Discover your color palette and your style type.

Style Identities: the GAMINE

5/3/2015

72 Comments

Katy Perry

Debbie Allen

Olivia Newton-John

An adult who seems always to have a youthful or childlike quality, regardless of age, likely has a strong dose of Ingenue or Gamine.

Jane Goodall

Susan Sarandon

Mindy Kaling

Big eyes, a large forehead, a round face, and a short, straight body all help to create an impression of youthfulness.

Boyish Beauty

One way to think about the seven style identities is to think about the words we use to describe the type of attractiveness each identity embodies.

Romantic beauty is sexy and womanly.
Ethereal beauty is otherworldly and delicate.
Dramatic beauty is striking and intimidating.
Natural beauty is friendly, often handsome.
Classic beauty is ladylike and elegant.
Ingenue beauty is girlish or pretty.
Gamine beauty is cute and boyish.

Ginnifer Goodwin

Rihanna

Which isn't to say Gamines aren't incredibly attractive. They are incredibly attractive. Women who have a "yang" or masculine quality to their beauty are no less attractive than their more "yin" counterparts. They only appear unlovely when they're placed in a clothing context that's more traditionally feminine than they are.

You can see the boyish quality of a Gamine in the following ways:

Her most flattering haircut is often a "pixie" cut or another boyish style. Longer hair makes her look less beautiful, not more beautiful.

Michelle Williams. The boyish, short hair is so much better.

The Gamine looks appealing, rather than silly, in iconic "boy" items such as a T-shirt, a hoodie, a flat cap, or high-top sneakers.

The Gamine looks her best with very little jewelry.

Gwen Stefani

Halle Berry

Audrey Tautou

Which isn't to say that Gamines need little detail. They look great with a lot of detail in the clothing -- pockets, buttons, cuffs, etc. But the jewelry is best when it's minimal. A lot of jewelry = girlish, and girlish context around a Gamine will make her look masculine.

The effect of clothing context on our apparent masculinity or femininity is analogous to the effect of color on our skin.

The apparent color of your skin changes, for better or worse, depending on what color is next to it. That's because of simultaneous contrast.

And the apparent qualities of your face and figure, including the apparent masculinity or femininity, change depending on the context that surrounds it.

If almost everything in the frame reads as boyish, then the viewer mainly notices what's not boyish - and so the Gamine's feminine qualities actually stand out more.

The more boyish the context, the more beautiful Gamines look.

Surround them with traditionally female decoration like long locks, ruffles, and lavish jewelry, and they become less lovely.

When she goes the boyish route -- with very short hair and little jewelry -- Winona Ryder actually looks more feminine. Because the context is boyish, what sticks out as different are her radiant skin, rounded cheeks and gorgeous eyes.

With more girly jewelry and hair, Ryder actually looks less lovely.

Both Classics and Gamines need well-tailored clothes. Classics look their best with very little detail, and Gamines look their best without a lot of feminine frill. How do we tell them apart?

For one, Classics literally need every hair in place, while Gamine hair looks better with some tousle.

(Tousle suggests motion in the hair. Details that makes us think of movement -- such as zigzag lines, nautical themes, running shoes -- are generally good on Gamines. That comes from the boyish quality. When think of boys, we think of bodies in motion.)

Classic or Gamine?

Both Classics and Gamines look good in fitted, tailored pieces. But the overall Classic vibe is elegant and ladylike, while the overall Gamine vibe is spunky and playful. A Classic isn't her best in sneakers, rolled-up jeans and a striped sweater. A Gamine isn't great in a sweater set, pearls and high heels.

And Classics are particularly lovely in their palette's neutrals and understated colors, while Gamines are particularly lovely in highly contrasting color combinations from their palette. (Again, it's about an impression of movement. Neutrals feel still; contrasting colors feel energetic.)

Gamines (and Ingenues) are tiny, right?

I haven't talked a lot about height as a prerequisite for Gamine identity. Gamines and Ingenues are characterized mainly by their small stature -- right?

What I've come to believe is that the Gamine and Ingenue quality of petiteness is more about impression than reality.

Audrey Hepburn - Gamine despite her height.

