Learning to dress for her body type has helped Grace increase her confidence in herself. This has been a game changer in her life. Before she shied away from family events and get togethers. She would always find an excuse not to go. Now she’s looking forward to these events. In fact she’s attending a baby shower for one of her cousins, and she decided to get a new outfit for it.
Grace is excited to go to the shower in her new outfit. Keep reading to learn what design lines and colors help her feel like she can conquer her world.
Grace’s Body Elements
As a review, these are Grace’s Body Element clues:
- Body Shape — A (Body Shape — The Girls)
- Curved clothes silhouette
- Horizontal lines — Place them at her shoulders and waist, and avoid placing them at her hips
- Vertical lines — Place them between her waist and hips, and avoid placing them at her shoulders
- Face Shape — Rectangle (Face Shape — The Girls)
- Angular design lines, prints and accessories
- Color Skin, Hair, Eyes — Medium Color Contrast (Color Skin, Hair & Eyes — The Girls)
- Favorite Colors — Orange, Green
- Color Combinations (other colors) — Triadic and Analogous
- Color Combinations (relative lightness and darkness) — Medium contrast
- First Scale Clue — Medium
- Body Proportions — Short between bust/waist, long between waist/crotch, short between knees/floor (Body Proportions — The Girls)
- Horizontal lines — Place them between her waist/crotch but not at her hips, and don’t place them between her bust/waist and knees/floor
- Vertical lines — Place them between her bust/waist and knees/floor; limit them between her waist/crotch; however when she places them from her bust to below her crotch, the eye passes over this entire area and will make it appear thinner for her Body Shape
- Second Scale Clue — Decrease overall scale between bust/waist and knees/floor; increase it between waist/crotch
- Body Frame Size — Small (Body Frame Size — The Girls)
- Third scale clue — Small
- Scale Strategy — Small/Medium (Scale Strategy — The Girls)
- Decrease scale to small between her bust/waist and knees/floor
- Increase to medium between her waist/crotch
Dress For Body Type -- Dress
Green is one of Grace’s favorite colors and when she saw this dress she knew it was the one. She knew it wasn’t perfect, but she knew she could make it work.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Grace learned that the first design line she should look at is the silhouette. It’s the outside line of any outfit. It’s the difference between her shoulders/waist, waist/hips and hips/shoulders. Silhouettes have two categories: angular and curved. For angular silhouettes the shoulders, waist, and hips appear to be the same width; while, curved silhouette the waist is significantly smaller than both the shoulders and hips. Her Body Shape gives her clues to which category works best for her body.
Grace has an A Body Shape where her waist is smaller than her shoulders and her shoulders are smaller than her hips. As a result, her waist is significantly smaller than both her shoulders and hips. This means her Body Shape gives her the clue to wear clothes with a curvy silhouette.
This dress has an empire waist which means there’s a seam just under her bust and the bottom part is gathered. Because of this gathering, it allows room for her wider hips and creates a curved silhouette. However this silhouette can also work for angular silhouette.
Horizontal Lines
The next design lines Grace learned about are ones that create horizontal lines. Horizontal lines stop the eye, emphasize the area and make the area appear to be wider and shorter. Her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues to the placement of them.
For her Body Shape she doesn’t want them to be in her hip area because horizontal lines will bring attention to this area and make it look wider. However, she does want them to be anywhere between her shoulders and mid-hip. Horizontal lines will bring attention to these areas and make them appear wider. As a result, balance is created between her hips, waist and shoulders.
For her Body Proportions Grace doesn’t want horizontal lines between her bust/waist, crotch/knees and knees/floor because she’s short in these areas. Horizontal lines will only make these areas appear even shorter. On the other hand, placing horizontal lines between her waist/crotch area will make this area appear balanced with the rest of her body.
When placing horizontal lines between her waist/crotch she needs to be mindful of both her Body Shape because she doesn’t want them close to her hips. She wants them no lower than mid-hip.
This dress has two prominent horizontal lines: sleeve hems and dress hem. The sleeve hems are perfect for Grace’s Body Shape because they make the shoulders appear wider creating balance with the hips. The dress hem works well for her Body Proportions because it lays below her ankles. Also the fact she’s wearing a dress makes it impossible to know where her torso ends and her legs begin.
Vertical Lines
Grace learned that vertical design lines move the eye up and down and make the area appear taller and thinner. Like horizontal lines, her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues as to the proper placement of these design lines.
For her Body Shape, Grace wants vertical lines to go through her hip area because they will make this area appear thinner. She wants to limit them just in her shoulder/waist areas because they will make these areas appear even thinner making the hips appear even wider.
For her Body Proportions, Grace wants vertical lines between her bust/waist, crotch/knees and knees/floor because they will make these areas appear longer. On the other hand, she wants to limit them between her waist/crotch because she doesn’t want this area to appear even longer.
Grace looked for vertical lines on the dress and found three: V-neckline, diagonal empire seam under her bust and ties from the bust area to the waist area. All three of these vertical lines are between her shoulders and waist. These aren’t the best for her Body Shape. But because of the horizontal lines created by the sleeve hems the effects of the vertical lines are lessened. Also the empire’s waist diagonal line doesn’t have as much of an effect of making an area appear thinner as the V-neckline and tie do. As a result, the combination of horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines work for her Body Shape.
