What No One Told Me About My Body Shape (Wish I'd Known Sooner...)

Summary

In this insightful video, Jules addresses common misconceptions about body types, emphasizing the importance of understanding both horizontal and vertical body shapes. She highlights the limitations of traditional body type categories and the unique challenges they pose. Jules also discusses the impact of skeletal structure on appearance, the significance of color choice in fashion, and the importance of personal perception in styling. She encourages viewers to take styling advice with a grain of salt, as what works for others may not suit their individual body proportions, and reminds them that they are their own toughest critic, advocating for a personalized approach to fashion and body acceptance.

Takeaways

• 🧘‍♀️ Understanding your body type involves both horizontal and vertical shapes, with the latter being independent of weight.
• 🔍 Not every body fits neatly into a category, and subtle differences can affect how clothing looks on you.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Accepting that you may never look a certain way due to your unique skeletal structure can be freeing and reduce pressure for unrealistic body images.
• 👖 The importance of vertical proportions, especially leg length relative to the torso, is often overlooked in favor of inseam measurements.
• 👚 The rise of pants is more trend-driven than tailored to individual body types, which can affect how they fit and feel.
• 🎨 The color of clothing and how it contrasts with your skin can be more impactful than the style or cut of the garment.
• 📏 Necklines and other features can appear differently based on color contrast and adjacent elements, not just their design.
• 🤳 Personalizing your style based on your own body's unique proportions and comfort is more important than strictly following expert advice.
• 📱 Social media trends can influence styling advice, but not all trends will suit every body type, leading to potential frustration.
• 🤔 Recognizing that you are your own toughest critic can help in embracing your body type and making style choices that feel authentic.
• 🔗 Learning about your body type can empower you to make informed style decisions that enhance your confidence and self-image.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is discussing the 10 things that the creator, Jules, learned about her body type that could have improved her body image and fashion choices.

What is the difference between horizontal and vertical body shapes?

Horizontal body shape refers to how your shoulders, waist, and hips proportion in relation to each other, while vertical body shape is about how your body breaks up vertically, which includes factors like torso length and leg length, regardless of weight.

Why might the labels for body types be limiting?

The labels for body types can be limiting because they don't account for the subtle differences between individuals, which can lead to people feeling like they don't fit perfectly into one category and struggling with finding clothes that fit well.

What does Jules suggest about the importance of skeletal structure on body appearance?

Jules suggests that skeletal structure plays a significant role in body appearance, particularly in areas like the waist and abs, and that understanding this can help alleviate pressure to conform to certain body ideals.

How does the video address the issue of inseam and pant rise measurements?

The video points out that while inseam measurements are easy to tailor, pant rise measurements are not, and that understanding the right rise for one's body type is crucial for a proper fit, rather than just following trends.

What role does color play in the effectiveness of clothing items according to the video?

According to the video, the color of clothing items and how they contrast with the skin and other parts of the outfit can be more important than the style or cut of the item itself in determining how well it works.

Why does Jules emphasize the importance of personal experience in understanding body type styling?

Jules emphasizes personal experience because only those who have lived with certain body proportions can fully understand how to style them authentically and comfortably, which is different from just following expert advice.

How does the video discuss the impact of social media on body image and styling?

The video discusses that social media constantly feeds new trends and styles, which can be overwhelming and lead to frustration if one tries to follow all the advice without considering their unique body type.

What advice does Jules give about taking expert styling advice with a grain of salt?

Jules advises to take expert styling advice with a grain of salt because what works for one person's body type may not work for another, and it's important to adapt advice to one's own body and personal style.

How does Jules suggest using the knowledge of body type to improve personal style?

Jules suggests using the knowledge of one's body type to make informed decisions about clothing and styling that feel authentic and comfortable, which can be empowering and lead to a more positive body image.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Understanding Body Types: Beyond the Basics

In this paragraph, Jules introduces the concept of body types, emphasizing the importance of recognizing both horizontal and vertical body shapes. Horizontal body shape is determined by the proportions of shoulders, waist, and hips, while vertical body shape considers how the body is divided vertically, independent of weight. Jules highlights that vertical body shape is crucial for styling as it encompasses the entire look rather than just specific details. She also points out that not everyone fits neatly into a body type category, and there can be subtle variations that affect how clothing fits and styles.