Isn't it surprising to learn that Audrey Hepburn, practically the definition of Gamine, was 5' 7"? She looks little.

Big eyes, high foreheads, round heads, slender necks, and heads that look large relative to the size of the body are characteristics of children. So these features read as youthful.

Dress a person with these features in similarly youthful clothes, and it will look right.

Leonardo DiCaprio is 5'11". (Some sources say 6'.) But that baby face looks better in a bowtie, the Gamine man's iconic dress accessory, than in a standard necktie.

So if you're petite, certainly consider Gamine and Ingenue first. For some reason that I don't understand, petite people seem often to have the features I described above.

But don't assume Gamine (or Ingenue) based solely on small stature, and don't rule it out just because you're not petite.

72 Comments

Cora

12/5/2014 11:34:25 am

Hey there-

I read with an open mind your explanation of why you feel that it's better to use "feminine/masculine" or "girlish/boyish" than what you feel to be euphemisms like "yin/yang", and I still see it differently.

One reason it troubles my brain while reading is that this approach depends on very Western beauty ideals. Some of the features you're talking about link up better with people of specific types of European ancestry and seem to not really work for anyone else. If being tall with broad, blunt shoulders is "masculine", most women in certain ethnic populations in Western/Northern Europe are "masculine", but many men in parts of Southeast Asia are "feminine". Which seems perplexing to me.

I also think there are just pretty rigid stereotypes about how it's not actually neutral for women to be "masculine" or men to be "feminine" that come into play even if you or another author believes they should not. For a woman in Western culture, being "boyish" is just not as acceptable as being "girlish". So it's really hard, while reading, to keep in mind that you're using these terms (at least I assume so) in a totally neutral way. Saying that "Natural beauty" is "friendly and handsome" makes the brain think of men, which makes the brain think that Natural-type women are not as attractive as Romantic-type women, who after all are "sexy and womanly". (Are Romantic-type men also "sexy and womanly"?) I ultimately remain unconvinced that "yin/yang" are "euphemisms" in the way you seem to feel they are, or that your preferred terms are more helpful. To me, yin/yang seem no more than attempts to talk about fundamental issues of build without getting into culture.

I really tried to open my mind to your perspective on these terms, but it just isn't working for me. The writing ends up sounding non-neutral, like it's saying "this type of body and face is okay, these other types are not - except it's reversed for men". I understand that your intention is not to say things like that, but it's very difficult - perhaps impossible - for readers to tune out all of their absorbed culture and see "masculine" for a woman or "womanly" for a man as completely neutral ideas. Plus, as above, it's almost impossible to divorce seemingly neutral ideas like size and breadth of body or facial features from "average" bodies in different populations. Overall, I continue to prefer yin/yang, while understanding that people find those terms to be imperfect. They get closer to the truth for me, however.

Rachel Arnt-Schemmel

12/5/2014 12:15:16 pm

A problem for me with "yin/yang" is that it doesn't remove the gendering of the traits -- it just conceals it under coded language. So the gendering is still happening, but since it's coded, it's harder for people to think critically about it.

Another problem for me with "yin/yang": giving in to that coded language for the sake of avoiding calling women masculine just reinforces the taboo. As long as we politely refer to masculine features as "yang" features, we allow it to continue being not-ok for women to be described as masculine.

I have thought a lot about the fact that this system is Western-centric, and I've concluded that it's inevitable for it to be. Both I and the majority of my readers are products of Western culture, and -- perhaps more relevant -- we're costuming ourselves to appear in Western (mostly American) contexts and be viewed by Western (mostly American) eyes. So for the system to work in Western contexts, it must rely on on Western aesthetic reference points. For example, in America, a man who's 5'5" is quite petite. He may have recently emigrated from a community where his height is average for males, but he'll look the best in American eyes if he wears Gamine lines. In those lines, American eyes will judge him as well-proportioned instead of dismissing him as "short."

