Female body shape

The Source, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1856

In the Water by Eugene de Blaas, 1914

The circumferences of bust, waist, and hips, and the ratios between them, is a widespread method for defining women's body shape in Western cultures. These include terms like "rectangular", "spoon", "inverted triangle", or "hourglass".[20] The measurements are generally described using three numbers to describe the bodily dimensions, or "BWH".

The band measurement is usually measured around the women's torso, immediately below her breasts at the inframammary fold, parallel to the floor.[21][22] The cup size is determined by measuring across the crest of the breast and calculating the difference between that measurement and the band measurement.[21][23] The waist is measured at the midpoint between the lower margin of the last palpable rib and the top of the iliac crest. The hips are measured at the largest circumference of the hips and buttocks.[24]

The waist is typically smaller than the bust and hips, unless there is a high proportion of body fat distributed around it. How much the bust or hips inflect inward, towards the waist, determines a woman's structural shape. The hourglass shape is present in only about 8% of women.[20]

Body shapes are often categorised in the fashion industry into one of four elementary geometric shapes,[20] though there are very wide ranges of actual sizes within each shape:

Rectangular

The waist measurement is less than 9 inches (23 cm) smaller than the hips and bust measurement.[20] Body fat is distributed predominantly in the abdomen, buttocks, chest, and face. This overall fat distribution creates the typical ruler (straight) shape.

Inverted triangle

Athletic shaped women have broad(er) shoulders compared with their (narrower) hips.[20] The legs and thighs tend to be slim, while the chest looks larger compared with the rest of the body. Fat is mainly distributed in the chest and face.

Spoon

The hip measurement is greater than the bust measurement.[20] The distribution of fat varies, with fat tending to deposit first in the buttocks, hips, and thighs. As body fat percentage increases, an increasing proportion of body fat is distributed around the waist and upper abdomen. The women of this body type tend to have a relatively larger rear, thicker thighs, and a small(er) bosom.

Hourglass or X shape (triangles opposing, facing in)

Main article: Hourglass figure

The hips and bust are almost of equal size with a narrow waist.[20] Body fat distribution tends to be around both the upper body and lower body. This body type enlarges the arms, chest, hips, and rear before other parts, such as the waist and upper abdomen.

A study of the shapes of over 6,000 women, carried out by researchers at the North Carolina State University circa 2005,[25] for apparel, found that 46% were rectangular, just over 20% spoon, just under 14% inverted triangle, and 8% hourglass.[20] Another study has found "that the average woman's waistline had expanded by six inches since the 1950s" and that women in 2004 were taller and had bigger busts and hips than those of the 1950s.[20]

Several variants of the above coding systems exist:[26]

• Sheldon: "Somatotype: {Plumper: Endomorph, Muscular: Mesomorph, Slender: Ectomorph}", 1940s
• Douty's "Body Build Scale: {1,2,3,4,5}", 1968
• Bonnie August's "Body I.D. Scale: {A,X,H,V,W,Y,T,O,b,d,i,r}", 1981
• Simmons, Istook, & Devarajan "Female Figure Identification Technique (FFIT): {Hourglass, Bottom Hourglass, Top Hourglass, Spoon, Rectangle, Diamond, Oval, Triangle, Inverted Triangle}", 2002
• Connell's "Body Shape Assessment Scale: {Hourglass, Pear, Rectangle, Inverted Triangle}", 2006
• Rasband: {Ideal, Triangular, Inverted Triangular, Rectangular, Hourglass, Diamond, Tubular, Rounded}, 2006
• Lee JY, Istook CL, Nam YJ, "Comparison of body shape between USA and Korean women: {Hourglass, Bottom Hourglass, Top Hourglass, Spoon, Triangle, Inverted Triangle, Rectangle}", 2007.

