The apple is blessed with beautiful curves, but also typically frustrated with a muffin top, which can be challenging to find the right jeans. This is a detailed guide to help you fully understand your body features, thus find the most suitable jeans for your shape.
MAIN CONSIDERATION
Jeans will always be a casualwear staple. But despite being considered a “basic” wardrobe piece, it’s not a one-size-fits-all especially if you struggle with frame imbalance – like the apple body shape.
If you’re an apple-shaped girl looking for the right pair of jeans, here is what you need to consider.
- No waist definition. Your body naturally lacks side indention or curves, which makes the transition from your waist to hips straight and undefined.
- Fuller and heavier midsection. You gain more weight around this area, which also means that you most likely have a muffin top or noticeable midsection bulges.
- Undefined and small hips. It’s almost the same size as your waist and there’s no obvious curve that distinguishes the two areas apart.
- Slim and shapely legs. Definitely one of the apple shape’s best assets, especially because they are always lean and shapely, even if you gain weight.
FIT
Waist-defining
As an apple-shaped girl that unfortunately lacks that distinct waist definition, you need to find a pair of jeans that has a snug fit to contour the waist. This is very important because having a defined waist plays an important role in bringing balance to your overall silhouette.
Accentuating your waist will also help neutralize the heavier weight you have around the midsection, and instead lead the eyes to focus on your shapely legs.
Tummy Control
One of the most annoying concerns of apple-shaped ladies out there like me is a stubborn tummy bulge. As mentioned earlier, you tend to gain more weight on your midsection area so jeans that have a contoured waistband should be able to provide you tummy control.
Tummy control jeans are specifically designed to provide extra support to hold and shape up your midsection area. They usually have a contoured waistband, high-rise, compression fabric, or built-in panels, that efficiently holds and flattens your tummy area.
Structured
A structured fit can give you a more sculpted figure due to the fact that jeans of this design help provide support and shaping. This added support efficiently gives you a more streamlined and defined waistline, resulting in a slimmer and more proportionate appearance.
In addition to this, structured jeans tend to have thicker denim fabric compared to stretchy or lightweight jeans so their ability to hold their shape prevents the fabric from clinging too close. This avoids the possibility of highlighting your problem areas instead of camouflaging them.
LEG SHAPE
Flare
Flare jeans efficiently balance your bottom half because of how it’s specifically designed to gradually widen out from the knee to the hem. This visually adds just the right amount of volume to amplify the appearance of your less prominent lower body.
flare starts below the knee and widens towards the hem, creating a visual balance with the wider midsection. This helps create a more even and proportionate silhouette.
Flare jeans draw attention to the legs, particularly the lower part. The wider flare adds a touch of drama and style to the outfit while diverting attention away from the midsection. This focus on the legs creates a more balanced and visually appealing look for apple shapes.
Bootcut
Bootcut jeans also have the same flattering effect as flared jeans, the only difference is that the bootcut leg-shape has a slightly flared leg that’s relatively more subtle in comparison to the retro style of flare jeans. The flare starts below the knee and as it gradually widens out, the gentle outward curve helps visually create more dimension to your less prominent lower body.
They also have a very relaxed fit, which also makes them a comfortable and versatile style option for apple-shaped women looking for less dramatic details in jeans. As they are wider at the hem, bootcut jeans visually balance the broader width of your upper half to make you look more proportionate overall.
Straight cut
Are you looking for something way more simple and minimalistic? Then you can never go wrong with straight-cut or straight-leg jeans.
Its timelessness relies on its clean and streamlined silhouette in which the width of the leg is consistent from the hips to the ankles. This perfectly highlights your slim and toned legs, while also providing subtle volume for the hips.
Straight-leg jeans also effectively draw attention to the legs, particularly on the lower part. This also gives you a slimming effect by skimming over your thighs and calves without clinging too tightly.
Wide-leg
Jeans that feature a wide-leg structure means that they are specifically designed to have a roomier fit from the waist down, and therefore make your frame look more symmetrical. The wide-leg shape helps counteract your wider upper half to help you achieve a well-proportioned look without going for too many details.
This is also a great option if you’re looking for a comfortable pair of jeans that will allow you to freely move without any restrictions. Since most apple shapes carry some weight, most particularly on the midsection, it’s always ideal to go for jeans that don’t cling too much around this area of concern.
Boyfriend
If you want to add some volume to your narrow hips and thighs, you’ll love the relaxed and slightly loose fit of boyfriend jeans. Its slightly loose fit around the hips and thighs gives just the right amount of volume to bring more depth and definition to your bottom half.
