This is a revolutionary new way of thinking about style. All of the advice you've received, all of your life, has been about how to dress your body. "If you're petite, avoid long pants. If you're curvy, emphasize your waist. " As far as I can tell, every other style system advises you to dress primarily for your body. But your body isn't what people are mainly looking at. They spend the vast majority of their time looking at your face. And dressing for your body at the expense of your face means you end up looking all wrong. Let me offer you several examples to demonstrate this phenomenon. Here's Ellie Kemper: You might know her from "The Office" or "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." She's adorbs, right? If you're guessing that she has a lot of Gamine and a lot of Ingenue (and maybe some Classic?), I'd agree with you. Those stripes are cute on her. (The palette is a separate issue, but never mind.) Another pic of her looking fantastic: The headband! The bangs! The cardigan! The tiny earrings! The Nancy Drew hair! So, so right for her. So much Gamine and Ingenue. (And maybe some Classic.) Here, tiny ruffles, tiny necklace, yoke emphasis -- so Ingenue, and so good: And here: adorable, face-framing curls, small geometric print, simple, round neckline, high waist -- again, lots of Gamine and Ingenue, very good: Just a few more images of her looking awesome with lots of Gamine and Ingenue (and some Classic): But let's imagine that Ellie Kemper's going to get style advice that considers her body as a significant factor. I don't know if you noticed, but Kemper actually has a super-curvy, very Romantic body.: Most style systems will assign Ellie Kemper a style type that dresses her for her curvy body. But that would be all wrong. See how uncomfortable, how not-herself, this Gamine Ingenue (or Classic-Gamine-Ingenue) looks in Romantic styles: Thank goodness Kemper (or her stylist) usually understand that she needs to dress for her face, not her body. Here, Kemper's waist is obscured and her bust is unemphasized. And it's sooo much better! (Jenna Fischer, also from "The Office," is another example of a woman with a Romantic body but a very youthful face. Like Kemper, Fischer looks all wrong in overtly sexy clothes. By contrast, Mindy Kaling of "The Office" has quite a bit of Gamine, like Kemper and Fischer do -- but she also has enough sexy Romantic in her face to totally pull off figure-emphasizing clothes. ) "If you got it, flaunt it" is not a thing. Let it go. Only emphasize your curvy body if it also harmonizes with your face. Dress for your face. Other celebrity examples of dressing primarily for one's face, not one's body:
A rather Ingenue face (tiny chin, high forehead, big eyes.) Is she better in Ingenue or Natural? Ingenue bows, ruffles, puff sleeves, cap sleeves, high waist, feminine hair, midi length skirt: so good. Natural t-shirts, layers, separates, shaggy hair, undefined neckline, geometric shapes -- not great. Jane Krakowski is lovelier when she dresses her face, not her body. I'm not saying to totally disregard your body. There are individual tweaks your body may call for that are consistent with a style your face doesn't manifest. For example, Jane Krakowski is flattered by open necklines; they elongate her rather short neck. That's consistent with Natural, not with Ingenue. But her open necklines are best when they're adorned with ruffles or bows. True Natural necklines are wrong for her. extremely tall, mostly Dramatic body. Christie is so tall -- 6'3" -- and relatively narrow, most style systems would require her to dress as a Dramatic, or a Dramatic/Natural blend. But that's really wrong for her. Mostly Dramatic, and so not great: Much more feminine, and so much better for her: Even more celebrity examples:
To sum up: 1. Identify your style identity based primarily on your face. 2. Make a few tweaks in the direction of a different style identity if you know your body calls for it. Dress for your face!
