How to measure your waist

Your waist is measured at its natural narrowest point, not where you wear your trousers. That difference explains many trousers that fit badly.

How to measure

1. Stand with your feet together and your stomach relaxed, without a belt or thick clothes.
2. Find your natural waist: the narrowest part of your torso, usually two or three fingers above the navel. When you bend sideways, it is where the crease forms.
3. Wrap the tape measure around it, perfectly level.
4. Breathe out normally and read the measurement, with the tape snug but not tight.

Common mistakes

• Measuring where your trouser waistband sits: that is the low waist, which is larger.
• Pulling in your stomach.
• A slanted tape, lower at the front than at the back.

What this measurement is for

Trousers, skirts, dresses, shorts and belts. Brands combine it with the hips for bottoms, and with the bust for dresses.