Grace never thought building her dream closet was something she could do. She usually had a hard time finding clothes that fit, especially any clothes going over her wide hips. As a result, she felt embarrassed about them.
Over this past year, Grace learned that there isn’t anything wrong with her body. She’s perfect the way she was created. It’s just a matter of understanding which design lines enhance this natural beauty to create balance. The biggest game changer for her was understanding the placement of horizontal and vertical lines.
Now shopping with her friends: Sam, Monica, Alice and Veronica is fun. By understanding which design lines work for her, she looks for clothes with the right details. She also understands that it’s okay not to find anything that works for her. It just means her best design lines aren’t featured this season. Now she can relax and enjoy her time with her friends.
Keep reading to learn what Grace found.
Grace’s Body Elements
As a review, these are Grace’s Body Element clues:
- Body Shape — A (Body Shape — The Girls)
- Curved clothes silhouette
- Horizontal lines — Place them at her shoulders and waist, and avoid placing them at her hips
- Vertical lines — Place them between her waist and hips, and avoid placing them at her shoulders
- Face Shape — Rectangle (Face Shape — The Girls)
- Angular design lines, prints and accessories
- Color Skin, Hair, Eyes — Medium Color Contrast (Color Skin, Hair & Eyes — The Girls)
- Favorite Colors — Orange, Green
- Color Combinations (other colors) — Triadic and Analogous
- Color Combinations (relative lightness and darkness) — Medium contrast
- First Scale Clue — Medium
- Body Proportions — Short between bust/waist, long between waist/crotch, short between knees/floor (Body Proportions — The Girls)
- Horizontal lines — Place them between her waist/crotch but not at her hips, and don’t place them between her bust/waist and knees/floor
- Vertical lines — Place them between her bust/waist and knees/floor; limit them between her waist/crotch; however when she places them from her bust to below her crotch, the eye passes over this entire area and will make it appear thinner for her Body Shape
- Second Scale Clue — Decrease overall scale between bust/waist and knees/floor; increase it between waist/crotch
- Body Frame Size — Small (Body Frame Size — The Girls)
- Third scale clue — Small
- Scale Strategy — Small/Medium (Scale Strategy — The Girls)
- Decrease scale to small between her bust/waist and knees/floor
- Increase to medium between her waist/crotch
Building Dream Closet -- Top
Grace wanted to get a top and pants she could wear to work. She first started with the top because she knew she could also wear it with a skirt. Her “go to” fabrics are soft and flowy. She saw this top and loved the paisley print because it had greens in it. Also she loved the ties on the sleeves.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Grace learned that her A Body Shape falls into the curvy category which means she should look for clothes with a curvy silhouette (the waist is significantly smaller than both the shoulders and hips). She’s found that most clothes have an angular silhouette (shoulders, waist and hips appear to have the same width).
Because of the elastic at the waist, this silhouette can work for both angular and curvy Body Shapes. Grace loves this type of hem because it creates a feminine feel. She calls her style feminine.
Horizontal Lines
Grace always believed horizontal lines were bad and tried to avoid them. But over the last year she learned that they’re neither good nor bad; it all depends on where you place them. That’s because horizontal lines stop your eye, emphasize that area and make it appear wider and taller.
Grace learned that her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues as to the placement of these design lines. For her Body Shape, she wants to avoid them in her hip area because they’ll emphasize this area and make it appear wider. However, she wants them anywhere between her shoulders and mid-hip because these areas will be emphasized and appear wider giving balance to her hips.
For her Body Proportions, Grace is short between her bust/waist and knees/floor and long between her waist/crotch. As a result, she doesn’t want to wear horizontal lines between her bust/waist and knees/floor because they’ll make these areas appear even shorter.
Grace determined that this top has four horizontal lines: neckline, sleeve hem, the top of the elastic and the bottom of it. The neckline is perfect for her Body Shape because it helps make her shoulders appear wider. In fact, all the horizontal design lines help create width in her thinner areas which helps create balance with her wider hips. She now understands how to work with horizontal lines as friends.
However, Grace knows she has to make sure the elastic band doesn’t go above her natural waist. This is because when it does, it’ll make the area between her bust/waist appear even shorter.
