The second step to creating a closet full of clothes you love to wear is to learn how to analyze design lines and colors. The first being to understand the clues your body gives you as to design lines and colors. Monica is doing just that. She’s finding it’s the colors that attract her to an outfit. She saw this outfit on a mannequin at the Roseville, California Macy’s. It was the orange and fuchsia sweater that she was drawn to. It’s good to understand why you’re drawn to certain outfits.
The mannequin is wearing a Bar III sweater and Style & Co Capri jeans. (Macys.com: Bar III Color Block Mock-Neck Sweater, Web ID 11750313; Style & Co High Cuffed Capri Jeans, Web ID 4463411)
The question Monica needs to ask herself is: “Do the design lines and colors in the sweater and jeans enhance my body?” That’s the question which will be answered in this post.
This post is divided into the five different Body Elements plus Scale Strategy:
- Body Shape
- Face Shape
- Color Skin, Hair and Eyes
- Body Proportion
- Summary
Analyze Design Lines -- Body Shape
Body Shape gives you clues to the silhouette of the clothes and placement of horizontal and vertical lines. To review the different Body Shapes and the clues they give, go to What Are Your Body Shape Clues.
In a prior post you learned that Monica has an O Body Shape. Her waist is wider than both her shoulders and hips.
Silhouette
Like most ready-to-wear clothing, this sweater/jean outfit has an angular silhouette. This is perfect for Monica. Her O Body Shape is in the angular category giving her the clue of angular silhouette.
Horizontal Lines
The outfit has several horizontal lines which affect Monica’s body shape. They’re found on the sweater created by the:
- Mock-neck — at the neck line
- Color block — above the bust
- Sleeve hem — at the waist
- Sweater hem — at the waist
The question she needs to ask herself is: “Do these horizontal lines work for me?” The answer is yes and no.
However the horizontal lines created by the sleeve hems and the sweater hem don’t work for her. They bring attention to her widest area and will make it appear even wider. Monica should always wear her sleeves long so the horizontal line created by the hem will be at the hip area. She should also look for sweater lengths that hit at her hips. Having horizontal lines at the hips will create balance for her O Body Shape.
Monica was drawn to this sweater because of its colors. These colors are on trend right now so it should be easy for her to find a sweater, blouse or top with design lines that match her body’s clues. These are a few examples:
The horizontal lines on these tops work better for Monica’s Body.
Vertical Lines
This sweater doesn’t have any vertical lines affecting Monica’s body shape. However Monica learned from the Calvin Klein blouse and legging outfit that pant legs create vertical lines. The best pant leg for her is a slim or straight leg. This capri jean has a slim fit which could work for her.
Analyze Design Lines -- Face Shape
Face Shape gives you clues as to the shape of:
- Inside design line details
- Prints
- Accessories
To review the different Face Shapes and the clues they give, go to How To Keep Your Feet From Resembling Olive Oyl’s Feet.
Monica has a round Face Shape. This means her best design line shape is curved, so collars, pockets, cuffs and prints should all be curved.
The only design lines on this outfit are the curved neckline on the sweater and curved pockets on the jeans. Both are perfect for Monica.
You might ask if the color block horizontal is an angular line and technically it is. However, it’s more akin to a hem line. If there were any angular corners in it then it would need to be considered as an angular line.
Analyze Design Lines For Color: Skin, Hair And Eyes
The color of your skin, hair and eyes give you clues to:
- Colors
- Color combinations
- The scale of prints and accessories
There are four posts explaining this Body Element and the clues it gives you. To review them go to:
Monica has black hair, medium tone skin and medium brown eyes. Her favorite colors are green, yellow and red/orange with more orange than red. Of these colors red/orange is her power color. Every time she wears it, she feels like she can conquer her world.
Monica’s Color Contrast Profile is medium.
Favorite Colors
One of Monica’s favorite colors is orange. This is why she was drawn to the outfit in the first place. It’s the color that lies by her face and is perfect for her.
Color Combinations
Monica’s Color Contrast Profile is medium. This means her coloring becomes brighter when there is a medium amount of contrast. She can use either analogous or triadic color schemes. The orange and fuchsia are a part of a triadic color scheme, which is perfect for her.
The relative lightness and darkness of the color combination for Monica is also medium. Pairing the sweater with the white pants might be too much of a difference. If she’s wanting to pair the sweater with a neutral color a tan or off white jean might be better.
What To Wear -- Body Proportion
The clues Body Proportion give you are:
- Placement of horizontal and vertical lines
- The second clue to the scale of prints and accessories
To review Body Proportion and the clues it gives you, go to Body Proportions — Out Of Balance?
Monica’s Body Proportions are:
- Chin to bust — Same
- Bust to waist — Long
- Waist to crotch — Long
- Crotch to Knees — Short
- Knees to floor — Short
- Torso — Long
- Legs — Short
Horizontal Lines
This outfit has several horizontal lines that affect Monica’s Body Proportion. They are:
- Mock-neck — Between chin and bust
- Color block line — Between chin and bust
- Sweater hem — Between bust and waist
- Jeans hem — Between knees and floor
The horizontal lines on the sweater are perfect for balancing out Monica’s Body Proportion. Her torso is longer than her legs so the lines balance her torso with her legs.
However the jean’s hem makes her legs appear even shorter than they are. The best alternative for her is to wear long pants. This will create the illusion of length in her legs coupled with horizontal lines in the torso area.
Vertical Lines
For Monica the best placement of vertical lines is in her leg area because as said before her legs are shorter than her torso. Long pants can create these lines. Straight pant legs can help her create these vertical lines because the hem can almost touch the floor.
Monica can extend the vertical lines if she wore shoes or sandals with heels. This will allow her to wear longer jeans creating the illusion of longer legs.
Analyze Design Lines -- Summary
Sweater -- Analyze Design Lines
The sweater is what drew Monica to this outfit. She loves the vivid colors and color combination. The horizontal line created by the mock-neck and color blocking are perfect for her O Body Shape and her long torso body proportions. However the horizontal line created by the sweater hem doesn’t work because it hits at her widest area, her waist.
What Monica learned by understanding the design lines and colors of this sweater is that she should look for tops, dresses and jackets with some kind of horizontal line at her shoulders. This line will balance out her O Body Shape and her long torso.
She also learned that she needs to make sure hems of tops and jackets hit at her hips. Hems in this area move the eye away from her waist and coupled with the horizontal line at the shoulders, balance her torso with her legs.
The way this sweater is styled the sleeves are pushed up to just below the elbow. By wearing sleeve hems in this area it creates a horizontal line at Monica’s waist. She now knows not to wear her sleeves pushed up or sleeve hems at her elbows.
Capri Jeans -- Analyze Design Lines
The capri jeans create two problems for Monica. First is the color. The white color coupled with the orange and fuchsia sweater creates a high color contrast. Her color contrast is medium. Since she loves these vivid colors an option is to wear a tan jean. This will bring the color contrast to medium.
The second problem is the length of the jeans. Monica’s legs are much shorter than her torso. Putting a horizontal line between her knees and the floor would create even more imbalance. The best solution is to wear long pants.
Monica learned that capri pants aren’t the best idea for her even though she likes the look on other women. When she’s people watching and seeing others with the same body proportions as her, she understands the reason why capri pants aren’t in her future.
In next week’s post Monica is looking for an outfit for a formal wedding she was invited to. The problem for Monica is that she doesn’t wear dresses. The post is called, Analyze Design Lines — Formal Attire.
Wear Your Greatness!!