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For several years, my readers have been asking for makeup guides for each of the 63 style types. I started doing the research necessary to create these guides in 2017, and I'm finally done! Your makeup's color palette comes from your color season. But two women with the same color season won't apply makeup the same way to look their most beautiful. Have you ever wondered why certain makeup trends -- a matte lip, a cat eye, contoured cheeks -- just don't work for you, even when you know that the colors you're using harmonize with your skin? The reason is that the lines of your face, which determine your style type, harmonize with certain makeup looks and not others. Not everyone looks harmonious with fuller lips. Not everyone looks harmonious with contoured cheekbones. Not everyone looks harmonious with a smoky eye. Not everyone looks harmonious with delicate, plucked brows. Here are two pics of me in two different makeup looks. In both pics, I'm wearing Soft Autumn colors. But I think you'll agree that I'm lovelier in the pic on the right than the pic on the left. My style type is Ethereal Natural, and the pic on the right shows me in an Ethereal Natural makeup look. The pic on the left is a look with elements of Classic, Romantic, and Dramatic -- all essences that are unimportant for me. On the right, my skin finish is less powdery and matte, my eyebrows are less intense, I'm not wearing foundation, my makeup's overall level of contrast is lower, and my overall impression is less made-up. These are all features of an Ethereal Natural makeup look. Now, if I were a Romantic-Dramatic-Classic, chances are I would look gorgeous in a more matte, more made-up, higher-contrast look. Angelina Jolie is a Romantic-Dramatic-Classic, and that kind of makeup look is gorgeous for her: It's interesting to note that Jolie and I both have the same Soft Autumn color palette. Yet because the geometry of her face is Romantic, Dramatic, and Classic, her best makeup look is much more sexy, intense, and traditionally feminine than mine. My best makeup look combines Natural's no-makeup aesthetic with Ethereal's lightness and delicacy. The makeup guides are about 30 pages long. Here's what each guide includes:
Since I expect a high volume of initial orders, please allow UP TO A WEEK for your makeup guide to be delivered by email. All guides will eventually be instant downloads; at that point, you won't have to wait. :-) Scarlett Johansson, Renee Zellweger, Cynthia Erivo, Florence Pugh -- what did you think of their Oscar looks? Here, I share my thoughts about their color and style choices. In my last few posts, I've talked about how to combine your personal color palette with your style type. There are 12 seasonal color palettes, and one of them is perfect for your skin. Every color in that palette will be harmonious on you. But some of them will be your personal go-to colors. Part of that will have to do with the unique way your individual body displays that palette. And part of it will have to do with your personal style type. Certain hues and certain combinations will send a message that coordinates with your style type. So if you're strongly Romantic, what colors in your palette should you focus on? A woman who is strongly Romantic may have a heart-shaped face, sexy eyes, a high forehead, a delicate nose, and full lips, If this is you, you'll look like yourself in in the deeper versions of your reds, violets, red -violets, rusts, fuchsias, and purples. Your season's version of black will usually be great on you as part of your overall ensemble, because it reads as mysterious. You can even pull off your season's black as a head-to-toe look, as long as the effect is mysteriously sexy, not intimidating or shocking. (Intimidating or shocking use of your black would read as Dramatic, not Romantic.) Making black look mysterious, not intimidating, won't be difficult if your garments are as detailed as Romantic garments ought to be; the profuse detail breaks up the black visually, so it doesn't feel like a huge block of startling color. In my experience, Romantic blends are a bit less common than other blended types. Are you a Romantic blend? If so, how have you combined your palette with your style type? Please share in the comments!
I didn't even think about separates before I knew my style type. But how you put separates together actually has a big effect on the impression you make. Romantics, Ethereals, Classic, and Dramatics are each best in a head-to-toe look. If you think about it, this makes sense, because all four of these types are formal and grown-up in their own way: the Romantic is mature womanly sexiness, the Classic is a "ladylike" adult woman, the Dramatic is a powerful ruler, and the Ethereal is an immortal being. None of these pure types is youthful or casual enough to look her best in an obvious use of separates.
Another easy way to do a head-to-toe look is to just wear a dress. Ethereals, Romantics, and Classics have a lot of great dress options.
Speaking of which: the message a Natural sends with her use of separates is, "I own nothing but separates, and I basically just throw them together because that's how confident I am, but the effect is never weird, because I can't be bothered to put in enough effort to make it deliberately weird, because that's how casual I am."
A Gamine's use of separates says, "I deliberately combine separates no one else would dare to put together, because that's how fun and quirky I am. I want you to notice!"