Lee's 2007 paper proposes the following formula be used to identify an individual's body type:

Hourglass

If (bust − hips) ≤ 1 in (25 mm) AND (hips − bust) < 3.6 in (91 mm) AND ((bust − waist) ≥ 9 in (230 mm) OR (hips − waist) ≥ 10 in (250 mm) )

Bottom hourglass

If (hips − bust) ≥ 3.6 in (91 mm) AND (hips − bust) < 10 in (250 mm) AND (hips − waist) ≥ 9 in (230 mm) AND (high hip/waist) < 1.193

Top hourglass

If (bust − hips) > 1 in (25 mm) AND (bust − hips) < 10 in (250 mm) AND (bust − waist) ≥ 9 in (230 mm)

Spoon

If (hips − bust) > 2 in (51 mm) AND (hips − waist) ≥ 7 in (180 mm) AND (high hip/waist) ≥ 1.193

Triangle

If (hips − bust) ≥ 3.6 in (91 mm) AND (hips − waist) < 9 in (230 mm)

Inverted triangle

If (bust − hips) ≥ 3.6 in (91 mm) AND (bust − waist) < 9 in (230 mm)

Rectangle

If (hips − bust) < 3.6 in (91 mm) AND (bust − hips) < 3.6 in (91 mm) AND (bust − waist) < 9 in (230 mm) AND (hips − waist) < 10 in (250 mm)

In addition a number of national and international clothes sizing standards define body shape coding systems that categorise an individual by the chest to waist and / or hip circumference drop values e.g.

A woman's dimensions are often expressed by the circumference around the three inflection points. For example, "36–29–38" in imperial units would mean a 36 in (91 cm) bust, 29 in (74 cm) waist and 38 in (97 cm) hips.

A woman's bust measure is a combination of her rib cage and breast size. For convenience, a woman's bra measurements are used. For example, though the measurements are not consistently applied, a woman with a bra size of 36B has a rib cage of 36 inches (91 cm) in circumference and a bust measure of 38 inches (97 cm); a woman with a bra size 34C has a rib cage of 34 inches (86 cm) around, but a smaller bust measure of 37 inches (94 cm). However, the woman with a 34C breast size will appear "bustier" because of the apparent difference in bust to ribcage ratio.

Height will also affect the appearance of the figure. A woman who is 36–24–36 (91–61–91 cm) at 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) height will look different from a woman who is 36–24–36 at 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) height. Since the taller woman's figure has greater distance between measuring points, she will likely appear thinner or less curvaceous than her shorter counterpart, again, even though they both have the same Bust-Waist-Hip (BWH) ratio. This is because the taller woman is actually thinner as expressed by her height to size ratio.

The use of BWH measurements for anything other than garment fitting is thus misleading. BWH is an indicator of fat distribution, not fat percentage.

The British Association of Model Agents (AMA) says that female models should be around 34–24–34 (86–61–86 cm) and at least 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) tall.[27]

The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck depicts a fashionable man and woman in the 15th century.

Adam and Eve from the Vienna Diptych by Hugo van der Goes. Eve's protruding abdomen is typical of nudes in the 15th century.

According to Camille Paglia, the ideal body type as envisioned by members of society has changed throughout history. She states that Stone Age Venus figurines show the earliest body type preference, dramatic steatopygia; and that the emphasis on protruding belly, breasts, and buttocks is likely a result of both the aesthetic of being well fed and aesthetic of being fertile, traits that were more difficult to achieve at the time. In sculptures from Classical Greece and Ancient Rome the female bodies are more tubular and regularly proportioned.[28]^:5 There is essentially no emphasis given to any particular body part, not the breasts, buttocks, or belly.

Moving forward there is more evidence that fashion somewhat dictated what people believed were the proper female body proportions. This is the case because the body is primarily seen through clothing, which always changes the way the underlying structures are conceived.[29]^:xii-xiii The first representations of truly fashionable women appear in the 14th century.[29]^:90 Between the 14th and 16th centuries in northern Europe, bulging bellies were again desirable, however the stature of the rest of the figure was generally thin. This is most easily visible in paintings of nudes from the time. When looking at clothed images, the belly is often visible through a mass of otherwise concealing, billowing, loose robes. Since the stomach was the only visible anatomical feature, it became exaggerated in nude depictions while the rest of the body remained minimal.[29]^{:96–100, 106} In southern Europe, around the time of the renaissance, this was also true. Though the classical aesthetic was being revived and very closely studied, the art produced in the time period was influenced by both factors. This resulted in a beauty standard that reconciled the two aesthetics by using classically proportioned figures who had non-classical amounts of flesh and soft, padded skin.[29]^:96–98,104

