Men's body shape calculator
Four measurements, one of the five male body types, and the comparison that decided it printed underneath, so you can check the answer instead of trusting it.
Men's Body Shape Calculator
Tape level all the way round, over a T-shirt or nothing.
Your shoulders lead your hips and your waist tucks in under the chest. Most ready-to-wear is cut for this line, so the work is mostly in the details.
max(shoulder, chest) 47 > hip 39 × 1.12 and waist 34 < chest 41 × 0.92 → shoulder-led, waist drawn
How to take the four measurements
The calculator compares your measurements to each other, so a consistent tape matters more than a precise one. Measure over a T-shirt or bare skin, keep the tape level all the way round, and take all four in inches or all four in centimeters.
Shoulders
Around the shoulders at their widest point, tape level, arms relaxed at your sides. This is the tailor's shoulder measurement, and it is the one most body type calculators for men leave out, which is why they cannot tell a trapezoid from a rectangle.
Chest
Around the fullest part of the chest with your arms down and the tape running level under the armpits. Breathe out normally before you read it; a held breath adds an inch.
Waist
At the navel. Men's trousers and men's tailoring are both measured there, so the reading matches the size on a label. Keep the tape snug, not tight, and stand naturally rather than drawing in.
Hips
Around the fullest part of the seat, feet together. Stand with your feet apart and you will read narrower than you are.
The five male body shape types
Body type for men, as tailors use the phrase, means proportion rather than build. Each of the five below is a statement about how your shoulders, chest, waist and hips compare with one another, which is why all five exist at every size and none of them is a goal.
Trapezoid
Shoulders lead the hips, waist tucked under the chest
Inverted Triangle
Shoulders and chest well past the hips
Rectangle
Shoulders, chest and hips run close to level
Triangle
Hips wider than the shoulders and chest
Oval
The waist is the widest measurement
Trapezoid
Shoulders lead the hips by a clear margin and the waist tucks in under the chest, without the top running so far past the hip that off-the-rack clothes stop fitting. It is the line most men's ready-to-wear is cut for, so a trapezoid usually buys his size and has little to correct.
Works: Fitted shirts and jackets that follow the taper, straight and slim-straight trousers, a jacket that fastens at the natural waist.
Fights it: Boxy cuts that hang straight from the shoulder and give the taper away, and very wide legs under a fitted top.
Inverted Triangle
Shoulders and chest measure well past the hips, usually with a narrow waist underneath. It is the swimmer's and the lifter's line, and the fitting problem is specific: a shirt that fits the shoulder is loose at the waist, and a jacket that fits the chest pulls at the back.
Works: Tailoring cut for the shoulder and taken in at the waist, slim-cut shirts with darts, straight or slightly wider trousers that give the lower half some presence.
Fights it: Shoulder padding, wide lapels and horizontal stripes across the chest, which all add width where there is already plenty, and skinny trousers under a broad top.
Rectangle
Shoulders, chest and hips run close to level, and the waist sits not far under the chest. The outline is a straight line from shoulder to hip. It is one of the two lines tailors meet most often, and the whole job of dressing it is adding a line the tape does not find, at the shoulder or at the waist.
Works: Structured shoulders, a jacket with a little waist suppression, layering that puts a horizontal line at the chest, trousers with a slight taper.
Fights it: Shapeless straight cuts in soft fabric, which repeat the line rather than shape it, and anything cropped that shortens the torso without adding width.
Triangle
The hips measure more than the shoulders and chest, so the outline widens downward. The shoulders are often narrow or sloped and the seat and thigh carry the weight of the figure. The answer is the mirror image of the inverted triangle: build the shoulder, keep the lower half clean.
Works: Jackets with a defined shoulder, chest pockets and detail up top, straight-leg trousers in a darker shade than the top, vertical pattern below the waist.
Fights it: Skinny trousers, which make the hip read wider by contrast, and raglan sleeves or dropped shoulders that soften the top line further.
Oval
The waist is the widest of the four readings, measuring at or past the chest. The shoulders are usually rounded rather than square, and the legs are often slim relative to the torso. What works is a long, unbroken vertical line, which is also the easiest rule on this page to apply.