If you're a blend of two or three types, as most women are, and you manifest Natural, Gamine, or Ingenue through your use of separates, you'll want to lean a bit more heavily on your other essence (or two) to balance the effect. So, for example, A Natural-Classic-Ingenue combining separates in a casual, Natural way would take extra care to bring in Classic and Ingenue in other aspects of her look. If you're not sure of your style type, try the Style ID Calculator! Romantic beauty is feminine beauty in its mature, womanly form. It may be the easiest type of visual feminine to spot, because it's the kind of feminine beauty hetero men are most interested in -- so it's a beauty we often see portrayed in popular culture. Other systems call this type Sensuous, Soft, or Alluring. They're beating around the bush. The straight truth is this: Romantic beauty is sexy beauty. I've thought for months about a better way to word this, because I have been afraid of coming across as objectifying Romantic women. Of course, it could be argued that Style Type Analysis is inherently objectifying, because it analyzes women based purely on their physical qualities. I don't believe this is true, though. We're not ranking women, or judging their inherent worth, based on their appearance -- we're analyzing appearance for the purpose of helping all women have tools to feel simultaneously authentic and beautiful, if that's something they want. The point of Style Type Analysis is to empower women in their own authentic beauty. Yet talking about Romantic women's appearance is difficult for me because, traditionally, all women have been judged by how well we conform to the standard of Romantic beauty. And we're all pretty sick of it, aren't we? Even the Romantic women, who "win" in that system of judgment, are probably tired of being valued for their sexiness. Is it possible for us to celebrate Romantic beauty without implying that Romantic women's worth lies in that beauty? I believe it is. I hope it is. Because there's no way around it: Romantic women embody sex appeal. It goes without saying that Romantic women are no more or less sexual than any other women. But visually, they read as pure womanly sexuality. Romantic women tend to have sensuous mouths, smoldering eyes, narrow jaws, large foreheads, and full hair. A Romantic woman looks mature and powerful, not inappropriate, with boob and butt emphasis and a super-cinched waist. Dark hair reads as Romantic because human hair naturally darkens with sexual maturity. (Just as light hair reads as youthful because prepubescent children tend to have lighter hair than adults.) A flush in human skin is an indicator of sexual arousal. So palette-appropriate reds, which echo that flush, look perfect on Romantics. Romantics look like themselves with half-closed eyes, a cocked eyebrow, and a knowing smile -- or no smile at all. This "come-hither" face is silly on pretty much everyone else, but on Romantics it's perfect. It looks wise and confident. Romantics look great with the impression of cleavage, even if they're small-busted. (While some large-busted women, such as Gamines and Dramatics, look best with de-emphasized chests.)
Red roses symbolize romance and sexuality, and a Romantic woman is like a red rose: beautiful, delicate, detailed, and composed entirely of curving lines. So you're a Romantic, but you don't want to be defined by your sexy appearance. As a woman, I completely get that. But if you dress in a way that doesn't create an impression of softness, curves, and delicacy, the result will be that you look less dignified.
Honor your Romantic beauty by creating looks as feminine and sexy as you are. That reads as dignified and self-aware. If you know what looks good on you, but you don't know your style type, try the Style Identity Calculator.
A version of this post was published in May 2015. A reader writes, "Your guides have been incredibly helpful to me. However, there is one part of your guides that confuses me. What exactly does it mean for a piece of clothing to be "constructed" or "unconstructed"?" Great question! Constructed garments have a defined shape that's not simply the shape of the body underneath the garment. You can't easily ball up a constructed garment in your hand; it wants to hold a shape. The way a garment is sewn can give it a defined shape. This is easier with heavy, stiff, or crisp fabrics. Manufacturers also use lining, padding or interfacing to make garments have a defined shape. Dramatics and Gamines are flattered by sharp-cornered squares and rectangles. These aren't the shapes of the human body, so Dramatics and Gamines usually need constructed garments to create those shapes.
Romantics, Ethereals, and Naturals all look their best in unconstructed clothes. For Romantics, this means sexy draping that appears to hug the body. For Ethereals, this looks like floaty, trailing garments that seem about to take flight. For Naturals, this looks like garments that are supremely comfortable and unfussy.
It's not as easy to find constructed clothes as it was 100 years ago. As a society, we've all mostly agreed to dress like Naturals most of the time. Which is great for us Naturals, but a challenge for everyone else. Garments that are tailored into defined shapes are usually more expensive than unconstructed garments, because that kind of sewing is labor-intensive. If your style type calls for construction, you may choose to spend the money on those more expensive items. You might also save some money by focusing on clothes that are stiff not because of their tailoring but because they're made from stiffer fabrics. If you're willing to buy second-hand, you'll find that a lot of vintage clothes are more structured than what you typically see in stores today. Also, consider using spray starch to give your garments more stiffness! You don't hear much about it these days, because fashion is mostly so unconstructed, but clothing starch is still a thing. Here are hairstyle ideas for the two-identity blends. For each blend, the suggestions are jumping-off points. Use them as inspirations. If you're a blend of three identities, try combining suggestions from the different two-ID blends that apply to you. For example, if you're a Romantic-Ethereal-Natural, take a look at suggestions for Romantic Ethereal, Romantic Natural, and Ethereal Natural. Don't know your style identity? Try the Style ID Calculator! Romantic Ethereal: Aphrodite Try: Soft & flowing. Asymmetry. Fullness and height at the crown. Long, luscious and full. Side parts. Low side pull-backs. Touchable curls or waves. Soft, sexy updos with lots of free curls.
