Two books which reference the angularity vs fleshiness we’ve been talking about, but which I have not read are:
Color and line in dress, by Laurene Hempstead
David Kibbe’s Metamorphosis: Discover Your Image Identity and Dazzle As Only You Can
I’m going to try to get to the library and/or used book store today.
Mentioned in the Amazon review page for Kibbe’s book were his list of style-type designations: Dramatic, Romantic, Theatrical, Classic, Natural, Flamboyant, Gamine.
Nothing to Wear?: A Five-Step Cure for the Common Closet only lists 5 style types; my sporty/FUN daughter was quite offended that her elegance didn’t even rate a designation. Personally, I’m still trying to some up with a set of names I’m thoroughly comfortable with. I’m stuck at Sporty.
Which one of Kibbe’s styles do you think that is?
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| Your Blogging Type is Commanding and Larger Than Life |
 In blogging circles, you tend to rise to the top with your take charge personality.
You are driven to solve problems, connect bloggers, and be an influential force.
You are also motivated to keep your blog fresh and high quality.
Your hard work has paid off - you set a high standard for other bloggers to aspire to. |
What’s” Your Blogging Personality?
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The question What’s Your Blogging Personality? and my anwer, as well as the link to take the quiz yourself, are now appearing at Riveting Questions, thanks to Wendy who picked it up from Susie at Style Bubble.
Appearing at a titus 2 project, a US geography game courtesy of Mary at Homesteeped Hope. BTW, I got 48/48 on my third try, but it still told me that I failed the third grade!
Fun stuff!
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This post is totally unrelated to my “gingerly wading” into a sea of shower water in my basement this morning. I’m putting myself on a plumbing bleaching schedule!
Gingerly wading into the sea of confusion surrounding the “flowiness” of fabric, I’ll start by calling out the idea, as requested by Jennifer, behind the rule of the thumb prescribed in The Triumph of Individual Style:
The principle is to create straight lines where your body is straight and curved lines where your body is curvy. (Remember this saddlebag solution? That was a medium taut fabric constructed into a curved shape. Hmmm … like a fitted jacket or blouse with darts.)
In this, and most of the other artistic principles I have blogged, harmony is created between clothing and the body of the wearer by repetition. Using a color palette based on your own personal coloring is an obvious example.
Contrast is another way of achieving harmony, and emphasis. (Boy, do I feel the need for an art teacher about now!) In color, the example would be to use the complement of your natural color.
(No doubt Wendy is correct in suggesting that fabric choices are related to personal idiom, even as Vildy had noted that she has a “crisp personality”.)
But what about Jennifer’s other question: Doesn’t that make you look more extreme? Which emphasizes the natural straightness or curviness of the body more, repetition or contrast?
More thoughts? If one learns best by discussing a subject, I suspect I’m going to be on this one for a while.
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It’s frosty here in the Great Northwest. Shop Eddie Bauer for the season’s must haves, such as Men’s Down, Women’s Down, and Down Bedding.
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With the days getting shorter, some unnatural melancholy is beginning to surface around here. Nobody really wants to admit being depressed but, hey, I’ll go first.
I have used this product in the past, with amazing results. Honestly, it worked so well I ended up giving away the last half of the bottle. It’s hard to find, but …
Yay! it’s available from Amazon.
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Vildy’s comment hits me right in the uncertainty zone (at least we’re there together:)
I’m not sure anymore how I feel about textures. I would wear this out to a casual evening but not stretch velveteen in the daytime. Not any more, anyway. I’ve just gotten rid of all of my flannel suit jackets, skirts, trousers. I realized I never wanted to wear them because I like smooth fabrics. I like fabrics with substance and crispness, too. This goes against the whole “there should be movement in your clothing” philosophy.
I get a lot out of reading your thinking about clothes and life. I’d love it if you’d write more about texture. Even though I’m rounded, I have a crisp personality and feel awkward in soft, draped clothes - like I’m selling a bill of goods.
The textbook answer to the taute vs drapy fabric question is this:
Skeletal (straight line) body types wear taut fabrics, muscular = semi-taut to semi-drape, molded (smooth, where the natural padding obscures the visibility of either bone or muscle) types wear drapy fabrics. Combination types wear taut on the straight parts and drapy on the smooth parts.
But that advice has never suited my personality either. And it seems to contradict Clinton and Stacy’s regular practice of making chubby people look slender by putting them in structured jackets.
Lots more on this topic to come. What are your thoughts?
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This is really weird! Are you seeing double like I am? My post, A Universal Skirt Silhouette, somehow split when I published the comments. Neither commenter so far would wear the skirt. Curious why?
Wendy said:
“I’m definitely a V. But I’m also way short. Just shy of 5′. So my best bet is a pencil skirt. (I do have one with box pleats all around the bottom. But to look reasonable they begin at the knee. Very retro 50’s inspired.)
I can also wear a short a-line. But if it’s long, a straight skirt is much better for me.”
I figured there would be some issues I had not considered and height is definitely one of them. Being (almost) 5′6″, it’s never been much of a consideration for me. But one of the things I love about blogging (and reader participation) is seeing things from other people’s viewpoints.
Sarita Raye said:
I would have probably worn something like that when I was in college. If I lived somewhere colder, snowier, and less urban than Chicago, and had a job with a somewhat-dressed-up-but-not-too-strict dress code, I would totally wear a skirt like that one. I would choose a more closely fitted sweater, though. And a colorful scarf and imitation shearling boots, flat or low-heeled of course. And it would be pretty fabulous. But for some reason I really can’t see myself wearing that outfit in Chicago; I just wouldn’t feel like myself in it. Interesting how our environments can shape our clothing personalities…
Definitely a Great Northwest look, Eddie Bauer is high style around here. If I bought that skirt, I’d wear it to church. With suede boots and a fitted sweater.
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