This question from eternalvoyageur, concerning a previous post about strap size, inspired me to look a little deeper into the artistic principle of scale.
I wear a lot of spaghetti straps, since i have slender arms and shoulders.
I can’t figure out the proportion thing though… could you give us some rules ?
I wish I had it all worked out so I could give guidelines, but I don’t. We saw in the fashion lab you did that it’s not all about facial features: we couldn’t even see your face!
(I have a suspicion that visible bones – how can I say that nicely? – harmonize with spaghetti straps.)
Recommended purse strap width according to bone structure, from The Triumph of Individual Style : A Guide to Dressing Your Body, Your Beauty, Your Self
- small scale ~ less than 1/2″
- medium scale ~ 1/2″ to less than 1″
- large ~ 1″ to 1 1/2″
The scale of bone structure is determined at wrist and ankle, which can be different.
Applications:
- Logically, wrist bone structure would relate to upper body details, such as whether or not you wear spaghetti straps.
- Hmmm. Maybe this stuff works with belts too. Like a belt at the waist would be the scale of the upper body and a belt worn at the hip would be the scale of the lower body. (In my case, my wrist are smaller scale as compared to my ankles.)
- If you, like me, are a combination, scale your purse to your apparent body size.
Lately, I have noticed, stylish young ladies, modest but not necessarily small-scale, adapt their spaghetti straps to everyday wear by wearing a tank under. White is especially practical, a great accent and cool for summer.
Wow, thanks for answering my question ! I have small-scale wrists and am generally slender upper body, so that explains why I usually go for delicate jewellery. And if I do go for something chunky, I choose a delicately worked or intricate design that looks “light”. But my ankles are bigger scale, so that means that I should get some heavier anklets instead of my delicate ones…
But you still aren’t very big, so probably medium size is plenty. That’s what I’m thinking I need to do for myself: small for the top and medium for the bottom. I may have to overhaul my entire belt wardrobe!
I love the spaghetti strap top with a tank underneath. I’ve been thinking about this since I am not comfortable wearing spaghetti straps in public–and I still have baby weight to lose. I haven’t been brave enough to try it yet though.