For her Body Proportions, the tie helps make the area between her bust/waist appear longer.
Shape Of Design Lines
Grace thought it was fascinating that her Face Shape gives her clues as to the shape of design lines, prints and accessories. Face Shapes have two categories: angular and curved. When one has an angular Face Shape they should wear angular design lines. On the other hand, if they have a curved Face Shape then they should wear curved design lines. She has a rectangle Face Shape which means she should wear angular design lines.
This dress has two main design line shapes: the neckline and print. The V-shape neckline is angular and is perfect for Grace. The print has long skinny leaves which have an angular feel, also perfect for Grace.
Color
One of Grace’s favorite colors is green. This is what attracted her to the dress in the first place. It’s not that often she can find a dress, skirt or top where the main color is green. She did learn that she also needed to consider the relative lightness and darkness of the colors in a print. This print is made up of different shades of green (monochromatic color combinations) on a white background. As a result the relative lightness and darkness of the colors has a high contrast.
Grace learned that her color contrast profile is medium. This means that the color of her skin compared to her hair is medium. She determined the best color combinations for her are triadic (every third color) and analogous (three colors beside each other). The best relative lightness and darkness between the lightest color and darkest color is medium.
Grace determined that the color combinations and relative contrast of the colors work for her in these combinations, because the monochromatic color combination has too little contrast and the relative lightness and darkness has a little too much contrast. Both balance themselves together along with the scale of the print. Grace is thrilled.
Scale
Grace learned that the combinations of the clues of her Skin, Hair, and Eye Color, Body Proportions and Body Frame Size give her a clue as to the scale of prints and accessories. She learned her overall scale strategy is small/medium.
The print on the dress is larger than what’s ideal for her. Grace tried on the dress with the accessories to determine how she felt in the dress. She learned that it’s almost impossible to find an outfit absolutely reflecting all her body’s clues in the ready to wear world. To figure out what doesn’t work she needs to ask herself how she feels. Where does she land on the continuum between feeling like she can conquer her world and feeling totally unconfident? She determined she felt on the end of feeling like she could conquer her world. This dress is a welcome addition to her closet.
Dress For Body Type -- Sandals
Grace next went to the shoe department looking for an espadrille wedge sandal. She thought the look of this type of sandal would go well with the dress. At first she only saw 4 and 5 inch heels. She was looking around the 2 inch area. She saw these and thought they would work with a long dress or pants.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Horizontal Lines
When looking for the sandals, Grace looked for ones without an ankle strap. She learned ankle strap shoes/sandals wouldn’t work for her Body Proportions. Her legs are significantly shorter than her torso. The ankle straps create a horizontal line above her ankle which causes her legs to appear even shorter. Because she plans on wearing them with long dresses and pants, hiding the strap, these sandals will work for her.
Shape Of Design Lines
Grace also looked for sandals with a square toe, because she has an angular Face Shape. She learned her Face Shape gives her clues as to shoe toe shape. These sandals have a rounded toe, however the wide strap at the bridge of the foot helps counterbalance the rounded toe. Yes she would prefer a square toe but this is second best.
Dress For Body Type -- Handbag
Grace wanted a white handbag to go with the sandals. A white handbag brings out the summer feel. She looked around at all the different brands for a crossbody and loved the simplicity of this one.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Shape Of Design Lines
Grace looked for handbags with an overall angular feel, because of her angular Face Shape. All her life she wondered why she always gravitated to angular handbags. Now she understands.
Dress For Body Type -- Necklace
After the handbag department, Grace went to the fashion jewelry department to look for a necklace and earrings. She loved the look of bracelets on her friends, but she didn’t like it when she put them on. Over the last several years she learned they don’t work for her because they bring attention to her hips. She’s amazed how all the clues work together.
Grace started out looking for silver necklaces to go with the chain on the handbag, but didn’t find one she liked. After looking for a while, she found this necklace and loved the delicateness of it. She put the necklace and handbag together and liked both together.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Shape Of Design Lines
Because she has a rectangle Face Shape, Grace looked for necklaces with an overall angular shape. It’s not always an easy task. She determined that this necklace has both angles and curves. To make sure it would work for her, she tried it on with the dress and other accessories. She felt like she could conquer her world. Because so many of the other design lines in the whole outfit work for her, she knew this necklace would work.
Dress For Body Type -- Earrings
Once she found the necklace, Grace looked for gold earrings. Specifically she looked for ones with an angular shape.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Shape Of Design Lines
These earrings have an angular shape matching her angular Face Shape, perfect for Grace.
Final Thoughts
Grace is excited about going to her cousin’s baby shower. She has an outfit that makes her feel like she can conquer her world. By wearing clothes that make her feel this way she has started to address the reasons behind her fears and anxieties. Her friends and family have seen a big change in her. It all started by wearing clothes with design lines and colors that match her body’s clues.
Veronica is going to a mastermind group with other startup companies to learn how to navigate this season of economic winter. The event is for 3 days. She wanted to get a few new outfits for it to make sure she always felt like she could conquer her world. This is a new feeling for her because she has not always felt this way because of her out of balance Body Proportions. To learn how she dresses for her body type go to: Dress For Body Type — Veronica.
Wear Your Greatness!!