In the nude paintings of the 17th century, such as those by Rubens, the naked women appear quite fat. Upon closer inspection however, most of the women have fairly normal statures, Rubens has simply painted their flesh with rolls and ripples that otherwise would not be there. This may be a reflection of the female style of the day: a long, cylindrical, gown with rippling satin accents, tailored over a figure in stays. Thus Rubens' women have a tubular body with rippling embellishments.[29]^:106,316 While stays continued to be fashionable into the 18th century, they were shortened, became more conical, and consequently began to emphasize the waist. It also lifted and separated the breasts as opposed to the 17th century corsets which compressed and minimized the breasts. Consequently, depictions of nude women in the 18th century tend to have a very narrow waist and high, distinct breasts, almost as if they were wearing an invisible corset.[29]^{:91, 112–116} La maja desnuda is a clear example of this aesthetic. The 19th century maintained the general figure of the 18th century. Examples can be seen in the works of many contemporary artists, both academic artists, such as Cabanel, Ingres, and Bouguereau, and Impressionists, such as Degas, Renoir, and Toulouse-Lautrec. As the 20th century began, the rise of athletics resulted in a drastic slimming of the female figure. This culminated in the 1920s flapper look, which has informed modern fashion ever since.[28]^:4[29]^:152

The last 100 years envelop the time period in which that overall body type has been seen as attractive, though there have been small changes within the period as well. The 1920s was the time in which the overall silhouette of the ideal body slimmed down. There was dramatic flattening of the entire body resulting in a more youthful aesthetic.[29]^:150–153 As the century progressed, the ideal size of both the breasts and buttocks increased. From the 1950s to 1960 that trend continued with the interesting twist of cone shaped breasts as a result of the popularity of the bullet bra. In the 1960s, the invention of the miniskirt as well as the increased acceptability of pants for women, prompted the idealization of the long leg that has lasted to this day.[29]^:93–95 Following the invention of the push-up bra in the 1970s the ideal breast has been a rounded, fuller, and larger breast. In the past 20 years the average American bra size has increased from 34B to 34DD,[30] although this may be due to the increase in obesity within the United States in recent years. Additionally, the ideal figure has favored an ever-lower waist-hip ratio, especially with the advent and progression of digital editing software such as Adobe Photoshop.[28]^{:4, 6–7}

Venus at a Mirror, Rubens, c. 1615

Women, Rubens, c. 1625

Each society develops a general perception of what an ideal female body shape would be like. These ideals are generally reflected in the art and literature produced by or for a society, as well as in popular media such as films and magazines. The ideal or preferred female body size and shape has varied over time and continues to vary among cultures;[31][32] but a preference for a small waist has remained fairly constant throughout history.[33] A low waist-hip ratio has often been seen as a sign of good health and reproductive potential.[34]

A low waist–hip ratio has also often been regarded as an indicator of attractiveness of a woman, but recent research suggests that attractiveness is more correlated to body mass index than waist–hip ratio, contrary to previous belief.[35][36] According to Dr. Devendra Singh of the University of Texas, who studied the representations of women, historically found there was a trend for slightly overweight women in the 17th and 18th centuries, as typified by the paintings of Rubens, but that in general there has been a preference for a slimmer waist in Western culture. He notes that "The finding that the writers describe a small waist as beautiful suggests instead that this body part – a known marker of health and fertility – is a core feature of feminine beauty that transcends ethnic differences and cultures."[33]

New research suggests that apple-shaped women have the highest risk of developing heart disease, while hourglass-shaped women have the lowest.[37] Diabetes professionals advise that a waist measurement for a woman of over 80 cm (31 in) increases the risk of heart disease, but that ethnic background also plays a factor. This is because body fat buildup around the waist (the apple shape) poses a higher health risk than a fat buildup at the hips (the pear shape).[38]

Over the past several hundred years, there has been a shift towards viewing the body as part of one's identity – not in a purely physical way, but as a means of deeper self-expression. David Gauntlett, in his 2008 book, recognizes the importance of malleability in physical identity, stating, "the body is the outer expression of our self, to be improved and worked upon".[54] One of the more key factors in creating the desire for a particular body shape – most notably for females – is the media, which has promoted a number of so-called "ideal" body shapes.[55] Fashionable figures are often unattainable for the majority of the population, and their popularity tends to be short-lived due to their arbitrary nature.

