The apple shaped women have feminine curves and slender legs, but in the meantime can feel self-conscious about the bulging tummy and a lack of waistline. The right shoes can balance the overall silhouette, and enhance your outfits. This detailed guide will help you understand your body features, thus find the most flattering shoes for your shape accordingly.
MAIN CONSIDERATION
When choosing the best pair of shoes to match your body shape, you not only need to consider your legs or lower body but the entirety of your figure – from head to toe! So in order to come up with the pair of shoes to complete your ensemble, here are the specific features of your body that you have to take into consideration.
Rounder Shoulders
Your apple-shaped figure features rounder shoulders that tend to have a fuller and softer appearance. The edges of your shoulders feature a soft curve from the neck to the outer edges that can be in a flattering contrast with your narrower hips and slimmer legs.
Your broad shoulders are one of your prominent features, although this can also contribute to a top-heavy appearance.
Full and Prominent Bust
Your bust line has more volume and projection compared to the rest of your body, which creates a notable focal point. The fullness of your bust also contributes to the overall top-heavy appearance of your apple shape, pretty much like the visual effect that your shoulders give.
Understanding the fullness and prominence of your bust is also very important in selecting the right pair of shoes. This is because you’ll need your shoes to have certain details to balance out your heavier upper frame.
Undefined Waistline
Your waistline has little to no definition due to the lack of a distinct curve into the torso. This results in a straighter appearance in which your entire midsection and hips share almost the same width and size.
There are shoes you can wear that can actually balance this problem area out. All you need to do is for the right color and structure.
Weight Gain on the Midsection
The midsection area of your apple body shape appears thicker and heavier because of the fact that your figure naturally gains weight around this area the most compared to the rest of your body parts. This makes your waist, abdomen, and hips look almost symmetrical in size with no definition at all.
Your body is also more prone to a tummy bulge because of your tendency to gain excess fat around this area.
Less Pronounced Hips
Most of your prominent features are on the upper part of your body (torso) while your lower body is significantly smaller and less pronounced – starting with your narrow hips. Your hips naturally lack fullness and curvature, which also contributes to the imbalance of your frame.
Slim Legs
Your gorgeous, slim legs are to die for! This is one of your apple body type’s best features and is also one of the key considerations when it comes to choosing the best pair of shoes to flatter your figure.
When choosing shoes to highlight your legs, you have to look at certain details that won’t overpower the appearance of your legs. Because remember, your legs should always take the spotlight!
COLOR
Nude
To give your legs a subtle lift, nude colors should help create the illusion of elongated legs as they blend seamlessly with the natural skin tone. This visual effect also helps balance out the proportions of your apple-shaped body and steer the eyes away from your problematic areas.
In addition to this visual aspect, nude shoes also have a neutral and versatile nature that allows them to effortlessly embrace various outfit choices. They create a cohesive and streamlined look by drawing less attention to the feet and diverting focus away from the midsection.
Black
Black is always a classic color choice for everything and it’s also a color that can be especially helpful for apple-shaped women. Since your lower body is relatively smaller compared to your top-heavy torso, black-colored shoes can help visually balance your overall frame by evenly distributing the attention on your lower body.
It also helps extend your frame as it has the ability to elongate your legs.
Warm Neutrals
If you’re looking for a pair of shoes that can strategically cut down the heavier look on your upper body, coordinating your outfits and shoes with the same warm neutral colors will help bring balance to your outfit.
Apart from the versatility of these colors, they also have a softening effect on your ensemble that helps shift the focus away from the midsection to create a more balanced and visually appealing silhouette.
DETAILS
The iconic statement that says “Less is more” is very true when it comes to choosing details for your shoes. While going minimal is deemed the safer option, adding specific details on your shoes can help boost the prominence of your relatively smaller lower body.
Statement Embellishment
A simple statement embellishment on your shoes can make a significant visual impact on your overall ensemble, most particularly with the appearance of your lower body.
Simple decorative details such as a bow, buckle, pattern, or even brand monograms on your shoes can efficiently draw the eyes downward, away from your heavier midsection.
This creates a visual focal point and additional flair that helps divert attention and create a more proportionate silhouette.
Straps
Straps, as long as they aren’t too strappy and dramatic, can help bring balance and definition to your outfit by steering the eyes away from your problem areas such as your thick midsection and undefined hips.
