Fruit Belongs in Fruit Baskets: Understanding your body shape

Every body is unique. Not better, not worse, not more beautiful, not less, just different, singular, something I find to be endless poetry. As someone eternally passionate about creativity, seeing God’s ability to create so many different (and amazing!) combinations in each human being makes me love and admire Him even more. I believe that we should celebrate what makes us unique more often. A way we can do that is to really look at our body, without judgment, and get to know the silhouette that it forms. And instead of trying to make our body fit into a specific standard or match them to fruit shapes, get to know ourselves better and embrace who we really are. This is important not only a step towards self-love but also to guide our choices when it comes to knowing how to dress well.

Each article of clothing, fabric, cut, and color will work differently on each individual body and that’s great! The challenge this presents drives us to consider alternatives that are not always obvious but that can be very cool. You may think there’s nothing “cool” about some clothing not working out for your body/style because this can often be a tiring and frustrating process. And yes, it’s true, it can. But that is why knowing what you want and understanding your body makes all the difference. This knowledge will give you clarity about exactly what you want and what result you are looking for, which will help eliminate everything that isn’t part of your vision and go straight to what works, making the process lighter and more fun.

Let’s break this down. Today, the idea is to become better acquainted with the natural design of our body, also known as our silhouette, and from that to identify what we want to enhance, balance, or even disguise with our clothes. The first step for this is to observe yourself in front of the mirror, preferably without clothes and consider the following points:

-What are your body’s proportions? Both in terms of heights (arms, legs, torso, neck, hair, etc.), and in relation to widths (hips, bust, waist, shoulder, etc.). Remembering that we’re doing this without judgment, okay? We are analyzing how each of these aspects behaves in the set of proportions that make up you.

-How are your body’s natural lines? More rounded? Straight? Angular? Very defined? Softer? Observe everything, the lines of the arms, shoulders, waist, face, in profile, from the front.

-Is there something you wish to disguise? Most people have their perceived imperfections on the tip of the tongue, but it’s worth taking a moment to really think why you are bothered by whatever it may be.

-What do you passionately love about your body? And where do you see potential? Everyone has beautiful characteristics, and as much as we have this ugly habit of focusing only on the bad, let’s look ourselves in the mirror and shower ourselves with love and affectionately consider that there are a lot of special features in that body looking back at us.

-Where’s your visual weight? What draws the most attention? A part of your body? Your lines? Your colors? Visual weight has nothing to do with “extra pounds” or measurements, rather it’s the amount of visual space that a particular element occupies.

The results of this analysis are important to know and have in mind, but be careful not to focus too much on the details. It is nice to remember that just as style is not defined by a single piece of clothing, our body cannot be defined by parts but by the whole. And that changes everything! It helps to understand what we love about ourselves and want to highlight, versus what (if anything) we would rather receive less focus. IT also helps us become familiar with the proportions and characteristics that form us. But it is essential to see how it all works together. Having this vision of the whole enhances the visual game that we play with clothes afterward, but that’s a conversation for another day. For now, I sincerely hope that you will carefully observe your body and find answers to make increasingly assertive choices and that show the beauty of being who you are.