Sam looks forward to shopping for swimsuits now that she understands what design lines and colors enhance her body. Before, she always dreaded shopping for them. In fact, all of her friends: Monica, Alice, Grace and Veronica didn’t like shopping for swimsuits but now they’re also excited.
They’re planning a trip to Hawaii to celebrate Grace and her husband’s 15th wedding anniversary the week of February 13th. They plan to spend a lot of time at the beach and need to get new swimsuits. Now that they understand their Body Elements and which design lines and colors enhance their natural beauty, they can choose bathing suits that help them tap into their confidence instead of taking it away.
In this blog post, you’ll read about Sam’s purchase.
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 Swimsuits
Sam chose this swimsuit for several reasons. First, it’s one of her favorite colors. Second, it’s a two piece. Over the years, she’s found that two piece suits fit her better than one piece suits. However, she doesn’t feel comfortable in bikinis.
Shopping For Swimsuits Top
Sam chose this swim top for several reasons. Previously, she learned that the V-neck neckline is perfect for her Body Proportions. She’s short between her chin and bust and the V-neck creates length in this area. Also she knows the placement of the top’s hem is good for her because she’s long in this area and it makes it appear shorter.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
The silhouette of this top works for Sam. She has an H Body Shape which means she looks for an angular silhouette. Because this suit is made out of a Lycra knit, it forms to her body easily.
Horizontal Lines
The swimsuit top creates several horizontal lines: under the bust, between the bust and hem, and the hem itself. Body Shape-wise, she can place horizontal lines anywhere. But she needs to consider her Body Proportions.
Sam’s short between her chin and bust and long between her waist and crotch. There aren’t any horizontal lines between her chin and bust which is perfect for her. There are horizontal lines between her bust and the hem, which are the best placements of these lines for her. They’ll make this area appear shorter creating balance. Sam is correct on the placement of the swim top’s hem; it works well for her.
Vertical Lines
For Sam’s Body Shape, she can place vertical lines anywhere. Just like with horizontal lines, she needs to consider her Body Proportions. She’s correct that the V-neck creates vertical lines and causes her chest area to appear longer. With respect to the swimsuit top, Sam understands the proper placement of vertical lines on her body.
Shape Of Design Lines
Sam has an oval Face Shape which means the design line shapes on the swimsuit should also be curved. The main design line shape is the neckline. It has a V shape which falls in the angular category. The best shape for her would be a curved neckline. The neckline pictured below would be perfect for Sam. It has a curved neckline along with vertical lines to make this area appear longer.
Color
The color of the swimsuit is perfect for Sam because it’s her favorite color. She can pair it with a white pair of shorts to create more contrast, complimenting her high contrast color profile.
Shopping For Swimsuits Bottoms
Sam picked this swimsuit bottom because it matches the top and has a high waist. In addition, she feels comfortable in them.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Like the top, these bottoms are made of a knit Lycra which molds around her angular silhouette Body Shape.
Horizontal And Vertical Lines
These bottoms have several horizontal lines: the waistline and the leg-holes. The horizontal lines created by the waistline and ruching really don’t show when wearing the swim top. So the ones she needs to consider are the horizontal lines created by the leg-holes which have both horizontal and vertical lines. At the crotch area to the mid leg area, the line is vertical. Then from there it turns into a horizontal line.
The leg-holes give this area length, which is what Sam doesn’t want. Below are better choices of leg-holes for Sam. Notice how the first swim bottom has no vertical lines. The others have little vertical lines.
Color
Like the swim top, the bottoms are her favorite color. To create more contrast she needs more color variation. The above swim bottoms on the far right could be a great choice. By creating color contrast, she would brighten up her coloring.
Summary
Top
Because they’re just a few design lines on swimsuits, it’s important to get them right, which is one of the reasons swimsuits are so hard to shop for. Sam got the placement of horizontal and vertical lines correct. Both of these are critical to get her Body Proportions balanced. She still needs to work on the neckline shape. This design line is one of the first things you see. With practice she’ll figure it out.
Bottom
The hardest thing about swimsuit bottoms is the shape of the leg-holes. Most women don’t see it and only know what doesn’t work for them. By wearing boy-short design lines, it creates a horizontal line in this area for Sam and will balance out her long Body Proportions between her waist and crotch.
Final Thoughts
Remember, most women hate shopping for swimsuits; it’s not just you. Swimsuits have very few design lines and you have to get them right or as close as you can. Find the one that you feel the best in by asking yourself: “Do I feel light or heavy?” Remember, learning to understand the clues your body gives about design lines is a skill. As you start applying your knowledge, the skill will naturally increase.
In the next post, it’s Monica’s turn to share the swimsuit she found. The post is called: Shopping for Swimsuits — Monica.
Wear Your Greatness!!
