You walk into a department store and all of the clothes look like one big blob. The blob then becomes a live monster that envelops you. Before suffocating you hurriedly pick an item from the sales rack because it’s a good price, grab a shirt because you like the color and quickly check out at the register. You run out of the mall yelling, “I hate shopping!” Sound familiar? That is what 90% of my clients say when they come to me for help. Let’s face it, all of us have challenges when it comes to shopping for clothes but there are some things you can do to overcome those difficulties and actually make shopping well, FUN!

The right clothes have the ability to transform your mood and make you look and feel like a million bucks. Unfortunately, if you don’t know how to dress for your body type, the act of shopping for clothes can be ultra depressing, especially when you just tried on ten pairs of jeans and nothing fits.

Here’s the good news: once you know your body type and how to dress to accentuate your assets, shopping can actually become a fun confidence booster because you’ll KNOW what clothes to try on to make you look and feel amazing.

In order to get to that place where shopping is an enjoyable experience, you first have to get to know your body and what looks good on YOU. There are five core body types – the hourglass, the inverted triangle, the triangle, the rectangle, and the diamond. No matter which category you fall into, your primary goal is to use different clothes to achieve the illusion of a symmetrical, hourglass figure.

What follows is an overview of the five different body shapes along with tips on what to wear to accentuate your assets and minimize your flaws.

The Hour Glass
This is the body shape we’re all striving to achieve, and you can tell you’re an hourglass if your shoulders and hips are exactly the same width, and your waist is well defined. Women with an hourglass shape can wear just about anything except boxy clothing, which tends to overpower their figure.

The Inverted Triangle
You know you’re an inverted triangle if your shoulders are broader than your hips. In this case, you should always look for tops with a scoop or v neckline, because they’ll make your shoulders appear narrower. Also, avoid strapless and halter tops because they’ll accentuate your broad upper body even more.

The Triangle
If your shoulders are narrower than your hips, you’re a triangle. You can achieve symmetry by wearing bootleg pants and avoiding skinny pants, which will make you appear wider than you are.

The Rectangle
This is the body shape that is most often referred to as “boyish”. You can tell you’re a rectangle if your body is straight up and down with very little waist, and your shoulders and hips are the same width. As a rectangle, you want to create a waistline with wrap dresses and funky belts.

The Diamond
Diamonds primarily gain weight in their midsections, so your goal is to define your waist. You can do this by using wrap shirts and belts, and avoiding crazy patterns around your middle, as they accentuate any problem areas.

A final note…

Before you even go shopping, stand in front of the mirror and study your body. Get to know what you look like and learn to LOVE it. In order to make sure you know what your body type is, sign up for my newsletter to get your FREE Body Type Booklet. Once you know your body type and pinpoint body parts that you love, embrace them and learn how to accentuate those beautiful parts so that you’ll have loads more fun on your next shopping trip!

This article was originally published on World Lifestyle.