Good morning, fellow curvy sewists! Today, I’m sharing our next post with you on sewing for Trinny and Susannah’s 12 body shapes, which focuses on the “Brick” body type.
Brick Shape: Identifying Features
According to Trinny and Susannah, the tag of a Brick is “I know I have a shape somewhere, but I can’t seem to find it.” (p.183) The Brick is also called a square or rectangle in other shape systems. Distinguishing features include broad shoulders and a general chunkiness throughout the whole body—no waist and thick thighs and calves.
The “Brick” shape
Trinny and Susannah write that Bricks can have a hard time feeling feminine and sexy because of their “boyish flat butts,” lack of curves, and overall powerful muscularity (p.164).
Here, I’d like to include a criticism before I go on about the shape and suggestions. Trinny and Susannah have a limited view of women’s bodies. Most of their suggestions focus on creating or emphasizing a stereotypical feminine hourglass shape and featuring (or creating) breasts, and the default mode for many style options is sexy—tight fitting, revealing breasts, and emphasizing the backside. Let’s look at the Best Looks Casual and Party:
Casual and Party looks for Brick
Both of these looks expose a fair amount of breast tissue, which is not comfortable for many women, regardless of shape or size. To paraphrase, “some Bricks (or any other women) may enjoy revealing a bit of bust because that may help them feel sexy, particularly if people treat them as less than sexy because of a lack of curves or for looking muscular and powerful” (and PLEASE! Can we stop demonizing muscularity and scaring women away from looking powerful? Why must our dominant cultural view of a female body be one that is sexy, slim, and toned without looking strong—which is a fine body type and many women have it—while treating strength and muscularity as unwomanly and masculine?) But Bricks also have breasts as part of their body shape. It isn’t hard to imagine that many Bricks developed young and were treated as their breasts as teen girls and young women. Some Bricks may be among those women who are tired of being seen as Breasts, so showing them off may not be the best way for these women to find balance and proportion for their bodies. Having got that off my chest, let’s go on with the style and pattern suggestions.
Style and Pattern Suggestions for Brick
Because the Brick is a square/ rectangular shape to begin, Trinny and Susannah advise Bricks against wearing anything that is boxy. Doing so just emphasizes the shape. The “Never Wear” items are: boxy jackets; double breasted coats; mini skirts (especially ones that stop mid-thigh); box pleats; trousers in stiff fabrics, and heavy solid wedge shoes. All of these styles create more bulk and squareness. For shoes, select heels that are sturdy with some shape and avoid anything wedge-like or platformed. Wedges and platforms have a blocky shape. Bricks need a sturdy shoe, but a shaped one to break up the rectangular visual.
Bricks and Apples have a different challenge from other shapes because they don’t have a waist to emphasize; they should create it. Bricks can reduce the brickiness of their shape by using open necklines, like deep Vs and scoops to feature the bustline. Jersey tops with gentle gathers and drapes at the bust or around a high waistline create a waist, skim the torso, and frame the bustline. Contrast fabrics or accents at the bust can create dimension and move the eye without using a waist seam.
They suggest using stripes of varying widths or with blocks with no stripes to create contrast. Check out the Best Look Casual above to note how the stripes create a waist. Using some of their ideas, here are a few patterns that could work for a Brick:
Lekala 4358 has the low neckline they suggest with gathers to create drape and a waist. A modesty panel is there for, well, modesty, but it can also effectively be used as a contrast piece to create more dimension. The inset could also be used as contrast or for decoration to frame the bustline and emphasize the seam, while the V creates an arrow to the face.
Lekala 4358
In a similar vein, the Muse Natalie has a V-neck, shaped inset, and diagonal seams. Those diagonals create linear eye movement, and the gathers help frame and accent the bust. All of these features work to reduce the squareness of the body, especially in the top version of this pattern.
Muse Natalie
Here are the suggestions they make for Bricks for tops:
T&S’s suggestions for tops for Bricks
Now I’m going to make 2 suggestions that may seem out there:
The Hot Patterns tank top has a generous scoop neck. The crossover pieces create dimension at the bust, and the ties can be used to draw in the waist. If you don’t like the ties on your front, lengthen to the back or set them where you’d like and sew into the seams.
HotPatterns All Wrapped Up Tank
Lekala 5768 has features the authors suggest to Bricks for balance and femininity. The V-neck with slight ruffle frames the bust and face and a contrast waist inset can visually create shape. I’d remove some of the ruffles, but that’s the way I roll.
Lekala 5768
Trinny and Susannah (hereinafter T&S, I am tired of writing their whole names) note that the hardest garment for Bricks to wear is a jacket because most are too stiff and square. For jackets, find one in a soft drapey fabric with a tie closure or a single button and open neckline. Think about long lapels.
