Three simple questions if you have two minutes. Or your measurements, if you have a tape.
This comes from the chart I use in training rooms across Sri Lanka, for women and men. It all works on your own phone or computer. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.
Step 1 · Who is this for
Step 2 · How you want to do it
What works on you
What tends to fight you
Your numbers
I run grooming and professional image training for teams, universities and schools across Sri Lanka, covering fit, dress codes and presence for women and men.
More honest than most calculators, which is a low bar, so here is exactly what is behind it.
The measurement path for women uses thresholds from the Female Figure Identification Technique, developed at North Carolina State University from the measurements of more than 6,000 women and published in the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal. The categories here are grouped into the five shapes I teach, which is a deliberate simplification of a nine-category research system.
The men’s thresholds are styling convention, not research. No equivalent validated system exists for men, and the published sources contradict each other. I have used the logic from my own training chart rather than dress up a guess as science.
And the number nobody quotes: a 2021 University of Manchester study of 1,679 three dimensional body scans found that small differences in where measurement points are placed moved up to 40% of women into a different category. That is why this tool tells you when you are near a boundary instead of pretending the line is sharp. Measure twice.
If you want the full guidance for every shape, with what works and what fights you, I have written it all up in how to dress for your body shape.
One last thing. A shape is a measurement, not a verdict. It says nothing about your health, your fitness or your worth, and nothing on this page should be read as health information. It is here to help you buy clothes that fit.
Bend to one side. A fold appears at your middle. That fold is your natural waist. It is usually just above your belly button, and higher than where most trousers sit. People get this one wrong more than any other.
Wear thin clothes, or underwear. A thick shirt can add a few centimetres. That is enough to put you in the wrong shape.
Because most of them use different numbers, and many just invent them. Ours are written above, so you can check them yourself. If two tools disagree, you are probably between two shapes. That is useful to know.
Your frame, meaning how wide your shoulders are and how your hips sit, does not really change. Gaining or losing weight can move you between two nearby shapes, usually rectangle and circle, or trapezoid and oval. Most people stay in the same shape for life.