Learning to dress for her body type has been a game changer for Alice. Her confidence in herself and abilities has skyrocketed. Not just the fact she’s wearing the right clothes for her body, but knowing she and her body were created beautifully. She just needed to learn what design lines and colors enhance her body.
As a result, Alice is stepping into her own power at work. Now she feels like she’s more present in the moment and is able to use her gifts even more. The same thing is happening at home. She’s more present with her family and is enjoying life even more.
Alice and her family are going to her family reunion and she needs some clothes. The weather is nice during the day and cooler at night. She bought tops, cardigans and jeans with accessories.
Alice is sharing one of the outfits for one of the days.
Alice’s Body Elements
As a review, these are Alice’s Body Element clues:
- Body Shape — V (Body Shape — The Girls)
- Angular clothes silhouette
- Horizontal lines — Place them at her waist and hips, and avoid placing them at her shoulders
- Vertical lines — Place them between her chin and bust, and avoid placing them at her waist and hips
- Face Shape — Rectangle (Face Shape — The Girls)
- Angular design lines, prints and accessories
- Color Skin, Hair, Eyes — Low Color Contrast (Color Skin, Hair & Eyes — The Girls)
- Favorite Colors — Olive Green, Coral, Violet
- Color Combinations (other colors) — Analogous
- Color Combinations (relative lightness and darkness) — Low contrast
- First Scale Clue — Small
- Body Proportions — Short between chin/bust, Long between waist/crotch (Body Proportions — The Girls)
- Horizontal lines — Place them between her waist/crotch, and don’t place them between her chin/bust
- Vertical lines — Place them between her chin/bust, and limit them between her waist/crotch
- Second Scale Clue — Decrease overall scale between chin/bust and increase it between waist/crotch
- Body Frame Size — Medium (Body Frame Size — The Girls)
- Third scale clue — Medium
- Scale Strategy — Small/Medium (Scale Strategy — The Girls)
- Decrease scale to small between her chin/bust
- Increase to medium between her waist/crotch
Dress For Body Type -- Top
Alice was drawn to this top because it has two of her favorite colors: coral and olive green. She looked at the design lines in the top and print and she thought they would work perfectly for her body type. When she tried it on she knew it was the right top for the trip.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Alice first looked at the silhouette of the top. She knows that silhouettes come in two categories: angular and curved. In an angular silhouette the shoulders, waist and hips appear to be all the same width. While a curved silhouette the waist is significantly smaller than both the shoulders and waist. Her Body Shape gives her the clue as to which category she should wear.
Alice learned she had a V Body Shape, which means her shoulders are significantly wider than her waist and hips which were even in width. This Body Shape is in the angular category because her waist and hips are the same width.
When Alice looked at the top’s side seam from under the arm to the hem she saw it was a straight line, perfect for her Body Shape. She thinks that it could fit a curvy Body Shape because it’s made out of a knit. Then she thought her friend Grace, who has an A Body Shape, would love this style of top. It comes in several different patterns and colors.
Horizontal Lines
Alice next looked for horizontal lines. They stop the eye, emphasize the area and make the area appear wider and shorter. Her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues where to place these design lines.
For her Body Shape, Alice wants to avoid them in her shoulder area because horizontal lines will emphasize this area and make them appear even wider. On the other hand, she wants them in her waist and hip area because horizontal lines will emphasize these areas, make them appear wider and create balance with her wider shoulder area.
For her Body Proportions, Alice is short between her chin/bust and long between her waist/crotch. This means she wants to avoid horizontal lines between her chin/bust because they will make this area even shorter. On the other hand, she wants horizontal lines between her waist/crotch because they will make this area appear shorter creating better overall balance.
This top has only one horizontal line and it’s the hem which lies between Alice’s waist and hips which is perfect for both her Body Shape and Body Proportions.
Vertical Lines
Alice next looked for the top’s vertical lines. They move the eye up and down and make the area appear thinner and longer. As with horizontal lines, vertical design line clues come from Body Shape and Body Proportions.