HotPatterns Chimera jacket
I’ll be posting this Hot Pattern jacket again because it will work very well for any number of shapes, but I wanted to put it here because it could work well for a Brick as long as it sewn without too much ease. The soft long lapel, tie closure, and three-quarter sleeves (highly suggested for a Brick) are all attributes Bricks should look for in a jacket.
T&S suggest a “flop” in pants and avoiding anything with zips and buttons. They note a drapey jersey track style pant is best in a dark color and loose cut with full legs that drop as low as possible.
Best skirts styles include straight or A-lines with panels or interesting seams that create movement and flow at the bottom. Skirts should be at the bottom of the knee. When not, as the Best Look Party, use a bottom to cover the knee (that’s their suggestion. To me the pants sticking out looks like someone forget how long her Spanx are versus how short her dress is).
The dress they picked is almost dead-on as a match for the OOP McCall 6024 from Laura Ashley. The pattern only goes up to 20, but the Brick who knows how to adjust for her size could probably pick up a copy at any number of online sources (or default—it is still available from McCall as of September, 2015), if she likes this style. If you like a good vibrant print, this type of dress may be a good choice for it. The Brick is one of the few shapes T&S have put in full body print as a Best Look or Key Shape (the others are Hourglass, Cornet, Cello, Column). Looking at the list, all those shapes have broad shoulders and strong backs. Those Olympian proportions in the shoulders provide options for dramatic prints! Prints also keep eyes moving, breaking up the size and shape of the body.
McCall’s 6024
If you can’t find this dress, it isn’t your style, or you don’t feel like figuring out how to fit it above the size range, look for dresses with open necklines and a high waist to hit at and draw in at the narrowest part of your torso. Playing with asymmetry and small frills can also help frame your neckline and breasts and create the impression of curves.
I’ll post more pattern suggestions in the section on patterns that work for many types. Many of the skirts and tops that will work for Bricks will also suit Skittles, Bells, Apples, Pears, and Cellos so stay tuned with your pincushions.
Inspiration Bricks: Dame Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson, and Kim Cattrall.
T&S’s key advice for Bricks:
Coming Soon…
Let’s move on to the APPLE, the body shape T&S say has the hardest time developing self-confidence (p. 112).
Thanks for starting this series! I was just thinking about it the other day and wondering what happened to it. I was really looking forward to seeing your pattern suggestions for the apple. No pressure if you’ve gotten too busy to finish it. But in case it helps, I wanted you to know that there’s at least one person hoping for more. 🙂
I bought this book second hand for 1p from Amazon when these articles started as I was interested in the various different shapes. I have found it totally confusing. What is the difference between an hourglass and a cello? They both look to be alike to me. Although I havnt measured myself for some time, I come in as a 46-35-46, so I fit in the typical hourglass slot.
But one thing I agree with T&S is that it is hard to find OTP clothes that fit being that shape. To fit on the hips and bust, everything is far too big on the waist. I cant wear OTP trousers without a belt. This was probably what got me sewing many years ago as I could never find stuff that fit my shape.
The Lekala blouse also looks very pear-friendly – the shape reminds me of the shape of the top(s) in the casual pear pic that you used a couple of articles back. Thanks for the tip! The leggings-under-the-skirt look is kind of interesting – I think it looks fine, but also slightly as if she’s got dodgy knees and is wearing knee supports. I’m actually quite keen on 3/4 length leggings under skirts – they’re a good compromise for in-between weather days, of which we get a lot in the UK, but I do tend to make mine stick out further so you can tell I mean it!
I think I am a Brick, and I recently was given a black strapless dress 3 inches at least above my knee with a raised waistline and a skirt draped into points at the sides looks HOT on me. Totally beggars belief, but two gay Besties, a drag queen and the husband all love it on me and I do too! I actually put it on to show how terrible it looked and was surprised at the positive response.
My avoidance of above the knee skirts I realised went back to my teens wen my mother disapproved of them. Not prudishly, but because I think she, like many of her generation, automatically rejected such garments for anyone with less than fantastic legs. It’s a funny old world innit. So many of our notions are based on assimilated, accumulated rules, feedback and memory. Not our choices at all. Sometimes trying something different is what it takes.
For the record, this dress will only be worn as part of my cabaret act. With 60 denier tights and strappy wedges. Rules are made to be broken 😉
I’m not sure if I’m a Brick (House-lol) or not, but some of the clothing suggestions are what I’m already wearing. I really like that Hot Patterns jacket pattern. It would be a better visual if “inspiration(not sure what they mean by this)” brick shapes were plus sized women to align with this blog theme.
