Pear body shapes are characterized by a relatively narrower upper body and a wider lower body, which is why pear figures tend to look bottom-heavy.
The key goal in styling pear figures is to add prominence to your narrow shoulders and small bust, as well as downplay your wide hips and thick thighs. You can do so by being strategic with the structure and detailing of your ensembles.
For fashion starters, this entire journey can be a whole trial and error process, but I would like to save you from all those mistakes to save money and time! So I have listed all the fashion mistakes you need to avoid here in this article.
Tight-fitting Tops
Tops that hug the body very closely can be a very trendy and sexy style choice for many women out there, that’s for sure! However, its fitted nature is not very pear body shape-friendly because it highlights your less pronounced upper body even further.
As it visually compresses your upper body by making your shoulders look narrower and your bust even smaller, this effect makes the immense size contrast between your upper and lower body. It can even make your hips way wider and your thighs even thicker in comparison, contributing to the imbalance you have in your frame.
So ditch your tight-fitting tops and go for top styles that are more structured and slightly voluminous. Tops with a bit of voluminous details, strategic draping, or streamlined seams, will help bring your entire frame into a flattering proportion by amplifying your upper half.
Hip-Length Outerwear
Your wide hips are, without a doubt, beautiful and voluptuous, but since you have a smaller upper body frame, your hips tend to overwhelm your entire figure. This is the area of your body that you should downplay to make your entire figure look more proportionate and hip-length outerwear will do the exact opposite of that.
As these types of outerwear end at the hip level, it creates a visual break right at the area you wish to tone down. This not only shortens your figure, but it also draws more attention to your wide hips and thick thighs, completely making your less prominent upper body unnoticeable.
This horizontal line also contributes to further widening your hips (which are already wide, to begin with!) – and makes you look horribly unbalanced. This will emphasize the contrast between your upper and lower body, resulting in an unflattering visual ratio.
Turtleneck
Turtleneck tops and dresses can draw too much unnecessary focus on your upper body and this can further highlight the fact that you have narrower shoulders and a less pronounced bust line. This will create a clear off-balance all throughout your entire frame as it can potentially highlight your wider bottom half and make you look quite bottom-heavy.
Apart from this visual imbalance, turtlenecks can cramp up your upper body too much and make your torso look shorter than it actually is. This way, you will lose the chance of creating more depth and structure in your upper half.
Horizontal necklines such as off-the-shoulder and boat neck (Sabrina neckline) are the best necklines to go for if you’re looking into bringing more definition and broadness to your shoulder line. But yes, I know how turtlenecks can be quite cozy and warm, especially for the colder seasons, so for a more flattering alternative, just experiment with your layers such as wrapping a scarf around your neck or pairing your top with a tailored jacket.
Crop Top
One of the biggest downsides of wearing crop tops is the fact that they expose a big portion of your midsection area which can accentuate the contrast between your upper and lower body. As they draw attention to your hips and waist, wearing a crop top may attract sole attention to these areas and therefore disregard the smaller areas of your frame.
The key problem with crop tops is their unflattering length that ends at the midriff and the snug fit that highlights your smaller upper half. Instead of crop tops, go for more flattering lengths that skim over right at the hips to tone the width of this area down.
Tight Bermuda Shorts
Bermuda shorts that are designed to be fitted around the thighs have been quite trendy in the athleisure scene recently so it can be very tempting to try one for yourself. While they are pretty edgy and comfy, the fit and length of tight Bermuda shorts will affect the balance in your proportions quite negatively.
Its tight fit around the thighs can disrupt the visual line of your lower body and make your thighs even thicker. Along with this, the effect of tight Bermuda shorts can also visually cut the length of your legs, making you look shorter and wider.
The length and the fit are the most unflattering features of this style of shorts and the combination of both can definitely affect the overall balance of your pear body figure. A better alternative is to just go for full-length pants with wider leg shapes, or A-Line skirts for a more pleasing visual balance.
Low-Rise Jeans
Apart from being uncomfortable and outdated, low-rise jeans are one of the worst fashion choices you can give your gorgeous pear-shaped body. The waistband of low-rise jeans sits just right below the belly and almost by the level of the hips so this type of structure won’t be able to cinch your waist for better definition.
In addition to their inability to provide proper midsection support and waist definition, low-rise jeans can also be a problem for pear-shaped women who carry a bit of weight on the belly area. This is because its tight fit around the hips can result in a muffin top, also known as a tummy bulge.