05:00

👖 The Importance of Rise in Pants and Personal Style

Jules discusses the significance of the rise in pants and how it impacts body proportions, especially for those with long legs or a short torso. She shares her personal struggle with high-rise pants due to her body's proportions, suggesting that rises should be treated like inseams, with options to fit individual body types. Jules also touches on the difficulty of tailoring rises compared to inseams and the emotional impact of not finding the right fit. She emphasizes the importance of color and contrast in clothing, particularly how they affect the perception of different body parts, and encourages viewers to consider adjacent elements when addressing body insecurities.

10:01

💡 Personal Experience with Body Type and Styling

In the final paragraph, Jules reflects on the personal journey of understanding her body type and the challenges of applying generic styling advice. She acknowledges the value of expert opinions but stresses the importance of personal experience and authenticity in finding a style that feels true to oneself. Jules encourages viewers to take expert advice with a grain of salt and to consider how different body types might require unique styling approaches. She also reminds viewers that they are their own toughest critics and that learning about one's body type can be empowering, allowing for better control over personal style and self-perception.

Keywords

💡Body Type

Body Type refers to the general shape and proportion of a person's body, often categorized by the distribution of weight and the relative size of the shoulders, waist, and hips. In the video, the concept of both horizontal and vertical body shapes is discussed, emphasizing that understanding one's body type is crucial for making informed fashion choices and developing a healthy body image.

💡Horizontal Body Shape

Horizontal Body Shape pertains to the distribution of a person's body width, considering the proportions of the shoulders, waist, and hips. The script explains that while this is a common way to categorize body types, it often overlooks the importance of vertical body shape, which is a more comprehensive approach to understanding one's physique.

💡Vertical Body Shape

Vertical Body Shape focuses on how the body is proportioned from head to toe, taking into account the length of the torso and legs regardless of weight. The video highlights that this type of body shape is more helpful for styling because it considers the full length of the body rather than just the width.

💡Fashion Choices

Fashion Choices are the decisions individuals make regarding the clothing and accessories they wear. The video script discusses how understanding one's body type can influence these choices, leading to a more personalized and flattering style that aligns with one's unique physical attributes.

💡Body Image

Body Image is a person's perception of their own body, which can significantly impact self-esteem and self-worth. The video emphasizes the importance of developing a healthy body image by understanding and accepting one's body type, rather than striving for an unrealistic or unattainable ideal.

💡Skeletal Structure

Skeletal Structure refers to the framework of bones that make up the human body. The script points out that one's skeletal structure, such as the length of the torso or the space available for the waist, can greatly influence one's appearance and the types of clothing that will be most flattering.

💡Inseam

Inseam is the length of fabric from the crotch to the bottom of a garment, typically used to describe the length of pants. The video script suggests that while inseam is commonly measured, understanding the vertical proportions of one's legs is equally important for choosing the right pants that fit well.

💡Rise

Rise in the context of pants refers to the distance from the crotch to the waistband. The video explains that the rise can significantly affect how pants fit and look on different body types, and it should be considered as carefully as inseam when selecting the right pair of pants.

💡Color Contrast

Color Contrast is the difference in hue or shade between two colors, which can affect the visual impact of clothing. The script illustrates how the color of clothing items and how they contrast with one's skin tone can be more important than the style or cut, especially when it comes to creating certain effects like elongating the torso or emphasizing the waist.

💡Neckline

Neckline refers to the shape and style of the top part of a garment where it meets the neck. The video discusses how different necklines can affect the perception of one's body proportions, such as elongating the neck or torso, and how the color of the neckline can influence its visibility and effect.

💡Personal Style

Personal Style is the unique way in which an individual expresses themselves through their clothing and accessories. The video encourages viewers to develop their own personal style by understanding their body type and making fashion choices that feel authentic and comfortable, rather than strictly following trends or expert advice.