Okay, I have to ask it, why is this out of date, inappropriate, and often just wrong book being used for post after post? I don’t get it, and honestly, not really enjoying them.
Ruffles, cleavage and cropped leggings are so 2007. No wonder the only pattern looking like that dress is OOP! I feel dissing T&S for their fashion choices made 9 years ago is just as silly as refusing to use Fit for real people because of the old fashioned styling. The first T&S book, What not to wear (2002) is about dressing to show off what you love about your body. They use their own bodies, Susannah’s large bust and curves and Trinny’s flat chest (‘You don’t need tits to be alluring’) and bigger bum, to explain why some shapes work and others don’t. No way are they aiming at featuring or creating breasts unless it’s the part of the body the woman in question is most proud of. So when you mention ‘the baby-head boobs they pushed out for her’ in the comments you’re probably snarking on exactly the part of the ‘Brick’-model’s body she loves best/ feels most confident about. How is that for body positivity?
I think we can pick up a thing or two from this book without having to like the authors. For what it’s worth, I met T&S a few years ago when I wrote an article about them for a local newspaper. The big mouths and rude language came across as a cultivated act, they seemed truly interested in the life stories of the women in their show. Both on and off camera.
Oh dear! I just bought the OOP McCall’s 6024 pattern yesterday! Ha Ha!
Marianne K you’re making me doubt my fashion judgement now!
I’m always drafting my own patterns and I work slow. I saw this pattern cheap and I thought “great, I’ll see how they treat the ruffles on this one and be a bit lazy for a change”
I thought this post was a good read and I think Trinny and Suzanna are great at what they do. Shame they’ve kinda fallen out of favour in the UK.
I’ll make up this frock in a silk fabric and hope I don’t look a hot mess with my pear shaped self!
Have a great evening CSC!
Haha, sorry! I was referring to the mix. Hope you’re not wearing it with a cropped legging 😉 The pattern itself is a classic, I’m sure it will look stunning in silk!
I see that mix quite a bit, and it usually is an accident. I do recall when it was a deliberate styling choice, but then back in the early ’90s, a trend at the university I attended was wearing a Spanx slip or other skinny slip as a skirt. So yeah, I get the trends-come/ trends-go concern. Agreed– that dress has classic bones.
I’ve seen that book as well, but this one, the BSB, really IS largely focused around creating or emphasizing curves and creating breasts– or the illusion of breasts– on less busty/ flatter chested shapes and bodies. One line for the Brick is that “everything here is working… to create those precious curves.” (193) One line for the Cornet: “Clever folding and draping at the bust gives a more curvaceous aspect to your breasts” (86), they suggest using shaped, folded wrap tops to increase the illusion of a bust (82), and “clever use of off-center gathers and diagonal lines will also help to create curves” (80). So yes, there is a serious focus on a singular shape as ideal. Everyone else should be trying to replicate it.
Funny thing, that pattern just went OOP at the end of the past summer.
Well, you can’t read this book without its context. In 2007 UK fashion was all about cleavage. Magazines hyped breast implants and on the BBC show everyone asked for help to look ‘more feminine’, even women who had been happily wearing their brothers soccer shirts for years! Therefore this book looks so much more dated than the earlier WNTW books, and extrapolating the advices to 2016 doesn’t make much sense to me.
The Wonderbra years! There’s been a big change in the aesthetic since then – for me anyway it was all about bootcut trousers, short-ish tops (often low-cut) and the trusty Wonderbra from about the mid 90s – then I was pregnant or breastfeeding from 2008 to 2011, and then after that all my pre-pregnancy tops suddenly just looked very wrong. While I’d not been paying attention everything had changed to long tops and skinny jeans, and much less cleavage. I must admit my first reaction to the model’s pushed-up breasts was “Woah” but you’ve reminded me that that really was how a lot of us used to dress back then, including me even if I was never able to get quite that look…
Very interesting series. My body type is either an hourglass or vase going by the T&S system. I have a defined waist with hips, shoulders, and bust that are all about the same measurement. My waist tends to be 12″ or more smaller. I am quite a bit taller than average, indicating I would be a vase. Yet, I don’t identify with the description of a less-pronounced behind. Mine is very full and muscular. Except for my waist and ribcage, I am built quite broad. Strong shoulders, wide hips. I have muscular calves. But all of this on a longer body that somehow slightly downplays how extreme my curvature is. I tend to be on the cusp between straight and plus sizes, partly because of my height and large build demand sizes that can accommodate my length, shoulders, etc. My “best fit” ready-to-wear usually needs to be a bit longer and a bit smaller in the waist.
