Winter Coats for the Trim Hourglass Figure

The other week I was working with a client who is a trim hourglass, and I am dedicating this post to her! She is wanting a wardrobe overhaul. She is at that interesting age when she is heading into her 30s and wants to move beyond the jeans and t outfit of university days.

She has not had to consider her wardrobe from a work point of view because she works in healthcare and wears a uniform. She lives in Melbourne and experiences some cold winter weather, but she does not feel the cold too much, being happy in a top and jumper at home with a coat added for outdoors if necessary.

We discussed her style preferences and she wants to wear clothes that are flattering to her colouring and body shape. (This is opposed to clothes that ignore the body’s shape, which has been a fairly considerable trend in the last while. For example oversized tops, dresses and wide leg pants and baggy overalls have all been common. Dressing to create an hourglass shape has not been a fashion priority for a lot of brands or consumers.)

She is a trim hourglass, which means that when viewed from the front in tight clothing such as leggings and an exercise t her waist is smaller than her hip line and her shoulder line and her hip and shoulder line are in alignment with each other.
Traditionally in our culture an hourglass has been the most desirable female body type. It was what they used to use corsetry to try and create.

In today’s world of ready made fashion a trim hourglass or rectangle are the easiest body shapes to fit in clothes off the peg. Most styles of clothes will fit them and fit them fairly well.

When we talk about an attractive outfit that suits the body type we are looking for artistic appeal, for things that look ‘right’, harmonious, attractive. We are looking for elegance and symmetry.

We generally are referring to an hour glass with long to average legs.
We often use the rule of thirds to create this. A dress that ends at the knee is two thirds of the body’s length, the knee to the foot being the last third. Jeans, especially high waisted ones, are two thirds of the body’s length, the shirt if tucked in is one third. These are flattering proportions. The ½ proportion is less flattering. Think of a wearing a large t shirt out over your jeans and having it hit at the top of the thigh. This is more of a ½ ½ ratio. It would work for an apple because it skims their weightiest bit and showcases the leg, but on most people it hits at the widest point and shortens the legline and is therefore unflattering. This is the case for a trim hourglass. They do not look great in the ½ ratio.

One of the things that my client is planning to buy is a coat, and these ratios are useful to remember as coats can come in many lengths.

Things to consider when buying a cloth coat (I am not talking about puffers).
Colour choice – choose something that flatters you, because there will be a lot of this colour and it sits near your face. Of course you can always put a scarf in between it and you and for some people that is a perfect solution, but I prefer to buy a coat in a colour that suits me.

The added bonus to this is that if it is from you palette and the rest of your clothes are also from your palette, then your coat should be a good colour match with all your clothes.

Level of formality – my client will be wearing this coat perhaps to her work place, but will be taking it off straight away. Still it probably should not be bright green and shaggy. Good cloth coats to wear to fairly serious work places will be in a woven fabric, not shaggy or fake fur etc. They can be coloured or patterned. They can be a fitted or more baggy style. If you work in fashion or the arts then you can get away with a bit more. Probably also if you are a teacher or lecturer or attend a workplace with a similar level of formality.

My client will also want to wear her coat to church with dresses and skirts, out casually shopping, running errands and on the occasional dressy casual date night. At this point, with the possible exception of a wedding or two every few years she does not have much of an evening formal social life. So she is not catering for anything like that.

In summary, she wants a nice smart casual coat that is toned down enough to wear to work and is flattering.

She is a soft autumn, so has plenty of winter appropriate neutrals and colours on her palette and finding something should not be too hard.

Cut of the coat – this is very important if you want a traditionally flattering silhouette in your coat. Basically the cut has a few important points, length, the tailoring of the waist and the fit of the shoulders and sleeves.

NO CAPES! This is a kind of cape/jumper/coat in a fabulous light spring golden brown. It takes up one third of my body, leaving my legs two thirds, which makes my legline look long.

Length – my trim hourglass has four choices. Waist/top of hip, some where in the thigh, knee length and ankle length. Ankle length is hard to come by in Australia, the weather just doesn’t call for it. Waist length can be a great option. It is the one third coat, two thirds pant so it will be flattering. Because she can wear a tailored leg with it she can wear a voluminous coat on top. If she does wear something like a boxy swing coat the volume it supplies will make her legs look thinner in comparison. On the right here I am wearing a waist/hip length cape that is unstructured in cut, and almost a jumper really. It is a great length for a short trim hourglass.

Knee length – also a great option. It is particularly good for an hour glass who wears knee length dress or skirt outfits a lot as it will end around the same length as the dress and look very pulled together. It also looks nice and swishy over pants. The blue coat on the right and in the middle below is fitted in the bodice and goes out to a flared skirt (princess line). It is a perfect shape for a trim hourglass, the fitted bodice is very slimming as it follows the line of the body, thereby adding no additional bulk, as opposed to the pink cocoon coat which visibly adds bulk to my body.

On the left the fabulous pink colour. The cut is a cocoon – wide through the middle and it looks less hourglass than a fitted princess cut such as the blue coat.

A trim hourglass could also go for a straight cut coat, so a slim cut all the way but with no real waist definition, but to really accentuate her figure in the traditional manner something that is either tailored to go in at the waist or belted is fabulous.

Knee length cocoon coats are very common and comfortable. These are fitted in the arms and often the shoulder, but are loose in the body. They look chic enough but they are not as conventionally flattering as something fitted through the waist. I debated long and hard over buying my pink cocoon coat but the colour is fabulous, it looks amazing with my white suiting and it is made in Italy and I got it 70% off. So. It stayed.

Somewhere between waist and knee – a very common length of coat. Particularly ending at the top of the thigh. It used to be called a car coat because it was easy to hop in and out of the car in it. It can be ok, but it is the ½ ½ ratio and can make you look wide because it ends around a wide point for the hour glass – hip/thigh.
You can avoid this by wearing the coat open, because it doesn’t create a horizontal line on your wide point then, instead it creates a vertical column within the open coat lapels. On the left I am looking a little bit awkward in a 50/50 length coat. I still wear it, but often open, like on the right.

A wonderful red colour. On the Left I more solid. On the right wearing the coat open changes the visual of the proportions.

You can also look less wide by wearing a tailored bottom beneath it, such as a pencil skirt or trousers that are fitted in the thigh, such as boot cut or flared pants, slim straight pants or skinnies.

A full skirt or dress worn beneath it will look wide.
Detailing. My client also has a dramatic element to her style and I suggested mandarin styling that is not overly fussy or romantic. Mandarin collars will work well.

If I were her I would probably buy a knee length coat, as I find them very versatile, good with dresses and if you do have to go out at night and also good with pants. And they are very stylish.
But I could also see her getting a lot of wear out of a well cut hip length coat, such as a swing coat with back venting.

Some currently available coats that are great for trim hourglasses include these beauties. They are from a site called Berry Look that I had never seen before. They are very low in price and may not necessarily be investment pieces, but they are just right for my client who has pretty much nothing to wear at the moment and wants to buy a lot of basic stuff at a low price.

An awesome tailored knee length coat in a good soft autumn colour

A shorter coat, but nicely cut so although it ends mid thigh it is well tailored in the middle.

Ultimate in waist definition. A belted taillored coat.

So, what shape are you? Do you know what suits you? Follow the line of your body for a good fit. Or give me a ring and we can arrange a consult and a shopping trip if needed.