I appreciate your points. I'm happy to have a thoughtful reader. :-)

Kirsten

12/5/2014 12:46:34 pm

I'm glad to see your new blog about style--specifically gamine style, partly because Audrey Hepburn is one of my all-time favorite celebrities. Each one of your blogs about styles give me plenty to think about! As for yin-yang versus feminine-masculine designations, I like yin-yang better because they don't mean as much to me as the alternative. When I think "yin" or "yang" I think of physical stature, nothing else. Feminine or masculine has specific meanings other than physical stature. I can't wrap my head around the idea of Audrey Hepburn--to some a fashion icon but to many people including me the epitome of a cultured, gracious, lovely lady--as boyish! When I think "boyish" I think "tomboy"! Not what Givenchy had in mind, I don't think. I do recognize that she had Gamine characteristics in her purely physical being, but if they are "boyish" she transcended them.

Anyway, I do enjoy your posts and this discussion too--it's stimulating.

Kathryn

4/8/2016 05:14:08 pm

Think of Audrey in Funny Face and in Sabrina... in both films she played a tomboy who transformed...In fact think about y Fair Lady...another transformation (but that's another story!)

Trishatr

5/11/2018 11:23:59 am

Interesting that women often find Audrey Hepburn there feminine ideal, partly due to her being small and neat?On the other hand, few men I know (including my husband) find her particularly attractive as a woman. I do know a couple of men who do find her attractive, and these are the ones that also go for petite,cute, boyish figures, often oriental women without very obvious curves.

Katie

12/5/2014 03:03:11 pm

Hey Rachel, is there any chance in the future you can do a post distinguishing:
True Autumn and True Spring (this one especially)
Dark Autumn and Bright Spring
True Winter from other seasons

Amy

12/6/2014 03:43:02 am

Your write-ups on the style types are so informative, common sense and to the point. I can't wait to see what you say about the Ingenue category.

Shirley

12/6/2014 05:01:59 am

Common sense, exactly. Making sure nobody is hurt by your choice of the words would inevitably lead to something like Romantic is beautiful, Ethereal is beautiful....Gamine is beautiful, and zero new information. Thank you.

inge

12/17/2014 06:44:45 pm

Shirley, you may need to read the article again...

Nouveau22

12/6/2014 06:22:10 am

I agree - I love your informative style analyses. I especially like that you don't go overboard with the strict "rules" for each style (for example, the traditional "rule" that gamines have to be under a certain height), which often makes people feel like none of the styles fit them.

I'm equally comfortable with yin/yang or masculine/feminine as the nomenclature. I understand what is meant by either, and whichever one is used, it enhances my learning about this fascinating topic!

Thank you for your great blog posts, Rachel! You've really helped me pinpoint my style.

Will you be doing individual posts on each of the blended style identities (I'd love to request Ethereal Classic and Classic Dramatic)?

Abir

12/7/2014 03:34:54 am

I understand where Cora is coming from, but ultimately agree with all your points Rachel.
Recently I was floored when I saw Rihanna dressed as a teenage mutant ninja turtle for Halloween. She looked stunning and I didn't understand how it could be possible, especially in green face paint. I now realize that as a gamine, the tomboyish costume emphasized her beauty. It would have never occurred to me that this sexy girl had boyish qualities.
I have always been curious about the Kebbe system but was intimidated by the whole thing. You have done an amazing job explaining it, I immediately understood a lot of the basics. I can't wait for you to write about the Ingenue. I have a strong feeling that's who I am.

Silver Roxen

6/1/2018 11:15:33 am

I'm surprised that Rihanna is typed as being a Gamine, when I've seen her typed elsewhere as a Theatrical (Dramatic) Romantic. Funnily on a website about feminine archetypes she's a Gamine.

Zora

12/7/2014 08:05:09 pm

Hi!

I really appreciate your way to compare each style and to give practical clue to separate them.

I think I'm a Dramatic Ingenue. Will you later also do this category, or only the Ingenue?

I also have a little question, do you know one or two colors that could help me tell apart light summer from true summer?

Thanks =)

Zora

12/8/2014 01:49:25 am

Light Summer here, originally self-analyzed as a Summer (back in the days of four Seasons only). The Summer colors that I found make me look older and tired are burgundy and soft fuchsia. Hope this helps.

