Mastering Your Denim Fit // Part 3 - Your Jean Shape
If you’ve ever had a jean “gap” in the back or had jeans fit too “tight” in the waist, you may be looking at your jean shape all wrong. Your jean shape starts with knowing your measurements from your natural waist to the broadest part of your hips. In part 1, I talked about your rise, part 2, about your inseam, and part three puts it together with waist fit from natural waist to hip.
Your Ideal jean shape
I often refer to jean shape with clients as a alphabet letter analogy. I use the letters “A” and “H” when picking up a pair of jeans and looking at the waist to hip area. So that’s what we’ll do here.
Find your ideal jean shape
Step 1: Measure all the way around your waist at it’s most narrow point
Step 2: Then measure your hip at the broadest (widest) point all the way around (including your backside).
Step 3: Calculate the difference between your natural waist measurement and your broadest hip measurement.
Results:
“A” Shape - Curvy Fit - If your number in step 3 is greater than 10”
When shopping for a pair of jeans, pick up the denim and take a look at the space between the waist and the hip. If the shape appears to taper in from the hip to the waist and appears to make a subtle “A” shape, this is the fit you are looking for. You need a jean to taper in to fit your narrow waist and you need allowance for your hips. This is otherwise known as curvy fit. This may reduce the “gaping” effect you get when you try on jeans that are too straight in the waist.
“H” Shape - Straight Fit - If your number in step 3 is less than 10”
When shopping for a pair of jeans, pick up the denim and take a look at the space between the waist and the hip. If the shape is fairly straight from the hip to the waist and appears to make a “H” shape, this is the fit you are looking for. You need a jean to fit straight to allow for both your hips and waist, which are straighter in shape, to fit in the jeans. This is otherwise known as straight fit.
H Shape - Straight Jean
Similar hip and waist ratio
Note: We all have different bodies! So even though this is a guide, you may still have to have your jeans altered to fit your particular waist to hip ratio. But the idea here is that you have a clearer idea of what type of jean shape to start looking for.