Ethereal Gamine: The Sprite. Try: Spunky, diaphanous, floaty, boyish, tousled. Short and wispy. Choppy waves. Cute or witty "period" looks. Playful, unexpected braids.
This post first appeared in January of 2016. Romantic is the style type that's most flattered by traditionally "sexy" clothes and details, such as cleavage emphasis, skirt slits, cinched waists, red lips, et cetera. On a woman without a lot of Romantic, these elements will read as awkward or unharmonious, not sexy. But many of us want to appear "sexy" at some point. How does a woman who's strongly Natural -- a woman like me, whose beauty has a rough-hewn, masculine quality -- create a sexy impression? Not like a Romantic would, with pouty lips, smoky eyes, an abundance of jewelry, and butt & bust emphasis. Those tend to make us Natural women look mannish. Instead, Naturals do sexy with bare arms and legs, mussy hair, very open necklines, little makeup, tank tops, oversized sweaters, and cowboy hats. You might be thinking, "Those are elements Naturals always look great in." You're right! If a Natural simply turns up the intensity on an already Natural element, it tends to look sexy. Go with even barer arms and legs. Make that hair even more messy. Go with an even bigger sweater, perhaps falling off one shoulder. Below, see Sheryl Crow, Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Oh, and Elisabeth Shue. These are strongly Natural women who look sexier and more confident when they don't try so hard. In looks with bust emphasis, jewels, shiny finishes, careful curls, and lots of makeup, they appear awkward. If you're a strongly Natural woman, one of your gifts is the ability to look your best with almost no effort. (Typically, the more effort you put in, the less good you look!) This is why Natural beauty is often described as "confident"; the viewer assumes you must have a lot of courage to present yourself so casually.
It may be the easiest type of visual feminine to spot, because it's the kind of feminine beauty hetero men are most interested in -- so it's a beauty we often see portrayed in popular culture.
Other systems call this type Sensuous, Soft, or Alluring. They're beating around the bush. The straight truth is this: Romantic beauty is sexy beauty.
I initially searched for a better way to word this, because I have been afraid of coming across as objectifying Romantic women.
Of course, it could be argued that Style Identity Analysis is inherently objectifying, because it analyzes women based purely on their physical qualities. I don't believe this is true, though. We're not ranking women, or judging their inherent worth, based on their appearance; we're analyzing appearance for the purpose of helping all women have tools to feel simultaneously authentic and beautiful -- if that's something they want. The point of Style Identity Analysis is to empower women in their own authentic beauty. Yet talking about Romantic women's appearance is difficult for me because, traditionally, women have been judged by how well we conform to the standard of Romantic beauty. And we're all pretty sick of it, aren't we? Even the Romantic women, who "win" in that system of judgment, may be tired of being valued for their feminine beauty. Is it possible for us to celebrate Romantic beauty without implying that Romantic women's worth lies in that beauty? I believe it is. I hope it is. Because there's no way around it: Romantic women embody sex appeal.
It goes without saying that Romantic women are no more or less sexual than any other women. But visually, they read as pure womanly sexuality. Romantic women tend to have sensuous mouths, smoldering eyes, narrow jaws, and large foreheads.
Think about what happens to the female body at puberty. Push those changes to the extremes, and you're picturing a Romantic's best look. Romantics are flattered by clothes that create the impression of an extreme hourglass figure. They benefit from cinched waists, hip emphasis, cleavage emphasis, and butt emphasis.
Let's put aside that this may be the embodiment of the hetero male fantasy. What's important is that it's the Romantic woman's particular form of beauty. For that reason, and no other, we celebrate it.
Dark hair tends to read as Romantic because human hair naturally darkens with sexual maturity. (Just as light hair reads as youthful because prepubescent children tend to have lighter hair than adults.)
A flush in human skin is an indicator of sexual arousal. Palette-appropriate reds, which echo that flush, look perfect on Romantics.
Romantics look like themselves with half-closed eyes, a cocked eyebrow, and a knowing smile -- or no smile at all. This "come-hither" face is silly on pretty much everyone else, but on Romantics it's perfect. It looks wise and confident.
Feminine beauty is defined by the curving line. Perhaps because a curved line is more visually complicated than a straight line, Ethereals and Romantics look great surrounded by a lot of detail. (While Naturals and Dramatics are unattractive in highly detailed contexts.) A Romantic looks gorgeous in ruffles, gathers, ruching, elaborate hair, and ornate jewelry.
Red roses symbolize romance and sexuality, and a Romantic woman's beauty is like a red rose: beautiful, delicate, detailed, and composed of curving lines.
So you're a Romantic, but you don't want to be defined by your sexy appearance. As a woman, I completely get that.