For her Body Shape, Alice wants vertical lines in her widest area, her shoulders. This is because they move the eye away from this area and make the area appear thinner.
For her Body Proportions, Alice wants vertical lines between her chin/bust area because they will make this area appear longer, creating balance with the rest of her body.
This top has one set of vertical lines between Alice’s chin and bust: the V-neckline. It moves the eye away from the shoulders, making the area appear thinner and longer. Both are perfect for Alice.
Shape Of Design Lines
Alice learned that the shape of design lines is also important to consider. When looking at this top she looked at the neckline, other design lines sewed into it and the print shape. Design line shape has two categories: angular and curved. Angular shapes have angles and straight lines while curved shapes are all curved and flowy. She learned her Face Shape gives her the clue to which category she should wear.
Alice has a rectangle Face Shape. This means she should wear design lines with angular shapes.
This top has two design line shapes to evaluate: the neckline and print. It has a V-neckline which has an angle in it, perfect for Alice. The print is floral with lots of curves not perfect to match her Face Shape. However she learned that she most likely won’t be able to get all the design line details right. Because the other clues are matching she can work with it.
Color
Several years ago, Alice determined that olive green, coral and violet are her favorite colors to wear. They enhance the color of her Skin, Hair and Eyes. She also learned that the color of her Skin, Hair and Eyes also give her clues as to which color combination and the relative lightness and darkness of the colors work for her.
Alice’s clue comes from the relative lightness and darkness between her Skin, Hair and Eye. This is called her color contrast profile. Her color contrast profile is low. This means she should wear monochrome (color in the same color family) or analogous color (three colors next to each other on the color wheel) combinations. The relative lightness and darkness of these colors should be all on the same rung of the color wheel when wearing analogous colors.
The top’s print has Alice’s favorite olive green and coral. These two colors together create part of a triadic color combination (olive green, coral and violet). The relative lightness and darkness of the colors is close to a medium/high contrast which is way above her low color contrast profile.
This season’s coral and olive green colors are Alice’s favorite, so she thought she could find a print more in her range. Sadly she couldn’t. She knew she would be wearing a cardigan most of the time, so she thought bringing in an olive green cardigan would tone down the high contrast of the top’s print. She was right.
Scale
Before Alice learned the clues the coloring of her Skin, Hair and Eyes give her, she shied away from prints. She could never figure out what size to wear. Now she has been experimenting around with different sizes or scales. Her low color contrast profile gives her the clue she should wear small scale prints and accessories.
This top’s scale is medium/large, much too big for Alice. She looked for smaller scale prints, but couldn’t find them. While trying on the olive green cardigan she noticed that the scale was toned down along with the high contrast in color combinations and relative lightness and darkness of the colors.
Dress For Body Type -- Cardigan
Alice next looked for a cardigan because the area where she’s going is much cooler at night than during the day. She loved the multi levels.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Alice looked at the cardigan’s side seams to determine if the silhouette is angular or curved. She noted that the seam went straight down from the underarm to the hem which puts it into the angular category. This is perfect for her.
Horizontal Lines
The main horizontal line on this cardigan lands at her waist. This is a great placement for both her Body Shape and Body Proportions. For her Body Shape, the eye goes to her waist making this area appear wider creating balance with her shoulders. Also for her Body Proportions having a horizontal line at her waist is also perfect because it makes the area between her waist/crotch appear shorter creating balance with the rest of her body.
Vertical Lines
This cardigan has several sets of vertical lines. The first set lies in the raglan sleeves. They start at either side of her neck and go down under each arm. These vertical lines make her wider shoulders appear thinner creating balance with the rest of her body. For her Body Proportions this set of vertical lines make this short area appear longer.
The next set of vertical lines lie in the center front opening. The eye goes from the shoulders down to her horizontal line at the waist and then down to mid-thigh. This is also perfect for Alice’s Body Shape making her shoulders appear thinner. For her Body Proportions, the center front opening makes this same area appear longer. With the cardigan creating a horizontal line at her waist and the top creating a horizontal line at her mid-hip, the vertical line doesn’t make the area between her waist/crotch appear longer.