💡Styling Advice

Styling Advice encompasses the recommendations and tips given by fashion experts or influencers on how to dress for one's body type or to achieve a certain look. The script points out that while such advice can be helpful, it may not always apply to everyone due to differences in body types and personal preferences.

💡Authenticity

Authenticity in fashion means dressing in a way that is true to one's own personality and comfort. The video stresses the importance of authenticity in personal style, suggesting that clothing should not only look good but also feel right for the individual wearing it.

💡Self-Criticism

Self-Criticism refers to the tendency of individuals to be overly critical of their own appearance or choices. The video reminds viewers that they are often their own harshest critics and encourages them to embrace their unique body type and style with confidence.

Highlights

Understanding body types involves both horizontal and vertical body shapes, with the latter being independent of weight.

Vertical body shape is more helpful for styling as it encompasses the entire outfit rather than just specific details.

Not every body fits neatly into a predefined category, with subtle variations causing styling challenges.

Genetics and skeletal structure play a significant role in determining body shape, including the appearance of abs and waist.

Accepting one's unique body shape can be freeing and reduce the pressure to conform to certain aesthetics.

The proportion of leg length to the body is crucial for understanding vertical body proportions.

Inseam measurement alone may not accurately represent leg length in relation to body proportions.

Pant rises should be chosen based on individual body proportions rather than following trends.

Rises in pants are difficult to tailor compared to inseams, which can be adjusted easily.

The color of clothing items and their contrast with skin tone can be more impactful than the style or cut.

Necklines can work differently based on color contrast, affecting the perception of body proportions.

Perception of body parts is influenced by adjacent elements, not just the specific part in question.

Personal experience with one's body type is invaluable for understanding what styles work best.

Social media and trends can offer inspiration but may not always translate to individual body types.

Expert styling advice should be taken with a grain of salt, as it may not fully align with personal comfort and authenticity.

Recognizing that one's self is the toughest critic can help in embracing personal style choices.

Learning about one's body type can be empowering and aid in creating a personalized and confident style.

