Sam and her friends: Monica, Alice, Grace and Veronica are shopping for New Year’s Eve dresses. They decided to celebrate what they’ve accomplished in 2021 as well as the start of 2022. They chose to celebrate by having a formal dinner at Alice’s home and planned to wear cocktail dresses. This is something new for them, but with all they’ve been through the last couple of years they’re celebrating not only surviving but also thriving.
Wearing a cocktail dress is a new experience for Sam. She really doesn’t wear dresses. Growing up she was into sports and never wore them. Today as an architect she still never wears dresses. They just don’t work for her lifestyle. She knows there are times when she needs to wear one so this is a good opportunity to find the basic black dress she can dress up or down.
Sam’s excited to share her findings.
Sam’s Body Elements
As a review, these are Sam’s Body Element clues:
- Body Shape — H (Body Shape — The Girls)
- Angular clothes silhouette
- Can place horizontal and vertical lines almost anywhere when considering Body Shape
- Face Shape — Oval (Face Shape — The Girls)
- Curved design lines, prints and accessories
- Color Skin, Hair, Eyes — High Color Contrast (Color Skin, Hair & Eyes — The Girls)
- Favorite Colors — Blue, Pink (red/violet), Green
- Color Combinations (other colors) —
- Triadic — Blue
- Triadic or Complementary — Pink
- Complementary — Green
- Color Combinations (relative lightness and darkness) — High contrast
- First Scale Clue — Large
- Body Proportions — Short between chin/bust, Long between waist/crotch (Body Proportions — The Girls)
- Horizontal lines — Don’t place them between her chin/bust but do place them between her waist/crotch
- Vertical lines — Limit the amount between her waist/crotch but do place them between her chin/bust
- Second Scale Clue — Decrease overall scale between chin/bust and increase it between waist/crotch
- Body Frame Size — Medium (Body Frame Size — The Girls)
- Third scale clue — Medium
- Scale Strategy — Medium/Large (Scale Strategy — The Girls)
- Decrease it to medium between her chin/bust
- Increase it to large between her waist/crotch
Shopping For New Year’s Eve Dress & Accessories
Sam was surprised by her results when looking for an outfit for New Year’s Eve. She not only found a dress but also found a pair of shoes, necklace and evening handbag.
Shopping For New Year’s Eve Dress -- Dress
The process of shopping for a New Year’s Eve dress wasn’t as hard as Sam thought it would be. Now that she understands her Body Elements and the clues they give, she doesn’t feel as overwhelmed as she once did. She wasn’t looking for a fancy dress like her friends. She just wanted a basic black dress. When she saw this one, Sam knew it was the one and had an easy time finding her size unlike her friends. When she tried it on she loved everything about it.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Sam did a great job picking this dress. The silhouette fit her body perfectly. It’s made of a heavier knit which allowed the dress to form around her body.
The dress has raglan sleeves, creating vertical lines and works well with her H Body Shape. Having this Body Shape allows her to place both horizontal and vertical lines anywhere. She just needs to consider her Body Proportions.
Sam’s short between her chin and bust and the vertical lines created by the raglan sleeves create length in this area, which is perfect for her.
Sam’s Body Proportions between her torso and legs are equal so she can place the dress hem anywhere. The horizontal line created by the hem is perfect for her.
The neckline of the dress is curved which matches her Oval Face Shape.
Sam did a great job picking this dress.
Shopping For New Years Eve Dress -- Shoes
Sam picked these flats because she doesn’t wear heels for many reasons. The little beads on them dress them up. She thought she could wear this pair of flats with pants too when needed.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Not everyone can wear heels and Sam is correct that these shoes look dressier with the beads. The main design line of this pair of shoes is its shape: around the toe and around the top of the shoe. Both are curved which is in the same category of her Oval Face Shape.
Shopping For New Year’s Eve Dress -- Necklace
Sam wanted a necklace that had some sparkle but wasn’t over the top. She saw this necklace and thought it would work well with the dress. It helped transform the dress into a cocktail dress for celebrating a new year.
Before this process of understanding design lines she never would’ve picked this necklace or any necklace. By understanding her body better, picking out clothes and accessories has gotten easier.
Design Line & Color Analysis
The necklace’s overall shape is curved which matches her curved Face Shape. It ends just above her bust. The Y-shape creates a vertical line, which is perfect for Sam because she’s short in this area. The vertical line created by this necklace coupled with the ones created by the raglan sleeves give the appearance of length in a short area.
The silver color matches her coloring well and the medium scale of the necklace is perfect for her overall scale strategy for this area.
In addition, this necklace works well with the dress.
Shopping For New Year’s Eve Dress -- Handbag
Sam saw this evening handbag and thought it went nicely with her shoes. She would normally never think about a matching handbag, but this one just jumped out at her. It looked like a handbag that would elevate the flat shoes even further. She asked her friends and they all agreed. They’re proud of her for thinking outside her comfort zone.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Sam was right by pairing the handbag and shoes together with the dress. She can wear this outfit to any cocktail party.
As with any accessory, its shape is the main design line. This handbag’s overall design lines are curved because of the ends’ oval shape, which matches Sam’s oval Face Shape.
Summary
Dress
Sam did a great job picking this basic black dress. She’ll be able to wear it to a lot of different places just by changing the jewelry and shoes. One can tell she’s getting more comfortable determining which design lines work for her Body Elements.
Shoes
Sam currently only wears flats. The ones she chose work well with the formal look she was going for. However, in the future she can step further out of her comfort zone by wearing shoes with a one-inch heel. This type of heel is known as a kitten heel. She would wear these heels only for non-work activities. She can start out with a wedge which gives her more stability.
Jewelry
This is a great necklace for Sam. She’ll be able to wear it for years to come. As her confidence in her abilities grows, she’ll start seeing other outfits she can wear it with.
Handbag
Sam did a great job picking this handbag. It’s one she can use for those special occasions and for years to come. It can elevate any outfit.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to picking outfits with the right design lines for her Body Elements, Sam has really grown over the past 6 months. She’s starting to feel more confident and is enjoying shopping with her friends a little more.
In the next post, it’s Monica’s turn to share what she found to wear to the New Year’s Eve party. The post is called: Shopping for New Year’s Eve Dress — Monica.
Wear Your Greatness!!
