Before I started styling for my specific body type, I had a lot of moments of “almost” nailing it. I moved from outfits that I’d look back at and think “why did I think that worked” to “that had potential” to “OMG that slays”.

But the thing about styling your pear shaped body (or really any body type) is asking yourself a lot of subtle questions: How much do you want to show off? How much do you want to hide? What are you looking to balance? Are you willing/able to tailor your clothes to achieve the most? Am I following a trend or dressing for own excellence (or both)?

Style mistakes only become mistakes when they aren’t a choice.

So before we get into today’s “styling mistakes if you have a pear-shaped body”, let’s acknowledge that our style reflects many things: our beliefs about ourselves, our comfort & confidence levels, the environment we’re in, our religious beliefs, the geographical region we’re in and more.

The “mistakes” of today’s post are taken in consideration that you are choosing to dress your body as though you are a sculpted goddess in a museum. You are the work of art and the clothing enhances your beauty. Take what works for you. Leave what doesn’t. And let your gorgeous creation shine.

Styling Mistakes if You Have a Pear-Shaped Body

Pocket Placement Is Everything & Squares Are Not For Pears

In general, there’s a balancing game that is constantly happening for pear shaped queens between our shoulder width and our hips. We can visually “split the difference” by going for high waisted options (or simply wearing our skirts higher). But it inevitable creates a pocket situation. Aka our hips push the pockets out instead of them seamlessly skimming over our bodies.

It’s probably not our worst pear shaped styling mistake but it’s definitely not helping to sculpt things.

The 2nd major faux paux of this outfit (and one I find rentless because I’m a petite gal) is the combo of the length & squareness of this skirt. *scroll down 1 photo for visual aid*

Now both skirts are from J.Crew (the top one being leather, the bottom being a silk slip skirt). And both are worn higher than shown on the model to emphasis my smaller waist and to draw the eye in to balance my shoulder to hip ratio.

But in the case of the first skirt, the leather looks boxy.

In general, squares do very little for sculpting a pear shaped body because our “waist” is only made more obvious when our hips are larger or when we carve it out with clothing. Otherwise, we are really quite square until our hips and butt come into play.

A softer material that skims vs flaring does wonders for us in ways that are subtle but powerful.

Mid-Calf Boots Don’t Work On Their Own For Us

This is a slightly pesk rule for many of us pear-shaped girlies because until the last 2ish years, the option for anything but a mid-calf or ankle bootie has been limited (or non-existent). And while I hope to make it easier for us to shop boots in the fall, it’s helpful to understand why they don’t work (and how to make it better).

There are several things wrong with the top outfit. The biggest isssue being that the combo of the slit and the mid-calf boots makes me look shorter. And this dress would do so much more for me as an off the shoulder moment.

But let’s stick with the boots.

That gap between the bottom of the dress and the top of my boots stops the eye in a way I don’t want. This is somewhat fixable with a pair of tights. But really we want the flow from the top of my head to my toes to be seamless with this look.

The fix: when I style these boots now I typically use them in just a few ways.

I will use them as a feature moment where I’m intentionally breaking up the outfit flow with a cropped top (or tied top) at my waist. Again drawing the eye torwards the center to balance things out. I will also use them with skirts or dreses where the slit is truly on the side of the outfit and not the front of the dress. And typically with something that is maxi length.

This way if you’re looking from the front it all flows. And on the side, it’s a sutble break.

Traditional Flares Are Not Our Friend

There are a few reasons for this. But when it comes to trying to style flared pants on a pear shaped body, most of the time they just don’t work. Like they don’t “flare”. This mainly has to do with the fact that we carry our weight in our hips, butts and thighs. So the small knee section of the flare doesn’t work because we carry more there.

It’s even more blah when they are too long or in comparison to our hips. This style works well for girls who have a more boxy body type because it shapes in the opposite way for them. Giving outside extension to create a more curved figure.

On us, not so much.

The alternative to this for us is something that is both wide-legged AND flared. The flares are larger therefore they work better with our hips and keep the balance between our shoulder/hip/waist/pant bottom ratio.

Just be mindful that if you also love to wear heels the extra fabric LOVES to catch under your shoes when you walk. I trip myself a minimum of 1 – 5 times whenever I wear these.

Squares Are Not For Pears – But Definitely With Sweaters

Every year, I find myself in a battle of the sweaters for 3 reasons. Firstly, if the bottom of the sweater is too square or boxy, it just makes everything look wide. It’s hard to work around this because usually that “wider” fit is throughout the sweater so it’s more like fabric on your body than something to enhance the artwork.

Secondly, sweaters that are too stiff at the bottom which make them less malable for our purposes. The third battle, they have slits on the sides (which helps) but they could be longer (which would shape our curves better).

It’s a niche pear-shaped problem. But it’s one that has me constantly gifting friends my purchases or returning sweaters.

The square problem with sweaters is much like the one with skirts. As pear-shaped girls, we have curves and we need our fabric to curve with it.

Typically, I just circumvent the problem all together by going with something that is slightly cropped and has softened edges. J.Crew cashmere sweaters are a staple in my wardrobe.

But the squareness of the bottom part of the sweater tends to also translate to have a boxy center and we lose all ability to carve out a waist. So it’s best to just avoid them all together.

Dressing For The Widest Part Of Your Body But Not The Smallest

By default, we can’t avoid needing to find clothes that fit our hips and butts. If we’re lucky, we will also find pieces that don’t give back gap (a miracle). But the mistake of styling a pear shaped body for only our largest part is that we lose our ability to sculpt it.

We also make our curves look flat when we do this. Compare the above two photos for visual reference.

You can fix this with TONS of small tweaks: tucking something in, adding belt, adding structure to the shoulders to flare out the top, opting for high waisted pieces and tucking things in, layering your clothes to add dimension (I could go on and on but that’s why we have this place 😉).

Carving out a pear-shaped body to look like a sculpture is just as much as about priotizing the smallest features as it is the largest. And then finding a way to balance and mold it all together.

If you liked this post and want more pear-shaped styling tips, make sure you’re subscribed to the newsletter. If social media is your thing, I do share outfits throughout the week on instagram and you can find more of these tips in the weekly vlogs on Youtube. Until next time. Xoxo, Savvy

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