Selecting a Prom Dress for Hourglass Body Types

Linda Hahn: Hi, I am Linda Hahn, the owner and buyer for L H boutique in Laguna Beach and I am showing you how to buy the perfect prom dress. Becca here is an example of the classic hourglass shape. She has a tiny waist and is full figured in the bust and hips and that's what you want to emphasize is that tiny waist. This dress is a perfect example of what works best on this body type. It fits the body beautifully, it also has princess seaming which is very elongating and allows you to look taller and slimmer, it has a beautiful tie at the waist, it's out of self fabric which means it matches the dress and therefore, it doesn't attract too much attention.Another option if you have a very tiny waist and really want to emphasize it you could replace this with a gold belt making that stand out even more. Another thing that is important with the hourglass figure is to avoid over accentuating any one part. If this dress were to have a deep plunging neckline, it would take away from its beauty because the body would now be unbalanced. If the dress was too tight on the bottom and therefore, clung to the thighs it would again, unbalance the body. You want to keep the balance and the emphasis on the waistThis dress also has a nice, thick strap on it so that if you are a larger busted which a lot of girls who are curvier are larger in the bust, if you have a nice, structured, solid strap like this you don't have to worry about too much movement in the bust area during the evening when you are dancing or whatever. This dress and dresses of this type are bra-friendly. You can wear a normal, regular bra under here because the straps would be covered and the back is high enough that the back bra strap is going to be covered and it still maintains its sexy look by still having a lot of skin.Another thing to point out on this dress is that although it shows the curve of the rear very nicely, it doesn't tuck back in underneath and therefore, it does not look inappropriate. This dress made out of this type of fabric which is a solid woven fabric as opposed to a jersey knit, this type of fabric will help you minimize areas that you want to minimize.Sometimes, girls with curvier figures want to have something holding in this middle area and now it is done with this dress because it is structured and it's not going to stretch, it's not going to give. What you want to avoid for this type of body is really clingy fabrics. They tend to accentuate the curves probably a little more than would be appropriate for a High School age girl. You also want to avoid really deep cut things because the cleavage would be a bit overwhelming for the age. You also want to avoid a halter neckline that will come in or a bustier type of look because it will emphasize the bust and you'll start to look out of balance. You want to keep this type of body in balance and emphasize the smallest part which is generally your waist. With this type of dress when you have a dress that has beautiful fabric like this and a beautiful pattern you don't need a lot in the way of jewelry. We have chosen to accessorize with a circle necklace that brings out the dots in the dress and a simple gold bangle. You want your hair to be sleek and polished. This is a very classy polished look and you want to continue that in the hair. You can leave it long and straight. You can do a nice, little Chignon or any type of a very simple up-do. What you want to avoid is big, voluminous curls because that would take away from the classy structured look of the dress. Next, I will show you how to and how not to accessorize your look.