Alice had never gone shopping for design lines until she and her friends: Sam, Monica, Grace and Veronica went shopping for them. She never knew it was the design lines on clothes that were the critical factor making an outfit work for her or not. Alice always thought there must be something wrong with her body and everyone else had an easier time finding clothes they love to wear. She now knows she isn’t alone, because she sees Monica and Grace struggling also. Just knowing this fact, she can relax and lean into shopping for design lines.
Alice needs a suit for her job. In the past she’s hated wearing suit jackets because she feels like a football player in them. Now that she’s looking at design lines that enhance her Body Shape, she sees jackets in a whole new light.
She’s excited to share her findings.
Alice’s Body Elements
As a review, these are Alice’s Body Element clues:
- Body Shape — V (Body Shape — The Girls)
- Angular clothes silhouette
- Horizontal lines — Place them at her waist and hips, and avoid placing them at her shoulders
- Vertical lines — Place them between her chin and bust, and avoid placing them at the waist and hips
- Face Shape — Rectangle (Face Shape — The Girls)
- Angular design lines, prints and accessories
- Color Skin, Hair, Eyes — Low Color Contrast (Color Skin, Hair & Eyes — The Girls)
- Favorite Colors — Olive Green, Coral, Violet
- Color Combinations (other colors) — Analogous
- Color Combinations (relative lightness and darkness) — Low contrast
- First Scale Clue — Small
- Body Proportions — Short between chin/bust, Long between waist/crotch (Body Proportions — The Girls)
- Horizontal lines — Place them between her waist/crotch, and don’t place them between her chin/bust
- Vertical lines — Place them between her chin/bust, and limit them between her waist/crotch
- 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 — Small/Medium (Scale Strategy — The Girls)
- Decrease scale to small between her chin/bust
- Increase to medium between her waist/crotch
Shopping For Design Lines -- Jacket/Pants/Top
While shopping with her friends, Alice’s focus was finding a suit she can wear whenever she needs to dress for formal business meetings at work. She wants a suit with pants; given that her job is to make sure her boss has what she needs; so a skirt or dress isn’t always appropriate.
She shied away from jackets because they emphasized her shoulders. Now Alice knows if she has the right design lines, a jacket just might work.
Alice also shied away from pants because she had a hard time finding ones that fit. She learned that she can have them altered to make them fit better. As a result, she’s willing to do that because wearing a pants suit is important for the job she loves.
Shopping For Design Lines -- Jacket
Alice saw this jacket and thought it might work. Most suit jackets bring attention to her shoulders, which are the widest part of her body. She learned that vertical lines can help her shoulders appear thinner and this jacket does just that.
The fit around the hips isn’t perfect but it’s a good start.
Design Lines & Color
Alice did a great job picking this jacket. The vertical lines which start at mid-shoulder and go down to the waist seam are perfect to make her shoulders appear in balance with her waist and hips. The lapels also create vertical lines from the shoulders to just under her bust. Coupled with the horizontal line at her waist (seam) and hips (hem), this jacket makes her waist and hips appear wider; so as a result all three areas appear to be balanced.
Alice is short between her chin and bust, and long between her waist and crotch. The vertical lines created by the seam lines starting mid-shoulder to the waist and the lapels make the area between her chin and bust appear longer. These vertical lines don’t appear between her waist and crotch which would have caused this area to appear even longer. There’s a horizontal line created by the jacket hem, causing this area to appear shorter. The vertical lines between her chin and waist and the horizontal line between her waist and crotch create overall balance.
The grey color of the jacket is a great neutral background for her favorite colors of olive, coral and violet.
The shape of the lapel notches and sleeve slits are angular which match her Face Shape clues. The center front/hem transition is curved but it’s a minor problem.
Alice mentioned that the fit wasn’t ideal around her hips. In most cases, she can have the jacket altered. She should take it to her favorite tailor/seamstress to see if it can be altered to her needs.
All in all, Alice picked a great jacket which enhances her body elements. She’s starting to understand the design line clues her Body Elements are giving her.