Since apple shapes have beautifully shaped and slim legs, shoe straps, such as ankle straps can draw attention to the ankles to make this area a focal point while also highlighting the slimness of your legs and ankles.
BEST STYLES
Wedge Shoes
If you’re looking for some superior height elevation without the hassle and discomfort of stilettos, wedge heels are here to your rescue! They provide stability and comfort with their wide and sturdy base which can also help provide more depth and support for your less prominent lower body.
In addition to this, the chunky nature of wedge shoes provides enough visual weight and proportion to the lower body, counterbalancing the broader upper body.
Ankle Boots
The height of ankle boots hits at a flattering point on your legs which influences the visual balance between your smaller lower body and the broader upper body. By choosing the right design and color of ankle boots, you can also easily give your legs an additional sense of height to make you appear leaner and taller.
What I also love about ankle boots is that they provide ankle support and stability, which makes them quite comfortable to wear, even their high-heeled versions!
Slingback Heels
Slingback heels are structured in a way that they expose the back of the foot in order to create an open and elongated look. This visual effect gives your legs more visual balance that counteracts your heavier midsection and lack of curves.
They also often feature an almond-shaped or pointed toe that offers a sense of depth to your overall look by having the attention directed toward this lower region of your body. With this particular toe shape and exposed heel design, it efficiently creates a subtle visual break between the foot and the leg to further enhance your leg length.
Pointed Toe Heels
Have you ever tried on an elegant pair of pointed-toe heels? If you already have, then I’m sure you have felt that feeling when you just feel like you can walk in them forever – looking at how sophisticated they look!
The main reason for this is that their structure perfectly complements the overall features of apple-shaped girls. Because of their pointed tip that creates an elongating, vertical line, they help balance out your broader upper body which is quite typical of apple-shaped figures.
Oxfords
Not everyone is a fan of open shoes or sandals, so if that’s your case, you have a shoe option that will provide enough coverage for your feet without interrupting your visual line. Oxfords are classic and timeless, which makes them quite versatile in a way that you can style them both with formal and casual fashion ensembles.
Their closed-toe design provides coverage without causing a visual interruption to your silhouette. This way, you’ll maintain balance all throughout your frame while rocking your edgy oxfords!
STYLES TO AVOID
Now that we have covered the specific styles that would suit your apple body shape the best, it’s also important to know which ones you should avoid. The following styles below aren’t the most flattering for your apple figure for a number of reasons.
Thin Heels
Thin heels can create an emphasis on the lower body, drawing attention to the legs and feet, but not in a flattering way. Since your lower body is less prominent, to begin with, thin heels will only enhance that by having your thin ankles look almost as thin as the heels.
Since apple shapes tend to be top-heavy, you may want a pair of shoes that offer better stability. Thin heels can be less comfortable to walk in, especially if you have a heavier upper body and a smaller lower body.
Chunky Shoes
Chunky shoes have been quite trendy in recent years and they have been a style staple for those who are into street fashion. However, if you’re an apple-shaped girl looking to bring balance to your overall frame, this isn’t a very good option for you.
Shoes that are thick-soled or heavy-looking may overwhelm your lower body, which is already less prominent in comparison with your heavier upper body. While it’s nice to add some volume to your footwear to neutralize your overall balance, chunky shoes are just too bulky and dramatic so they don’t provide a gradual volume transition from your legs to your feet.
Bulky Boots
Bulky boots may give a significant amount of additional volume and weight to your lower body, which can lead to an imbalance in proportions. This may draw the focus only to your feet and completely disregard your other features, most especially your legs.
Bulky boots are often constructed with overwhelming details or thick soles, and such structures can visually shorten and diminish the prominence of your legs. Remember, your legs are one of your best features so you have to go for shoes that will make them stand out, not overpower them!
Some samples of this are chunky combat boots, Ugg boots, or platform boots. If you’d like a pair of boots that will keep you extra warm without the excessive bulk, consider the quality of the material they are made of.
Mary Jane
Mary Jane shoes are typically designed with a strap across the instep, and while this can look cute, it can visually cut off the leg line and create horizontal lines across the ankle.
This can also draw unnecessary attention to the lower part of the leg and make it appear shorter due to its rounded toe. Your goal as an apple-shaped girl is to elongate and balance out the proportions of your lower body, and Mary Janes can potentially contradict that.
