Shopping for design lines is a whole new way for Monica to shop. In the past, she just looked at colors and prints that caught her eye. By shopping this way, she ended up with clothes in her closet she never wore.
She’s shopping with her friends: Sam, Alice, Grace and Veronica. The Girls recently learned what design lines and colors work best for their bodies. They’re taking this newfound knowledge out for a test ride and shopping for clothes. Each Girl is looking for items with the design lines and colors that match their Body Element clues.
Monica learned that clothes can be the doorway into feeling like she can conquer her world. She is speaking at a major social media conference and wants a dress that will help her tap into her confidence while giving her presentation. She’s excited to share the dress she found.
Monica’s Body Elements
As a review, these are Monica’s Body Element clues:
- Body Shape — O (Body Shape — The Girls)
- Angular clothes silhouette
- Avoid placing horizontal lines at the waist
- Avoid placing vertical lines at the shoulders
- Face Shape — Pear (Face Shape — The Girls)
- Curved design lines, prints and accessories
- Color Skin, Hair, Eyes — Medium Color Contrast (Color Skin, Hair & Eyes — The Girls)
- Favorite Colors — Green, Yellow and Red/Orange
- Color Combinations (other colors) — Analogous
- Color Combinations (relative lightness and darkness) — Medium contrast
- First Scale Clue — Medium
- Body Proportions — Long between bust/waist, Long between waist/crotch, Short between crotch/knees, Short between knees/floor (Body Proportions — The Girls)
- Horizontal lines — Don’t place them between her crotch/knees and knees/floor but she can place them between her bust and crotch. However, because she has an O Body Shape, she needs to avoid them at her waist
- Vertical lines — Limit them between her bust/crotch but do place them between her crotch/floor
- Second Scale Clue — Increase overall scale between bust/crotch and decrease it between crotch/floor
- Body Frame Size — Medium (Body Frame Size — The Girls)
- Third scale clue — Large
- Scale Strategy — Medium/Large (Scale Strategy — The Girls)
- Increase to large between her bust/crotch
- Decrease to medium between her crotch/floor
Shopping For Design Lines -- Dress
Monica spent hours trying on dresses. It was hard finding one that was in her size, color and silhouette, let alone all the other design lines. She found out that most stores have low inventory because demand is high; there are a lot of women shopping for dresses right now. But, supply is low too because they’re stuck on ships and there isn’t enough fabric to create the dresses in the first place.
Luckily she found this DKNY shift dress; it’ll work perfectly. First, the red/orange is her power color. Whenever she wears this color she taps into her confidence and personal power. Something she needs when presenting at the conference.
Monica wanted to jazz the dress up to reflect her personality so she picked the ankle boots and a vintage long black faceted bead necklace she inherited from her great aunt. You’ll learn about these items later.
Design Line & Color
Monica did a great job in picking out this dress. Not only are the color and silhouette perfect for her, but also the design lines are perfect for her. The color is her power color, red/orange. This dress has an angular silhouette, matching her O Body Shape.
The pleats in the dress create vertical lines moving the eye up and down over her waist area and making this area appear thinner. Because she’s wearing a dress she doesn’t need to be concerned about her torso being longer than her legs because one can’t see where the transition begins and ends.
There’re 5 horizontal lines: bow, bow ends, sleeve hem, transition of pleats from thin to a little wider and dress hem.
Monica spent hours trying on dresses. It was hard finding one that was in her size, color and silhouette, let alone all the other design lines. She found out that most stores have low inventory because demand is high; there are a lot of women shopping for dresses right now. But, supply is low too because they’re stuck on ships and there isn’t enough fabric to create the dresses in the first place.
Luckily she found this DKNY shift dress; it’ll work perfectly. First, the red/orange is her power color. Whenever she wears this color she taps into her confidence and personal power. Something she needs when presenting at the conference.
Monica wanted to jazz the dress up to reflect her personality so she picked the ankle boots and a vintage long black faceted bead necklace she inherited from her great aunt. You’ll learn about these items later.
Design Line & Color
Monica did a great job in picking out this dress. Not only are the color and silhouette perfect for her, but also the design lines are perfect for her. The color is her power color, red/orange. This dress has an angular silhouette, matching her O Body Shape.
The dress hem is at a perfect spot for Monica. She has great legs so she should show them off and because when wearing a dress, she doesn’t need to worry about her torso/leg Body Proportions.
The bow creates curved design lines which are perfect for her pear Face Shape.
Monica did a great job picking this dress. By picking a classic style, she can enhance it by pairing it with unexpected accessories.
Shopping For Design Lines -- Shoes
The moment Monica saw these Samara booties; she fell in love with them. She loves the texture between the suede and leather strap. The leather strap, open toe booties take it from classic to out of the box where Monica lives most of her life. She doesn’t know if the design lines are right for her; but she just had to have them. When she puts them on, they make her happy.
Design Line & Color
Monica was right; these Samara booties do take her from classic to outside the box. It’s important to pick clothes and accessories that reflect her personality. At the social media conference, she wants to show the audience (subconsciously) that she thinks outside the box while understanding the fundamentals. Mixing this trendy booty with the classic dress does just that.
When looking at its design lines, many are created. A horizontal line is created at the top of the booty. This could be a problem for Monica because it could shorten her legs. In this case, because she’s wearing a dress, you don’t know where her legs begin. The straps also create horizontal lines. If she had a small foot this could be a problem, but she has an average foot size.
The front opening and heel height create vertical lines which lengthens her legs. However the horizontal line of the straps visually shortens this area too.
All in all, Monica did a great job choosing these Samara booties to go with the DKNY dress.
Vintage Long Black Faceted Bead Necklace
Monica had this necklace in her jewelry box. She inherited it from her great aunt who loved jewelry and always dressed impeccably to the day she died at age 95. By wearing this necklace when giving this presentation, she’ll have her great aunt with her.
Design Line & Color
This necklace is a great addition to the dress. It keeps the focus between Monica’s chin and bust by creating two horizontal lines in this area. The round beads match her curved Face Shape. It also adds depth to the whole outfit. This necklace is a great addition.
Summary
Dress
Monica did a great job picking this DKNY dress. The design lines and color are perfect for her. Because she chose a dress, she didn’t have to worry about the placement of horizontal and vertical lines because the dress hid the fact that her body is longer than her legs. She just needed to make sure the design line placements are right for her O Body Shape.
Shoes
These booties are perfect for Monica when wearing a dress. First, they can transform a classic outfit to a trendy one. Accessories are a great way to do that. When wearing them with pants, she’ll need to consider the pant length to make sure there aren’t too many horizontal lines in the leg area.
Necklace
It’s great that Monica had this necklace in her collection. It brings something unexpected and the design lines it creates are perfect for her. When creating a closet full of clothes you love to wear, look for unexpected ways you can use different items. It’s not about buying new items every time.
Final Thoughts
By choosing clothes that are on the classic side, you can transform them to trendy with the accessories you pair them with. The advantage of doing this is you can easily update clothes to the current trends, allowing you to wear them for years to come. As a result, the cost per wearing goes down tremendously. If you’re like Monica and have a hard time finding clothes to fit your Body Elements you can invest in the clothes that work for you. As trends change, and they will change, you can always add accessories without breaking the bank.
Alice is up next to show and tell about her shopping for design lines. She’s starting to understand what design lines work best for her Body Elements. The blog post is called: Shopping For Design Lines — Alice.
Wear Your Greatness!!
