This year Grace is excited to go shopping to determine what to wear to a Christmas party. She loves the holiday season, but has always dreaded figuring out what to wear to the parties. This year is different because over the last year and a half she’s learned what designs look best on her body. As a result, she’s confident to find clothes that look best on her, and best of all she’s found the confidence she’d felt after graduating from college.
Grace needs a cocktail dress to wear to her husband’s company Christmas party. She thought about wearing the dress she wore to a wedding last month, but decided to get one with more sparkles on it. After seeing a lot of different Facebook and Instagram posts, she saw sequins and sparkles are in this Christmas season. Normally she doesn’t really care about fashion, but she thought this year she would go for it.
Read further to learn what Christmas outfit she wore to the party and which designs work for her body.
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
What To Wear To A Christmas Party -- Dress
Grace looked at a lot of dresses. Her go to dress is a fit and flare because the flare portion fits her wider hips best. However, this time she wanted to step outside her comfort zone and find a fitted dress that works for her body. She looked for a dress made out of a knit which would mold around her hips. She tried on this dress and knew it was the one. She’s amazed how magical it feels when she puts on the right dress for her, and she feels it right away.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Grace learned the first design line to look for is the silhouette. It’s the outside line of any outfit, and is the difference between the shoulders/waist, waist/hips and hips/shoulders. It comes in two categories: angular and curved. A silhouette is angular when the shoulders, waist and hips appear to be the same width. On the other hand, a curved silhouette is when the waist is significantly smaller than both the shoulders and hips.
Grace’s Body Shape gives her the clue to which category she has. Body shape works the same way. A body shape is angular when the waist isn’t significantly smaller than both the shoulders and hips, and a Body Shape is curved when the waist is significantly smaller and both the shoulders and hips. If her Body Shape is angular, then she would wear an angular silhouette. On the other hand, if her Body Shape is curved, then she would wear a curved silhouette.
Grace has an A Body Shape, where her waist is smaller than both her shoulders and hips, and her hips are wider than her shoulders, which falls into the curved category. This means she should wear curved silhouette outfits.
This dress has a slightly curved silhouette. But because it’s made out of a knit, it will mold around her hips making the silhouette of this dress perfect for Grace.
Horizontal Lines
One of the most important design lines Grace learned about was the placement of horizontal lines. Growing up she had learned that horizontal lines on her body are bad. However she recently discovered that is a myth. They are neither good nor bad; it’s all about the placement.
Grace learned that horizontal lines stop your eye, emphasize that area and make it appear wider and thinner. Her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues as to the placement of these design lines.
For her Body Shape, Grace learned she doesn’t want horizontal lines at her hips because they will emphasize this area and make it appear even wider. However if they are placed in her shoulder or waist areas, they would emphasize these areas, make them appear wider and create balance with her hips.
For her Body Proportions, Grace wants to avoid horizontal lines between her bust/waist because she’s short in this area and these lines will make this area appear even shorter. On the other hand, she’s long between her waist/crotch, so horizontal lines are perfect for her because they will make this area appear even shorter.
This dress has three horizontal lines: neckline, cap sleeve hem and hem of the dress. All are perfect for Grace. The neckline and cap sleeve hem create horizontal lines at the shoulders, emphasizing this area perfect for her Body Shape.
This dress has three horizontal lines: neckline, cap sleeve hem and hem of the dress. All are perfect for Grace. The neckline and cap sleeve hem create horizontal lines at the shoulders, emphasizing this area perfect for her Body Shape.
The hem of the dress falls just above her knee which is also perfect for Grace. She is short between her knees and the floor, so she wants dress/skirt hems to be just above her knees.
Vertical Lines
Grace learned that it’s important to understand the placement of vertical design lines. Vertical lines move one’s eye up and down, and make the area appear thinner and taller. Her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues as to the placement of these design lines.
For Grace’s “A” Body Shape, she wants them between her waist and hip so the eye moves away from her hips. On the other hand, she doesn’t want them just between her chin and waist because it will make this area appear even thinner making her hips even wider.
