Shopping for swimsuits hasn’t ever been an activity Grace enjoys. However, for this shopping trip, she’s looking forward to it because she’s celebrating her 15 year wedding anniversary with her husband and she’s learning what design lines work on her body. As she browses the options, Grace is looking for the right design lines for her Body Elements and is willing to go outside her comfort zone.
Keep reading to find out which swimsuit she picked.
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 Swimsuits
This swimsuit is way out of Grace’s comfort zone because it’s a two piece. She normally looks for swimsuits that hide her body but today she’s looking for ones that celebrate it. Green and orange are her two favorite colors. She likes that the bottoms are solid and the top has a print. The bottoms are perfect because they have a higher waistline. She feels more comfortable with this waistline. When she put this suit on, she knew it was the one.
Shopping For Swimsuits -- Top
Grace chose this top because of the colors. It has her favorite colors of green and orange. She normally wouldn’t pick a bikini top like this one, but the colors were perfect.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Horizontal Lines
This swimsuit top has one horizontal line created by the bottom of the top, just under the bust. For her A Body Shape, this horizontal line is perfect because it balances out her wider hips.
For her Body Proportions, it’s not great because she’s short between her bust and waist. However, the placement of the bottom’s waist, below her belly button, creates length in this area and therefore, together, both pieces work for her.
Vertical Lines
The neckline and straps create vertical lines. For Grace’s A Body Shape, having just vertical lines in this area isn’t the best for her wider hips because these lines can make her shoulders appear thinner causing her hips to appear wider. A slightly better neckline for her would be one that has horizontal lines in it.
Grace’s Body Proportions between her chin and bust are the same. Placing vertical lines in this area works well for her.
Shape Of Design Lines
Grace has a rectangle Face Shape which gives her the clue to have angular design lines. This top has two different areas that create design line shape: neckline and print.
The V neckline has an angular shape, which is perfect for her. Even though the print is floral, the overall feel is angular because of the leaves.
Color
Grace’s favorite colors are orange and green which are in the print. Her color contrast profile is medium. This gives her two clues about color combinations and the relative lightness and darkness of these colors. The color combinations that work best for Grace are analogous and triadic. The colors in this swimsuit top are: various shades of orange and green which are two colors in a triadic color scheme. This is perfect for her.
When it comes to relative lightness and darkness, Grace should look for medium contrast. The color contrast in the print is medium/high to high; which is a little high, but not terrible.
Scale
The scale of the top’s print is medium/large. Grace’s scale strategy is small/medium.
Shopping For Swimsuits -- Bottoms
Design Line & Color Analysis
Horizontal Lines
This swim bottom has one main horizontal line and several secondary ones. The main one is at the top of the bottoms and the secondary ones are created by the gathering of fabric at the side seams. For Grace’s Body Shape, the horizontal lines created by the top of the bottoms is perfect for her because it brings focus to just under her belly button and balances out her hips.
All the horizontal lines balance out her Body Proportions. Grace is long between her waist and crotch and as a result these design lines make this area appear shorter. These horizontal design lines are perfect for her Body Elements.
Vertical Lines
The shape of the swim bottom leg-holes creates a diagonal design line which is a type of vertical line. It makes the area appear thinner and longer. This is great for Grace’s A Body Shape because it is placed in her hip area; the lines make it appear thinner. However, for her Body Proportions it could be a problem because she’s long in this area. Because the top of the bottoms and all the side seam gathers create horizontal lines above the leg-holes, the diagonal design lines are counterbalanced.
Summary
Grace did a great job picking this swimsuit for her trip. Most importantly, she’s learning that by understanding the clues her body gives her and finding clothes that reflect those clues, she doesn’t feel like she has to hide her body anymore. As a result, she’s feeling more confident and able to face other issues holding her back from pursuing her passions.
In the next post, it’s Veronica’s turn to share the swimsuit she found. The post is called: Shopping for Swimsuits — Veronica.
Wear Your Greatness!!
