The inverted triangle shape is known for broad shoulders and relatively narrow hips. The right styles of shorts can balance your natural shape and create a more harmonious silhouette, while the wrong styles do exactly the opposite. In this detailed guide, we’ll take a deep dive into your body traits and walk you through the best shorts styles for your unique shape.
Characteristics
- Athletic figure that’s generally well-toned. You have a naturally lean figure and your body type has the ability to gain significant muscle mass when you work out.
- Lean arms and legs. Your sporty figure also means that you have slender and toned arms and legs.
- You carry your excess weight above the waist. This is why you’re considered top-heavy because you barely gain weight anywhere else but your upper half.
- Very broad and angular shoulders. They look very prominent and your shoulder line is the widest part of your inverted triangle figure.
- Very little to almost no waist definition. There’s an obvious absence of indentation at the sides of your waist due to the fact that you have a narrow waist and hips.
- Small waist and hips that are almost the same width. Your undefined waist is caused by the very close measurements of your waist and hips, which are both naturally less pronounced.
- You most likely have flat buttocks. Your body doesn’t have much volume from the waist down so your bum may look smaller and flatter.
Light-Washed Denim Shorts
Light colors are generally flattering for areas you’d like to expand, which is in the case of inverted triangle body shapes – their hips, thighs, and rear. Light-washed denim shorts will help you do this by neutralizing the overpowering appearance of your larger upper half and drawing more attention to your lower half instead.
With the additional visual volume light-washed denim shorts give, you can instantly achieve a more balanced upper and lower body proportion. They also have a softer and more relaxed appearance compared to dark-washed or structured denim shorts so wearing light-washed denim shorts can soften the angular features of your athletic frame and create a more harmonious overall look.
So for your everyday casual ensemble, don’t hesitate to add these to your wardrobe staples! As you know, denim is always very versatile and it can surely go well with a lot of different style coordinates.
Flowy A-Line Shorts
Flowy A-Line shorts have a loose and relaxed fit, particularly in the hip and thigh area, as well as a wider leg opening. Its voluminous and flowy structure is often because these shorts are made from lightweight and breathable fabrics like cotton, linen, or rayon to provide comfort and ease of movement while maintaining a flattering and feminine silhouette.
Flowy A-line shorts help bring better balance to your inverted triangle frame by adding volume and softness to the lower half of the body, which is relatively narrower than your upper half. The wider leg opening and loose fit can make the hips and thighs appear slightly fuller, which visually balances out the broader shoulders.
A-line shorts absolutely make a flattering piece for most body types, because of their streamlined, and slightly voluminous silhouette. This design of shorts gently flares out from the waist down to effectively create a more hourglass-like appearance and minimize attention from the upper body.
Pleated Shorts
Pleats are great for adding volume and structure in a very subtle manner, so you’ll barely notice the bulk but they do make a difference in your outfit. The additional fabric in the pleats, wherein there are sleek folds along the waistband, creates the illusion of fuller hips and thighs to make the lower body appear more substantial and therefore more balanced with the wide shoulders.
In addition to the natural volume they give, pleated shorts can also provide a more comfortable fit for they can allow better mobility and freedom of movement, which can be particularly useful for your athletic or muscular build. This added comfort can make pleated shorts a practical choice for a variety of activities – from casual wear to outdoor adventures.
The pleats also keep the visual line of your frame continuous, contributing to your frame’s verticality. This can help maintain a streamlined and lean overall look for your inverted triangle figure.
Structured Shorts
Structured fabrics are always very helpful for those who are looking to give their figure more depth and definition because of their ability to hold shape. With this mentioned, structured shorts often have clean lines and a more distinctive shape, which can help create the illusion of a more voluminous lower half (hips, thighs, and buttocks).
This type of shorts can effectively emphasize your waist by giving it a snug fit and your hips by giving it additional depth. This visual effect can balance out the stark contrast between your larger upper half and less pronounced lower half.
Additionally, structured shorts typically have well-placed seams, darts, or details to give more dimension to your hips and thighs. The fact that they are very well-tailored, makes them more versatile and therefore easier to style with a variety of fashion ensembles.
Shorts with Interesting Prints
Shorts with eye-catching prints can help detract attention from your broader shoulder area to allow your frame to achieve a more balanced silhouette. The prints will efficiently draw the eye downward to evenly distribute your visual weight from top to bottom and highlight your toned legs.
As an inverted triangle-shaped beauty, you may have a more masculine frame because of your athletic features. So to bring more femininity to your look, you can try dainty prints such as floral, plaid, or geometrical patterns.
