Shopping for design lines has opened up Veronica’s eyes. She’s always known clothes change how she feels. When she wears different colors, they bring out various aspects of her personality. Adding wearing the right design lines for her Body Elements takes her to a whole new level.
In Veronica’s job, she wears many hats and as a result her clothes need to reflect that. She tends to dress more on the formal side with classic lines; but there are times when she needs to wear casual clothes. On this shopping trip, she’s looking for an outfit in the business casual range.
She’s excited to share what she bought.
Veronica’s Body Elements
As a review, these are Veronica’s Body Element clues:
- Body Shape — X (Body Shape — The Girls)
- Curved clothes silhouette
- Can place horizontal and vertical lines almost anywhere when considering Body Shape
- Face Shape — Heart (Face Shape — The Girls)
- Curved design lines, prints and accessories
- Color Skin, Hair, Eyes — Low Color Contrast (Color Skin, Hair & Eyes — The Girls)
- Favorite Colors — Yellow, Violet, Red
- Color Combinations (other colors) — Analogous
- Color Combinations (relative lightness and darkness) — Low contrast
- First Scale Clue — Small
- Body Proportions — Short between bust/waist and waist/crotch, long between crotch/knees and knees/floor (Body Proportions — The Girls)
- Horizontal lines — Place them between her crotch/knees and knees/floor; don’t place them between her bust/waist and waist/crotch
- Vertical lines — Place them between her bust/waist and waist/crotch; don’t place them between her crotch/knees and knees/floor
- Second Scale Clue — Decrease overall scale between bust/waist and waist/crotch; increase it between crotch/knees and knees/floor
- Body Frame Size — Medium (Body Frame Size — The Girls)
- Third scale clue — Medium
- Scale Strategy — Small/Medium (Scale Strategy — The Girls)
- Decrease scale to small between her bust/waist and waist/crotch
- Increase to medium between her crotch/knees and knees/floor
Shopping For Design Lines -- Jacket, Jeans, Blouse and Booties
Veronica loves to wear jackets. You might say it’s her signature look. She saw a navy blue Bar III jacket and knew it was the starting point of this outfit. After seeing the grey DKNY booties, she changed to a grey jacket. She then saw a mannequin wearing a jacket paired with a pair of jeans and thought this was exactly the look she was going for. After that the rest of the outfit just came together. She’s excited to learn how she did in choosing these items.
Shopping For Design Lines -- Jacket
When Veronica saw this jacket, she knew she had to have it. She recently learned that she needs to look for lapels with curved design lines to match her curved face shape. Since this jacket is collarless it works perfectly for her. Also she thought the length works for her because since she has a short torso, the jacket will appear longer on her. Finally, she likes wearing navy blue, which has always been her core neutral color. For some reason, the navy adds to her confidence and black doesn’t. Because of the DKNY grey booties, she decided to branch out with her color scheme to charcoal grey. She thinks it’s a good secondary neutral for her.
Design Lines & Color
Veronica did a great job in choosing this jacket. The collarless jacket works perfect for her heart Face Shape. The opening creates a vertical line creating visual length to her short torso.
It’s a longer jacket so coupled with her torso being short, the length is perfect for her. The hem of the jacket hits just below her crotch making her short torso appear slightly longer. When the sleeves aren’t pushed up, the hem length is perfect for elongating the appearance of her torso.
The front pockets’ plackets create two horizontal lines near her waist. This is perfect for her Body Shape because it brings attention to her small waist. However, it’s not great for her short torso. It’s hard to find jackets without front horizontal pockets. Veronica can tuck the placket inside the pocket, eliminating one horizontal line.
The grey color is a perfect neutral for her favorite colors of yellow, violet and red. She’ll be able to wear tops of these colors underneath the jacket.
The one thing that might be a problem with the jacket is its silhouette. It’s closer to angular and Veronica’s silhouette is curved. She can take it to a tailor to have darts put in the back to create a curved silhouette. Front darts can’t be put in because of the horizontal pockets.
Shopping For Design Lines -- Jeans
When Veronica saw the mannequin wearing a pair of jeans with a suit jacket, a light went off in her head. She had been looking for casual pants to pair with the Bar III jacket but wasn’t finding anything that fit her curvy Body Shape. All her life, she’s had problems with pants because they’re too big in the waist when they fit in her hips. She just learned that she needs to look for pants with a label that says “curvy fit.”
Veronica looked for jeans with this label. She tried on several manufacturers/designers curvy fit jeans and found the INC ones fit the best.
Design Lines & Color
The best way to find good fitting pants is to make sure the silhouette works for you. Veronica did just that. It enabled her to focus on the ones that have a curvy silhouette, which matches her curvy X Body Shape. Unfortunately the fashion industry, at this moment in time, doesn’t provide many curvy fit pants. However, as more and more women understand the type of silhouette they have and ask for it, the fashion industry will provide more curvy fit pants.
The color of the pants pairs well with the jacket. Together they create a low color contrast.
