Answering a Reader Question #370

Anonymous Wrote:


Anonymous said...
Hi Dania, I have a question about body type. According to most of the research that I have done I'm pear shaped. My measurements are 32,25,35. Whenever I gain weight I mainly have to buy bigger pants to accommodate my thighs. But I feel my shape is weird because I have big thighs and a medium butt. It is as if my butt and my thighs are not completely equal. I'm actually very self conscious of this because I don't have classically wide hips either yes they're 35inches but they're not a wide 35inches if that makes sense. It's embarrassing because I'm black and I feel if I'm going to be pear shaped then I should be pear shaped all the way with big thighs and a big butt. I'm not sure how agencies will feel about how proportioned I am but I'm self conscious about it. I have a medium size bust I wish I could take fat from my boobs and stick them in my butt because at least everything on my lower body would be proportioned. Yes I exercise regularly and put emphasize on my butt. Please help I just feel my body never finished puberty because of my semi narrow hips, big thighs and medium butt. I'm 24 but my body never caught up with my age. I feel without my boobs I would look like a boy and this makes me very sad :(. From the girl who's body never grew up :(.

Hi, Anonymous aka "The Girl Who's Body Never Grew Up"! I can read the frustration in your words. I don't know your height but at 24, the type of modeling you'll want to pursue is commercial/print and lifestyle modeling. Even if you're fashion height, 24 is much older than what agencies will sign on.

However, that is good news for you because commercial/print and lifestyle agencies are super flexible when it comes to body type/shape. As long as you are healthy in appearance and are fairly proportional, that's all they care about. So if you're concerned about whether or not an agency would be willing to represent you, I feel fairly confident that they will IF you're looking at print agencies.

While you should continue to exercise--keep in mind that you can't "spot treat" specific areas, so only targeting your butt won't get you results--instead of trying to change your body type/shape, work with it. The key to getting around your problem areas is to dress smart and in a way that will draw attention away from your thighs and bring more balance to your figure overall. There are tons of online articles that give tips for how to dress for pear shapes...or figures close to that shape.

Commercial/print and lifestyle modeling also doesn't require you to wear skimpy clothing like lingerie, swimwear, etc. so in most cases, the print jobs you'd be doing would have you fully clothed so that's an added concern you don't have to stress about.

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