For Grace’s Body Proportions, she wants vertical lines between her bust/waist and knees/floor areas because these areas will appear longer. However, she doesn’t want them just between her waist/crotch area because these lines will make this area appear even longer.
Grace determined that this dress really doesn’t have vertical lines except a small one built into the neckline. Because it’s short and just between her shoulders and mid-chest, it works for her. Also the prominent horizontal lines counterbalance the vertical lines in this area. She thinks it’s amazing how the right combination of horizontal and vertical lines can magically change how she feels in an outfit.
Design Lines Shape
Over the past year and a half, Grace learned that her Face Shape gives her clues as to design line shape. She thought it was amazing how the right design line shape for her can really transform how she feels.
Grace learned that there are two categories of design line shape: angular and curved. If one has an angular Face Shape then they should wear angular design lines. On the other hand, if one has a curved Face Shape, they should wear curved design lines. She has a rectangle Face Shape. This means she should wear angular design lines. She also learned she should look for design lines shapes in necklines, collars, pockets to name a few. Also she should look at the shapes of accessories and prints.
Grace decided that the neckline is the only place for this dress. However, it’s in a curved shape, not matching her Face Shape clue. She knows that she can lessen the effect of a curved neckline by making sure all her accessories have a curved design line shape. So when she picked the accessories to go with this dress she made sure their design line shape is angular.
What To Wear To A Christmas Party -- Necklace
Because the neckline of the dress has a curved design line shape, Grace wanted to find a necklace with an angular design line shape to reflect her rectangle Face Shape clue. The only one she found was this one. It’s different from her other necklaces. She put it on with the dress and it works perfectly for her.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Vertical Lines
Grace noticed that this necklace creates vertical lines because it creates a V at the bottom. Normally she wears necklaces that create horizontal lines because they help create width at her shoulders. She determined this necklace works for her because the neckline on the dress creates strong horizontal lines; the vertical lines on the necklace doesn’t make her shoulders appear thinner.
Design Lines Shape
What To Wear To A Christmas Party -- Earrings
Now that she found the necklace that reflects her body’s clues, Grace looked for earrings. She found these earrings and liked that the shape reflected the overall shape of the necklace without being too matchy-matchy.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Design Line Shape
These earrings create two diamond shapes attached to each other. The bottom of each diamond shape reflects the shape of the necklace. The shape of these earrings are angular and perfect for Grace.
What To Wear To A Christmas Party -- Bracelet
Grace next looked for a bracelet. She thought her arms needed a little adornment for the Christmas party. The style of this bracelet went well with the necklace and earrings.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Design Line Shape
The shape of each rhinestone on this bracelet is a square and are put together so they line up side by side. As a result, the overall shape is angular, perfect for Grace.
What To Wear To A Christmas Party -- Shoe
Grace looked for understated shoes. She wanted all the attention to be on the dress. She loved these shoes because they felt like Cinderella shoes. When she had the dress on, she felt transformed just like how Cinderella was transformed.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Design Lines Shape
Grace looked for shoes with a pointed toe because it will reflect her angular Face Shape. This shoe has a pointed toe.
What To Wear To A Christmas Party -- Clutch
The final piece for Grace’s outfit is the clutch. When she found this one, she knew it was perfect because the diamond shapes reflected her jewelry.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Design Lines Shape
This clutch has two areas of design line shapes. The first is the shape of the clutch itself. The second is the diamond pattern. Both have an angular shape that is perfect for Grace.
Final Thoughts
Grace loves this outfit she’s wearing to her husband’s Christmas party. She felt transformed when she put it on. She thinks it is magical how just putting on clothes and accessories can change how one feels. The best thing that has transformed in her life is the fact that she’s getting back the confidence she felt when she graduated from college. She knows her husband is also grateful to see her thriving again.
In the next blog post Veronica will be sharing the dress she’ll be wearing to her company’s Christmas party. She works for a small tech start-up company and the party will be at the founder’s home. She’s looking forward to mingling with her co-workers. The post is called: What To Wear To A Christmas Party — Veronica.
Wear Your Greatness!!
