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?
Okay, I know: Natural.
Kibbe, I think, still offers a makeover service so I’m surprised that he doesn’t update the book with more current photos. The Hempstead book is replete with detailed line drawings that really do show exactly the same figure in enhancing and detracting styles. It works like those drawings that show you 2 identical line segments and ask which is longer, the one with Vs that extend out or Vs that enclose it. She even includes that one to explain what she’s doing.
About the style types. I was just reading Alison Lurie’s The Language of Clothes and she says that when it is announced that fashion is dead that instead of the tyranny of “this year’s look” the industry promotes “individual looks.” You guessed it: Classic, Feminine, Sporty, Sophisticate and Ingenue. Women are then encouraged to choose which suits their life style and hopefully to choose many of these wardrobes for each component of their lives!
I still think that communicating who you “are” is valid but when I read that I had one of those Ding! moments when the scales fall from your eyes.
One of Lurie’s most interesting points is elaborated on in her section comparing the dress of different countries and regions – that people tend to match the colors and shapes of their environment. This put me in mind immediately of your discussion of that attractive skirt as being part of a common look in your region.
It was interesting to read the testimonials of people who had gone to him on the Amazon site, they either loved him or thought he was stuck in 1984.
The thought of people matching their environments probably explains the popularity of yellow in Texas, too. When I first wrote the style quizilla, I got in trouble from my friend in Texas for not including yellow or peach as an option for favorite color. Honestly, around here yellow is almost despised.
Wonder what that says about New Yorkers only wearing black? I feel another post coming on.
Dearest Rebecca,
How can the color of sunshine and happiness be despised? What does that say of the people? 🙂 (you know I am kidding) Germans wear black all the time as well, and I always thought it more indicative of their worldview than their environment. If they were to match their environment they would wear green (lush grassy hills), red (all the rooftops), or white (the snow)…but perhaps I am missing the point.
Actually, I laughed a bit when I got my Eddie Bauer catalog and saw the long sweaters that were popular when I lived in the Great Northwest …why? Apparantly they are still popular there. That look never caught on here and seems very out of date to me, but then again, you don’t like my capris!
Love,
Susan, your sunny friend in sunny Texas
I did not know that Germans wore black all the time, too.
In my memories of Germany, the environment was very much like Oregon. In addition to the colors you mentioned: gray to match the skies.
Oh, and my mom is wearing one of those long (belted) sweaters, in my memories of childhood. So I probably never will. 🙂