But if you instead choose shapeless, roomy clothes, you risk looking dumpy and unprepared. (Though a Natural could pull this off.)
When you honor your Romantic beauty by choosing feminine, figure-hugging clothes, it reads as dignified and self-aware.
But you can also perfect your Romantic beauty with an over-the-top use of jewelry or profuse detail near your face. This is a great choice for Romantic women who don't want to wear figure-hugging clothes.
The more jewelry you put on a Romantic, the better she looks. The rest of us start to look silly or mannish very quickly.
If you know what looks good on you, but you don't know your style identity, try the Style Identity Calculator. A version of this post was published in May of 2015. Stripes can be Natural. They're especially likely to be Natural if they are irregular, or various in size, or if they read as relaxed, not aggressive. Vertical stripes, which elongate the vertical line, are usually better than horizontal stripes (which are good for Gamines.) Checks and plaids can be Natural if they read as something you would find on a fleece -- they should look farmer-ish, not preppy. (Preppy plaids are Classic.) Large, stylized, somewhat abstract nature motifs read as Natural, as long as they're not aggressive-looking (which would add Dramatic) or neatly repeating (which would add Classic). Nature prints that are more photorealistic read as Gamine or Ingenue. (The youthful essences get more literal images.) Nature prints that feature flowers will automatically bring in Romantic (if they're larger and stylized) or Ingenue (if they're smaller and more realistic.) Paisleys are often Natural, because they're stylized nature motifs that read as a little "tribal" (which is a word I don't love; what's a better word?) A paisley that's very tiny or very detailed is less likely to read as Natural. Prints with abstract geometrics that seem to be randomly distributed and are largeish in size can be Natural. Go for blunt-edged geometrics; sharp-edged geomtrics will read as Dramatic (if they're large) or Gamine (if they're small.) Prints you find in textiles of indigenous peoples are often Natural. Again, the print is more likely to read as Natural if it's large and not incredibly detailed. A Natural print will not fee aggressive or high-energy. A print or pattern, by itself, adds a lot of detail to a look. And Natural style calls for a very low level of detail. So if you're a pure Natural and you're going for a print, keep your silhouette and garments extra simple, and your other details very, very plain.
Women who are pure Natural and Natural blends, what prints and patterns have you found work for you? If you're not sure of your style type, try the Style Identity Calculator or consider a Virtual Analysis. Despite the fact that we women are taught almost from birth to obsess about the appearance our bodies, what looks good on us is determined almost completely by our faces. (Read more about this here.) Style systems that rely much more on body shape are probably going to put a disproportionate number of heavier women into the Romantic category. That's often going to be a mistake, though. There are plenty of really big ladies who just aren't flattered by velvet and draping and ruching. Chrissy Metz is an example of one. Romantic is much too mature for her, despite what some people would call her "womanly" figure. She looks best when she dresses for her super-cute face, not her curvy body. What about as a person gains or loses weight -- if one's face becomes more or less rounded, does this add or remove Romantic Style ID? Women with a lot of Romantic essence tend to have very rounded and characteristically feminine features -- full lips, full cheeks, narrow chins, high foreheads. I do think additional weight can sometimes add Romantic to a face. But OTOH, it can add Gamine or Ingenue instead, by making the face appear rounder and cuter. There's overlap on those points between Romantic, Gamine, and Ingenue. I think it takes a lot of weight change to make a significant change in one's Style ID. And features that tend to read as R -- luscious lips, delicate chins, high foreheads, sexy eyes -- are often pretty stable, regardless of weight. Star Jones famously had a big weight change. I think she had a good bit of Romantic before -- I liked her in blingy jewelry, lace, and a smoky eye. Did she lose some Romantic when she lost a ton of weight? Perhaps. I can identify a few changes. Younger Star's nose reads as tiny and delicate in the context of her fleshier face; when her face is leaner, her nose reads as more strong and angular. Her overall face, though still somewhat rounded, appears a bit narrower. Maybe there's a bit more Natural or Dramatic?
But she's still pretty good in curls and cleavage emphasis. I think she retains a lot of her Romantic from before. Star Jones' weight loss was reportedly over 100 pounds. If that really big change in a person's body results in only minor changes to the face, it's reasonable to expect that a person's style identity won't change much from less drastic changes in weight. How's that for a click-baity title, ha ha? (Seriously though, I might be the only person alive who prefers long and dry over short and grabby. I am wholly a nerd.) At any rate, here's what I mean: In my Style Identity system, when I say that a physical characteristic reads as womanly, or manly, or mature, or childlike, that's generally because that (average) physical difference exists in real life. We are all unconsciously aware of the visual signifiers of masculinity and femininity, of maturity and youth. We make instantaneous judgments about other people's age and masculinity/femininity based on visual cues we're not even aware that we are processing. Here are some examples of what I mean.
