Snippet on Apples
Beware fanciful body shape descriptors.
‘Pear’ is not so misleading – it describes the bottom heavy. Advice for flattering styles depends on whether you’re long or short-waisted, have an indented waist or prominent high hips. But in general the shape is lower body dominant.
But apples – this is used as a shape description in two different ways.
An American apple :
Apple is used as a label for people who are upper body dominant.
An English apple :
Apple is used as a label for people who are midriff dominant.
So beware, if you are looking at advice for an ‘apple’ body shape, that it’s the right apple !
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June 2012
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Sewingplums 
June 16, 2012 at 2:05 pm
I’m American and what I understand by “apple” is midriff dominant. I love your blog, sewingplum, and agree that people are people, not fruit!
-Helen
June 16, 2012 at 3:16 pm
I so agree with you! I sometimes look at “apple” shape clothing suggestions and scratch my head. What about waist height, which is the main consideration for me in choosing clothing styles? After all, the distance between the ribs and the hips (or lack thereof) is the main reason for an “apple” shape. Love your blog!
June 16, 2012 at 8:02 pm
Another great post. Keep up the good work!
June 24, 2012 at 1:24 pm
Really? I’ve never seen an apple correspond to anything but midriff-dominant (in the US). There is no fruit for top-heavy :-), or inverted triangle. There is however a lot of confusion about whether you’re generally top-heavy with big shoulders or just busty, which are 2 very different things in practice.
June 27, 2012 at 1:24 pm
We’ve obviously looked at different books and sites – I know several which define an apple as upper body dominant, the opposite of pear. (P.S. here’s a YouTube video which describes ‘apples’ as upper body dominant.)
I do agree that people with broad shoulders or busty need different styling advice.