This additional volume isn’t too wide nor too slouchy or baggy, so your smaller lower body won’t get overwhelmed at all. Apart from the nice leg shape it has, boyfriend jeans are usually designed to have a snug fit at the waist – a very beneficial styling factor for apple shapes who want to cinch their waist to perfection!
By having eyes focused on the waist, boyfriend jeans can easily minimize the attention that your fuller midsection, undefined waist, and narrow hips usually get.
RISE
Mid-rise
This is when the waistband of your jeans sits between your natural waistline and hips. This gives just the right division to give your frame a proportionate balance.
High-rise jeans may usually be an apple-shaped girl’s first choice, however, if you have a shorter torso, there are certain high-rise jeans that can potentially overwhelm your upper body and make you look all cramped up. This is why mid-rise jeans are deemed a safer option if you have a short torso.
High-rise
It’s quite obvious that high-rise jeans can be your quick go-to if you’re looking for jeans that can efficiently bring definition to your waist. It sits slightly higher than your natural waistline so you can define and elongate your figure to achieve more flattering proportions.
Since they provide an extensive hold around your midsection, they can also provide extra support or tummy control to prevent this area from looking too heavy. Going for high-rise jeans can help smooth out your midsection in a subtle way.
WASH
There are different types of denim rinses that apple body shapes can go for but if you want to go for pairs of jeans that have a timeless appeal, these two are what you’re exactly looking for: Rinse and Dark washes.
Rinse
This involves a minimal amount of chemicals to wash the color out, which means rinse-washed jeans look clean and uniform in color. Because it’s almost like raw denim, they usually come in deep indigo shades with a subtle sheen.
This creates a more polished look that adds definition to your lower body without the excessive amount of additional details such as whiskering or distressing. Since it typically has a deep, dark color, it also helps tone down the appearance of your midsection bulge.
Dark
Dark wash jeans are always a classic choice that every apple-shaped woman should have in her wardrobe! Darker hues in general are quite visually slimming and elongating, which explains why they are great for balancing out an apple figure’s overall proportions.
As dark wash jeans absorb light, they trim your weight down by camouflaging potential problems you may want to downplay, such as a muffin top. Dark wash jeans have a timeless and classic aesthetic that transcends trends and therefore can accompany almost all your clothing pieces for a long time!
FABRIC
The visual impact of the denim fabric, such as its color, finish, and texture, can make significant changes to your overall look and proportion. This is why choosing the right type of denim fabric for yourself is highly important.
Choose denim fabrics that offer great recovery properties and stretch. This doesn’t mean that your jeans need to be very stretchable, but instead, just enough to skim your body while still holding its firm shape.
Stretch denim allows the jeans to beautifully contour your body with a smoother, but not too tight, fit. Choosing the right fabric also means that you need to consider the weight and thickness to see how it drapes and molds to the body.
Remember, that when choosing the right denim fabric, your goal is to highlight your best features (your legs) and work around your problem areas (waist, midsection, and hips).
STYLES TO AVOID
Skinny
It’s nice to find a nice stretchy fabric to hug your figure, but having your jeans cling too tight might not be the most flattering option for apple shapes struggling with frame imbalance. Skinny jeans are just too tight and clingy so this can only make your legs look thinner compared to the rest of your body.
This tightness can cause uneven body proportions and not only that but also more unnecessary attention to your heavier midsection. This will make your upper body look bigger and wider in comparison with your lower half.
Tapered
Tapered jeans can also make the lower body appear smaller compared to your prominent upper half. This causes imbalance and can also highlight the obvious size differences of your apple frame.
Tapered jeans narrow down at the ankles, which is the slimmest part of your lower body. This may lead to the tendency of having your beautiful legs completely overwhelmed by your heavier midsection.
Low-Rise
They sit just below your belly, and sometimes even lower! This is what makes it very unflattering because such structure is what exactly will cause fat spillage on your thicker midsection.
Low-rise jeans can create a muffin-top effect, which only makes the midsection appear wider and more prominent. You wouldn’t want this effect because it will totally disregard all your other beautiful features as the eyes will now be just drawn on this heavier area of your body.
Slouchy
This is not just the subtle slouch that some other styles like boyfriend jeans have. Slouchy fit jeans are borderline baggy so they are also quite shapeless and excessively loose.
This type of loose and unstructured fit will blur your curves (or the lack thereof) even more, resulting in a shapeless and shorter-looking figure. They may also not provide enough support to conceal your heavier midsection so you will only end up looking more disproportionate.