Alice thought Monica’s idea of learning what to wear to the gym based on her newfound knowledge about design lines and colors was interesting. She understands clothes can change how she feels when wearing the right design lines and colors for her body. So wearing exercise clothes with these design lines and colors can give her more confidence about her ability to exercise and find the right exercise for her.
Alice has always been self-conscious about her wider shoulders and has shied away from exercise of any kind. She was teased about having football player shoulders. In further research, she found that women building lots of bulk when exercising is a myth. She plans to explore different exercise genres with Monica. Together they’ll find the exercise they like best.
Alice was surprised about how much she’s learned these last nine months and she’s exploring outside options outside her comfort zone. Determining what to wear to the gym wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be.
Alice’s Body Elements
As a review, these are Alice’s Body Element clues:
- Body Shape — V (Body Shape — The Girls)
- Angular clothes silhouette
- Horizontal lines — Place them at her waist and hips, and avoid placing them at her shoulders
- Vertical lines — Place them between her chin and bust, and avoid placing them at her waist and hips
- Face Shape — Rectangle (Face Shape — The Girls)
- Angular design lines, prints and accessories
- Color Skin, Hair, Eyes — Low Color Contrast (Color Skin, Hair & Eyes — The Girls)
- Favorite Colors — Olive Green, Coral, Violet
- Color Combinations (other colors) — Analogous
- Color Combinations (relative lightness and darkness) — Low contrast
- First Scale Clue — Small
- Body Proportions — Short between chin/bust, Long between waist/crotch (Body Proportions — The Girls)
- Horizontal lines — Place them between her waist/crotch, and don’t place them between her chin/bust
- Vertical lines — Place them between her chin/bust, and limit them between her waist/crotch
- Second Scale Clue — Decrease overall scale between chin/bust and increase it between waist/crotch
- Body Frame Size — Medium (Body Frame Size — The Girls)
- Third scale clue — Medium
- Scale Strategy — Small/Medium (Scale Strategy — The Girls)
- Decrease scale to small between her chin/bust
- Increase to medium between her waist/crotch
What To Wear To The Gym -- Top
Over the last nine months, Alice learned a lot about design lines. Specifically she learned that vertical design lines will help her shoulders appear thinner. So she looked for vertical lines in this area. This top fit the ticket perfectly and to top it off, the color was one of her favorite colors.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
A part of what she’s learned is that clothes have silhouettes and her Body Shape gives her clues as to which category she should: angular or curved. Her Body Shape is V which falls into the angular category giving her the clues she needs to wear angular silhouette clothes.
Alice held the top up and looked at the difference between the shoulders/waist, waist/hips and hips/shoulders. She noted that the top was angular, which is perfect for her.
Horizontal Lines
When it comes to horizontal design lines, Alice learned that they stop her eyes, emphasize the area and make it appear wider and shorter. She also learned that her Body Shape and Body Proportions give her clues as to the placement of these design lines.
For both her Body Shape and Body Proportions, Alice needs to avoid horizontal lines between her chin and bust. For her Body Shape, these lines will bring emphasis to her shoulders and make them appear even wider and for her Body Proportions, they’ll make this area appear even shorter.
The best place for Alice to put horizontal design lines is at her waist and crotch. Alice learned that by placing these lines in this area for her Body Shape, they’ll bring emphasis to this area and make it appear wider, creating balance with her shoulders. For her Body Proportions, horizontal lines will make this area appear shorter, also creating balance.
This top has only one horizontal design line: the hem and its placement is perfect for Alice, at her hips.
Vertical Lines
Alice thinks the most important thing she learned over the past nine months is: the magic of vertical design lines. These lines move her 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 Alice’s V Body Shape, these design lines are perfect because they’ll make this area appear thinner. She’s always been self-conscious of her shoulders and now she knows how to de-emphasis them. However, she feels lucky because they also work perfectly for her short Body Proportions in this area. The same design lines that make her shoulders appear thinner will also make the area between her chin and bust longer.
All the vertical design lines on this activewear top are between Alice’s chin and bust. The v-neckline creates vertical lines along with the raglan sleeves. This top is perfect for her.
Shape Of Design Lines
Another thing Alice learned about the best design lines for her is that many design lines have shapes. They fall into two categories: angular and curved. Her Face Shape gives her clues as to which category she should wear. She looks for shapes that result from the design lines built into clothes, accessories and prints.
Alice has a rectangle Face Shape which means she should wear angular design lines. The only design line on the top is built into the top: the neckline. It’s a v-neckline which has an angular shape and is perfect for Alice.
Color
Alice has three favorite colors: olive green, coral and violet. When she wears these colors they magically energize her. This is why it’s important for her to wear at least one of these colors to the gym. Whenever she needs to step outside her comfort zone, they give her the extra push she needs.
This was the only top she found with all the right design lines for her and in one of her favorite colors. Now that she knows what to look for, Alice will keep an eye out for olive green and violet ones.
What To Wear To The Gym -- Bottoms
Once Alice found the top to wear to the gym, she looked for bottoms. At first she thought about wearing shorts, but didn’t find any she liked. So she looked for leggings. She found these which actually have a gray green which is close to the olive green she loves. As a result, she thought these leggings would be great because she can wear them with an olive green top once she finds one.
Design Line & Color Analysis
Silhouette
Alice knew she had to look for pants with an angular silhouette. She learned that most pants have this silhouette, so she knew it would be easy to find. To determine the silhouette, she looked at the difference between the waist and hips and determined that these leggings had an angular silhouette.
Horizontal Lines
Alice then looked for horizontal design lines. She found them at the waist created by the waistband and just below her calf created by the hemline.
Alice knows both of these horizontal lines work well for her. She can wear the top tucked in or out for both her Body Shape and Body Proportions.
The hemline works well also because Alice knows her proportions between torso and legs are even, allowing her to place horizontal lines anywhere in her leg area.
Shape Of Design Lines
When considering these leggings, Alice knew that the leaf motif was perfect for her because she felt the overall feel was angular, matching her angular Face Shape.
Color
The colors in the leggings’ print are: coral, gray and white. Before learning which design lines and colors enhance her natural beauty, Alice never would’ve picked this print. She would’ve picked a black or gray. Now she has a better idea about how to pick prints and which colors will work best for her. She feels she still needs to work in this area, but she’s proud of herself for even considering a print.
Alice learned that she needs to consider the relative lightness and darkness of colors and they should have a low contrast. She thinks, but is not 100% sure, that the difference between the gray and coral is low contrast, but the white makes it higher; putting the print in the medium contrast range. Since the print is away from her face, she thought it could work for her. She’s excited to show her friends now she actually went outside her comfort zone and is wearing a print.
When she put on the top and leggings together, Alice felt great and ready to go to the gym.
Final Thoughts
Alice was surprised about how much she’s learned about which design lines and colors work for her body and how she’s able to apply this knowledge. She has so much more confidence shopping for clothes than she ever thought she would. She’s excited to see where this newfound knowledge will take her.
Next week it’s Grace’s turn to share her experiences in determining what to wear to the gym. She’s dabbled in exercise but hadn’t ever committed to it like Sam. In watching her parents grow old and lose muscle strength, she wants to make sure she doesn’t go down that road. She and her husband have hired a trainer to help them develop routes to keep and build muscle strength so that as they grow older, they can stay active. Read about her experience in What To Wear To The Gym — Grace.
Wear Your Greatness!!