Jennifer Lopez is a pear, Cara Delevingne's a column and Angelina Jolie an inverted triangle... but what shape is YOUR figure?
- A new style guide reveals how to dress for your particular body shape
- Survey finds women prefer shapes that suit them rather than trends
- Most women identify their body shapes as 'pear', 'hourglass' and 'apple'
Cara is a column, J Lo is a pear and Beyonce is an hourglass - celebrities' figures are constantly under scrutiny but how easy is it to recognise your own body shape?
A new guide to flattering your frame reveals how to determine what category you fall into, and how to find the fashion pieces that are best for your particular shape.
According to Styloko's Star Shapes guide, women who classify as 'pears' like Jennifer Lopez should opt for trapeze-shaped pieces, while 'apples' such as Lena Dunham are better suited to swing dresses.
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Jennifer Lopez (left) is a pear shape and should opt for trapeze-shaped dresses; Angelina Jolie is an 'inverted triangle with broad shoulders and narrow hips, who should stick to simple, straight dresses
Pear-shaped women typically have a smaller top half, with wider hips and a shapely behind. Famous examples include Alicia Keys and Kate Winslet.
The guide recommends pear-shaped women stick to high-waisted designs that show off their curves, and those that flare over the hips for the ultimate flattering look.
'Columns,' however, women who are tall and slender and have little-to-no curves, should emphasise their stature with long, straight dresses.
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Column-shaped supermodel Cara Delevingne, for instance, has been known to hit the red carpet in long, lean dress shapes that flatter her figure.
Columns can also add intrigue with plunging necklines and thigh-high slits.
Other women including Angelina Jolie and Reese Witherspoon both have broad shoulders and narrower hips, making them the archetypal 'inverted triangle' shape.
Cara Delevingne (left) is a column shape, which is most flattered by long, lean outfits; as an apple, Lena Dunham (right) looks best in swing dress silhouettes
Like columns, women who classify themselves as inverted triangles should wear simple, straight dresses to flatter their figures.
According to the Star Shapes guide, simple designs are best because they make you look proportionate - although details like peplums can add balance as well.
With her womanly curves and wider midsection, Lena Dunham is best described as an apple shape - and she is an expert at dressing for it.
The Girls star often dons flattering swing dresses, which flare away from her stomach and chest, highlighting her slim legs.
And rather than camouflaging her shape with black clothes, Lena rightly prefers bright colour and bold patterns, a style that is often flattering on this body shape.
With the rise in the 'strong not skinny' movement, more and more women are proud to have athletic figures, and a number of them fall into the rectangle-shaped category.
Cameron Diaz, for instance, whose body is solid, with little difference in size between her bust, waist and hips, flatters her muscular frame in straight dresses that elongate her figure.
Women should opt for straightforward classic trends to suit their various body shapes
Kate Hudson, too, knows how to dress in fitted styles to flatter her boyish, sporty frame.
With plenty of money at their disposal, it's not surprising that most A-list women can afford to constantly dress to suit to suit their figure.
But a new infographic reveals that it's not such an easy feat for the average British female.
Styloko's survey found that a whopping 57 per cent of women understand what clothing shapes suit them and as a result are able to purchase similar-shaped items time and time again.
However, unfortunately, a quarter of women find it difficult to find clothes that suit their body shape to begin with.
The study also looked at how much the fashion runway influences what real women wear.
There is a clear discrepancy between fashion's portrayal of body shapes and how real women identify themselves
It found that brand and designer play a relatively small part in the decision-making process while shopping.
In fact, the love of a brand only accounted for three per cent of the reason to purchase a new item of clothing.
Instead, two factors were taken into heaviest consideration by Brit women: how they looked in the new piece of clothing (43 per cent), and the shape and design (37 per cent) of the piece.
The study also showed that fashion's perception of body shape, such as 'The Waif' or 'Athletic Glamour', differ dramatically from the real-life body shapes that most women actually consider themselves to be: Pear (34 per cent), Hourglass (30 per cent), Apple (17 per cent).
As such, complicated high-fashion trends are often unflattering to realistic body shapes and the names of new silhouettes - such as the breeze block dress, the butterfly effect or 'trouser explosion' - are difficult to understand.
Real women respond to simple and straight forward terminology such as the swing dress, the bodycon dress and the straight dress.
Shannon Edwards, CEO of Styloko, who commissioned the report, believes that it's important for a woman to understand their own style and shape, rather than chasing the new trends every season.
She said: 'When you look around, most of us dress by what suits our body type so it’s no surprise that the survey suggests women focus on shape and fit over their love of a particular designer.
'The fashion changes each season but what looks good on us doesn’t.'
Next season's silhouettes have baffling names and don't help shoppers buy the items that suit them best
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