Type your bust, waist and hips (and your high hip, if you can) and see your body shape by the Female Figure Identification Technique’s own formulas, the numbers that decided it, the shape you are closest to, and what two stylists suggest wearing: to echo your shape, or to shift the balance. Every shape is a good shape.
Your body shape
HourglassYour bust is no more than 1 inch bigger than your hips, your hips are less than 3.6 inches bigger than your bust, and your waist is at least 9 inches smaller than your bust or 10 smaller than your hips.
What to wear
Formulas: the Female Figure Identification Technique (Lee, Istook, Nam and Park, 2007) as printed and extended for plus sizes by Sokolowski and Bettencourt (2020); Omni Calculator uses the same. What to wear quoted from Good Nature Styling and Autum Love. Checked 2026-09-25.
Quick answer: your body shape comes from three differences: hips minus bust, bust minus waist and hips minus waist. Bust and hips close together with a waist 9 or more inches smaller reads as an hourglass; hips 3.6 or more inches bigger than the bust as a triangle (pear); the bust 3.6 or more bigger as an inverted triangle; all three close together as a rectangle. Type yours in and the calculator runs all nine formulas.
How to use it
Measure over light clothing, tape level and snug but not tight: your bust at the fullest point, your waist at the narrowest part of your torso, your hips at the widest point below your waist. The high hip, round the top of your hip bones where the curve starts, is optional, but it is the only measurement that tells a spoon from a bottom hourglass. Inches or centimetres both work. You get your shape, the three differences that decided it, the shape you are closest to, and what to wear, from two stylists who write about body shape without telling anyone to hide anything.
The formulas, and where they come from
The Female Figure Identification Technique (FFIT) was developed at North Carolina State University by Simmons, Istook and Devarajan (2004) to sort 3D body scans into shapes for the clothing industry. Lee, Istook, Nam and Park (2007) wrote its shapes as formulas in inches, and Sokolowski and Bettencourt (3DBODY.TECH 2020) extended them for plus-size bodies, adding the diamond and oval shapes back for a waist wider than the hips. Omni Calculator uses the same formulas. They are checked in this order, and the first that fits is your shape:
| Shape | If |
|---|---|
| Hourglass | bust − hips ≤ 1 and hips − bust < 3.6, and bust − waist ≥ 9 or hips − waist ≥ 10 |
| Bottom hourglass | hips − bust from 3.6 to under 10, hips − waist ≥ 9, and high hip ÷ waist < 1.193 |
| Top hourglass | bust − hips over 1 and under 10, and bust − waist ≥ 9 |
| Spoon | hips − bust over 2, hips − waist ≥ 7, and high hip ÷ waist ≥ 1.193 |
| Triangle | hips − bust ≥ 3.6 and hips − waist from 0 to under 9; or bust − waist under 0 and hips − waist ≥ 0 |
| Inverted triangle | bust − hips ≥ 3.6, bust − waist under 9, and hips − waist ≥ 0 |
| Rectangle | hips and bust within 3.6 of each other, bust − waist from 0 to under 9, and hips − waist from 0 to under 10 |
| Diamond | hips − waist under 0 and bust − waist under 0 |
| Oval | hips − waist under 0 and bust − waist 0 or more |
Examples: nine measurements, nine shapes
| Bust | Waist | Hips | High hip | Shape |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 28 | 38 | — | Hourglass |
| 34 | 27 | 40 | 31 | Bottom hourglass |
| 38 | 28 | 35 | — | Top hourglass |
| 34 | 27 | 40 | 35 | Spoon |
| 34 | 31 | 39 | 35 | Triangle (pear) |
| 40 | 33 | 35 | — | Inverted triangle |
| 36 | 33 | 37 | — | Rectangle |
| 36 | 38 | 37 | — | Diamond |
| 40 | 37 | 36 | — | Oval |
Two worked through. 36, 28, 38: hips minus bust is 2 (under 3.6), bust minus waist is 8 (under 9), but hips minus waist is 10, so the hourglass formula fits. With a waist a quarter of an inch bigger, hips minus waist would drop under 10 and the same body would read as a rectangle, which is why the calculator names the shape you are closest to. 34, 27, 40: hips minus bust is 6 and hips minus waist 13, which fits both the bottom hourglass and the spoon. The high hip decides: 31 (under 1.193 times the waist) is a bottom hourglass, 35 (over it) a spoon.
What to wear
The two stylists quoted here each offer two ways to dress a shape: to echo it, or to shift the balance. Autum Love: “Balance is one possible visual effect. It is not the universal definition of dressing well.” Good Nature Styling: “no body shape is better, easier to dress, or more ‘ideal’ than another.” They write for five shapes, and FFIT sorts into nine, so each FFIT shape takes the advice of its nearest (our mapping): the three hourglasses take the hourglass advice, spoon and triangle the pear’s, diamond and oval the apple’s.
Common mistakes
- Measuring over a padded bra or a thick jumper. It adds inches to one number and not the others, and the differences are what decide.
- Pulling the tape tight at the waist. Snug, not tight, and breathe normally.
- Hips at the hip bones. That is the high hip. Hips are the widest point, usually lower, around the seat.
- Reading one shape as a verdict. The shapes meet at lines, and a tape moves; that is why the answer names the shape you are closest to.
- Confusing shape with size. Autum Love: “Size and body shape are different.”
More on Needle Style
Outfit ideas for an hourglass figure, outfits for broad shoulders and a fuller bust, outfits for broad shoulders and curves, how to dress if you are short and curvy and midsize winter outfits.
FAQ
What is my body shape?
Measure your bust, waist and hips and type them in. The calculator runs the nine FFIT formulas in order and the first that fits is your shape, with the numbers that decided it.
How do you calculate body shape?
From three differences: hips minus bust, bust minus waist and hips minus waist, plus high hip divided by waist to separate a spoon from a bottom hourglass. The thresholds (1, 3.6, 9 and 10 inches, and 1.193) are the FFIT formulas’ own.
What are the female body shapes?
FFIT sorts into nine: hourglass, bottom hourglass, top hourglass, spoon, triangle, inverted triangle, rectangle, diamond and oval. Style guides usually use five: hourglass, pear, apple, rectangle and inverted triangle.
What is the difference between a spoon and a pear?
Both have hips wider than the bust. A spoon has a defined waist and a high hip nearly as wide as the hips (a “shelf”); a triangle, or pear, has hips at least 3.6 inches over the bust with less than 9 inches between hips and waist.
How should I dress for my body type?
Either way you like: echo your shape, or shift the balance. The calculator quotes both kinds of advice for your shape from two stylists, and names who said each line.
Where do I measure my high hip?
Round the top of your hip bones, where the curve of your hips starts, a few inches below your waist. It is optional, but without it a spoon and a bottom hourglass look the same to the formulas.
Is body shape the same as dress size?
No. Two people of very different sizes can share a shape, because the shape is about the differences between your measurements, not the measurements themselves.