Thirteen Styling Suggestions for Apple Body Shape Outfits

Skinny vs. straight leg

For a woman with an apple-shaped body, Giedre suggests avoiding tight pants and leggings. Better to choose a pair of pants with a straight leg cut instead, since this helps to create a visual balance between the top half and bottom half of your outfit. 

Slouchy vs. straight leg

Slouchy pants create a messy silhouette. Giedre recommends sticking to pants with a straight leg cut to keep your outfit looking clean and classy. 

Tucked vs. untucked

Finding different ways to bisect the midsection is one of the key techniques Giedre uses to create a taller, slimmer look for people with apple-shaped bodies. Here, she is showing how much slimmer her model looks when the top of her trousers is visible across her midsection, as opposed to the hem of her shirt bisecting her across the hips.

One side tuck

Asymmetry is another trick that Giedre uses for an apple-shaped body to distract from the midsection. Just tucking in one side of the shirt creates a focal point, and brings attention up to the narrower parts of the body. 

Chunky knit vs. fine knit

In these before and after outfits, Giedre is illustrating how a chunky knit paired with tight trousers only serves to accentuate the top-heaviness of an apple shape. Choosing a lightweight knit keeps the look of the outfit balanced. 

High color contrast vs. low

To create the illusion of a slimmer, taller body shape, Giedre suggests avoiding tops and bottoms with highly contrasting colors. Instead, pair light shirts with light pants and dark shirts with dark pants. The top-to-bottom color cohesiveness makes a flattering, elongated shape. 

Long sleeves vs. rolled up

Giedre suggests rolling up your sleeves to pull attention upwards. This also makes your outfit seem a bit more deliberate and styled. 

Voluminous sleeves vs. straight

Here is a great example of how accentuating the narrower parts of the body can distract from the midsection. Giedre shows here how by simply changing the sleeves on the outfit from voluminous to straight, she makes her model’s look more streamlined and sleek. 

Tight three-quarter sleeves vs. flared

Though it was just demonstrated how a tighter sleeve can be more flattering, on this outfit, the flare on the three-quarter sleeves adds a focal point to bring the eye higher than the midsection. Creating focal points like open necklines, flared sleeves, or statement shoes are all ways Giedre recommends to pull the eye away from the midsection. 

Accessories vs. no accessories

Adding the scarf to this model’s outfit is yet another way Giedre adds a new focal point, helping to flatter and slim.

Accessories vs. no accessories

For this look, Giedre added a scarf and a purse. Bisecting the midsection vertically with the scarf and the strap of the purse helps to make the widest part of a person with an apple-shaped body appear more narrow. 

High neck vs. v-neck

Again, it’s all about the focal points. Here, Giedre replaced her model’s high-neck sweater with an open-necked button-down to draw attention upwards, and give the outfit more shape and style. 

Loose vs. fitted

While both dresses are loose, Giedre restyled this dress to have a slightly more fitted waistline, tighter sleeves, and an open neckline, accentuating the narrow parts of the body, and adding a focal point away from the midsection. 

Which of these tips did you find most helpful?