Apparent Body Size
It’s hard to tell how big somebody is just by looking.
In this post with picture, I noted that when I wear these particular jeans a frequent comment is that I look small. To which Maria Palma said it was hard to tell from the picture that I look small. She’s right.
But even in person, looks can be deceiving. I have one friend who is about my size, but somehow she appears to be a larger-scale woman. Presumably her larger scale features and exotic appearance create a greater “presence”, making her seem larger-than-life, so to speak.
So what goes into apparent body size?
- Height
- Width
- Supposedly that’s all. I wonder. That in no way explains why gifts to my two daughters are invariably smalls while mine is medium.
Selecting the everyday purse is the primary reason to identify apparent body size.
What about you, do people tend to guess your size wrong?
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Accessories: Embellishments or Infrastructure?
“Accessories are also the infrastructure of a well-designed outfit. If you don’t have it, your outfit will crumble.”
Brenda Kinsel, from the book Brenda Kinsel’s Fashion Makeover
In the course of focusing on my own comeback, I have finally come to the place in my wardrobe life where I recognize my need for a basic assortment of accessories. Serendipitously, I am also reading this book. Allow me to go out on a limb here and suggest that if you, like me, are an accessory retard, this book could change that. The author does a fabulous job keeping accessories in their proper role, suggesting pieces which support your personal coloring and relate to the scale of your facial features.
She also suggests, after going through what you have and deciding what to keep, but before shopping, that you play with your accessories, grouping them by color (including metals). Take photos.
Without even doing the project I know what I need: necklaces.
- silver to support my hair color (I already have pearls),
- pink to add color near my face when wearing a neutral outfit, and
- brown to enhance my eyes and complete the infrastructure effect of brown buttons and belt.
Often when getting dressed, I know I need a third color near my face. Without a necklace (or scarf, but I don’t like them) my options are limited
Knowing that I don’t like to spend money AND I my stamina for accessory shopping is limited, where would you recommend I look for accessories and costume jewelry? Have you found any good deals lately?
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More on Apparent Body Size
Laura left a fascinating comment on my post Apparent Body Size. I didn’t want anybody to miss it, so here it is:
I think that frame size has a LOT to do with it. I have two sisters who are within an inch of each others’ height and within a few pounds of each others’ weight.Yet one of them is apparently-tiny, and one of them is apparently-strapping. Tiny has a small frame, delicate features, and carries most of her excess weight where it can be easily disguised. Strapping has a broad, strong-looking frame, large hands and bosoms, and some facial softness that makes her look like she’s carrying around a few extra pounds.
It’s not just clothing size that people guess, either. People often perceive Strapping as several inches taller than Tiny. Heck, people perceive *me* as taller than Tiny, and I’m shorter — but like Strapping, I’ve got a broad, solid frame to Tiny’s narrow, delicate one.
Very interesting!
As I’ve said before, it mystifies me why people generally assign me a medium body. I am smaller than both of my daughters and yet, if we were all given shirts for Christmas by the same giver, mine would undoubtedly be a medium and their’s smalls.
Now I’m going to be analyzing everyone’s apparent size by looking at their face. Anybody else?
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Scale in the Upper Body
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.
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Teen Style Tuesday: Spaghetti Straps?
Just in time for summer, an admonition concerning strap size:
Keep strappy construction details on the upper body in scale with the wearer. Even a slender woman can look burly in spaghetti straps.
This looks more proportional.
In addition, it’s my opinion that most people look uncomfortable wearing strapless.
But this last look would look good on alot of people. Would you wear it?
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Another Belt Fashion Lab: Width AND Placement
Updated. More of the same set of pictures. 
After seeing all these, I have two observations:
- I like the belt at the waist with the knee length looks and at the hip with the full length looks. Last week, with a long skirt, I played around with the positioning of the belt and ended up liking it at high hip. I suspect we’re looking at length-balancing here, rather than a silhouette issue.
- The belt needs to be in scale with the other details of the outfit. For example, look how much better the wide belt looks with the jeans and white top, but it seems to overwhelm the dress. With the dress, the skinny belt is better. Can anybody explain why I like the skinny belt with the skirt and top, but I prefer the wide belt with the black tank and leggings?
Many thanks to eternalvoyageur for coming up with the idea for this and sending in these great pictures. Without further ado: wide belt and skinny belt, tested worn at waist and hip. (My much less thorough test of the same idea).