Transcripts

hey you i'm jules welcome back to my

channel today i'm talking about the 10

things that nobody told me about my body

type that if i had learned

would have saved me a lot of time a lot

of headaches a lot of questionable

fashion choices and it probably would

have given me a healthier body image

body image is a sensitive topic please

use your best discretion when watching

this video the first thing i want to

talk about is what is your body type now

i feel like the one that we're always

talking about when you take the quiz in

like 17 magazine when you're

14 is do you have an hourglass you have

apple do you have pear and it's talking

about how your shoulders and your hips

and your waist kind of all play within

each other and the thing is with that

that is your horizontal body shape but

what no one told me is that we also have

a vertical body shape that takes into

account all kinds of things besides just

your shoulders waist and hips and kind

of the cool thing about your vertical

body shape is that it doesn't matter how

much you weigh i feel like with the

horizontal ones if one is bigger than

the other it means you're slightly

overweight in one section versus another

but actually vertical body shape has

nothing to do with your weight it is

purely

how does your body break up vertically

in a line as if it were going straight

through you not how much

you're taking up width-wise personally

when it comes to styling i think your

vertical body shape is more helpful and

it's more encompassing to everything

that you're wearing your entire outfit

your entire look versus just a detail

here and there the second thing that

nobody told me is that not every body

type fits comfortably into a category so

even when it comes to vertical body

types which are long torso short legs

short torso long legs and kind of equal

slash balance proportional there are so

many different variations between all of

those that you can technically classify

as one but maybe those differences are

more subtle and so that's why you can

sometimes struggle with well i don't

know why this doesn't work on my body

type because to be honest it's just a

small difference here and there that to

you is a big deal but maybe to others

isn't as big of a deal but also when

talking about your horizontal body types

you might have slightly broader

shoulders just slightly but it's not so

much that it's like automatically yes

you have broad shoulders maybe it's just

a slight difference and while the labels

can sometimes be helpful i think they

can also be limiting and thinking that

everyone fits perfectly within one when

we don't the third thing that no one

told me is that i would never look like

this

not because i didn't eat right or i

didn't exercise but literally because my

body's not built that way and yes you

hear all about oh your abs are based off

of what you eat and your genetics and

how you work them out there's all kinds

of things that go into your abs and your

waist but something that they don't tell

you goes into your absent waste

your skeleton like literally your

skeletal structure determines how much

space you have to house

the abs and genetics and food and

everything that go into your waist some

of our skeletons are longer some of them

have a lot more room and others of us

like myself have a lot less room even

though we're not technically petite and

to be honest yes sometimes that can be

frustrating to know i can never look

like that but it's also a little bit

freeing too to let go of that pressure

and just say you know what

i'm just gonna look how i want to look

for my body and be happy with that at

least it's helped me come to terms with

a lot of the things that i was insecure

about and realizing like oh actually

that's what makes my body unique which

is kind of cool and i'm gonna move on

now when it comes to looking at your

vertical proportions and your vertical

body type one thing that really is kind

of the crux of all of it is how much of

your body is taken up by your legs so

whether you have long legs or short legs

regardless of your height i cannot tell

you how many comments i get of people

talking about their short legs because

they're petite but technically you can

have long legs and be petite too it's

all in relation to your body which is

again why i like your vertical body

shape more than your horizontal body

shape because you are your own measuring

stick but i think one of the key issues

people run into when measuring their

legs is looking just at the inseam and

whenever you look up how to measure your

legs it's always measure your inseam

measure your inseam and

that can be helpful in some ways but i

don't find it to be helpful in all ways

i think knowing the inside vertical of

your legs is helpful but also how it

measures on the outside how much do your

legs actually take up in their entirety

of your body which includes your hips

and the rise that to me is a better

indicator of how much your legs are

taking up of your entire body rather

than just the inside because you could

have a short inseam but still have long

legs for your height and it's because

your hips are just taking up more of

that space now sometimes your hips are

considered part of your torso and

sometimes they're not we will be going

into all of that a little bit later now

kind of along the same lines like when

you go and buy a pair of pants

there's an inseam right there is an nc

measurement you could buy them short

regular

longer there's all kinds of different

measurements right and it's not like a

trendy thing it's just that's your

measurement now i think that should be

the same when it comes to rises i feel

like the rise of your pants is more of a

trend rather than just simply a

measurement of what works on your body

type my point being is because i have

long legs but i cannot pull off high

rise pants the reason for that is is

because the high rise on my pant

encroaches on my short torso and it

makes it appear really short and that

high rise comes right onto my rib cage

and it's just all out of proportion and

i feel really insecure and i don't feel

like the pants fit and then i start

crying and it's just kind of this kind

of snowball effect of why i don't like

to buy pants but if someone would have

told me to treat my rise like my inseam

and just buy the rise that i want to

look like then that would have saved me

a lot of hassle and if rises were sold

in the same way in seams were i could

find pants that actually fit and maybe i

wouldn't cry so much in fitting rooms so

kind of along that same line if you are

crying in fitting rooms or if you're

feeling discouraged if you're feeling

like just pants look terrible on you it

might just be because the rise that's on

trend right now just might not fit your

