Now that Grace understands her Body Elements, shopping for a New Year’s Eve dress sounds fun. She’s always loved spending time shopping with her friends: Sam, Monica, Alice and Veronica, but the actual shopping for clothes for herself, not so much. She’d go into a dressing room with an arm full of clothes of possibilities and come out with maybe one or two items that were okay.
Now that she understands what design lines work with her Body Shape and Body Proportions, she looks for those design lines on clothes before she tries them on. If they’re close to what she needs, then she tries them on. As a result, she’s beginning to appreciate her body more.
She’s excited to share what she bought.
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 knee/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 New Year’s Eve Dress & Accessories
Shopping For New Year’s Eve Dress -- Dress
When looking for a dress to wear to the New Year’s Eve party, Grace knew she was looking for horizontal lines in the shoulder area and vertical lines in the hip area. She also looked for dresses that have fuller skirts. Shopping this way made the process so much easier. She felt like she was in control and not overwhelmed by all the choices.
Grace found several dresses that could work, but when she put this one on she knew it was the one. Her shoulders and hips felt balanced and she felt feminine in it. This is a dress she could wear for many years to come.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Horizontal/Vertical Line Analysis
Grace was right to look for horizontal lines at her shoulders and vertical ones at her hips. Because she has an A Body Shape, the horizontal lines will help her shoulders appear wider and the vertical lines will help her hips appear thinner creating balance.
There are two horizontal lines created at the shoulders: the neckline and the attachment of the underdress. The neckline is called a boat which creates a horizontal line across the front of her neck. The dress has a lace outer layer and a silky under layer. The area where the silky under layer is attached to the lace creates a horizontal line.
The vertical lines are created by the princess seams. These seams help mold fabric to a body. The seams start at mid armpit over the bust down to the hem. These are perfect to move the eye over her hip area and down to the hem.
This dress has a bonus vertical line, especially the arm holes’ shape at the shoulders. From the area where the princess line starts, the arm hole shape extends out from the shoulders giving the appearance of wider shoulders. With the combination of all the horizontal lines and vertical ones, the shoulders appear wider and the hips appear thinner, creating balance for Grace.
The next question she needs to ask herself is: how do these lines affect her Body Proportions. She’s short between her bust and waist and knees and floor, and she’s long between her waist and crotch. There isn’t a problem with placing horizontal lines in her shoulder area because her proportion in this area is the same as the ideal proportions for her height. As for the vertical line between her waist and crotch, it really doesn’t matter because you can’t tell where her torso ends and her legs begin.
Design Line Shape/Color Analysis
The color of the dress is a perfect neutral for her.
Grace has an angular Face Shape and should look for angular design lines. This dress has three design lines to consider: neckline, the horizontal line where the underlay is attached to the lace and the lace pattern. The boat neckline is angular, which is perfect for her Face Shape. However, the horizontal line created by the under lay attaching to the lace is curved. This isn’t a prominent line so it’ll work for Grace. The lace pattern has mixed results. The overall feel is curved but there are a few angular details due to the straight lines. Because all the other elements of the dress match Grace’s Body Element clues, this is a minor problem.
Shopping For New Year’s Eve Dress -- Shoes
When looking for a pair of shoes, Grace looked for ones that matched the dress and could be worn with other outfits. Of the ones she tried on, these shoes felt the most comfortable. She also felt the classic style had a feminine feel.
Design Line & Color Analysis
The important design line of the shoe is the shape of the toe which is angular, perfect for Grace’s angular Face Shape. However, the shape of the part going over the toes is curved.
The color of the shoes and the dress create a low color contrast. Grace has a medium color contrast. If the shoes were slightly darker, the color contrast would be perfect. This isn’t always easy to find. In the future she can keep her eye out for a darker pair.
The last design line she needs to consider is the scale of the shoes. Grace’s overall scale is small/medium. Her Body Proportion between her knees and the floor is short causing the scale of accessories and prints in this area to be small. The scale of the shoes is small/medium because of the sole and heel. Notice the difference between the overall feel of these two shoes (below). Grace’s shoes feel lighter than the other one. Also notice the difference in the sole and heel.
Shopping For New Year’s Eve Dress -- Necklace
Grace loves wearing pearls. For some reason they make her happy. A part of it is that they feel feminine. She and her friends thought the pearls worked perfectly with the dress.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Strictly speaking the round shape of pearls don’t work with Grace’s angular Face Shape. However because she has an emotional connection with pearls and most of the design line elements of the dress work well with her Body Elements, the pearls work.
The horizontal lines the necklace creates also work perfectly for her Body Shape and Body Proportions (as discussed above).
Shopping For New Year’s Eve Dress -- Handbag
Because of her love of pearls, when Grace saw this handbag she knew she had to have it no matter what. It’ll be a staple clutch in her wardrobe.
Design Line & Color Analysis
The overall shape of this handbag has both angular and curved design lines. This handbag works for Grace because it has strong angular elements.
As with the necklace, pearls make Grace happy and that alone goes a long way in helping one tap into their confidence. It’s important to surround yourself with things you love.
Summary
Dress
Grace did a great job finding this dress. Its design lines match her Body Element clues. Most importantly, it matches her style of clothes. She loves feminine flowy styles. To tap into her confidence more, both design line/color and style needs to reflect who she is as a person. This dress delivers on both.
Shoes
The overall shape and scale of these shoes are perfect for Grace. Scale is also an important aspect in choosing accessories. Because Grace is short between her knees and the floor, she needs to make sure the scale of the shoes isn’t too big for her. The scale of these shoes is perfect for her.
Jewelry
Pearls make Grace happy. This is an important aspect for any outfit. Even if they might not match your Body Elements, you have to consider how you feel when you wear them.
I too love wearing pearls because they make me happy. My Face Shape is also angular. When I know I’m going outside my comfort zone or just need to bring all my confidence to the forefront, I wear necklaces that have an overall angular feel and leave my pearls home for another day.
Handbag
The shape of the handbag has both angular and curved elements. Because pearls make Grace happy and most of the design line elements work for her, the handbag works with this outfit.
Final Thoughts
Taking your personal style into is an important part of tapping into your confidence and personal power. Grace’s style has a feminine component even though she has an angular Face Shape. It’s important for her to understand how she feels in an outfit: does she feel light, neutral or heavy? If she feels neutral or heavy, Grace should make some tweaks until she finds the perfect combination.
In the next blog post, Veronica will be sharing her finds when shopping for a New Year’s Eve Dress. Learning the placement of horizontal lines and vertical ones has helped her make shopping for clothes easier. Read about her results in Shopping For New Year’s Eve Dress — Veronica.
Wear Your Greatness!!
