— Body type quiz · Updated June 2026
What's my body type?
Five questions find your body shape — then exactly how to dress for it to balance your proportions. No tape measure, no signup.
Question 1 of 5
Compared to your hips, your shoulders are…
The five body shapes
Rectangle
Straight · balanced · undefined waist
Shoulders, waist and hips are close in width, with little waist definition — a straight, balanced line. The goal is to create shape and break up the straight line.
Triangle
Hips wider than shoulders
You carry width lower — hips broader than shoulders. Balance the frame by adding presence up top and keeping the lower half clean, drawing the eye upward.
Inverted Triangle
Shoulders wider than hips
You carry width up top — broad shoulders, narrower hips. Balance by softening the upper half and adding a little presence below.
Hourglass
Balanced top & bottom · defined waist
Shoulders and hips are balanced with a clearly defined waist. Your shape does the work — follow it rather than hiding it.
Oval
Fuller midsection · width through the middle
You carry width through the middle. Lengthen and streamline the torso, and let structure skim rather than cling.
How to dress each body shape
Calculate your body shape with a tape measure
The quiz reads your shape from how clothes fit you, which is enough for getting dressed. If you want the arithmetic version, the body shape calculator does it for you from your measurements — or do it by hand: it is three measurements and two comparisons.
Measure three places, keeping the tape level and snug but not tight, over light clothing:
- Bust / chest — around the fullest point.
- Waist — the narrowest part of your torso, usually just above the navel.
- Hips — around the fullest point, generally 18–20cm (7–8in) below the waist.
Then compare. If bust and hips are within a few percent of each other, you are balanced top-to-bottom, and the waist decides the rest: a clearly smaller waist reads Hourglass, while little waist definition reads Rectangle. If your hips are meaningfully larger than your bust, that's a Triangle(or pear); if your bust and shoulders are meaningfully larger than your hips, that's an Inverted Triangle. If your waist measurement is the largest of the three, that's an Oval (or apple).
A caveat worth stating plainly, because most calculators don't: the exact cut-off percentages differ between sources, and plenty of people land near a boundary and could reasonably be filed under either shape. That's fine. The category is a tool for making styling decisions, not a fact about you — if two shapes' advice both sound right, use both.
Body type for men
The same five shapes apply to men, but one ratio does nearly all the work: shoulders to waist. Menswear is built to suggest a V — shoulders reading wider than the middle — which is why a well-fitting jacket flatters practically everyone, and why the fit at the shoulder is the one thing a tailor can't easily fix.
In practice: if your shoulders are already the widest point (inverted triangle), avoid adding bulk up top — skip heavy shoulder padding and strong horizontal patterns across the chest, and let straight-leg trousers balance the line. If your waist is the widest point (oval), buy for the shoulders and have the waist adjusted, keep a single clean vertical line with an open jacket or cardigan, and avoid clinging knits. If you're straight up and down (rectangle), layers are your friend — an overshirt or an unstructured blazer creates the shape the frame doesn't supply on its own.
One clarification, since the search results conflate them: this is body shape — proportion, and what it means for how clothes hang. It is not the ectomorph / mesomorph / endomorph somatotype system, which is about build and metabolism and tells you very little about which trousers to buy.
Frequently asked questions
What is my body type?
Your body type (or shape) describes where you carry width and definition — at the shoulders, the waist or the hips. The five common shapes are Rectangle (straight, balanced, undefined waist), Triangle (hips wider than shoulders), Inverted Triangle (shoulders wider than hips), Hourglass (balanced top and bottom with a defined waist) and Oval (fuller through the middle). Knowing yours tells you how to balance your proportions when you dress. The quiz above identifies it from five quick questions.
How do I dress for my body type?
The principle is balance: add visual weight where you're narrower, streamline where you're fuller, and draw the eye where you want it. A Triangle adds structure up top; an Inverted Triangle softens the shoulder and adds presence below; a Rectangle creates a waist; an Hourglass follows its waist; an Oval lengthens and streamlines the middle. The result above gives you the specific 'wear this / skip this' list for your shape.
Is this a body shape calculator?
It works like one, without the tape measure. A body shape calculator uses your bust, waist and hip measurements to compute a shape; this quiz reads the same thing from how you actually look and how clothes fit you — which is faster and, for the purpose of getting dressed, just as useful. If you want precision, measure your shoulders, waist and hips and compare the ratios, but for styling decisions the quiz gets you there.
Does body type work the same for men and women?
The shapes are the same — they describe proportion, which everyone has. The labels are gender-neutral here (Rectangle, Triangle, Inverted Triangle, Hourglass, Oval), and the dressing principles — balance the shoulder and hip line, define or streamline the waist — apply across menswear and womenswear. Answer for your own frame and you'll get guidance that works for you.