How to Find Jeans that Fit
Jeans are a timeless wardrobe staple. No woman should be without a few pairs of jeans in various cuts and styles. But every woman’s body is different, and that’s why it can be so hard to find jeans that fit and flatter your figure.
To find a pair of jeans that fits well, you need to know your own body shape. Different cuts of jeans will work best with different body types. You’ll also need to think about whether you want a low-rise, mid-rise, or high-rise jean. Then it’s all about shopping carefully and trying on different styles and sizes of jeans to find your fit and narrow down your style preferences.
Know Your Body Shape
Women’s bodies come in five general shapes: hourglass, apple, athletic, pear, and inverted triangle. To find out what shape you are, measure your bosom, natural waist, shoulders, and hips. Find your natural waist by bending towards one side – when you bend to the side, you’ll find an indentation somewhere between your bosom and hips. It can be as high as your ribcage if you’re high-waisted, or lower than that if not – and chances are it will be much higher than where the waistband of your pants normally sits. Measure your bosom and hips by wrapping the measuring tape around the fullest part of your chest and bottom. A shoulder measurement is taken across the upper part of your back, so you’ll need help to take this measurement, but it can be worthwhile to determine whether your shoulders are wider than your hips.
If your waist is at least ten inches smaller than your hips and bosom, you have an hourglass figure. If you have a larger abdomen with slim hips and legs and a large bosom, you have an apple figure. If you have a small bosom and waist with large hips, you have a pear figure. If your hips, waist, and bosom are all about the same size and your figure is slim and muscular, you have an athletic shape. If your shoulders are wider than your bosom and hips, you have an inverted triangle shape.
Select Your Rise
Jeans come in three different rises. Low-rise jeans sit low on your hips, below your belly button. If you want to show off your curves or make a more athletic figure look curvier, low-rise jeans are where it’s at. Mid-rise jeans come up to about your belly button. They pair well with most tops and provide some structure around the midriff. High-rise jeans are a vintage look that’s recently come back into style. They come up above the belly button – sometimes as high as the rib cage. You can wear them with cropped tops or simply when you feel you need more coverage for a larger belly.
Find Your Most Flattering Fit
When it’s time to go shopping for women’s jeans, it’s best to do so in person. That way, you can try on the different styles of jeans and find the one that fits and flatters you best. You can shop for jeans online if you know your measurements, but since you should try on a couple styles of jeans in a few different sizes, you’ll need to be prepared to return some of what you buy.
If you’re shopping for women’s jeans in person, grab three sizes. Grab one size down from your normal size, one size up from your normal size, and one in your normal size. If you’re not sure what your normal size is, you can ask the store associate for help finding something that fits your measurements. You’re looking for a pair of jeans that fits all the way around your waist, flatters your bottom, and comes down to your ankle bone or, in the case of flares, just brushes the floor.
Different jean styles will flatter different body types. If you have an apple or athletic body shape, you may want to buy a pair of women’s boyfriend jeans. Straight leg jeans also look good on apple and athletic body types, as do light-wash skinny jeans.
If you have an hourglass shape, you’ll look good in just about anything, but skinny jeans and straight leg jeans are going to flatter your figure the most. Bootcut and flared jeans can also look good on an hourglass body, because they can balance out your curves. These styles can also work well for balancing out your wide shoulders if you have an inverted triangle shape.
If you have a pear shape, you’ll want to balance out your wider hips with flare or bootcut jeans. Skinny jeans will also look great on you. Pair them with a slim-fitting top for a streamlined look or a voluminous top for a more balanced look.
Finding a pair of jeans that fits isn’t always easy, but when you make the effort, your jeans can look and feel great.
xoxo