body type well it would be as if a

really long in seam was on trend but it

didn't fit because your legs were

shorter the convenient thing about

inseams is that they're easy to get

tailored while rises are very difficult

to be tailored now the other thing that

nobody told me that was like ground

breaking for me was that the color of

what you choose to wear of an item

matters more slightly more than the

style or the cut and not just the color

but also how that color contrasts with

your skin and with the rest of your

outfit really the reason why something

might not be working the way you want it

is purely because of the color and the

contrast versus the actual piece so one

of my favorite ways to illustrate this

is with necklines we see tons about

necklines especially when it comes to

what kind of shoulders you have what

kind of waist you have what kind of neck

you have and i find that

some of that stuff doesn't always work

well but it can work well if i change

the color so for me i really like high

neck things because i have a short torso

and it elongates my torso but you can

only really tell i'm wearing a high neck

something if the color is darker than my

skin tone otherwise if i choose a light

color like my skin tone then it just

kind of all blends in and it doesn't

really matter as much typically and i

don't always follow it like a hard fast

rule but with v-necks i like to go with

a lighter base and with higher necks i

like to go with a darker base just

because it creates that contrast that

gets the effect i want you can also see

this with dresses and picking out what

outerwear to wear with a dress because

the color of that outerwear matters just

as much if not slightly more than the

length of it the style of it it could be

the perfect length the perfect style but

if it's the wrong color it will hit

wrong and this is why we all love

neutrals is so that we can always have

something to grab and so on a similar

note what i wish someone would have told

me way earlier on was how much your

perception of something matters by

what's adjacent to it so the length of

my neck can look longer or shorter based

off of the neckline of my shirt how i'm

wearing my hair my face shape how i've

done my makeup to make my face shape

look

but my feet don't really impact my neck

it kind of does and it kind of plays

into my entire vertical proportion but

in general when i want to make my feet

look more proportionate to the rest of

my body i'm not going to fix my neck i'm

going to fix things that are near my

legs but it's not always fixing my feet

so just in the same way if there's a

particular part of your body that maybe

you're a little bit insecure about or

maybe you wish was just slightly

different don't just look at that part

of your body look at the areas around it

and how they're impacting how it's

perceived the other thing nobody told me

is that there's going to be a lot of

experts that have opinions on how you

should style your body but until you've

lived in those shoes and know how it

feels to work with certain angles or

certain proportions you can't fully

understand it yes you can style

something to make it look like it's

imbalanced and in proportion but

if it's in balance in proportion but it

doesn't feel authentically you

because the person who styled it doesn't

fully understand like hasn't walked

literally in your shoes and how that

feels

and what are they going to be the areas

that you want to accentuate or minimize

it's always going to feel a little off

take that expert advice take it with a

grain of salt if you're like me and all

the expert advice i read about my short

torso long leg body it's really

frustrating and you feel like everything

that you like is not made for your body

which is why i like to make videos about

making things work for my body type

because i'm really passionate about it

so if you've liked this video so far

make sure to leave a like and subscribe

because i do lots of content like this

and what nobody told me because frankly

social media wasn't a thing when i was a

kid until i was an older kid slash

teenager slash college we are constantly

being fed images of new trends that go

out within weeks we're constantly seeing

new ways to style things there are so

many people on instagram on youtube on

any kind of platform like tick tock and

what nobody told me at the start of all

this is that styling advice isn't a

one-size-fits-all like i can see and

appreciate how someone has styled

something on their own body but to be

honest none of it may translate to mine

and there can be a point in that where

that's frustrating because i want that

look but how do i make it translate to

my body if some of the qualities of that

outfit that i like on her just don't

work on me because we have completely

different bodies and we're gonna make

completely different recommendations on

clothes that we like and clothes that we

don't like but instead we're all going

out there looking at the aesthetic and

the style of something which is great i

think that's great for inspiration i'm

not saying that you shouldn't be

following people but i'm saying that a

lot of the people that you may be

following might not have a body type

that's like yours and so if you're

following all of their styling advice to

a tea your body type might be the reason

that you're not quite feeling like it's

working on you and honestly that's where

style can become challenging and

frustrating and fun and exciting that's

sort of the beauty in it but it's also

where so many people find frustration in

it and it honestly just boils down to

all styling advice doesn't work for all

people you can't just read a couple blog

articles a couple articles online or in

a magazine and think that it's going to

automatically apply to you with no

editing at all i put this one in because

i have been told this

multiple times and i've ignored it

for years and so in case i'm not the

only one i just want to remind you that

you are your toughest critic you are the

one who notices little things here and

there that you might not like but no one

else is really paying attention i notice

when i'm wearing some high-rise jeans

that are an inch too high for my comfort

level nobody else really does so i try

to see learning more about my body type

as something that's empowering as a way

for me to take control of how i style

myself and how i feel about myself

because i have the knowledge to do what

i want and creates the look that i want

but trust me it's taken a long time to

get to that place but if you want to

learn more about your body type i have a

whole video all about your torso and

your vertical body shape that i'll link

here thank you so much for watching

please remember to like comment and

subscribe and i cannot wait to see you

in my next video

bye