During the 1950s, the fashion model and celebrity were two separate entities, allowing the body image of the time to be shaped more by television and film rather than high fashion advertisements. While the fashion model of the 1950s, such as Jean Patchett and Dovima, were very thin, the ideal image of beauty was still a larger one. As the fashion houses in the early 1950s still catered to a specific, elite clientele, the image of the fashion model at that time was not as sought after or looked up to as was the image of the celebrity. While the models that graced the covers of Vogue Magazine and Harper's Bazaar in the 1950s were in line with the thin ideal of the day, the most prominent female icon was Marilyn Monroe. Monroe, who was more curvaceous, fell on the opposite end of the feminine ideal spectrum in comparison to high fashion models. Regardless of their sizes, however, both fashion of the time and depictions of Monroe emphasize a smaller waist and fuller bottom half. The late 1950s, however, brought about the rise of ready-to-wear fashion, which implemented a standardized sizing system for all mass-produced clothing. While fashion houses, such as Dior and Chanel, remained true to their couture, tailor-made garments, the rise of these rapidly-produced, standardized garments led to a shift in location from Europe to America as the epicenter of fashion. Along with that shift came the standardization of sizes, in which garments weren't made to fit the body anymore, but instead the body must be altered to fit the garment.[56]

During the 1960s, the popularity of the model Twiggy meant that women favoured a thinner body, with long, slender limbs.[57] This was a drastic change from the former decade's ideal, which saw curvier icons, such as Marilyn Monroe, to be considered the epitome of beautiful. These shifts in what was seen to be the "fashionable body" at the time followed no logical pattern, and the changes occurred so quickly that one shape was never in vogue for more than a decade. As is the case with fashion itself in the post-modern world, the premise of the ever-evolving "ideal" shape relies on the fact that it will soon become obsolete, and thus must continue changing to prevent itself from becoming uninteresting.[58]

An early example of the body used as an identity marker occurred in the Victorian era, when women wore corsets to help themselves attain the body they wished to possess.[59] Having a tiny waist was a sign of social status, as the wealthier women could afford to dress more extravagantly and sport items such as corsets to increase their physical attractiveness.[60] By the 1920s, the cultural ideal had changed significantly as a result of the suffrage movement, and "the fashion was for cropped hair, flat (bound) breasts and a slim androgynous shape".[61]

More recently, magazines and other popular media have been criticized for promoting an unrealistic trend of thinness. David Gauntlett states that the media's "repetitive celebration of a beauty 'ideal' which most women will not be able to match … will eat up readers' time and money—and perhaps good health—if they try".[62] Additionally, the impact that this has on women and their self-esteem is often a very negative one,[63] and resulted in the diet industry taking off in the 1960s – something that would not have occurred "had bodily appearance not been so closely associated with identity for women".[64] Melissa Oldman states, "Nowhere is the thin female ideal more evident than in popular media."[65]

The importance of "the body as a work zone", as Myra MacDonald asserts, further perpetuates the link between fashion and identity, with the body being used as a means of creating a visible and unavoidable image for oneself.[66] The tools with which to create the final copy of such a project range from the extreme—plastic surgery—to the more tame, such as diet and exercise.[67]

A study at Brigham Young University using MRI technology suggested that women experience more anxiety about weight gain than do men,[68] while aggregated research has been used to claim that images of thin women in popular media may induce psychological stress.[69] A study of 52 older adults found that females may think more about their body shape and endorse thinner figures than men even into old age.[70]

Various strategies are sometimes employed to temporarily or permanently alter the shape of a body. The most common include dieting and exercise.