* * * * * You may notice that I didn't mention Ethereal, Dramatic, or Classic in this article. Classics are easy: Imagine that you averaged all male features and all female features. Beauty in a female Classic represents a face that's slightly to the feminine side of that perfect average, and beauty in a male Classic represents a point that's slight to the male side. In Classic men and women both, nothing's noticeably big, or small, or sharp, or round, or high, or low, or full, or thin, or wide, or narrow. See more about that beauty here. As for Ethereals and Dramatics, their beauty derives from archetypes that aren't based in human physical reality. That's a long post, though, so I'll save it for next week. :-) The Style Identity Calculator asks you to compare your face to many, many pictures of clothes, and to notice whether or not those clothes flatter your face. Here are some tips to help you make that determination.
- Use a Happy, Forward-Facing Head Shot When I analyze other people, I find that the type of picture used affects the results quite a bit. Over time, I've found I get the most accurate results with a happy face. I think this is because our best clothes complement our authentic selves, and our authentic selves are happy selves. "Happy face" doesn't have to mean an ear-to-ear grin, although it may; I suggest using the smile that you feel most flatters you. It's important to use a photo of yourself looking directly into the camera. Most of us don't find this our favorite type of picture; we prefer ourselves at an angle. (I think that's because it narrows our jawline.) But a photo of a face at an angle distorts the dimensions of the face. A head-on photo reveals what you actually look like, and will give the most accurate results. And do use a photo, not a mirror. Selfies are more trustworthy than a mirror; for some reason, it's much easier to objectively evaluate a frozen image of ourselves. - Try to See Yourself Objectively I hate to be yet another voice telling women not to trust their instincts! We get so much of that, don't we? Yet, for the sake of truthfulness, I have to say that many of us don't have an unerring instinct for what looks good on us. I suspect that most of us are drawn to color and style analysis because we realize we often aren't objective about ourselves. Really seeing oneself is a challenge, absolutely. When you're able to do it, you're in a state of mind where you're viewing yourself rather dispassionately, as a visual image you're responding to on an aesthetic level, but not on a personal level, or with value judgments. - Your Body Can Tell You When You're Seeing Beauty The aesthetic reaction you're listening for inside yourself is a sense of liking or not-liking, attraction or lack of attraction. I personally sense this feeling in my chest: something in there warms and lifts when I'm seeing visual harmony. To feel this reaction, you might try this: put your picture next to one garment that you're absolutely certain complements you. In another screen, put your picture next to a garment that you're certain is awful for you. Then flip back and forth. As you flip back and forth, pay attention to what changes inside you. You should notice a switch that goes on and off, or a feeling that flows and ebbs. *That's* the feeling you should have when you're seeing yourself next to your best clothes. I also make a habit, if I'm feeling stuck, of going away from a picture for a day or so, then coming back to it. Seeing a picture with fresh eyes can help me notice my aesthetic reaction. :-) "Soft Natural" seems to be almost a catch-all category for women with some Natural and some feminine influence. That's because it's a style type that collapses features of several types into just one. This creates confusion for a lot of women.
"Soft Natural" is essentially Natural with Romantic. Romantic is sexy, womanly femininity. Now, that kind of feminine beauty isn't the only kind. But some systems believe it is. In a system that only has one feminine essence, all manifestations of feminine beauty end up getting assigned to Romantic. So women whose feminine beauty is of the Ingenue or Ethereal variety end up getting categorized as Soft Natural, and the recs don't all work. For example, Soft Naturals supposedly get light, floaty fabrics. Those don't work well on women with a lot of Romantic, but they're great on women with a lot of Ethereal. If you're an unsatisfied Soft Natural who looks great in light-as-air fabrics and the most mystical aspect of Soft Natural, you might be Ethereal Natural instead. Soft Naturals also supposedly get puff sleeves. Puff sleeves are girly, even princessy -- in other words, they're Ingenue. If you're an unsatisfied Soft Natural who's great in puff sleeves and other girly aspects of Soft Natural, you might actually be a Natural Ingenue. Still lost? Consider a virtual analysis.
It can be hard to know which Style Identity category a given outfit falls into. Here are some unexpected questions you can ask yourself to help you narrow it down.