Vertical Lines
This past year, Grace learned that vertical lines move the eye up and down, de-emphasizing an area and making it appear thinner and taller. Her Body Shape and Body Proportions also give her clues as to the placement of these design lines.
For her Body Shape, Grace learned that they’re perfect for her hip area but not so great just between her chin and waist because they’ll make this area appear even thinner.
Grace saw that this top doesn’t have any vertical design lines.
Shape Of Design Lines
One of the most interesting facts Grace learned this last year is that her Face Shape gives her clues as to the shape of design lines. These design line shapes can be found in design lines on the clothing themselves: i.e. neckline, pockets, collars, plackets. They can also be found in accessories and prints. Grace has an oval Face Shape; therefore she should wear curved design lines shapes.
The biggest design line shape is the paisley print. It’s known for its curvy shape, which is perfect for Grace’s Face Shape.
Color
Along with determining Grace’s favorite colors, she learned that the color of her skin, hair and eyes also give her clues as to color combinations and the relative lightness and darkness of those colors. She determined this by her color contrast profile which is determined by the relative lightness and darkness between her skin, hair and eyes.
Grace’s color contrast profile is medium. She determined analogous and triadic are her best color combinations. The print has an analogous color scheme: blue, blue/green, green. When Grace first looked at the relative lightness and darkness of the colors, she thought they were medium contrast. But at closer inspections she saw navy blue and white making the relative lightness and darkness high contrast. When she tried on the top, she really liked it and decided it works for her.
Building Dream Closet -- Pants
Sometimes she wanted to wear pants instead of her usual skirts/tops or dresses. She’s shied away from pants because ones that fit her body are hard to find. When they fit around her thighs and hips, the waist is too big. If the waist theoretically fits, then she can’t get the pants over her thighs and hips. She learned that she needs to look for pants with a label saying “curvy fit.” She knew Alfani had a curvy fit pant and wanted to get a pair.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Grace learned that she needs to look for pant labels with “curvy fit.” To her dismay, she doesn’t find many of these. However, she found that Alfani had one which is a part of their core collection. It always comes in navy and black. At times, it comes in other colors such as gray and burgundy.
It was amazing when she tried them on; the waist, hips and thighs all fit perfectly.
Vertical Lines
Grace loves the vertical line on the legs of pants for three reasons. First, they help make her hips and thighs appear thinner. Second, they also help take the eyes away from these areas. Third, they make her legs appear longer and in balance with her torso.
Grace saw vertical lines in the form of pressed creases down the center front and center back. Since she’s learned this trick, she’s pressed creases into the few pants she has.
Color
Navy blue is Grace’s “go to” neutral color. She feels more confident in navy than black.
Building Dream Closet -- Shoes
Grace loves the casualness of these sandals with the wedge and jute sides. She also loves the 4 inch heel because it gives her height and makes her legs look longer.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Horizontal Lines
Grace is short between her knees/floor which means she wants to avoid horizontal lines above her ankles. These sandals have a strap that lands above her ankles. These sandals work perfectly, since she plans to wear long pants, which cover the strap.
Vertical Lines
Grace learned that vertical lines are perfect in her leg area. Heels help her create these vertical lines which elongates her legs. The heels on the sandals help create vertical lines.
Shape Of Design Lines
Since Grace’s Face Shape is curved, she looked for a curved shape toe. This season, she saw a lot of square shaped toes. The toe shape on these sandals are curved.
Color
Another neutral Grace wears is tan. These sandals will go well with the top and many other tops and dresses she has in her closet. She thought one can never have enough tan shoes/sandals.
Final Thoughts
Every time Grace goes shopping using the knowledge she learned about which design lines and colors enhance her natural beauty, her confidence increases in picking the right clothes for her body elements and in herself in general. She knows it’s a matter of placing horizontal and vertical design lines in the right places. Building her dream closet can be a reality.
In the next blog post, Veronica will be sharing her experience shopping with her friends. Like Grace, she’s found magic in the right horizontal and vertical design line placement. As a result, her confidence in building her dream closet and herself is increasing. To read about her experience go to: Building Dream Closet — Veronica.
Wear Your Greatness!!
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon every day. It will always be exciting to read through content from other writers and use a little something from other sites.
Greetings! Very helpful advice within this post! It is the little changes that will make the most significant changes. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. It’s true in all parts of our life: little changes make the most significant changes.