Unlike Sam, the thought of shopping for a New Year’s Eve dress excites Monica, especially now that she’s starting to understand what design lines and colors look best on her. She loves wearing dresses. However, she doesn’t want a basic black or navy blue dress; but rather, she wants one in her favorite colors: green, yellow or red/orange. She finds that when she wears clothes with her favorite colors, she lights up and this is how she wants to start out 2022.
Monica’s excited to share what she bought.
Monica’s Body Elements
As a review, these are Monica’s Body Element clues:
- Body Shape — O (Body Shape — The Girls)
- Angular clothes silhouette
- Avoid placing horizontal lines at the waist
- Avoid placing vertical lines at the shoulders
- Face Shape — Pear (Face Shape — The Girls)
- Curved design lines, prints and accessories
- Color Skin, Hair, Eyes — Medium Color Contrast (Color Skin, Hair & Eyes — The Girls)
- Favorite Colors — Green, Yellow and Red/Orange
- Color Combinations (other colors) — Analogous
- Color Combinations (relative lightness and darkness) — Medium contrast
- First Scale Clue — Medium
- Body Proportions — Long between bust/waist, Long between waist/crotch, Short between crotch/knees, Short between knees/floor (Body Proportions — The Girls)
- Horizontal lines — Don’t place them between her crotch/knees and knees/floor but she can place them between her bust and crotch. However, because she has an O Body Shape, she needs to avoid them at her waist
- Vertical lines — Limit them between her bust/crotch but do place them between her crotch/floor
- Second Scale Clue — Increase overall scale between bust/crotch and decrease it between crotch/floor
- Body Frame Size — Medium (Body Frame Size — The Girls)
- Third scale clue — Large
- Scale Strategy — Medium/Large (Scale Strategy — The Girls)
- Increase to large between her bust/crotch
- Decrease to medium between her crotch/floor
Shopping For New Year's Eve Dress & Accessories
(Macys.com: Ralph Lauren Three Tier Chiffon Dress, No Web ID; Madden Girl Bella Two-Piece Block Heel Sandals, Web ID 2631402; INC Carolyn Glitter Clutch, Web ID 2918414; Charter Club Two-Tone Crystal Palazzo Chain Frontal Necklace, Web ID 10365474)
Shopping For New Year's Eve Dress -- Dress
Monica looked around for a while and tried on several dresses but nothing felt right. Then she found this dress stuck in a rack with unrelated clothes. It’s the perfect color of green. She loves the three chiffon tiers, because it reminds her of dresses worn in the 1920s and ‘30s. When she put it on, she knew this was the dress she wanted to wear to celebrate her accomplishments this year and bring in a new one.
Design Line & Color Analysis
The design lines on this dress are perfect for her. It has an angular silhouette which works well for her O Body Shape.
The horizontal line created by the neckline creates a little width at the shoulders. The ones created by the tiers are at her hips and upper thigh area which also creates width. All together they balance out her O Body Shape.
Body Proportions-wise, strictly speaking, the horizontal lines created by the tiers aren’t in the best place because her torso is longer than her legs. However, because this is a dress, one can’t tell where her body ends and her legs begin. As a result, these horizontal lines work well.
The green color is one of her favorite colors so it’s perfect for her.
The neckline is curved which matches her curved pear Face Shape.
Monica did a great job picking this dress to celebrate with her friends.
Shopping For New Year's Eve Dress -- Shoes
Monica loves a little bit of sparkle and thought these shoes really spiced up the dress to make it New Year’s Eve ready. She wears mostly gold because it’s important in her culture. She went back and forth determining if she should wear yellow gold or rose gold because she can wear either. In the end, she chose yellow gold because she could find shoes, necklace and handbag to match.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Monica’s Face Shape is pear which falls in the curved category. This means the shape of the shoes should also have an overall curved feel. The toes of the sandals are curved; however the toe straps and heels have an angular feel. Since she’s going to a party with her friends, having the right shape isn’t as important. If this were a business event where she needed to tap into her confidence, she should look further for shoes with all curved design lines.
The color gold combined with the green dress creates a medium contrast matching her medium color contrast profile.
The one major problem with the sandals is the ankle straps. They create a horizontal line and Monica is short in this area. Having a horizontal line placed there makes the area appear even shorter. Also her legs are significantly shorter than her torso. Placing horizontal lines in the leg area makes her legs look even shorter. Because she’s wearing a dress it’s hard to know where her torso ends and legs begin. Therefore, she should only wear these sandals with dresses.
Shopping For New Year's Eve Dress -- Necklace
This necklace was the determining factor in choosing yellow gold over rose gold. Monica loved the flower pattern of each palazzo pendant.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Monica did a great job choosing this necklace. Because her Face Shape is in the curved category, the palazzo shape is perfect.
Her overall scale strategy is medium/large and this necklace is also between medium and large.
Like the shoes, the color contrast is medium when paired with the green dress.
Shopping For New Year's Eve Dress -- Handbag
Once Monica knew she was going for yellow gold, she needed to find a yellow gold clutch handbag. She couldn’t find one at the Macy’s store in Roseville so she went online to find one at another store in the area. She found this one at the Sacramento store, ordered it and then picked it up curb-side. It matches perfectly with the sandals and necklace.
Design Line & Color Analysis
This handbag has an overall angular feel; however the ends have a curved shape. At times it’s hard to find all the design line shapes to match her Face Shape. Since she’s celebrating with her friends, this is a minor problem.
As with the sandals and necklace, the color contrast of the yellow gold color paired with the dress creates a medium contrast, perfect for her medium color contrast profile.
Summary
Dress
Dresses work well for Monica because they hide where her torso ends and legs begin. Having an O Body Shape, she wants to avoid horizontal lines around her waist area. However, because of her Body Proportions–her torso is longer than her legs–placing horizontal lines in her leg area makes her legs look even shorter. The only place she can place horizontal lines between her bust and crotch is right at her hips, unless she’s wearing a dress, which she is in this case.
Shoes
These shoes work well with the whole outfit. However, they aren’t perfect for her curved Face Shape. It can be hard to find the right shoe in the right color and shape; especially in the current times when demand is high and supply is low. The most important question Monica needs to ask herself is “How do I feel? Do I feel light wearing these shoes or do I feel heavy?” If she feels light then the shoes work for her and if she feels heavy they don’t.
Necklace
Monica did a great job picking the necklace. Because she has a curved Face Shape, picking jewelry will be easy for her because the fashion industry sells mostly curved jewelry. She’ll just need to make sure the scale is in the medium/large range. A smaller piece of jewelry will get lost on her.
Handbag
As with shoes, it can be hard to find the right shape for a handbag, especially a clutch one. Most of them have an angular shape. When putting the whole outfit together, she’ll need to ask herself, “Does this make me feel light or heavy?” Having the wrong accessory shape can be minor and not affect the whole look.
Final Thoughts
In our time of high demand and low supply, it can be hard to find the exact right item. The best guide is to ask yourself, “Does this make me feel light or heavy?” Remember your goal is to wear clothes that help you feel like you can conquer your world. As a result, you can pursue your passion; create impact to make this world a better place to live.
In the next blog post, Alice will be sharing the outfit she’s wearing to the New Year’s Eve party. She was amazed she found one she loves. It’s called, Shopping For New Year’s Eve Dress — Alice.
Wear Your Greatness!!