"Could I do a walking tour in this?" The essence of Natural style is relaxation, freedom, and uninhibited movement. If an outfit is something you could wear for a walking tour of a hilly European city, it probably has a lot of Natural. Clothes you could comfortably take a nap in are also usually Natural.
"Do I have an irresistible urge to touch this?"
Romantic fabrics often beg to be touched. This absolutely relates to the fact that Romantic style is the embodiment of feminine sexuality. If you can't wait to run your fingers across a fabric, chances are it's part of a Romantic ensemble.
"Does this scare me a little?"
Dramatic ensembles are avant-garde, outside the norm -- and we humans are naturally intimidated by stuff that's outside the norm. If an outfit makes you feel like taking a step backward, it likely has a strong Dramatic influence.
"Can I imagine this on a girl in a Norman Rockwell painting?"
Ingenue style is an archetype of traditional girlishness. Almost anything that's Ingenue looks as if it emerged from a Norman Rockwell painting -- or from the closet of Sandy in "Grease." (Before her makeover at the end, LOL!)
"Could a little boy wear this?"
Gamine style is boyish. If an ensemble looks like something a little boy could conceivably wear to school without raising eyebrows, it probably has a lot of Gamine.
"In a movie, would someone ascend into heaven wearing this outfit?"
That may sound ridiculous, but Ethereal styles make the wearer look as if she can take flight.
"Would I wear this to my first day at my Wall Street job? (Or to the boss's barbecue the following weekend?)"
Whether formal or casual, Classic ensembles always look conservative and rich. In a Classic outfit, you'd never be embarrassed to run into the C.E.O. of your company. There's never anything attention-seeking, objectionable, or out of place in a Classic look. You're above reproach.
Not sure of your style identity? Try the Style Identity Calculator, or get a Virtual Analysis.
As a floral, rose is a note that's inherently feminine. All floral notes are feminine, first and foremost. What kind of feminine, though? Innocent Ingenue femininity? Abstract Ethereal femininity? Or sexy Romantic femininity?
You probably guessed it -- rose's femininity is the womanly femininity of Romantic. Some florals have added masculine elements: for example, carnation has an element of spiciness that brings in some Dramatic, and geranium has a bit of a lemony element that brings in cheerful Gamine. Rose is interesting in that it has an added powdery and refined element that brings in Classic. So rose, as a note, combines passion and sexuality with restraint and sophistication. If you're a Romantic Classic, this is a definitive fragrance note for you.! If you're not, a lot of rose in a fragrance may add more sexiness or conservatism than you feel comfortable with. Want to know what your best notes are? Check out my Fragrance Guides! Over the years, so many of you have asked for shopping guides for each of the 63 Style Identities. I have been working on them for a long time. Finally, I am ready to offer them to you. Each of these multi-page guide tells you which specific items you should look for when you shop. It includes sections for wardrobe essentials such as tops, pants, skirts, dresses, sweaters, and shoes. It also includes sections for special items such as hats, bags, jewelry, and swimwear. In addition, I describe what you should look for in fit, fabrics, waist treatment, prints, shapes, and use of color. It's comprehensive! I will be sending these out beginning November 1st. I'm offering them for $24.99. But if you pre-order today, you'll get yours for $19.99. I'm so excited to finally offer a tool that provides visual examples of how to wear your Style Identity! The Style Identity Calculator helped you figure out your Style Identity. But it can be difficult to know how to translate that Style ID into an ensemble each morning. The new Visual Style Guides help solve that problem. Each guide shows three different women dressed as your Style Identity. Annotations explain each element of the ensemble. The guide is a one-page PDF, so you can print it and hang it in your dressing area, and also pull it up on your phone when you're shopping.
