Like her friends, Grace is ready to apply her knowledge about the best design lines for her body, to what to wear to bed. She knows good sleep is important and will experiment doing different things. Recently, she has felt more like her confident self. Over the years, and life happening, this confidence decreased. She’s grateful that she learned how to start getting some of her confidence back through the clothes she wears. As a result, she’s taking steps to get it all back.
Grace has found that matching all of her body’s clues to design lines and colors is a challenging thing to do. However, she has learned which ones are the most important and learned to tune into how she feels in various clothes, and that’s exactly what she did with the clothes she picked to wear to bed.
Keep reading to learn which design lines and colors are important to Grace.
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 Bed -- Nightgown
Grace likes the comfort of nightgowns better than pajamas. She looked for nightgowns with her favorite colors, green and orange. This one was the closest she could find. When she tried it on, it felt comfortable.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Grace learned that the silhouette of an outfit is the first design line she should look at. It’s the difference between the shoulders/waist, waist/hips and hips/shoulders. There are two silhouette categories: angular and curved. In the angular category, the shoulders, waist and hips appear to be all the same width. While in the curved category, the waist is significantly smaller than the shoulders and hips. Her Body Shape gives her clues as to which category she should wear.
Grace has an A Body Shape, her waist is significantly smaller than her shoulders and her shoulders are significantly smaller than her hips. She learned that her Body Shape is in the curved Body Shape category. As a result, she should wear clothes with a curved silhouette.
Grace looked at the silhouette of the nightgown. The shoulders and the waist appeared to have the same width; however, the hip appears wider because the gown style has an A-line from the waist to the hip. This is one of the reasons she picked this gown; she needs more room in the hip area. She also noted that the nightgown is made out of knit which means the fabric will form to her body. Because of these two facts, this nightgown creates a curvy silhouette on her.
Horizontal Lines
Grace learned the magic of horizontal design lines. They stop the eye, emphasize the area, and make it appear wider and shorter. Her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues as to the placement of horizontal lines.
For Grace’s Body Shape, she doesn’t want to put them in her widest area: her hips, because it will emphasize this area and make it appear wider, creating more imbalance. On the other hand, she wants them in her shoulder and waist areas because they’ll emphasize these areas and make them appear wider, creating balance with her hips.
For Grace’s Body Proportions, she doesn’t want horizontal lines in her short areas: bust/waist and knees/floor, because they’ll make these areas appear even shorter. On the other hand, she wants horizontal lines in her long area: waist/crotch, because they’ll make this area appear shorter.
The two horizontal design lines Grace found on this nightgown are at the hem of the sleeves and the hem of the gown. The sleeve hems are perfect for her because they bring emphasis to her shoulder area, and the hem of the gown brings emphasis to her foot area (she’s shorter than the model in the above picture: the model is 5’10” and she is 5’6”).
Vertical Lines
Grace also learned that vertical design lines have magical powers. They move the eye up and down and make the area appear thinner and longer. As with horizontal lines, her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues as to the placement of vertical lines.
Because Grace has an A Body Shape, she wants them to go through her hip area to move one’s eyes away from this area and at the same time make it appear thinner. She doesn’t want them just in her thinner areas: shoulders and waist, because they’ll make these areas appear even thinner and make her hip area appear even wider.
For Grace’s Body Proportions, she wants vertical lines between her bust/waist and knees/floor because they’ll make these areas appear longer, creating balance. On the other hand, she doesn’t want them just between her waist/crotch area because they’ll make this area appear even longer.
The only vertical design line Grace found on this nightgown is the v-neckline. This is not in a great area for her because the vertical design line is only in her shoulder area, making this area appear slightly thinner. However, the horizontal lines of the sleeve hems counter balance this fact because they’re creating width. Grace knows this is the magic of horizontal and vertical lines. It’s powerful to know how to use them together.
Shape Of Design Lines
Another design detail that Grace needs to consider is the shape of the design. Design details come in two categories: angular and curved. Her Face Shape gives her clues as to which category she should wear.
Grace has a rectangle Face Shape which means she should wear angular design lines. She found two places with design line shapes: the neckline and print. The neckline is V-shaped which falls into the angular category, which is perfect for her.
When looking at the print, Grace saw both angular and curved design lines. She found this happens quite often in the fashion industry. When trying on the gown, she focused on the print to determine how she felt in it and concluded that she felt good in it.
