Grace didn’t really like the thought of shopping by herself; and having to go shopping for “my style” brought up a lot of dread. The only time she likes shopping is when she goes with her friends: Sam, Monica, Alice and Veronica. She just loves spending time with them and shopping is another way to do that.
Over the last 9 months, Grace has learned a lot about which design lines and colors enhanced her natural beauty. She’s amazed that wearing the right ones for her changes how she feels. In fact, she’s starting to feel like that girl just graduating from college and excited about her future. In recent years, several life challenges have clouded that excitement. Through her personal journey, she learned grit and now she’s ready to see the sunshine again.
When shopping for “my style” by herself, Grace was surprised by how easy the process was because she understood the clues her body gives her.
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
Shopping For “My Style” -- Grace’s Style
Grace really never thought she had a “my style.” But looking through her closet she sees a lot of clothes that are soft and flowy. She loves wearing full skirts that are soft and feminine. Most of the fabrics are light and have a beautiful drape: for example, they’re made out of chiffon and chalis fabrics.
Grace embodies all that is good about the feminine spirit and her clothes reflect that. Looking in her closet and looking for her “my style” lifts her spirit and her confidence to be able to find an outfit to wear on an outing with her and her friends.
Shopping For “My Style” -- Top
One of Grace’s favorite colors is orange. It’s a color she doesn’t see very often. She’s so excited to see that there are a lot of clothes made with this color. She saw this Ralph Lauren surplice jersey top and knew it had possibilities. When she put it on, she knew she needed to buy it. Based on what she’s learned in the past 9 months about design lines and color, this top fits most of the criteria.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Grace learned that she has an A Body Shape; which means her shoulders are visually wider than her waist and her hips are visually wider than her shoulders. She also learned that her Body Shape gives her clues to which category of silhouette works best for her. A Body Shape lands in the curvy category because her waist is significantly smaller than both her shoulders and hips.
Because this top is made out of a jersey fabric it naturally molds to her smaller waist. Grace always liked the fact that she has a small waist, but not the fact that her hips are wider. She knows the top fits her top half. Now she needs to find pants or a skirt to fit her lower half.
Horizontal Lines
Grace learned that her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues to the placement of horizontal lines. She learned that horizontal lines are neither good nor bad. It just depends on one’s body clues.
Grace has an A Body Shape and the best placement for these lines is at her shoulders or waist because by placing them there, they bring attention to these areas and make them appear wider and more in balance with her hips.
Body Proportion-wise, she’s short between her bust/waist and knees/floor. She’s long between her waist/crotch. This means Grace should place horizontal lines between her waist/crotch and avoid them between her bust/waist and knees/floor.
The main horizontal lines for this blouse are in the hems: main body and sleeves. The blouse itself can be worn tucked in or out. When worn out, its horizontal line lands between her waist and crotch, which is perfect for both her Body Shape and Body Proportions. For Body Proportions, the hem creates length between her bust/waist and shortens the length between her waist/crotch.
If she wears it tucked in, she should make sure the skirt or pants waist is below her natural waist an inch or two to create length between her bust/waist and to shorten the length between her waist/crotch.
Vertical Lines
Grace learned that her Body Shape and Body Proportions also give her clues as to the placement of vertical lines. For Body Shape, she wants to place them in her hip area to make it appear thinner but not in her shoulder and waist areas because vertical lines will make these areas appear thinner, and as a result, make her hip area appear wider.
For her Body Proportions, she should place vertical lines between her bust/waist and knees/floor areas to make them appear longer but avoid them between her waist/crotch because they’ll make this area appear even longer.
This top’s main vertical line appears in the form of a diagonal line that goes from the right side of her neck down to the opposite waist. A secondary vertical line goes from the left side of her neck to the main vertical line creating a v-neckline.
For Grace’s Body Shape, these vertical lines aren’t ideal because they’re placed in her thinner areas, making them appear thinner, and as a result, make her hips appear wider. However, if she pairs a necklace with strong horizontal lines with the top, she can create width in the shoulder area.
Shape Of Design Lines
Grace learned that clothes have design line shapes: either angular or curved. Also her Face Shape gives her clues as to which category looks best on her. Grace has a rectangular Face Shape and should wear angular design lines.
This top has only one design line and that’s the neckline. It has a v-shape, which puts it into the angular category, perfect for Grace.
Color
Grace loves the color orange and this was the main reason she was drawn to this top. She doesn’t see it very often so she makes sure she buys this color whenever it’s available.
Shopping For “My Style” -- Pants
After watching a recent YouTube video, Design Lines Friend Or Foe – Discover Your “My Style,” Grace learned that pleated pants can work for A Body Shapes because there’s a lot of ease in the hip area. She also saw that this style of pants could bring out the flowiness she likes in skirts, but in pants.
