Alice is starting to understand how to analyze design lines and colors on outfits. She’s already been inspired by a Karl Lagerfeld jacket outfit. In the past she would’ve walked by the mannequin because red isn’t her color. But by learning her body clues for design lines and colors and how to analyze them on outfits, she’s able to avoid getting overwhelmed by all the choices in the ready-to-wear world. She ended up choosing the Calvin Klein monochromatic outfit.
When she put it on she felt the lightest and most confident. She loves the Not Your Daughter Jeans. They fit all of her curves perfectly.
Suit For Presentation
Alice is starting to understand how to analyze design lines and colors on outfits. She’s already been inspired by a Karl Lagerfeld jacket outfit. In the past she would’ve walked by the mannequin because red isn’t her color. But by learning her body clues for design lines and colors and how to analyze them on outfits, she’s able to avoid getting overwhelmed by all the choices in the ready-to-wear world. She ended up choosing the Calvin Klein monochromatic outfit.
She loved the fit of the Calvin Klein jacket that she picked several weeks ago. Alice found this Calvin Klein jacket and thought the style was perfect for her and the presentation. She also liked the matching pants. Both have a creative flair which was perfect for the presentation. (Macys.com: Calvin Klein ¾ Sleeve Open Front Jacket Web ID 11856558; Calvin Klein Tie-Waist Ankle Pant, Web ID 11856559)
She then found these blouses to go with the suit:
In this blog post you will learn about Alice’s thinking process to analyze the design lines and colors of this suit.
This post is divided into the five different Body Elements plus Scale Strategy:
- Body Shape
- Face Shape
- Color Skin, Hair and Eyes
- Body Proportion
- Body Frame Size
- Scale Strategy
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 previous post, Analyze Design Lines — Meet Alice, you learned that Alice has a V Body Shape. Her shoulders are wider than both her waist and hips. Her bust line is larger than the average one and she carries weight at her stomach. She has no butt and skinny legs.
Silhouette
Alice knows that since she has a V Body Shape, she needs to look for angular silhouette jackets, pants and tops. The grey Calvin Klein jacket and pants along with the two DKNY tops and the Bar III blouse appear to be angular silhouettes.
Alice loved the fit of the Calvin Klein Pink Roll-Sleeve Topper Jacket. She thought this grey jacket would fit the same way.
Horizontal Lines
Alice thought the horizontal line created by the pants would be perfect for her. The focus of the outfit goes to her small waist. She also thought the jacket hem at the hips would emphasize her small hips.
Vertical Lines
The vertical lines created by the lapels bring the eye away from her shoulders to her waist and then to her mid-hip area.
Overall Alice believes the silhouette and horizontal and vertical lines of this outfit are perfect for her V Body Shape.
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.
Alice has a rectangle Face Shape.
She believes the lapel shape is perfect for her angular face shape along with the v-necklines of the tops.
The angular print on the first top is also perfect for her. Alice picked the second blouse print even though it’s not totally angular. It has both curved and angular shapes and she wanted to find out if she can get away with a mixed print. She’ll return it if it doesn’t work.
When it comes to her Face Shape clues, Alice is making great decisions. It’s good to experiment to figure out what works for her.
Analyze Design Lines -- 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:
Alice has blonde hair, light skin and hazel green eyes. Her favorite colors are olive green, coral and violet. Of these colors, olive green is her power color. Every time she wears it she feels like she can conquer her world.
She also likes wearing greys and tans as her neutral colors.
Alice’s Color Contrast Profile is low.
Favorite Colors
The jacket and pants are a light/medium grey. It’s hard to tell if the color is cool, warm or a combination of both. Alice loves to wear grey and thought the pants would go well with the pink Calvin Klein jacket. She thought she would order the outfit to make sure the color was right for her.
The poppy color of the DKNY solid top is in the right color family but might be too bright a color for her. She likes the greens in the DKNY and Bar III printed tops.
Color Combinations
The color combination of the DKNY Green Geo-Print top is monochromatic and it’s relative lightness and darkness is high. Alice knows the monochromatic color scheme is perfect but she’s not sure about the lightness and darkness of the colors. The color goes from a dark green to an almost white green. She wanted to see if she could wear it with the lighter grey jacket and pants. She thought it might work because the color scheme was monochromatic.
