Do You Pursue an Hourglass Figure?
When it comes to the hourglass figure - many women pursue it, and it seems that men pursue women with it.
Psychologists at the University of Texas (obviously with way too much time on their hands) have reviewed hundreds of years worth of literature and concluded: Men lust after slender-waisted women.
Apparently it all comes down to Waist-to-Hip ratio. A slender waist is seen as "a core feature of feminine beauty that transcends ethnic-morphological differences".
...waist size was always described as narrow or small; there were 66 romantic descriptions of waist in these three centuries, and every one of them referred to a narrow waist. "They all seemed to like women with a low waist-to-hip ratio."
Here's the reality check on the hourglass phenomenon. Only 8.4% of women actually have an hourglass figure (source).
Media's Love-Hate Relationship with the Hourglass
There is a strange dichotomy in the fashion world. Very lean high-fashion models regularly get called 'fat', yet we also laud hourglass figures on the cover of magazines.
NY Mag
Anytime someone talks about your figure constantly, you get nervous, you get really self-conscious. I was working my butt off on the show, and then all anyone was talking about was my body!"
Hendricks was criticized in the NY Times recently for appearing at the Gloden Globes in a "big" dress:
Not pretty Christina Hendricks in Christian Siriano's exploding ruffle dress. (As one stylist said, "You don't put a big girl in a big dress. That's rule number one.")
Big girl?
The 8.4%
Body shapes go in and out of fashion, and they also change - (see a gallery of changing body shape over the 20th Century). A few years ago a survey of body size undertaken in the UK showed that only 8.4% actually have an hourglass figure. Most women are generally a rectangle or spoon shape.
Sophia Loren (1955)
The quintessential hourglass
The hourglass figure is indicated where the waist circumference is 9 inches smaller than the bust. Hips and bust are of a similar size (but bust can be up to 1 inch larger than hips). If the bust is larger than this, then you have a triangle figure.
The hourglass figure was more common in earlier times (think Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Jayne Mansfield).
High fashion will always be about thin women modeling clothes. However actresses are a different story - they tend to reflect the fickle body shape trends of the day.
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342 Comments
Created / Updated: November 13, 2011
I fall between the hourglass/spoon group. But I notice if I loose too much weight around the hips, then the ratio is not so noticeable. So I have always tried to maintain a weight that keeps the shape I like. Obviously, according to 'medical standards' that puts me 'overweight' by about 10-15 pounds. Who cares? The important thing is to be happy within yourself.
But the point is, the hourglass figure means curves...curves mean a healthy amount of natural female padding=fat.
I never saw a skinny girl with an hourglass figure. They all loose their waist to hip ratio and look rather straight (no noticable waist) - rather rectangular or V shaped - which used to be the desireable shape for a man.
ReplyNot all slim girls or girls with a model like build are rectangles, it is completely possible to be both thin and an hourglass! I am complete proof of this - I am tall and slim (5'10", 121 lbs) and possess an hourglass bordering on spoon shape(30 c/d, 25, 37). I know that my hips are are a little over 3 inches larger than my bust, but I have broad enough shoulders to balance that out (plus having a bit of a bubble butt ups my hips measurement.
The funny thing is that I still get noticed and compliments for the same thing that got me attention when I was younger - My ass!
ReplyI would have to agree with Linz too about skinny girls with hourglass figures! I'm 5'1 and a half, weight anywhere from 105-110, and my meausrements are 33.5-25.5-35.5. I think it all has to do with genetics, I eat a lot too but still I am able to maintain my body shape. I have broad shoulders that balance out with my hips just as Linz mentioned so there is such a thing as curvy skinny gals!
ReplyI am a triangle and I really hate it because pants are imposibble to fit. It is either waist to tight and hips fit or waist fits and across the hips to big. I really don't know very many women who are happy with the shape they are, we just have to make the best of it, after all what choice is there?(Excluding plastic surgery which even that would take a whole lot of work)
ReplyYou either have it or you don't. Fat has nothing to do with it.
Replyi agree. i have always had an hourglass figure at a high weight and lower weight. i recently lost 20 pounds, and although i am slimmer and more toned, i still have the same ratio, just smaller measurements ;)
ReplyI agree with William 100%.
I can't believe that somebody got paid to do this study.
ReplyActually, a woman who is a natural hourglass CAN indeed lose it to fat; especially if they develop PCO, hyperinsulinemia or diabetes and their fat stores are now targeted toward the mid-section as visceral fat and not the hips as subcutaneous fat.
ReplyI totally agree with this. I have PCOS and insulin resistance and was an apple shape three years ago. I lost 45 lbs and now a spoon, almost hourglass figure.
ReplyHmmm - Maybe. I think muscle tone is sexy, and the configuration is less important... That's one of the auxiliary pleasures of going to yoga classes, good looking women with muscle tone.
ReplyHm. Usually women with alot of muscle tone have no boobs though...
ReplyErrr...not entirely true. I do yoga everyday and have plenty of lean muscle mass...and i'm a 32DD. So yeah...lol
Mouse &hearts
Replywell she did say usually...i'm pretty sure most women who do yoga aren't as well endowed as you are.