She tried on several pleated pants and found these fit the best. When looking at the pleats, she made sure they laid flat and these pants had the right amount of ease for her.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Grace noticed that when holding the pants up, they had more of an angular silhouette. However, because of its design, there’s a lot of ease built in around the hip and thigh areas. This fact allows her wider hips to fit. Finding curvy, fit pants is a challenge for Grace and is a main reason why she wears a lot of skirts.
Horizontal Lines
Grace determined the main horizontal line is the waistband. It hits her just below her belly button, which is a perfect place for her. She learned that having a horizontal line here brings emphasis to this area, making it appear a little wider and balanced with her hips. It also creates length between her bust and waist and at the same time, shortens the area between her waist and crotch.
Vertical Lines
Grace saw several vertical lines created by the pleats. They start at the waistband and end around her knees. She thought these lines are perfect for her Body Shape because they move the eye away from her hip and thigh areas and at the same time, make them appear thinner.
For her Body Proportions, Grace knows vertical lines aren’t great between her waist and crotch because she’s long in this area. She thought that because they end around her knees, they didn’t make her waist/crotch area feel even longer.
Color
The pants are a winter white color. When paired with the orange top it creates a medium contrast. Grace thought this color combination is perfect for her because her color contrast profile is medium.
Shopping For “My Style” -- Necklace
Over the last 9 months, Grace is amazed at how much she’s learned about jewelry. Before, she rarely wore any because she just didn’t know what to wear. Any jewelry she wore was because one of her friends told her she should wear it. Now she has more confidence in picking out one. This fact is amazing to her.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Horizontal Lines/Vertical Lines
Because her hips are wider than her shoulders, Grace learned that placing a horizontal line at her shoulders will make her shoulders appear wider. This is especially true when she’s wearing a v-neck line, which makes this area look even thinner.
Grace chose this necklace to create a horizontal line at her shoulders, counter-balancing the vertical lines created by the top’s v-neck line.
Shape Of Design Lines
Grace learned that she has a rectangle Face Shape and should wear necklaces with an angular shape. She always wondered why she liked necklaces with this shape and now she knows.
She had a hard time finding one with an angular shape; but was excited when she found this one. Grace knows she’ll be able to wear it with different outfits.
Color
Grace’s favorite colors are orange and green. The top is orange and she wanted to find a necklace with orange in it but couldn’t find one that had an overall angular shape. When she saw this necklace she knew it could work because a major color in it is green.
Grace learned that orange and green are two colors in a triadic color scheme and work together well. She feels lucky these are her two favorite colors. She also learned that she has a medium color contrast profile which means a triadic color scheme works well with the color of her skin, hair and eyes.
Scale
Another interesting fact that Grace learned is she can wear jewelry with a small/medium scale. The combination of her Body Frame Size, Color Skin, Hair and Eyes and Body Proportions give her this clue.
Grace thought that the scale of this necklace is in the medium range. When trying on the necklace with the top, she felt like it worked. She thought the scale was as large as she could go.
Shopping For “My Style” -- Sandals
When Grace saw these sandals she knew they were the ones because they’re orange and the exact color of her top (both are designed by Ralph Lauren).
Design Line & Color Analysis
Shape Of Design Lines
Grace looked for sandals with an angular toe because her Face Shape is angular. She didn’t see anything she liked. When she saw this sandal she knew they would look great with her outfit because of the color. The toe wasn’t overly curved. She learned that she can deviate from her body’s clues, as long as overall, the design lines and colors reflect them.
Color
The color is the number one reason why she picked these shoes. It’s exactly the same color as the top. However the pleated pants are right next to it. Because Grace learned that she has a medium color contrast profile, she can easily wear these sandals with the winter white pants.
Scale
Grace thought it was quite interesting that shoes have scale. She always wondered why some shoes looked wrong on her. It’s because their scale was large and her scale profile is small/medium. Also when it comes to shoes, she should decrease it to small because her Body Proportion between her knees and the floor is short.
Grace determined that the overall scale of these sandals is somewhere between small and medium. When she tried them on, she felt great in them.
Final Thoughts
By having to go shopping for “my style” by herself, Grace learned that she knows more than she realized. More specifically, she learned that by following the clues her body gives her, she can determine what design lines and colors help her tap into her confidence. She never could’ve shopped by herself nine months ago. This fact also helps her tap into her confidence and personal power. Grace has been looking for ways to start finding her confidence once again. She’s now on the road of getting her confidence back.
The next blog post will be about Veronica’s “my style” shopping trip. It’s called: Shopping For “My Style” — Veronica.
Wear Your Greatness!!
