The body shapes
Everyday language has five body shapes; the FFIT rules this site runs have nine. The five are families, and each maps onto one or more of the nine. This page lists them with the rule in numbers and links to the full page for each, plus the three comparison pages for the boundaries people most often sit on.
Families and the FFIT shapes in them
| Family | FFIT shapes | The defining relationship (inches) |
|---|---|---|
| Hourglass | Hourglass, Top hourglass, Bottom hourglass | bust at most 1 over hips, hips less than 3.6 over bust, waist 9 under bust or 10 under hips; Bottom hourglass has hips leading the bust and is listed beside pear as well |
| Pear | Triangle, Spoon | Triangle: hips 3.6 or more over bust with a modest waist drop, or waist over bust and not over hips; Spoon: hips over 2 above bust, waist 7 under hips, flaring high hip |
| Rectangle | Rectangle | bust and hips within 3.6; waist under 9 below bust and 10 below hips |
| Inverted triangle | Inverted triangle | bust 3.6 or more over hips; waist under 9 below bust |
| Apple | Oval, Diamond | waist over hips; Oval: not over bust, Diamond: over bust too — checked after all other rules |
The families
- Hourglass — the defined waist, and its top and bottom variants.
- Pear — hips leading the bust; triangle and spoon, and the fourth measurement that separates them.
- Rectangle — moderate differences all round, and the most common result.
- Inverted triangle — bust leading the hips, and the first meaning of “apple”.
- Apple — waist leading the hips; oval and diamond, added to the rules in 2020.
The boundaries
- Hourglass vs pear — hips minus bust at 3.6 inches, with the waist defined.
- Pear vs rectangle — the same 3.6 inches without the waist drop, with Spoon and the high-hip zone beside it.
- Apple vs rectangle — whether the waist exceeds the hips, and the earlier rules that can match first.
Every rule is printed in full on the methodology page, and the calculator on the home page shows which one fired for your measurements and how far you are from the next.
References
The rules and figures on this page come from the sources below. Reference values are conventions from the literature, not targets.
- Simmons, Istook & Devarajan (2004). Female Figure Identification Technique (FFIT) for Apparel, Part I: Describing Female ShapesJournal of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management 4(1):1–16 · JTATM 4(1)Defines the nine FFIT shapes (hourglass, top and bottom hourglass, spoon, triangle, inverted triangle, rectangle, diamond, oval) from bust, waist, high-hip and hip circumferences on 3D body scans of North American women. The rules on this site are this set, as later revised.
- Sokolowski (2020). Modification of the Female Figure Identification Technique (FFIT) Formulas to Include Plus Size Bodies3DBODY.TECH 2020 Conference Proceedings · proc.3dbody.tech/2020Shows the 2007 FFIT formulas assumed the waist is smaller than the bust and so failed on many larger bodies; adds the Diamond and Oval rules and a ≥ 0 lower bound to Triangle, Inverted Triangle and Rectangle. This site uses the revised formulas.
Questions people ask
How many body shapes are there?
Five in everyday use; nine in the FFIT system this site runs. The five are families and each contains one or more of the nine.
Which shape is most common?
Rectangle, in our ANSUR II analysis: 46.6% of records, applying ANSUR’s chest and navel-level waist fields to the rules. That sample is Army personnel and the protocols differ from this site’s.
What is the rarest?
Hourglass and inverted triangle in our ANSUR II analysis, at 0.6% and 0.3% of records.
Where do the rules come from?
The Female Figure Identification Technique, published in 2004 from 3D body scans and revised in 2020. The methodology page has the full set and the sources.
Which page should I read if I am between two shapes?
The comparison page for that pair. Each gives the boundary in inches, the measurement that decides it, and whether the label changes anything.
Not sure which family you are?
The calculator gives the FFIT shape, the rule that fired and how close you are to the next one. Nothing is uploaded.