The Bar III printed blouse has a triadic color scheme: green with coral flowers. The relative lightness and darkness is also high contrast. Because this blouse has a high contrast, triadic color scheme, Alice decided against this blouse.
Of the two tops left she thinks the DKNY green geo-print blouse will be the best so she will order it.
Scale
Alice’s Color Contrast Profile is low, which translates into a small scale clue. To discuss the scale of the DKNY geo-print top, go to the Scale Strategy section below.
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?
Alice’s Body Proportions are:
- Chin to bust — Long
- Bust to waist — Same
- Waist to crotch — Short
- Crotch to Knees — Same
- Knees to floor — Same
- Torso to legs — Same
Horizontal Lines
The jacket hem creates a horizontal line along with the ankle pants hem. The pant waistband also creates a horizontal line which is at the waist. Alice has learned that a waistband at the waist or just above brings balance to her short length in her waist to crotch area.
Vertical Lines
The jacket has two vertical lines: center front opening down to the hips and the lapels. These draw the eye to the waist and back to center front at mid-hip. Alice believes these vertical lines are perfect for her because they draw the eye from her shoulders at the neck down to her waist and hips.
The pants have a tie from the waist to the hips. Alice knows this is perfect for her because she is short in this area. The pant legs also create a vertical line.
Alice knows she is lucky because her torso and legs are the same proportion which give her a lot of options.
Scale
The scale clues from Alice’s Body Proportions are:
- Chin to Bust — Increase
- Bust to Waist — Same
- Waist to Crotch — Decrease
- Crotch to Knees — Same
- Knees to Floor — Same
- Torso — Same
- Legs — Same
To discuss the scale of the geo-print top, go to the Scale Strategy section below.
Analyze Design Lines -- Body Frame Size
Body Frame Size gives you the third clue for scale of prints and accessories. To review this Body Element and the clues it gives you, go to Body Frame Size — Bone Size Clue.
Alice’s Body Frame Size is medium resulting with a scale clue of medium.
Go to Scale Strategy below for the scale of the geo-print top.
Analyze Design Lines -- Scale Strategy
Scale Strategy is determined by bringing together the scale clues from:
- Color Skin, Hair and Eyes
- Body Proportion
- Body Frame Size
To review or determine your Scale Strategy, go to Scale Strategy — Bringing It Together.
Alice’s overall Scale Strategy is small/medium:
- Small — Color of Skin, Hair and Eyes
- Medium — Body Frame Size
With respect to her body proportions, this overall Scale Strategy is adjusted:
- Chin to Bust — Increase
- Bust to Waist — Same
- Waist to Crotch — Decrease
- Crotch to Knees — Same
- Knees to Floor — Same
- Torso — Same
- Legs — Same
The scale of the DKNY green geo-print top is medium/large which is larger than her overall Scale Strategy of small/medium. But Alice plans to wear the top tucked in which is the longest part of her torso. As a result, the scale would increase to medium in this area. Alice decided to see how she felt when wearing a slightly larger scale top.
Analyze Design Lines -- Summary
Alice believes the grey Calvin Klein ¾ Sleeve Open Front Jacket is perfect for her. It has an angular silhouette with a horizontal line at her hips creating balance with her shoulders. The center front opening vertical line and the one created by the lapels are also perfect. She loves the grey color but needs to make sure it isn’t too cool in color.
She loves the angular silhouette grey Calvin Klein Tie-Waist Ankle pants. The waist hits at her waist with the tie creating a vertical line between her waist and crotch making this area appear longer. She knows ankle pants work for her because the length of her torso and legs are the same. As with the jacket she knows she has to make sure the grey is the right color for her.
Alice also loves the DKNY Geo-Print. It’s silhouette is angular and the neckline and angular print enhances her angular face shape. The color scheme of the print is a green high contrast monochromatic color scheme. She isn’t sure about the high contrast part, but likes everything else about it so she wants to try it on with the grey jacket and pants.
All in all Alice has learned a lot over the last several weeks. She isn’t as overwhelmed by all the choices and she’s starting to learn to identify the design lines and colors. Alice knows she needs to keep practicing and trying on clothes she isn’t sure about. This way she can really understand what design lines and colors will look best on her body and help her tap into her confidence and personal power.
Next Week
Next week you will meet Monica. Monica also has a hard time finding clothes she loves to wear and doesn’t know how to analyze design lines and colors. The blog post is called Analyzed Design Lines — Meet Monica.
Wear Your Greatness!!