12/9/2014 12:57:25 am

Thank you Kirsten! Same for me with burgundy and soft fuchsia =) so Light Summer! =)

Abir Sandoval

12/9/2014 05:55:53 pm

I had to comment again because I forgot to mention that the examples that you use to get your point across are so good. You definitely have an eye for style.
When I saw the two pics of Leonardo DiCaprio I could see he looked spectacular in the pic with the bowtie and boring in the tie. But I didn't think it was a result of the bow tie that he looked great, I thought it was just a good pic.
So I grabbed a piece of paper and covered the bow tie and the tie and studied the two pics. He looked the same, which surprised me. Then I looked at the pic of him in a tie and pictured him wearing a bowtie instead and it was crazy how his face transformed and he suddenly looked amazing.

Morgan

12/9/2014 07:59:33 pm

How do you know, if you are short, that you are NOT a gamine or a ingenue? For example, Salma Hayek looks Romantic to me; she is sexy and that´s what you see first; then, you discover she is very petite. But nobody thinks about herself as sexy, so... if you are remarkably short, how do you know if your TMT is your stature, or if you have another trait which is most important to your style identity.

Rachel

12/11/2014 04:28:06 am

Morgan, I am still working on making self-diagnosing tools operational. In the meantime, I honestly think it's really difficult for people to type their own lines accurately. Most of us just have little idea how we appear to others.

The good news is that other people are often really good at typing us. :-) So my advice is to get a friend involved. (*Not* a romantic partner. It's often hard for them to be objective.)

12/11/2014 07:27:07 am

Let me add to that:

It's helpful to think about compliments you've received in your life. I'll use myself as an example:

I'm an Ethereal Natural. I didn't know this until I visited John Kitchener in 2013. But when I look back over my life, I remember being called unusual-looking (many times), delicate (also many times), ethereal, and even magical. I've been playfully called woodland fairy, wood nymph, mother earth, and earth goddess by different people over the years. All of this was pointing to EN but I didn't know to notice it.

What I'm not: I've rarely been called "hot" (which was disappointing in middle school) or "sexy" (except for by my husband.) That makes sense, because I don't have much Romantic. I've probably never been called "cute" or "adorable," which makes sense because I have no Gamine and very little Ingenue.

I hope this helps!

Samantha

11/15/2016 02:18:16 pm

Hi Rachel how can you tell if you are gamine or ingenue? Are gamines just better in boyish styles?what abouts curves? Also though they are associated with smaller people (usually but not always) what about if youre short-does that automatically mean youre one or the other?
Great info! Thanks

April

12/10/2014 10:01:33 am

I'm going to have to agree with one of your other readers- calling any woman "womanly" and another woman "boyish" makes no logical sense. There must be another way to refer to differences in looks that actually relate to biology. May I suggest looking at evolution and how humans have evolved to look more baby like over time: neoteny. When you say women look "womanly" you seem to refer to woman who have similar characteristics to babies. Your "manly" women look more like adults of the species.
I agree that "Yin" and "Yang" don't work, but it's not because they are coded words, it's because the concepts are incorrect. It is totally incorrect to say that women look masculine. It's just non-sensical.
What are some descriptors that are actually rooted in biology? Or art?

12/11/2014 03:33:57 am

I would disagree that these descriptors do not derive from biology.

It is a fact that humans are sexually dimorphic. It's absolutely inarguable. On average, woman are smaller than men. On average, men have broader shoulders than women. On average, women have a larger difference between their hip width and waist width than men do. On average, women have larger breasts than men. Men's faces, on average, differ from women's faces in multiple dimensions... I mean, a complete list of all the observable physical difference between average males and average females would be really long. I feel pedantic even attempting to create one.

When I describe a feature as masculine or feminine, my reference point is the theoretical physical mean of each sex. For example,a wide jaw is more typical of male faces than it is of female faces, so a wide jaw is a characteristically masculine feature. (Or "yang," others might say.) Wide hips relative to waist size is more typical of female bodies than male bodies, so it is a characteristically feminine feature. That does not mean no women have narrow hips. It does mean that wide hips and a narrow waist characterize the *average* female body, relative to the average male body.

I'm not sure what this - "When you say women look 'womanly' you seem to refer to woman who have similar characteristics to babies" - refers to. I haven't posted an article on the Romantic type yet.