Works: Single-breasted jackets that fasten high and hang open, vertical stripes and seams, a straight trouser with a mid rise, one color top to bottom.
Fights it: Belts and waistbands at the fullest point, horizontal stripes through the middle, double-breasted jackets and tight knits in thin fabric.
How the calculator decides
Five rules, tested in this order, and the first one to fire is the answer. The waist is tested first on purpose: a full waist under broad shoulders is an oval, and testing shoulder dominance first would call it an inverted triangle and give the wrong advice. The shoulder reading is a circumference, which on a man runs well past the hip even on a straight frame, so the margins are wider than the women's body shape calculator uses.
The thresholds, in the order they run.
1 · waist ≥ chest × 0.98 or waist ≥ hip × 1.02 → OVAL
2 · max(shoulder, chest) > hip × 1.3 → INVERTED TRIANGLE
3 · max(shoulder, chest) > hip × 1.12 and waist < chest × 0.92 → TRAPEZOID
4 · hip ≥ max(shoulder, chest) × 0.98 → TRIANGLE
5 · nothing above fires → RECTANGLE
Every result above comes printed with the line that produced it. The reasoning behind each number is on the methodology page.
Somatotypes are a different question
Search for male body types and half the answers describe ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs. Those three words come from a 1940s system for describing build: how readily a frame carries muscle or fat, how long the bones run, how the metabolism behaves. They are a statement about what a body is made of, not about its outline.
This page classifies proportion only. A mesomorph can measure as a rectangle or an inverted triangle; an ectomorph can be a trapezoid or a triangle. Four circumferences cannot see build, and the calculator does not pretend to. If the question you have is what to wear, proportion is the one that answers it.
Questions
- What body type am I, male?
- For men's clothing, body type means one of five outlines: trapezoid, inverted triangle, rectangle, triangle or oval. Which one you are depends on how your shoulders, chest, waist and hips compare with each other, not on what you weigh, so every one of the five exists at every size. Enter the four measurements above and the calculator returns your shape with the comparison that produced it.
- What are the male body types?
- The five male body shape types used in tailoring are the trapezoid (shoulders lead the hips, waist tucked under the chest), the inverted triangle (shoulders and chest well past the hips), the rectangle (shoulders, chest and hips close to level), the triangle (hips wider than the shoulders) and the oval (waist the widest reading). Ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph are a different system; see the section above.
- Is this a body type calculator for men or a body shape calculator?
- Both names describe the same thing. A body shape calculator for men compares four of your own measurements and returns one of the five outlines; a body type calculator does the same unless it means somatotypes, which this page does not. Whichever phrase you searched for, the four measurements above are what you need.
- What is the most common male body shape?
- There is no survey of men on this site equivalent to the body-scan study quoted for women, so this page does not give percentages. Tailors most often cite the trapezoid and the rectangle as the two lines they see most, which is also why ready-to-wear is cut for them.
- Why does this calculator ask for shoulders when others do not?
- Because the shoulder is the measurement that separates a trapezoid from a rectangle and an inverted triangle from a trapezoid. Chest alone cannot tell you whether the width at the top comes from the frame or from the chest, and the advice differs.
- Can I use centimeters instead of inches?
- Yes. Every rule is a ratio between two of your own measurements, so the unit cancels out. Keep all four in the same unit; the toggle converts what you have already typed.
- Does this work for a male body shape calculator if I am very tall or short?
- The shape does, because it is proportion rather than size. Height changes the styling answer, not the classification: a tall rectangle can wear a horizontal break at the waist that a short rectangle cannot afford.
- Is the women's calculator different?
- Yes. Women's body shape uses bust, waist, hips and shoulders and six shapes, with different margins, because the measurements relate to each other differently. The two calculators share one idea: the rule that produced the answer is printed with it.
Measuring for someone else?
Women's body shape runs on different rules and six shapes. The calculator for it prints its working the same way, and the six shapes each have a page.
Run the women's body shape calculator