What tends to suit a rectangle shape

These are styling options, not rules, and none of them is required. The measurements say how three or four circumferences relate; they do not say what will look better, and this page does not claim that they do. It is organised by the effect you may want to try, or none.

The one fact the outfit is working with

Nothing differs by much. Bust and hips are within 3.6 inches; the waist is narrower than both but by less than 9 and 10 inches. A rectangle result is not a body without a waist; the rule requires the waist to be smaller than bust and hips, just by less than 9 and 10 inches. The outfit can mark that waist, or leave the line alone.

Creating a waist

A belt at the narrowest circumference, a wrap top, a jacket seamed in at the waist, a peplum, or a tucked top over a high rise. Each marks the point you measured as narrowest. A second option is to add visual width at one end instead — an A-line skirt or a gathered top — which is a different silhouette rather than a correction.

Using the straight line

Column dresses, straight trousers under a straight top, shirt dresses worn open, boxy or cropped jackets, and long open layers hang without pulling at any one circumference, because the three measure close. If a longer line is what you want, vertical seams, monochrome and open layers add vertical lines.

What tends to work against either goal

Pieces fitted through the waist show the measured difference as it is, which is fine if that is the aim. Adding visual width at both ends at once — a full skirt with a ruffled top — is also a choice; it does not mark the waist, which may or may not be what you want.

• Why rectangle is the most common result: rectangle body shape
• If the bust measurement is close to a boundary: pear vs rectangle
• Finding the narrowest point: how to measure

References

The rules and figures on this page come from the sources below. Reference values are conventions from the literature, not targets.

1. 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.
2. 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.