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What’s This About:
With an hourglass outline you can choose to show the defined waist or to wear a straighter line over it, and both are legitimate styles.
This page compares the two approaches garment by garment, such as:
– belts, rise and tucking at the waist
– softer or more structured shoulders
– tapered, straight or wider trouser legs
– softer or firmer cloth, and how to layer
and many more!
Neither approach corrects anything; pick the one you prefer, or mix them by occasion.
Key Points:
01The hourglass description means shoulders and hips that look broadly balanced, with a visibly more defined waist between them.
02Fit comes first: jackets and trousers need room at the shoulders, hips and seat, which often means taking in the waist.
03Belts, a higher rise and shaped jackets follow the waist; straight cuts, untucked shirts and boxier jackets wear a straighter line over it.
04Each choice is meant to have a tendency, not a guaranteed effect, so compare both approaches in a mirror.
In The VOU’s usage, the hourglass body shape describes an outline in which the shoulders and hips look broadly balanced, with a visibly more defined waist between them.
It is a description of how the outline reads, not a measurement, and it says nothing about weight, fitness or muscle.
Hourglass is one of seven body shape descriptions we use: Triangle, Inverted Triangle, Rectangle, Trapezoid and Hourglass follow familiar styling usage; Oval and Diamond are described in The VOU’s own words.
If your waist is only slightly defined, the Rectangle or Trapezoid description may fit as well, and the straighter-line approach below overlaps with advice for those outlines.
Fit comes first whichever look you choose.
Buy jackets and trousers that fit your shoulders, hips and seat; a waist that gapes is usually the easier alteration, while pulling across the shoulders or seat is harder to fix.
Check each garment standing and seated.
After fit, there are two legitimate ways to dress this outline: follow the defined waist, or wear a straighter line over it.
The table below compares them garment by garment, and our hourglass body shape styling guide covers the outline in more detail.
Scroll horizontally to see all columns →
| Principle | Follow the Waist | Wear a Straighter Line |
|---|---|---|
| Waist | Belts, a higher rise and jackets shaped at the waist are meant to draw attention to the waist. | Straight-cut shirts and jackets skim the waist without drawing it in. |
| Shoulder Definition | A soft or lightly padded shoulder follows your own shoulder line. | A jacket with a stronger, squarer shoulder is meant to give a more angular line across the top. |
| Trouser Cut | Tapered or slim trousers, with room at the seat and thigh, follow the line from hip to ankle. | Straight or slightly wider legs give a more even line from hip to hem. |
| Fabric Choice | Softer, draping cloth follows the outline underneath. | Firmer cloth holds its own shape and stands away from the body a little. |
| Layering | Closer-fitting layers keep the waist visible. | A looser outer layer worn open or straight falls past the waist without following it. |
Styling Tips for an Hourglass Body Shape
Each tip below gives both approaches, so you can choose by preference, occasion or outfit rather than following one rule.
Show or Soften the Waist
To show the waist, wear a belt with a tucked shirt.
A belt in a colour that contrasts with the trousers makes the waistline more noticeable; a belt close to the trouser colour is quieter.
Trousers with a higher rise sit nearer the natural waist and keep a tucked shirt neat, which is another way to follow the waist.
Rise labels vary between makers, so check where the waistband actually sits standing and seated.
For a straighter look, wear a straight-cut shirt untucked, if its hem is short enough to finish around the middle of the seat, or a jacket with a boxier, less shaped cut that falls past the waist without drawing it in.
Shoulder Styling
A soft or lightly padded shoulder follows your own shoulder line and keeps the balance between shoulders and hips that the hourglass description refers to.
Crew neck T-shirts and jumpers show the shoulder line simply.
A jacket with a stronger, squarer shoulder is meant to add width across the top, which some people use to put the emphasis on the shoulders rather than the waist.
Check that the shoulder seam sits where the jacket’s style intends and that the sleeves hang without dents at the top.
Trouser Selection
Whichever leg you choose, start with room at the hips, seat and thighs so the trousers fasten without pulling and hang cleanly when you stand.
Tapered or slim trousers follow the line of the leg from hip to ankle and suit the approach that follows the waist.
Straight or slightly wider legs keep a more even line from hip to hem and suit the straighter approach.
Compare both with the shoes you usually wear.
Fabric Choices
Softer cloth such as jersey, fine knits and lightweight wool drapes and follows the outline underneath.
Firmer cloth such as heavyweight cotton, denim and dense wool holds its own shape and stands slightly away from the body, which tends to give a cleaner, straighter line.
Most wardrobes mix both, depending on season and occasion.
Layering
To keep the waist visible, layer closer-fitting garments: a fitted T-shirt under a button-up shirt with a little more room, topped with a jacket shaped at the waist.
For a straighter line, wear a boxy overshirt or an unstructured jacket open over a straight-cut shirt.
The outer layer falls past the waist without following it, so the waist is meant to read less strongly.
Mandy Meyer’s focus at The VOU is men’s body-shape styling, garment fit and outfit proportions. Her coverage addresses the practical questions behind a wardrobe choice: how a jacket sits across the shoulders, how trousers fall and how different cuts change the silhouette a wearer wants to create.
Her subject areas include the triangle, inverted triangle, rectangle, oval, trapezoid, hourglass and diamond labels used in body-shape styling. These provide starting references for comparing visible proportions; they do not capture every body or prescribe one correct way to dress. The focus connects those observations with garment shape, construction, length and the relationship between the upper and lower parts of an outfit.
Mandy’s editorial coverage combines visual comparisons with fit checks for comfort and movement. Readers can consider whether a cut gives them the room they need, where clothing pulls or gathers and which changes might support their preferred look. The aim is to make menswear choices more understandable while keeping personal preferences and the wearer’s own styling goals central.
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