved the issue of looking shorter.
These extra inches will also contribute to creating a slimmer outlook, so you appear slender and taller while your curves are more prominent. This is super flattering for the hourglass shape and you’ll look amazing.
Sporty bikini bottoms
A Bikini day doesn’t automatically translate to a day of discomfort. If you’re not a big fan of bikini bottoms that don’t offer a lot of coverage, a better alternative are sporty bikini bottoms with a boxer cut.
This boxer cut offers a great deal of coverage and support for your lower body without throwing your figure off-balance. With this, you can move around easily without adjusting your bikini every five minutes.
The great thing about a sporty bikini bottom with a boxer cut is that it’s also a stress-free way to enhance the curves on your body. You have a naturally well-defined waistline with a curvy silhouette that’s balanced on both halves of your body.
This bikini bottom style will keep your shape intact and draw attention to your best assets.
High-waisted bottoms with high-leg cut
This is the ultimate combo for the petite hourglass woman that wants to elongate her body and legs. If this describes you perfectly, then you should start shopping for your bikini with a high-waist bottom and high leg cut.
The high-waist style helps to accentuate your waistline, making your curves more prominent and sexier. Combine this with the high leg cut and you will visually elongate your overall figure.
This works by exposing more of your legs, such that the eyes have to travel a longer distance, effectively creating the illusion of a taller figure. The high leg cut hikes up much higher and helps to make your legs look more shapely.
Overall, this is great for showing off your legs and making them look more flattering.
Avoid ruffles around hips
The last thing you need as a woman with an hourglass body type is a bikini bottom that adds more volume to your lower body. Therefore, it’s best to avoid bottoms with ruffles around your hips.
This is an unnecessary embellishment that will only make your hips appear wider. More volume around the hips is useful for body types that need the illusion of bigger hips to create a curvy silhouette like the rectangle shape.
However, this doesn’t apply to you because you have a proportionate silhouette where the width of your lower body is proportional to that of your upper body.
Bottoms with ruffles around this area will only throw your silhouette off-balance and make your body look uneven.
U-neck tops
Any plunging neckline style is a huge win for the hourglass body type, and the U-neck bikini top is not left out. The u-neck bikini top is super flattering for your chest area because it shows just enough cleavage while making your shoulders and neck look amazing.
This is more than enough skin to give a sexier outlook that highlights your natural curves. Another huge point in favor of the u-neck bikini bottom is that is helps to create the illusion of longer and slimmer-looking arms.
So, if you feel that your arms could benefit a lot from this, you should definitely take the plunge. Necklines with deeper plunges amplify your slender-looking arms, making your overall silhouette appear more streamlined and definitely hotter.
High-waist bikini bottoms
You can wear a high waist bikini bottom without the high cut if you’re a tall hourglass woman that doesn’t need the extra illusion of a longer body frame.
The biggest advantage of a high waist bikini bottom is that it accentuates your feminine figure such that you retain your beautiful curves and it looks so much better than you can imagine. This is perfect for hourglass women with a long torso.
A high waist bikini will help to minimize this so that it doesn’t draw attention away from your curvy silhouette. Instead, since you already have wide hips and a well-defined waist, the high waist style will emphasize your amazing curves.
Overall, you can still enjoy the effects of elongated legs and a more flattering overall figure.
Low-rise bottoms
It’s more common for hourglass women to claim that they have a short torso. If you fall into this category, you’ll benefit a lot from a low-rise bikini bottom. Rather than draw attention to your short torso and give you a petite outlook, the low-rise bikini bottom will elongate your torso which reflects in the length of your overall figure.
With this, you can create the illusion of being taller and it works best when you pair with the right bikini top, such as one with a plunging neckline or wide straps. This helps to balance both halves so that you don’t end up making your legs appear shorter.
No hourglass woman wants that.
Avoid tube tops
Yes, you have natural curves and most bikini sets work on your body frame. However, tube tops are not on the list of flattering bikini styles for the hourglass shaped woman.
While it shows off your chest area which flatters your upper body, the tube bikini top doesn’t offer a great deal of support for your amazing curves. Instead, this will only look bumpy on your frame which is not great for your classy body type.
The lack of straps on a tube top is a huge problem and the top reason why you should avoid them. They look unflattering on women with a curvy silhouette, and that includes you.
Also, this can be really uncomfortable when you have to stop several times while having a good time to pull up your tube top. It will put a hamper on your day.
Caution with string bikinis
String bikinis can be sexy to look at but more often than not, this style of bikini can be too revealing and uncomfortable for most hourglass-shaped women with a full backside.
The size of the string bikini will be out of proportion with that of your chest area, creating a disproportionate silhouette that’s not flattering at all. While string bikinis can look good on slimmer hourglass-shaped women, you need something that enhances your body silhouette rather than offer little to no coverage.
This is similar to the effect of a skimpy bikini top that offers little coverage and hugs the body too tightly. The secret to looking amazing in a bikini is to find balance and wear styles that complement your body shape rather than draw attention away from your best assets.