With so many pictures to look at, I’m simply going to ask:
What conclusions do you draw from this experiment?
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Prints from Oscar De La Renta’s Resort 09 Collection
Since this has been a print week and Coutorture has photos available from Oscar’s Resort ‘09 collection, and Dior Cruise ‘09 too, I thought we’d take a look at some prints, Fashion Lab-style.
Compare the use of scale in these first two. Who is flattered and who is just plain overwhelmed?
In this second set, in addition to scale, we can study line movement and especially direction. (Also note that the deep, square neckline, which is visually in balance, acts kind of as a solid to separate the print from the face.)
Just for fun, here’s thumbnails of some more pictures.
Which is your favorite look? That last picture is me. 
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Using Scale to Select Prints
In selecting prints, the stealthiest mistake I make - tell me if this one get you too - is in this:
The scale of the figures in the print should be in harmony with the scale of the facial features.
In other words, no large florals for me!
Are your features small, medium, large or extra-large? A combination? Look at length and width of:
- Eyes and eyebrows
- Nose
- Lips
Also consider how much facial space surrounds your features. Obviously this relates to how much background space you would want in a print.
This isn’t a precise science. But does it give you any ideas why certain prints have never worked for you?
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Fashion Lab: Should I Keep It?
Cast your vote: Should I keep it?
- If fit were the only consideration, this jacket would be a keeper. It fits flawlessly with or without a belt. The problem? (Those of you who see the description in your browser already know.) It’s polyester! (Someday I’ll do an entire post on the evils of wearing polyester clothing, including at least one you’ve probably never thought of.)
- The print in this blouse is perfectly in scale with my features and, when combined with charcoal gray, the colors are fine. The problem, again, is the fabric. And individual style idiom. Can you see me in leopard?
- These jeans reminded me of the ones pictured back here, and I found them for $8 yesterday at Goodwill, on the boutique side. I’m not really considering biffing them.
- When I pictured these shoes back here Anonymous said, “your shoes kill an otherwise chic ensemble”. I love these shoes! Look at the shapely heels! Help me out here, ladies, are they totally tacky?
- One more thing, as long as we’re talking about this outfit, would you recommend wearing this together? On a Casual Friday, out to Thai, with a bunch of hero’s co-workers?
Now, if you’ve been closet-cleaning and would like us to vote on your items as well, you may send me a link to a post and I will add it to this post. Oh, and, of course, I will come over and give you what help I can.
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Reader Question: Trench Coat Length for an Hourglass Figure
Or should I have titled this “I love fashion research?” And it’s not just an excuse to avoid doing any work. At least I don’t think it is.
Vildy asks:
Can I ask a question about balance in design here? I have a silky dark navy raincoat with white pin dots. I like the contradiction between the feminine fabric and the full-out trench detailing. It isn’t my best look - the fullness, the belted trench, the epaulets and belted sleeves, the full cape back bodice, the half cape front bodice, the semi-dolman sleeves - but I like it.
Here’s what I’m wrestling with. It was an 80’s style with the rounded extended shoulder pads. I replaced these with smaller and somewhat crisper. The former length balanced all this “design.” But it was ankle-length on me - I’m 5 feet with that all around hourglass.
My first thought was that I had to be careful how much I shortened it because of needing to balance the top fullness. So I have it around mid-calf, perhaps a bit higher. Looking at runway pictures I see many similar full cut trenches that are knee length and even above the knee. It gives a very wide poofy effect even on the slender models.
What do you think?
My off-cuff-answer was “not above the knee”, but here’s what I found after a bit more research.
- Generally these looks measure two “units” above the belt and three below. That is in accordance with the basic laws of proportion governing the universe.
- But I think some of them are belted above the natural waist. Okay for a skinny model, not actually workable for a genuine Type X figure.
- And then there is the matter of the sleeves. Nearly all of them were 3/4 length or at least pushed up. I suppose that is merely parenthetical to the actual point here.
- But shape is the elusive element. If you belted the coat at the first natural-looking spot below the bust and then hemmed the coat to a length (from the belt) 1 and 1/2 times the length from shoulder to belt, would the “skirt” of the coat poof or drape? Would the overall silhouette be an hourglass, a figure eight, or a mish-mash? And would the length be above the knee or below?
If it worked, it could be fresh, pretty, and springy.
Picture “borrowed” from Elle.com. Subscribe here