The vertical lines on this cardigan are perfect for Alice.
Shape Of Design Lines
The cardigan has two sets of design line shapes: where the center front vertical line transitions into a horizontal line and where it transitions into the hem. Both transitions have angles which is perfect for her angular Face Shape.
Color
This is one of Alice’s favorite colors: olive green, and is one of the main reasons why she picked it. She also thought it tones down the triadic color combination and the medium relative lightness and darkness of the top. When she puts the top and cardigan on together she loves how it feels. She knows she’ll be wearing it with a lot of different outfits.
Dress For Body Type -- Pants
Alice wanted a new pair of white jeans for the summer and thought this would be the perfect outfit for them. In the past she has always shied away from flared jeans, but learned that they can create balance with her shoulders. She’s amazed how the right design lines can create overall balance.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Horizontal Lines
The waistband and the top of the pockets create horizontal lines on this pair of jeans. Because she is long between her waist/crotch area the waistband lies just below her belly button and then the top of the pockets lay around 4 inches below that.
For her Body Shape, when she tucks in the top these horizontal lines are perfect for both her Body Shape and Body Proportions. For her Body Shape these horizontal lines create width and balance with her shoulders. Because she’s long between her waist/crotch area, these horizontal lines make this area appear shorter.
Alice plans to wear the top out so these horizontal lines won’t be seen.
Vertical Lines
The center front seam line where the zipper lies creates a vertical line. This vertical line can’t be avoided because it’s an interracial part of any pair of pants. Because of the horizontal lines created by the waistband and pockets, the impact of this vertical line for Alice is lessened.
Dress For Body Type -- Sandals
The next department Alice went to is the shoe department. She wanted wedge sandals to go with the outfit. Unfortunately, she saw a lot of 3 and 4 inch heels, but she doesn’t feel comfortable in that high of a heel. She was looking for a 2 inch heel. As a result, she had a really hard time finding one with an angular toe shape, and a 2 inch heel, white and her size. She didn’t find any with those specs so she went to macys.com and found these. They have the right toe shape but the heel is a little higher than she wanted. When she received them, she tried them on with the outfit and loved them. Even though they’re a little higher than she preferred, they were comfortable.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Shape Of Design Lines
Alice learned that the shape of a shoe toe is an important part of how she feels. She found that her angular Face Shape gave her the clue. After searching long and hard she couldn’t find a pair of white wedge sandals with an angular toe shape, white and a heel around 2 inches. So she settled on this 3 inch pair. After her long hard search she was happy and they were comfortable.
Dress For Body Type -- Necklace
Finding an angular shape pendant necklace can be difficult. When Alice found this one she knew it was perfect.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Shape Of Design Lines
Alice looked for pendant necklaces with an overall angular feel. She found most necklaces have an overall curved feel. The lock itself was angular which gave her the feel she was looking for.
Dress For Body Type -- Earrings
As with necklaces, Alice found it was hard to find a pair of earrings that had the angular feel. She also loved this because they had an unusual shape.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Shape Of Design Lines
Because Alice has an angular Face Shape, she looked for earrings with an angular shape. When she found these she knew they were the ones.
Final Thoughts
Alice has learned she needs to be patient when looking for clothes and accessories with the right design lines and colors for her. She knows that most likely every detail won’t be perfect. As a result she makes sure the silhouette, horizontal and vertical lines work while for her Body Shape and Body Proportion. Unfortunately design line shapes, color combinations and relative lightness and darkness of those, aren’t perfect. However, she just tries her best to make them as close as possible. By having this knowledge she’s become more confident in determining which clothes help her feel like she can conquer her world. She knows not finding the right design lines and colors has nothing to do with her body because she’s beautiful just the way she is.
Next up is Grace sharing clothes she’ll be wearing to a high school graduation party for her niece. In years past, she might have made excuses because she didn’t feel comfortable going to parties. Now she understands which design lines work best for her body, and she has found the confidence she had in her 20’s. To find out which design lines work for Grace’s body, go to: Dress For Body Type — Grace.
Wear Your Greatness!!