Color
Grace’s favorite colors are green and orange. This is one of the reasons she gravitated toward this nightgown. Throughout the past year, she learned that the color of her Skin, Hair and Eyes, give her clues as to the relative darkness and lightness of colors in a print. She determined this by considering her color contrast profile. This is the difference between the relative lightness and darkness between her skin, hair and eyes. Her color contrast is medium.
Grace looked at the different colors in the print. There were shades of green and orange along with taupe and cream. The relative lightness of these colors together is medium which matches her medium color contrast profile. Grace concluded that the colors in the print are perfect for her.
Scale
The last design line Grace analyzed in this nightgown is the scale of the print, in other words, the size of the print. She learned that the combination of her coloring, Body Proportions and Body Frame Size gives her the clue as to the best scale of a print. In the past, she had a hard time understanding which prints work best for her. Now that she understands the best color combinations and scale, she’s feeling more comfortable wearing prints.
First, Grace combined the clues from the color of her Skin, Hair and Eyes with her Body Frame Size. These body clues tell her that her overall scale is small/medium. Since the pattern covers her whole body, she should look for prints with this scale size. If the print was in one area, she would look at her Body Proportions to adjust that scale up or down. Because she’s short between her bust/waist, she would decrease the scale to small. On the other hand, if the print was just between her waist/crotch, she would increase the scale to medium.
Grace determined the scale of this print is medium/large, which is too big for her. However, in the ready to wear world, it’s hard to find all the design lines that fit one’s body’s clues. This is why in the past she hated shopping. But now that she understands the process, she’s learned which design lines are the most important and ultimately how she feels in the clothes. She knows when she can stray away from her body’s clues and when she can’t.
In this case, when trying on the nightgown, overall she felt good, which is much better than wearing her old t-shirts and sweatpants. She’ll keep an eye out for nightgowns that work for all her body’s clues.
What To Wear To Bed -- Robe
Grace gets cold easily and looked for a robe. She was hoping for a longer one but this is all she could find. It’s made out of velour and she thought it felt cozy and it paired well with the nightgown. As fall comes, she’ll look for a longer one. One can never have enough robes to lounge in.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Grace looked at the silhouette of the robe and it was angular; however, it does have a tie that can transform it into a curvy silhouette. In the past, she’s bought robes that fit around her hips, which made the top a little big in the shoulders. Most of her life, clothes have been this way: to fit around her hips, the waist and shoulders are many times too big. In this case, the robe works for her.
Horizontal Lines
Grace determined that the robe had three horizontal lines: the tie, the hem of the sleeves and the hem of the robe. The hems of the sleeves and body of the gown work well for her. However, the tie doesn’t because it’s at her waist making this area appear shorter. She learned that she can move the tie loops lower, putting the sash below her natural waist. This small adjustment makes the area between her bust/waist longer, creating balance.
Vertical Lines
Grace also determined that the robe had one vertical design line: the center front opening. With moving the tie below her waist, the vertical line also helped give visual length between her bust/waist. Below the tie, the center front lines move the eye away from her hips and make them appear thinner.
What To Wear To Bed -- Slippers
Grace’s feet get cold easily even in the hot Sacramento summers. She likes wearing slippers all year round. After picking out the robe, the slippers caught her eye. Like robes, one can never have enough slippers to lounge around in.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Shape Of Design Lines
Since Grace has a curved Face Shape, she looks for shoes/slippers with a round toe. These slippers have a round toe, which is perfect for her.
Color
The color of these slippers is a taupe color which matches the robe. Like the robe, they go well with the nightgown. As with the robe, Grace likes wearing taupe because it’s a good base color for the green and orange she likes.
Final Thoughts
Grace learned that the silhouette, horizontal design lines, and vertical design lines are the most critical design lines. A close second is the shape of the neckline. However, most of the time, it’s difficult to get all the right design lines in one outfit. She knows she just needs to keep an eye out for clothes that work for her body. Another thing she does know is that she’ll be throwing away her old t-shirts and sweatpants. She’s worth more than that and deserves to feel her best all the time.
The result of wearing clothes that reflect her body’s clues is that she’s feeling like her confident self, like when she was in college. In fact, she’s looking at dusting off a passion project she had dreamed about for a long time. It’s something she started in college but put it on the back burner when she and her husband started growing their family. She’s excited and nervous about the thought of dusting it off.
In the next blog post, Veronica will share her experience of finding what to wear to bed. She feels that applying her newfound knowledge to what she wears to bed is a natural extension of what she has learned over the last year. She’s astonished by how much better she feels and how much she can accomplish. To read about Veronica’s experience go to: What To Wear To Bed — Veronica.
Wear Your Greatness!!