Because Veronica’s Body Proportions between her bust and crotch are short, she won’t be able to tuck her tops in because the horizontal line it creates will make this area even shorter. As a result, all of the other design lines in the jeans won’t show.
The coloring creates vertical lines in the thighs and horizontal ones at the knees. Notice how the color is lighter on the front of the thigh and darker on the sides creating vertical lines. At the knees the color goes solid creating a horizontal line. These vertical lines make her thighs appear longer which isn’t great for her because Body Proportion-wise her legs are longer than her torso. However the horizontal line balances it out. Veronica should avoid pants that have vertical design lines that go the whole length of her legs. One thing she can do is to cuff the pants just above the booties. By adding cuffs it creates more horizontal lines resulting in the appearance of balance between her legs and torso.
Shopping For Design Lines -- Blouse
While in the women’s suit department exchanging the navy blue jacket for the grey one, Veronica found this top. At first she thought about a sweater but didn’t find any with the right design lines and colors. She loves ruffles and thought this one looked great.
Design Lines & Color
This blouse was a great find. Finding clothes with most of the right design lines and in the right color can be difficult. Ruffles are perfect for Veronica. They create a curved design line which matches her curved Heart Face Shape.
This ruffle also creates a vertical line which goes into a center front seam. Together, they create a vertical line which starts at her neck and goes down to her crotch. This line helps make her torso appear longer and more in balance with her legs.
There is a design line she can improve upon. This blouse has an angular silhouette which doesn’t match her curvy one. This is an easy problem to solve. She can have two vertical front and back darts sewn in, starting just under each bust and finishing at the hem. For Veronica this is the best way to transform the silhouette. She’s unable to use a belt because it creates a horizontal line, causing her torso to look even shorter. A benefit of adding these darts is they create vertical lines. When she wears the blouse with a pair of pants, visual length is added.
Shopping For Design Lines -- Booties
Veronica was helping her friend Monica find a pair of booties for her red dress and saw these booties. She tried them on and fell in love. She knew these booties would work well with a jacket and jeans. They helped give the classic look of the jacket and jeans an updated style. She likes wearing clothes with classic lines paired with trendy accessories. This way she can wear her classic clothes for a long time and keep updating them with less expensive accessories that are on trend.
Design Lines & Color
These booties are perfect for Veronica. The color works well with the jacket and her top. But what works the best is the horizontal lines it creates. Since her legs are longer than her torso, all the horizontal lines: top of the booties and each of the straps, help create the illusion that her legs are shorter than they actually are.
Veronica’s strategy of wearing on trend accessories is a great one for her because she likes wearing classic lines. It shows she’s staying current with new ideas but grounded in the basics. This represents who she is as a person. As a result, even though this outfit is a little out of her comfort zone, she’s able to tap into her confidence and personal power.
Summary
Jacket
All in all, Veronica did a great job with the jacket. Starting out with her signature article of clothing is a great place to start in any outfit. She’ll need to make a few adjustments by adding darts to the back to transform the angular silhouette into a curved one. Moving forward, she should keep a lookout for jackets without pockets that create horizontal lines.
To find a jacket with all the right design lines for her Body Elements, Veronica might want to invest in having one custom made for her. Because jackets are her signature and she wears them a lot, the cost per wearing will decrease.
Pants
Veronica learned when looking for pants that she should first look for ones with “curvy fit” on the labels. This way she doesn’t have to spend hours trying on pants. By narrowing the options, her trying on time was cut way down.
If she finds a regular fit (angular silhouette) pair of pants that works for her in every way except the silhouette, she can take it to her tailor/seamstress to have the waist taken in to fit her.
Veronica can also have her tailor/seamstress design pants that match her Body Elements. Yes it’ll cost a little more but the cost per wearing goes way down because she’ll wear them a lot more.
Blouse
She did a great job with the blouse. It’s one she can dress up when wearing it with a full suit or down when wearing it with jeans. To get items in her other favorite colors, she should keep a look out during other seasons. Manufacturers/designers create the same design in other colors throughout the year. She can visit Macys.com to keep an eye out when new colors are available or she can ask a stylist to keep a look out for her.
Booties
These booties are a great way to bring a little pizazz to any classic outfit. She’ll be able to wear them with many of her other outfits. Booties are great for her because they create horizontal lines that make her legs appear a little shorter.
Final Thoughts
Veronica is really starting to understand her Body Elements and knowing what design lines and colors will enhance it. She started out this process knowing that clothes change how she feels and now she’s able to take it to a whole new level. She’s excited to create a closet full of clothes she loves to wear so that everyday she feels like she can conquer her world.
New Year’s Eve is coming soon. Sam, Monica, Alice, Grace and Veronica are planning to celebrate it together. They’re planning a formal dinner with their spouses at Alice’s house. Each went shopping to find dresses. In the next 5 blog posts you’ll learn how much they’ve learned about picking dresses with the right design lines for them. The next post is called: Shopping For New Years Eve — Sam.
Wear Your Greatness!!