Tailored Sailor Shorts
Sailor shorts are not just super stylish, but they are also very flattering for inverted triangle body shapes. They typically feature a high waistband adorned with nautical-inspired buttons or detailing that can highlight your best features and work around your less pronounced lower half to achieve better balance.
The design elements of sailor shorts draw attention to the waist and hips, which can also give the illusion of an hourglass figure. The button details that go on the sides of the pocket will give your hips a wider look and the high waistband will cinch your waist for a more defined look.
On top of all of these, you are definitely going to love the vintage elegance of sailor shorts because of their timeless appeal and retro charm! This classic style can add a touch of sophistication to your style ensemble and is therefore suitable for both casual and semi-formal occasions.
Paper Bag Shorts
Paper bag shorts can be a wise style choice for your body figure as well. It is because of this style’s ability to cinch the waist and add volume to your hips and thighs.
They typically feature a high, cinched waistband that can be tied with a belt or drawstring and this specific design element draws attention to the waist. This results in creating the illusion of a more defined and narrower waistline
Additionally, the cinched waist and loose fit around the hips and thighs of paper bag shorts can add volume to the lower body to make it seem curvier rather than angular (which your figure naturally possesses). This added volume helps diminish the overwhelming scale of your broader shoulders and balance out your overall proportions.
Shorts with Pocket Details
Pocket details that are strategically placed on the hips or thighs can add more depth and volume to your lower body, which is naturally small to begin with. By wearing a pair of shorts that have pocket details, you can efficiently offset the potentially overwhelming appearance of your broader shoulders and create the illusion of curves around the hips and thighs.
The addition of pocket details, which are oftentimes flap pockets, buttons, or embroidery, can draw the eye to the lower part of the body and therefore detract attention from the larger upper half and emphasize the waist and hips instead. This visual trick can even out your proportions by blurring the stark discrepancy between your broader upper half and narrower lower half.
Waist-Tie Shorts
Waist-tie shorts can help add definition to your waistline by cinching it with a tie or belt. This will effectively highlight the narrowest part of your body and therefore create more balanced proportions.
By drawing the eye downward to the waist and hips, waist-tie shorts can effectively divert attention away from the broad shoulders. This will be the perfect opportunity to showcase your toned and lean legs.
Since your inverted triangle figure has relatively narrower hips and less pronounced curves in the lower body, waist-tie shorts can help give the appearance of curves by adding volume and structure to your smaller hips and thighs. In addition to this, the tie or belt on waist-tie shorts makes it customizable, so you can adjust the tightness to accentuate your waist while enjoying its comfortable fit.
Avoid tight Bermuda Shorts
Tight Bermuda shorts can draw more unnecessary attention to your larger upper body, particularly your broad shoulders. This focus can further accentuate your top-heavy appearance and make your shoulders look even wider.
Tight shorts will emphasize the unflattering imbalance between your broader shoulders and narrower hips and waist. Having your shorts cling to your smaller lower half too tightly will result in awkward proportions and therefore further highlight your heavier upper half – which is the very area you’d want to downplay.
Avoid Dark-colored Shorts
Your lower half is already slim and narrow to begin with, so going for clothes that can slim you further will only enhance the fact that your hips, thighs, and buttocks are comparatively less pronounced than your upper half. In line with this, dark colors are generally quite slimming so they can make the lower body appear smaller by absorbing light and diverting all the attention to your upper body.
Dark-colored shorts tend to minimize significant attention so wearing them can contribute to an imbalance by reducing visual focus on the hips and thighs. This visual effect accentuates your top-heavy appearance by having all the focus on your upper half.
Avoid Short Shorts
You’ve got gorgeous slender and very toned legs, so I know how tempting it is to wear short shorts to really flaunt them! However, this may not be the friendliest style choice for your inverted triangle figure because this will also make your narrower hips even more obvious.
Short shorts, especially those that are tight-fitting, can lead the gaze to focus on the contrasting size of your broader top half and narrower bottom half. As a result, your lower body will appear too small as it will be significantly overwhelmed by your larger upper half, specifically your broad shoulders.
Yes, they may showcase your lean legs, but they will also emphasize the upper body while minimizing the visual appearance of your lower body, hence, making your overall figure look less balanced.
Avoid Low-Rise Shorts
Apart from the fact that low-rise shorts are quite outdated, they are also deemed unflattering for the significantly narrower lower half part of your body. Low-rise shorts sit lower on the hips or waist, usually right beneath your belly button.
As you can already tell, the way the waistband is placed at this level will totally disregard the opportunity for you to define your waistline.
Inverted triangle body shapes lack waist definition because of the very small width difference between the waist and hips. If you wear low-rise shorts, this will not resolve this problem and worse – even make your less prominent lower body more overpowered by your upper body.