You deserve this! (A thoughtful and affordable holiday gift idea: Analyze your loved ones with the Style Identity Calculator, and then surprise them with a Visual Style Guide.) Before discussing Romantic, Ingenue, and Ethereal types in detail, I want to generally discuss what feminine means in the Style Identity system. Let me start by being clear that feminine beauty is not the only type of beauty. Dramatics, Naturals, and Gamines all embody beauty that isn't traditionally feminine, but is powerful nonetheless. And Classics are beautiful with a femininity that is subtle and restrained. Before continuing, I should also let you know that right after this paragraph is a picture of a sculpture of a naked woman. Art, as far as I'm concerned, but probably NSFW for some people. Pause, pause, pause... OK, let's dive in. :-) Feminine Visual Beauty When we look at another human, we perceive their physical characteristics and make a judgment about their gender almost instantaneously. This is usually an unconscious process. When it's not unconscious and not immediate, it surprises us -- hence our fascination with androgynous people. Humans are not as sexually dimorphic as many primates. Average visual differences between women and men are objectively small. A visitor from another planet might not notice the differences. But we humans are exquisitely sensitive to them. Which makes sense from an evolutionary perspective: if an animal can't easily tell who's a potential mate, that animal might not pass on her genes. Here are many of the ways in which men and women, on average, visually differ. Descriptors of the masculine and feminine style identities derive from these differences. For example, because narrow-seeming eyes are more characteristic of men than of women, they characterize the masculine (or "yang") style identities. Because narrow chins are more characteristic of women than of men, they characterize the feminine (or "yin") style identities. And so on. The curving line. Perhaps the defining element of visual femininity -- what immediately and strongly reads as feminine -- is the curving line. Curved lines read as feminine because, from head to toe, the average human female has more obvious curving lines than the average human male -- in the curved hip, in the breast, in the apparently rounder eye, in the apparently rounder face, in the fuller lip, and so on. All of the feminine style identities are defined by curving lines. But the type of curving line depends on the style identity. More on that soon. Categorizing the visual feminine: Romantic is not the only type of feminine beauty.The Romantic type, which is present in all style systems that I know of, is defined by lush, round curves and mature, womanly femininity. In many systems, Romantic --also called Alluring, Sensuous, Soft, or Sexy -- is the only type of feminine beauty. Systems who conceptualize Romantic as the only type of feminine beauty are flawed, though, because people can read as beautiful and distinctly feminine without reading as va-va-voom. Romantic does seem to be the variety of feminine beauty that men mainly notice -- which might explain why it's the only kind of visual feminine in some systems created by men. But I agree with John Kitchener and others who believe that visual femininity can be fairly divided into three subcategories. Romantic, Ingenue, and Ethereal.All people who are discernibly female have some amount of Romantic, Ethereal, or Ingenue. These are the the three feminine style identities. A woman without any amount of any of these would appear as a man, or completely androgynous. If someone visually reads as distinctly feminine, you're seeing a rather large portion of Ingenue, Romantic, or Ethereal. But which is it?
My next posts will be more detailed individual explorations of Romantics, Ingenues, and Ethereals, in that order. I know many of you are like The good news is, they're already partially drafted. :-)) P.S. A fun way to gauge your relative amounts of masculine beauty (Dramatic, Natural, and Gamine) and feminine beauty (Romantic, Ingenue, Ethereal) is to determine whether you'd be convincing in drag. If you're a woman, could you pass as a man? If you're a man, could you pass as a woman? Here, Glenn Close is pulling it off pretty well. There's no question she has a lot of Natural or Dramatic. Hillary Swank -- Another beautiful woman with a lot of Natural or Dramatic. Not even a Photoshopped beard can make Salma Hayek look masculine, though. She has too much Romantic. Here's a man, Cillian Murphy, who makes a gorgeous woman. He's got a ton of Romantic or Ethereal. Lee Pace has a lot of Ingenue, I'm thinking? Very believable. Liev Schreiber, not so much. I'm thinking he's mostly Natural with some Classic and Gamine. Update: I've given copies of the tool to about a hundred people. I'm not giving away any more at this point; I need to take a day or two to read all of the excellent feedback I've received and use it to improve the tool. I know a lot of people still want it! The good news is, I currently intend to offer it at a price point that most of you will find very reasonable. Stay tuned! I have been attempting to flesh out definable archetypes for three-way style identities.
Initially, I thought it would be impossible. But I'm actually finding it very doable. For example, I'm thinking of Romantic-Ethereal-Classic as "Elegant Aphrodite." Other examples of three-way combo archetypes in progress: Romantic-Natural-Classic = "Alluring L.L. Bean." Dramatic-Gamine-Ingenue = "Girlish Punk Rocker." Classic-Gamine-Ingenue = "Darling Prep Schooler, a.k.a. Cher from 'Clueless.' " My Pinterest boards for each three-way combo are still secret, but I aim to make them public soon. When I do, I'll add info about the trifold combos to this site. In total, we'll have 63 style identity options: 7 pure essences + 21 doubles + 35 triples. Do you have ideas about particular three-essence archetypes? Share them in the comments! Edited to add: I've made all of the above-mentioned Pinterest boards public. You can see them here: https://www.pinterest.com/coloranalysis/ This is an excellent tool if you already know what looks good on you, but you don't know how that translates into a coherent Style ID.
It's also great for analyzing friends, family, and celebs. To use it, you'll need internet access and a PC with Microsoft Excel. The Style ID Calculator was fantastic! Turns out I'm a Natural-Ingénue-Classic. - R.G. |
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