Solania

12/10/2014 04:05:15 pm

Finally! I'd been patiently waiting to read about this style type and again your article has helped make things clearer. I look forward to devouring all your future articles on the style identities (including blended types I hope)!
I have one question though. The inclusion of the Ingenue style identity has totally got me confused it seems, being new and different from Kibbe's system, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I keep myself open to new ways of looking at things. Is Ingenue/Youthful the same thing as Kibbe's Soft Gamine? Or something else entirely? If the case is the latter then how do Ingenues differ from equally feminine Classics? Thanks :)

12/11/2014 04:54:16 am

Hi, Solania.

As of now, the best way to learn more about Ingenue is to Google "Ingenue" and "McJimsey." You'll find a few sites that describe what H. McJimsey wrote about his type.

Ingenue might be thought of as a corollary to Gamine, but Ingenue's overall vibe is girlish rather than boyish. If someone seems flattered by traditionally feminine styles, fabrics, and accessories, but comes across as more sweet than sexy, she may be an Ingenue.

Ingenue's not the same as Soft Gamine. Kibbe actually doesn't have a category for people whose femininity reads as youthful rather than mature. (Nor does he have a category for the feminine beauty that's transcendent.) Soft Gamine is a combination of Gamine and Romantic.

You can see Pinterest boards for Ingenue and all of the other types here:

http://www.pinterest.com/coloranalysis/

Erin

12/11/2014 08:25:07 am

Hi Rachel! I'm having a hard time determining my type.

My body type is more toward Dramatic (I'm 5'9", long limbed/lanky, sharp shoulders, not muscular or sinewy, or even overall particularly sharp looking- just long and tall and not very curvy).

My face isn't dramatic, though- it's oval with big round eyes and looks youthful and is not angular or sharp, so I believe I have a dose of gamine, but am not actually gamine. My head is too narrow and small.

People generally think that I'm younger, more delicate, and thinner than I am. I've been told numerous times that I look "elfin"- as in Lord of the Rings elves, not like a pixie, and I do think I have a girlish (but not girly, like Ingenue) vibe. I know I'm def. not ethereal, though.

If I had to pick a celeb that I share similarities to in both body and face, it would be Alexa Chung. What category fits a tall, lanky, girlish, but not quite gamine woman who has a somewhat dramatic body but none of the dramatic essence or facial features and for whom Gamine is often a bit too cute (I can handle some of Gamine's tailoring, though)?

PS- I'm a Bright Spring, so my youthful vibe works very well with my seasons palette :)

Ragnhild

12/16/2014 01:36:15 am

Hi, Rachel! I read your posts with great interest! I really like the way you describe the types - it makes a lot of sense to me. I tried to take a Kibbe test here, http://expressingyourtruth.blogspot.no/2013/02/kibbe.html, and ended up answering D on half, and the rest mixed, and didn`t get much wiser. After reading this post, I do think I`m closest to Gamine type, though, despite the fact that I don`t fit into many of the descriotions of Gamine. I don`t have big eyes, and my body is not thin and small. I`m medium height, medium weight, Im curvy, muscular, lush and compact (all at once), and my hands and feet are wide and small. What makes me believe I`m gamine, is that I`m often described as cute, and I have a childish quality. Too much jewlellery and feminine frill is not good on me at all, despite having a quite feminine figure (moderately lush, small waist, big butt, but not wide hipbones). I also feel that I need som color and contrast within my seasonal pallette, which is light spring. I also feel I need a little bit of quirky in my style. I feel that a classic style would crash with my dimples and the gap between my forteeth, and that natural style does not fit me because my compact and curvy figure requires fitted clothing, especially a fitted waist. I love a high waisted skirt with a striped and fitted top in my colors and my shoulderlength hair in a fuzzy ponytale.

By the way, I wonder if you consider Tyler Swift and her style Gamine?

12/17/2014 10:10:47 pm

Oh, I think Shirley's describing a hypothetical article that I did not write. :-)

Billie

12/18/2014 04:06:02 am

HI Ladies, I just have to contribute one more thing to the ongoing conversation about terminology: wether you prefer to use terms masculine or feminine, versus yin and yang is one thing. whatever you choose is your personal choice. However it is a misapprehension to think that yin means feminine and yang means masculine. Yin and Yang are not synonyms for feminine and masculine. The terms yin and yang are much much more broad. everyone and everything contains both. There are lists of qualities that are considered yin or yang, such as for yin: dark, soft, yielding, flowing, etc.