Replydo u think so?
ReplyI disagree... who is sexier? Salma Hayak (hourglass) or Penelope Cruz (ruler)? They are both beautiful women but I think that Salma Hayak is 100% more inately sexy.
ReplyHmm, according to this I have an hourglass figure...everyone says that to me..but I think it means "big hips" and not "small waist." When I lose weight I'm more of a rectangle.
ReplyShoutout to the triangles! WHOOP!
ReplyLOL!
I would have no problem with hour glass if it didnt make my but look bigger and my hips wide. As feminine as that may be Im not into people saying "nice waist, fat@$$"
I much perfer the triangle look actually.
Replynothing emaciated.
For most women with small bust, I guess that the best they can get is a rectangle. Pursuing hour glass figure would mean physical changes for the body to attain the desired figure.
ReplyTHIS IS BULLSHIT.
all this and that about the hourglass figure makes more and more teenagers like me want to shed a shit load of weight to be perfect and have the perfect figure
i say kill the models or at lest give them food for crying out loud.
SHEEEEEESH ALL THIS WEIGHT TALK PISSES ME OFF.
ReplyI so agree. Down with MODELS!!!!!!
ReplyOk, women are not perfect and i didnt say they had to be? but losing a little weight to stay healthy could never hurt. And the whole model thing? wats that about? I'm not a model, but what do you have against them? models are people too. You say they dont eat... and all that stuff, but you don tknow for sure! From my point of view, models eat just as much as any other person. but they exercise? They have feelings. So next times you wanna drag on someone, think of it from their point of view.
ReplyReading a study about how hourglass figures are more attractive doesn't make teenagers want to lose weight. You can't make that generalization, because I'm a teenager and it makes me want to keep my figure rather than lose weight and lose the figure as well.
ReplyAnd models never did anything wrong. Most are rectangle shaped, anyways, like prepubescent boys. Being skinny doesn't mean you're an hourglass--it usually means you're a rectangle.
Besides, there's no harm in staying healthy, and having a nice waist is usually a good indicator of that.
I think women with any shape, as long as they look healthy, look great. I think Salma Hayek (hourglass) is just as sexy as Drew Barrymore (triangle) and as Kristin Davis (spoon) and as Sharon Stone (rectangle). There is no ideal shape, that is all b.s. And BTW, Salma is a surgically-enhanced hourglass...
Like Claire S., I'm in the minority, but I'm so fixated on my big hips I don't really think it means "small waist" or "nice bust", I look and can only see hips.
ReplyI totally agree! Im an hour glass shape but all I see are these HUGE hips!
From the side i'm like, "looking good there." Turn around to face the front and "oh my dear god!"
It makes it so hard to buy any type of trousers - I buy some that fit around the hips but then they are too big around my legs.
Having a small waist maybe good but not always do you wear clothing that accentuates the waist so you just end up looking bigger then you actually are because of the hips!
ReplyEveryone, please mature your self image to something healthy. If you think you're overweigh, don't complaim, do something. If not, say 'I'm not perfect but I have a damn fine shape. As someone mentioned before, there is a sexy celebrity in every shape possible. What makes them sexy is not their shape, but loving their shape!
Jan. Stop making things negative when they're not! You realise you could describe yourself as a sexy hourlass figure with an ample bust and tiny waist, but instead you probably say 'I'm full figured' with 'wide hips.' You probably could have a model's waist and normal hips, and complain about it because all you do is look at your hips.
I am so sick of all these comments about hips, thighs and buts! Here is a newsflash: the so-called 'fat ass' is a myth! Basically if you think you're fat there you'r either obsessing and really are just an hourglass or spoon (both which are fine and proportionate), or you're fat everywhere and just fixating on your ass/ thighs/ butt. When guys say 'fat ass' they are fixating too. They see you bigger than a size 2, and say 'fat ass' to express that. Either way, it is obsessing that is the problem (and I don't mean obsessing as in always thinking about it, I mean as in you fixate you ideas [eg being fat] onto one area).
GET OVER IT and love yourself. Only when you love your shape can you take care of your body. That's right, love your body .before. you get rid of the fat. Otherwise, if you hate your body, even when you lose weight you will still find something to hate. Models are a perfect example. Some of them hate their bodies, despite how 'perfect' they look.
Go now to a mirror and describe yourself in sexy tones. You can only go up from there!
(ps sorry about the long post.)
ReplyHey! one of my best friends is a model with an hourglass figure, yes she is very skinny, but she (and i) swim (like sports practice) at least 6 times a week. We both eat more than the average , i am more average weight with a between triangle and hourglass, it all comes down to genetics.
ReplyI don't think you have to lose weight to get an hourglass figure...I think (well for me at least) that gaining weight actually makes the hourglass figure stand out more. Of course, I don't want to be overweight, but I'm not sure losing weight can get you the shape you want. I think it has a lot to do with bone structure.
ReplyI remember a few years back watching 20/20 and they were saying that some scientist found that though history, art depicted the perfect hip to waist ration as 0.7, or something like that. And even with paintings of more natural looking women, their hip to waist ration was almost exactly the same as kate moss or naomi campbell today.
Reply