Instead of wearing low-rise jeans, opt for mid-rise and high-rise because they offer better support around the midsection to hold and smooth out the bulges you may have in your tummy area. They are also a great choice in terms of giving your waist a more distinctive definition, to ensure that your curves are accentuated.
Mini Skirts
The problem with mini skirts is their length as their hemline usually hits at the level of your thick thighs. Since the scope of coverage, it gives covers the short distance from the waist to the thighs, mini skirts highlight the widest area of your figure.
This causes a disruption in your vertical visual line and your silhouette will look cut off because of this horizontal break on your bottom half. As a result, your frame will look severely unbalanced with the wideness of your hips being the focal point of your frame.
For you pear-shaped beauties out there, opt for skirts that come in slightly longer lengths. Ideally, if you are not a fan of long skirts, you may go for those that hit just slightly above the knee; enough to camouflage your wide hips and thick thighs.
Blazers with Slouchy Shoulders
Pear body shapes lack shoulder definition as they are relatively narrower than your bottom half. With this mentioned, blazers with slouchy shoulders can make this concern even more apparent.
Blazers with a slouchy fit tend to droop down on the narrow and rounded edges of your shoulders due to the heavy fabric blazers usually have. This will make your ensemble look ill-fitting and awkward, resulting in a displeasing imbalance to your frame.
This can also make your ensemble look baggy and therefore overwhelm your waist definition, which is one of your pear-shaped figure’s best assets. The nature of slouchy shoulders will visually exaggerate the width of your hips and thighs because of how it makes the narrowness of your shoulders more obvious.
Hip Embellishments
Embellishments placed on the hip area will contradict your styling goal of downplaying its prominence. As a pear-shaped girl, you are already deemed as bottom-heavy due to the wider and larger size of your hips, thighs, and buttocks so the last thing you would ever want is to add more bulk to these areas.
There are certain styles of clothing pieces that feature embellishments such as statement buttons, embroidery, beadwork, or ruffles that can significantly add volume. These pretty details can disrupt your body shape’s proportions when not placed on clothing strategically.
For your dresses and bottoms, try to keep things simple and minimal, especially on the hip area – the fewer details, the better! If you really want to add visual interest to your ensemble, you can have these embellishments placed on your upper half instead, where your features are less pronounced.
Skinny Jeans
Anything that’s too fit and clingy is not a very good choice if you want flattering clothing pieces for your pear figure. Skinny jeans, with their tight-fitting nature, embrace your entire lower body in a way that the thickness of your bottom half is fully accentuated.
As a result, it becomes even more obvious that your lower body is way wider and bigger compared to your narrower and smaller upper half. This causes your entire frame to look unflattering as the focus will be on the imbalance in your figure instead of your ensemble and best features.
Skinny jeans can definitely have several visual drawbacks for pear shapes so instead of wearing these tight-fitting bottoms, try those with wider leg shapes. Some of the best examples that can look great on your pear figure are straight-cut jeans, wide-leg, and bootcut jeans.
Bodycon Dresses
Here’s another tight-fitting garment that won’t be too friendly on your pear body shape – bodycon dresses. I know how sexy and sultry they look, so it can be quite tempting to flaunt one to showcase your curves, but unfortunately, it may be more disadvantageous than beneficial.
It is true that they hug every curve of your body, but that also means that they accentuate every shape and corner of your figure, including your problematic areas. As they conform to your body too tightly, it brings the stark contrast between your upper and lower body straight into the spotlight, making your frame look disproportionate.
Showcasing your curves is very important for pear shapes, especially because your waist definition is worth the center stage! To highlight your curves without the tightness of bodycon dresses, go for dresses that offer a waist cinch instead, such as fit and flare, X-line, and wrap dresses.
Leggings
Leggings pretty much have the exact same effect as skinny jeans as they cling tightly to the legs. They are typically made from spandex, which is a fabric material that stretches and conforms to the body as close as it can get!
Because of this, the imbalance present in your figure becomes quite obvious and your wider hips and thicker thighs get sole attention. Apart from the fact that this effect contributes to the overall imbalance of your frame, it also completely disregards your other notable features.
But of course, leggings are very comfortable and they make exceptional athletic wear! So if you feel like you really need to wear one for your workout sessions, you can do so by going for athletic tops that go way past the hips so that their prominence doesn’t become too overwhelming.