I find it fascinating that most female body types are told to create the illusion of the hourglass, when the hourglass is a body type that tends not to fit into ready to wear clothes and not to be flattered by the more popular silhouettes of the last decades. How can one body type be both idealized and treated as inferior/unfashionable?
I think the popular bodytype changes every decade. But major stores usually sew for the average woman (of their country), hence Spanish Zaras M is less curve friendly (and smaller) than Swedish H&Ms M.
I always thought of myself as a “brick” and bought patterns from Vogue that were designated as appropriate for a rectangular shape but when I read the recommendations these are never the styles I wear (I’m 61 years old so I’ve been wearing clothes for a LONG time and my measurements are 41, 36, 41, 5’8″ tall with long slender legs – I always joke I’m a box on sticks) – I think those styles would be way off for me. I never wanted to emphasize my waist for one thing. I love your criticisms of their body descriptions by the way! I’m a feminist and have taught variations on feminist theory for many years 🙂
Great post. My figure is becoming less top-heavy and more athletic as I work out, and I’m having to search out new silhouettes. LOVE the top patterns you’ve linked, and pinned them. Thank you!
As a rectangle – thicker now but even when I’m thinner, still a rectangle – the best style advice I have found is for the ‘H shape’ on Imogene’s http://www.insideoutstyleblog.com/2008/09/body-shapes-explained-h-shape-rectangle.html. Most of the other advice thrown to bricks is off, especially if there is little difference between bust-waist-hips. For instance, that Lekala vest would look awful, although a vest with a longer, leaner line can look good. Just my two cents;)
My rationale on the Lekala was using the contrast section much like they do with Casual pant look in the post. Outside of the baby-head boobs they’ve pushed out for her, I like the outfit. I would like it better if the sweater were open over a scoop-neck T, but…
Of the full looks they’ve included, I like the Casual and Smart ones. The Smart look is in a different post, but the model looks strong, happy, comfortable in it. I also went with the Lekala because it had elements that mimicked the Best Look Party dress they featured. This is not a look I particularly like. I don’t like the animal-type print. I think the Spanx sticking out thing is silly. My feelings aside, T&S are convinced this look is ideal for the Brick, and given that I’m not sure that I dislike this dress based on the particularities of the dress and styling specifically or the general drape and shape of the dress, I went with it.
Again, I think their general idea that women need to be curvy and stereotypically feminine and sexy hurts the suggestions they give. The focus on shoving breasts up and out. Using ruffles and lace on more “square” (read: masculine) shapes to make them look more traditionally feminine. there is nothing wrong with a woman enjoying her cleavage, of course. There is nothing wrong with a woman who likes her ruffles, looking feminine, and being and feeling sexy. If that’s a woman’s jam, go for it! But a lot of women like playing with androgynous looks, covering the girls (at least in some situations), or showing off hard earned shoulders and muscles– all things that T&S find “diabolical” (except for the 3 shapes they don’t give booby/ cleavage looks to).
I think my body shape is somewhere between a brick and cello, even though I always assumed I was apple shaped because of my stomach. I do have almost cello like definition on my waist, but no hips to speak of. You can kind of see if in my DIY croquis post- http://www.verypaige.com/lifestyle/.luxperdiem.com/2012/01/real-talk-croquis.html I’m not really into the way they write about bodies, and honestly I don’t think I agree with their style choices for this shape in particular. The empire waist isn’t super “flattering” since were using that term. I think shifting the waist down the the natural line and picking pieces with more volume on the bottom would do a better job of creating a more defined waist.
They default (it seems) to the Empire/ at least a high waist for almost all shapes, which I find odd and intriguing. I think it has a lot to do with their emphasis on creating or emphasizing the bust. All shapes except for the Bell, Apple, and Column have at least one look that is all about pushed up and out boobs or showing vast mileage of décolletage. As I’ve said in posts already up and some yet to come, they have a limited view of women’s bodies. Because they seem to believe that all women should have a stereotypical shape that is lean and toned yet with distinct curves, they try to shoehorn all shapes into that particular one. No matter that it just isn’t always going to be possible to do that. And frankly, not all women are necessarily even going to want to. As I’ve said in comments, there isn’t anything wrong with finding a curvy shape most appealing and wanting it for oneself. But it is limiting to think all women need to strive for that shape all the time.
Way back in the ’80s, Lane Bryant released a book “Fashion Math” that was very much an ad for their stores. But it did cover the basic HOAX shapes and offer their own suggestions and insights for them. For the H/Brick, LB said it was the easiest to dress because it was a general pleasing shape, and they suggested the best silhouettes were long-over-lean and long-over-flare. But then this was the ’80s, the decade of shoulder pads. So instead of trying to create a curvy shape, the focus was more directed to a strong shoulder line and a lean, narrow body lower down.