At times artificial devices are used or surgery is employed. Breast size can be artificially increased or decreased. Falsies, breast prostheses or padded bras may be used to increase the apparent size of a woman's breasts, while minimiser bras may be used to reduce the apparent size. Breasts can be surgically enlarged using breast implants or reduced by the systematic removal of parts of the breasts. Hormonal breast enhancement may be another option.[71][72][73]

Historically, boned corsets have been used to reduce waist sizes. The corset reached its climax during the Victorian era. In twentieth century these corsets were mostly replaced with more flexible/comfortable foundation garments. Where corsets are used for waist reduction, it may be temporary reduction by occasional use or permanent reduction by people who are often referred to as tightlacers. Liposuction and liposculpture are common surgical methods for reducing the waist line.

Padded control briefs or hip and buttock padding may be used to increase the apparent size of hips and buttocks. Buttock augmentation surgery may be used to increase the size of hips and buttocks to make them look more rounded.

Two social experiments were performed in 2012, which provided information on a female's ideal body and argued that the ideal body is an unattainable social construct meant to keep women striving to please men's sexual desires. The first experiment, performed by researcher Lon Kilgore, involved measuring multiple people and comparing those measurements to Leonardo da Vinci's representation of the ideal human body, The Vitruvian Man. Kilgore used the conclusions of this experiment to prove that there is no such ideal body for females because the human body is ever changing to adapt to its environment. In the second experiment, researchers Kara Crossley, Piers Cornelissen and Martin Tovée asked men and women to depict an attractive female body and the majority of them had the same diagram. Critical writer Kovie Biakolo uses this to state that society has embedded into us this idea that the ideal woman looks a certain way.

Created in 1490, the Vitruvian Man is famously known to be the portrayal of the perfect human, depicting all the perfect proportions and measurements between limbs and features. Because it is so perfect, comparing a person, male or female, to it has been "one of the most familiar and easiest methods of determining if an individual deviates from 'normal' anthropometry." However, Kilgore proves that the majority of men and women do not fit this image. In the experiment, Kilgore measured multiple body parts of nine male subjects and six female subjects, such as height, wingspan, hip width, elbow to fingertip, torso, and legs, and compared those measurements to the measurements of Da Vinci's drawing. The results of the measurements and comparisons demonstrated that "not a single subject in this study possessed the dimensional relationships put forth by da Vinci." Even single measurements of individual limbs of these subjects do not match the figure, proving that the ideal human, The Vitruvian Man, might not be ideal at all.

Kilgore explains this anomaly through evolution; he states that the human body never might have been exactly identical to the Vitruvian Man because the human body is always changing to adapt its environment. "In the more than five centuries since, human height has changed." In fact, when Da Vinci was drawing this figure in the 15th century, the average height of men of European ancestry was 5'6"–5'8" (168–173 cm); however the average male height today is 5'9"–5'11" (175–180 cm). Kilgore ends his experiment stating that the Vitruvian Man does not accurately describe the modern male or female.[74]

In another social experiment, researchers Kara Crossley, Piers L. Cornelissen, and Martin Tovée explore what an attractive body is, asking multiple men and women to draw their ideal bodies using a virtual program in which they would increase or decrease the sizes of specific body parts. After looking at the depictions of their participants, the researchers came to a conclusion that almost all had depicted similar ideal bodies. The women who participated in this experiment drew their ideal bodies with enlarged busts and narrowed the rest of their bodies, resulting in the conclusion that the representation of ideal female body size and shape was narrowed hips, waist, lower torso, and an enlarged bust. The male participants also depicted their ideal partner with the same image. The researchers state, "For both sexes, the primary predictor of female beauty is a relatively low BMI combined with a relatively curvaceous body."[75]

• Gauntlett, David (2008). Media, gender, and identity. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415189606.
• MacDonald, Myra (1995). Representing Women: Myths of Femininity in the Popular Media. London: Edward Arnold.

• Art and love in Renaissance Italy, Issued in connection with an exhibition held Nov 2008-Feb 2009, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (see Belle: Picturing Beautiful Women; pages 246-254)