Shopping For Design Lines -- Pants
Since Alice chose the jacket she had to choose the pants with the same fabric to create a full suit. The pants fit okay; but the butt and thighs are too big. This is the major reason why she shies away from pants. Luckily, she learned that she can have them altered.
Design Lines & Color
The angular silhouette of the pants is perfect for Alice. Her waist and hips appear to have the same width; however her problem is the size of her butt. These pants are designed for an average sized butt; Alice’s butt shape is much smaller. Most pants are baggy in that area for her. This problem can be easily altered by a seasoned tailor/seamstress. They’ll just take out the excess fabric that goes under her butt.
The pants are straight legged and perfect for Alice’s V Body Shape. The straight legs bring the eye up and down and don’t accentuate the hips being significantly thinner than her shoulders.
Since this pants/jacket combination is for formal meetings, the length of the pants is perfect for Alice.
Once she gets the butt area altered, this pair of pants will be perfect for her.
Shopping For Design Lines -- Top
Alice had a hard time finding the exact color of coral, olive or violet she loves to wear. This top was as close as she could get. She thinks it’s in the same family as her favorite coral color. She has always gravitated toward V-necks and this has it. If she could’ve found them, she would’ve loved to find more tops in her favorite colors.
Design Lines & Color
Alice is correct that the color of this top is in the same family as her favorite coral color. The fashion industry chooses different colors to be on trend for every season. Alice needs to keep an eye out for when her favorite colors are on trend and purchase tops at that time. This way she’ll always have tops in her favorite colors on hand.
One thing she might need to consider when looking at the color of the top and jacket is color contrast. Alice’s color contrast profile is low contrast. The color contrast between the top and jacket is medium. She can make her eyes or lips have a little more color to offset this difference. Also in the future, she can get a suit that has a slightly darker grey.
V-neck tops are perfect for Alice for two reasons. First, they create vertical lines between her chin and bust, causing her shoulders to appear thinner. Second, the shape of this neckline is angular, matching the clue of her rectangular Face Shape.
This top can be worn tucked into the pants or out. If tucked into the pants, the pant waistband creates a horizontal line between her waist and crotch. If she decides to wear it out, she should make sure the hem is at or higher than the jacket hem. Her Body Proportions can handle all the horizontal lines (she’s long between her waist and hips). Having the top hem longer than the jacket is trendy but might not be the right look for a formal business meeting.
Considering what stores have in stock, Alice did a good job picking this top.
Summary
Jacket
Alice did a great job picking this jacket. She’s beginning to understand the clues her Body Elements are giving her and she’s seeing design lines on clothes. Now she knows that she too can wear suit jackets when the design lines match her body clues. To get the perfect fit, she can take it to a tailor/seamstress with experience making this alteration.
Pants
Alice’s mind is opening up and she’s realizing that manufacturers have a difficult time manufacturing pants to fit all the curves on every body type and size. Her alteration is doable because the tailor/seamstress is taking out fabric. It’s much harder for women like Grace who have A Body Shapes because there isn’t enough fabric in this area.
Top
Alice did a great job picking out this top even though she didn’t find her favorite colors. She just needs to spend a few moments on her computer determining what the trend colors are each season. If her favorite ones are on trend, she should stock up on tops and clothes in general at that time.
Final Thoughts
It’s difficult for V Body Shapes to find jackets that don’t make them feel like football players. Designers don’t think about what design lines affect different Body Shapes and Body Proportions. One needs to be patient and keep an eye on what design lines are on trend. When people find the design lines they’re looking for, they should purchase clothes then.
Often, it’s difficult to find your best design lines and colors at the same time. This is when custom clothes can be an option. You can get the exact design lines for your Body Elements because you’re having items made for your body. Sometimes all the colors aren’t available and in the patterns you like; but it’s much easier than the ready-to-wear market. Yes the initial price is more; but the cost per wearing goes down because you can wear the items for years and you tend to wear custom clothes more often.
In the next blog post, Grace is sharing her finds from shopping for design lines with her friends. Shopping this way is opening up a whole new world for her. The post is called: Shopping For Design Lines — Grace.
Wear Your Greatness!!
