Monica is excited to decide what to wear to a christmas party. Her husband’s firm is hosting one at a historical mansion and cocktail dresses are required. She loves dressing up; however, she didn’t have time to go to the mall so she ordered online.
Monica went to macys.com typed in “cocktail dresses” and shopped. Over this past year she learned what design lines and colors work for her, so she looked for dresses that fit her requirements. She found 5 dresses which could work and ordered them. She tried them on and picked the one which she felt the best in. Then she looked for earrings, shoes and a clutch to match the dress and ordered them.
Keep reading to learn what Monica is wearing to the Christmas party.
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, so 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
What To Wear To A Christmas Party -- Dress
Monica picked this dress because she felt the most confident in it. She loved the color even though it’s not one she wears often. She has always been attracted to bright colors. The rhinestones on the neckline and sleeves were the perfect amount for her.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Monica learned the first design line to look at is the silhouette. It’s the outter line of an outfit that is the difference between her shoulders/waist, waist/hips and hips/shoulders. Silhouettes come in two categories: angular and curved. For angular silhouettes, the shoulders, waist and hips appear to be all the same width. With curved silhouettes, the waist is significantly smaller than both the shoulders and hips.
To know which category she should wear, Monica learned her Body Shape gives her the clue. Body Shapes come in the same two categories: angular and curved. For an angular Body Shape the waist isn’t significantly smaller than both the shoulders and hips; while the curved Body Shape the waist is significantly smaller than both the shoulders and hips. As a result, if the Body Shape is angular then the silhouette should be angular. If the Body Shape is curved, then the silhouette should be curved.
Monica has an O Body Shape, where her waist is significantly wider than both her shoulders and hips. This means she should look for an angular silhouette.
All the dresses Monica ordered have an angular silhouette. She used to make the mistake of ordering any dress that she liked even if the silhouette was curved, but it never worked for her body. This dress has an angular silhouette and it works perfectly with her body.
Horizontal Lines
The next design lines she looked at in the pictures were horizontal lines. They can be created by necklines, hems, belts and seam lines to name a few. She learned that horizontal lines stop the eye, emphasize the area and make it appear wider and shorter. Her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues to the placement of these lines.
For her Body Shape, Monica doesn’t want them at her waist because it emphasizes this area and makes it appear even wider. On the other hand, if she places horizontal lines across her shoulder, they will emphasize that area, making them appear wider, creating balance with her waist. The same thing goes for her mid-hip area.
For her Body Proportions, Monica wants them between her bust/waist and waist/hips because she’s long in this area. However, she wants to limit them in her leg area because her legs are significantly shorter than her torso.
This dress has four horizontal lines: neckline, sleeve hems, overlay hem and dress hem. The neckline works well for Monica because it brings attention to this area and makes it appear wider, balancing out her waist. The sleeve hems and overlay are all at the same area, below her waist, also balancing out her waist. Both the neckline and overlay hem are good for her long torso by making it appear shorter.
The hem hits Monica just above her knees which is a perfect place. Her legs and torso appear balanced with the combination of all the horizontal lines.
Vertical Lines
Monica learned that vertical lines move the eyes up and down, and make the area appear thinner and longer. Her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues as to the placement of these design lines.
For her Body Shape Monica wants them to go through her waist area because they will make this area appear thinner. She doesn’t want them in her thinner areas because vertical lines will make these areas appear even thinner, making her waist appear even wider.
For her Body Proportions Monica wants vertical lines in her leg area because they will appear longer. On the other hand, she doesn’t want them in just her torso area because vertical lines will make this area appear even longer and more out of balance with her legs.
The only vertical lines on this dress are created by the split sleeve. They start at the shoulder/sleeve seam and go through the hem. Because the sleeve hem is below Monica’s waist, the eye is brought down to this area, perfect for her Body Shape.
For her Body Proportions, this could be problematic because Monica’s torso is longer than her legs. However, with the sleeve and overlay hems, a horizontal line is created. Both horizontal and vertical lines strategically placed, magic happened and balance is created for both her Body Shape and Body Proportions.
Shape Of Design Lines
Monica was fascinated to learn that the shape of design lines are also important. Her Face Shape gives her clues to the right shape for design lines. Face Shape, like design lines shape, has two categories: angular and curved. Angular design lines have angles; while curved design lines have curves.
Monica learned that she can find design line shapes in the clothes themselves along with accessories and prints.
Monica’s Face Shape is pear which falls in the curved category. This means she should look for neck lines with a curved shape.
This dress has several areas which create design lines shapes: the neckline, the hem of the sleeve and overlay. The neckline has a curved shape. Because the hem of the sleeve and overlay are flowy they create a ruffle which creates a curved shape. These design lines have shapes that match Monica’s Face Shape clue.
What To Wear To A Christmas Party -- Earrings
Monica looked for rhinestone earrings to go with the dress. The dress itself had rhinestones along the neckline and on both sides of the sleeve split. She wanted earrings to match the subtleties of the dress. This pair of earrings was perfect.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Design Line Shape
The main aspect of the earring Monica looked at was the design line shape. She wanted them to match her curved Face Shape. The shape of this pair of earrings is perfect for her even though the top and bottom have angels, the overall shape of the earrings is curved.
What To Wear To A Christmas Party -- Shoe
Along with the earrings, Monica wanted the rhinestones on the shoes to match the subtleties on the dress. She loved the fact that the sandals straps were made out of clear plastic making many of the straps disappear. As a result, the bling isn’t in your face.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Horizontal Lines/Vertical Lines
Monica resisted shoes and sandals with ankle straps. She learned that they create a horizontal line which makes her legs appear shorter. The clear plastic slingback strap makes this horizontal line disappear creating even more length in her legs along with the high heels creating vertical lines.
Design Lines Shape
Monica checked the shape of the sandal’s toe to make sure it was curved. She found many shoes and sandals with a square or pointed toe. Neither of these would work for her curved Face Shape.
What To Wear To A Christmas Party -- Clutch
The last accessory Monica looked for was a clutch. She looked for a silver one with just a little bit of bling. She wasn’t totally sure but when she put this on with the whole outfit it had the right amount of bling.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Design Lines Shape
Monica learned that handbags and clutches are accessories, therefore she needed to make sure their shapes are curved. This clutch is full of curves and softness, perfect for her.
Final Thoughts
Monica was amazed how easily this Christmas party outfit came together. Now that she understands which design lines and colors work best for her body, she’s able to look for them on outfits. She’s learned that it’s not her body that is the problem but the clothes don’t have the best design lines for her body.
In the next blog post, Alice will be sharing the Christmas party outfit she’ll be wearing to her company’s Christmas party. She’s looking forward to it because it’s the first one she’s been to since starting at this company. The post is called: What To Wear To A Christmas Party — Alice.
Wear Your Greatness!!
