Since Grace learned that dressing for your body type helps you feel more confident, she’s been on a life changing path. By wearing clothes that work for your body her confidence in herself and abilities has skyrocketed. She’s starting to feel like her old self when she was in college.
Grace went shopping to find an outfit to wear on her and her friends wine tasting tour with their husbands on Labor day. She didn’t find anything she liked. Before she understood how to dress for her body type, she would have gotten down on herself and her body. Now she knows the ‘design of the season’ doesn’t work for her body. This is a big step for her.
Grace wandered into the dress department and found a dress she loved. It works perfectly for her body type except for the length. She knew that could be easily changed. Keep reading to find out what designs work best for her body.
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
Dressing For Your Body Type -- Dress
Grace wandered into the dress department. She always loved the way Calvin Klein and DKNY ‘fit and flare’ dresses fit her. She stumbled onto this Calvin Klein shirtdress. She looked at the design lines and thought they would work for her body type except for one. But she knew she could have it altered to make it perfect.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
The first design line Grace looked at is the silhouette. The silhouette is the outside line of the outfit, and is the difference between the shoulders/waist, waist/hips and hips/shoulders. It comes in two categories: angular and curved. In an angular silhouette, the shoulders, waist and hips appear to be the same width. While a curved silhouette, the waist is significantly smaller than the shoulders and hips. Her Body Shape gives her the clue as to which category.
Grace has an A (pear) Body Shape; this means her waist is significantly smaller than her shoulders, and her shoulders are significantly smaller than her hips. This Body Shape falls into the curved category, and gives her the clue of a curved silhouette.
This shirtdress is a ‘fit and flare’ which means that it fits at the waist and flares out at the hips. This style creates a curved silhouette and perfect for Grace’s Body Shape clues.
Horizontal Lines
Grace learned that horizontal lines can be either her friend or foe. It all depends on their placement. She learned that they stop the eye, emphasize the area, and make it appear wider and shorter. Her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues as to the placement of these design lines.
For her Body Shape, Grace wants to avoid horizontal lines at her hips. However, she wants them at her shoulders, waist and mid-hip because horizontal lines will stop the eye and emphasize these areas, and more importantly make these areas appear wider creating better balance.
For her Body Proportions, Grace wants to avoid horizontal lines between her bust/waist and knees/floor because she’s short in these areas. A horizontal line placed in these areas will make them appear even shorter. To create better balance she wants to place them between her waist/crotch area because she’s long in this area.
This shirtdress has many horizontal lines: the lapel collar, shoulder placket, patch pockets, pocket flaps, belt, sleeve and dress hem. The lapel collar, shoulder placket, patch pockets, pocket flap, belt and sleeve hem all work well for Grace’s Body Shape because they bring emphasis to these areas, making them appear wider which creates better balance with her hips.
For her Body Proportions however; the belt and dress hem placement isn’t the best because they make their respective area shorter. On closer examination Grace thought because she is naturally short between her bust/waist, she could place the top of the belt at her belly button creating length between her waist and bust. She also knew she could have the hem of the dress shortened to lie just above her knee. With the adjustment of the hem, both would work perfect for her Body Proportions.
Vertical Lines
Grace then looked at the vertical design lines on the dress. She knows vertical lines move the eyes up and down and also make the area appear thinner and longer. Her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues as to the placement of these design lines.
For her Body Shape, Grace wants a vertical design line to go through her hip area because it will move the eye away from this area and make it appear thinner. She doesn’t want them to be just in her shoulder and waist areas because these areas will appear even thinner making her hips appear wider.
For her Body Proportions, Grace wants vertical design lines to go between her bust/waist and knees/floor areas to make these areas appear longer. She doesn’t want this type of design line to be just between her waist/crotch area because it will make this area appear longer.
This dress has one vertical line going from the lapel to the hem created by the center front opening. This vertical line works well for both her Body Shape and Body Proportions.
Design Lines Shape
The final design aspect Grace looked for on the dress is design line shape. Design lines can come in different shapes: angular and curved. As the names suggest, angular design lines create angles and curved design lines are curved.
Grace’s Face Shape gives her clues as to which category works best for her. She has a rectangle Face Shape which means angular design line shapes work best for her.
Grace found four different design line shape areas: lapel, patch pocket flaps, patch pockets and belt buckle. All four of these areas have angular design line shapes, perfect for her Face Shape clue.
Dressing For Your Body Type -- Shoes
While looking in the shoe department, Grace came across these shoes. She knew it would go well with the dress and whole outfit. Most Mary Jane shoes she’s seen in the past had a round toe which doesn’t work for her body’s clue. She loves the look of this type of shoe and is excited to finally get a pair.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Shape Of Design Lines
With Grace’s Face Shape falling into the angular category, she wants to wear shoes with a square and pointed toe. She’s seen a lot of pointed shoes and is excited to wear a square toed one. This shoe works well for her Face Shape clue.
Dressing For Your Body Type -- Necklace
Grace next wandered over to the fashion jewelry department. She started by looking for a necklace. What caught her eye was the different fall colored beads. She also liked the various shapes that created a texture. Finally she thought she could wear it long or double looped around her neck. With this dress she likes the double loop.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Shape Of Design Lines
Grace noticed the bead came in both angular and curved shapes. She wasn’t concerned about the curved shapes because the dress had so many angular design line shapes that a few curved shaped ones didn’t take away from the angular ones.
Dressing For Your Body Type -- Earrings
Once she found the necklace, Grace looked for earrings to complement the necklace and dress. She loves the angular shape of the hoop earrings. They normally have a round shape but she likes the different shape.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Shape Of Design Lines
The hoop earrings have a rectangular shape which matches Grace’s Face Shape clue.
Final Thoughts
After years of believing there must be something wrong with her body, Grace now knows her body is perfect just the way it is. She just needed to understand what design lines enhance it. Now that she understands that the clothes she wears are helping her tap into her confidence. This allows her to take steps forward to address what’s stopping her from pursuing her passions.
Next week Vanessa will share what she’s wearing at wine tasting on Labor Day. The post is: Dressing For Your Body Type — Vanessa.
Wear Your Greatness!!