Tanja

12/20/2014 07:35:30 am

Dear Rachel,
I love your site so much! It's super informative and helpful and I'm so eager to learn more about those style types. I hope that there will be a quiz to find out your style type...? :) That would be amazing!!!

12/21/2014 09:09:35 pm

I think I'm getting it now.
Ingenue is the polar opposite of Gamine:
Pretty, adorable, girly versus cute, boyish.
Ethereal is the polar opposite of Natural:
Otherworldly versus earthly.
Romantic is the polar opposite of Dramatic:
Voluptuous versus strapping.

Whether you use "yin" and "yang" or "feminine" or "masculine" I'm fine either way. I still get it. It doesn't bother me honestly. And because of the insights I've picked up recently I'm actually glad you sorta called these traits out for what they are. Human faces after-all are on a continuum between masculine and feminine.
I read some very interesting studies years back about how both men and women rated the attractiveness of both sexes by choosing between more masculine and more feminine versions of different faces.

Reading back to a previous commenter's comment, I honestly don't get what her beef is. If you're not allowed to use "yin/yang" or "feminine/masculine" then what are you allowed to use? Perhaps she ought to suggest a useful alternative and if not then "yin/yang", "feminine/masculine" will have to do.

Joanna

12/22/2014 11:20:33 pm

Is it possible to be ethereal - gamine? :)

12/23/2014 10:16:23 am

Heck yes!

I call that Style Identity "The Sprite." I think Bjork is one example.

Here's a pin board of Ethereal Gamine elements and looks:

http://www.pinterest.com/coloranalysis/ethereal-gamine/

12/23/2014 10:19:55 am

Tanja, I am thinking hard about it.

I hope to post some helpful resources soon. :-)

12/23/2014 10:22:49 am

I haven thought thoroughly about Swift, but I think she is almost certainly a Romantic or Ingenue blend. The clothes she actually wears (which are sometimes great, sometimes not) often look Gamine or Ingenue.

1/9/2015 02:21:19 am

Hi Rachel. You have a really good eye for typing people I wonder if you could tell me which type of men look exceptionally good in ponytails. I asked Christine Scaman the same question since she analyzes men's image type on one of her pinterest boards but for now she doesn't know. I remember what you wrote on the concept of simultaneous contrast. If gamines look lovelier with more boyish details I thought there has to be a male counterpart for this concept. In particular men who look manlier with more feminine details. I think one example could be Kim Bum aka Kim Sang-Bum or Kim Beom who I find looks manlier with a ponytail than without. I noticed too that the ponytail had the effect of pulling hair away from his face. And when he had bangs that covered his forehead and brows he seemed to look more like a girl. What could his type be?

1/25/2015 05:14:25 pm

I've been thinking about this, and here are some of things I've come up with:

Though it's usually women who wear ponytails, I think that's mainly because women are more likely than men to have long hair. I think the effect of wearing a ponytail is actually a rather masculine effect: completely pulled-back hair brings attention to the planes and angles of the face. And the hair being completely gathered and controlled, shaped into a long, straight line, echoes the tailoring and straight lines of the Dramatic silhouette. So I don't think we can say a ponytail is a feminine style. Soft curls around the face -- that's feminine!

David Beckham pulls off a ponytail, I think, and he has a lot of Dramatic. Gosh, he's gorgeous. :-)

Johnny Depp also pulls it off, and again, a lot of Dramatic.

Penn Jilette - little to no Dramatic, and the ponytail looks really bad, IMHO.

Colin Farrell has a good bit of Romantic, I think, and I love him with longer hair -- but not with a ponytail.

2/19/2015 07:25:07 pm

Hi. Thank you for answering my question. I'm pretty sure you're right about ponytails being a masculine effect rather than a feminine one. I see it working so very well on Dramatics but not very much on other types.
Hmm. But Kim Bum though, I don't see him being Dramatic. He's more of a pretty boy!

1/9/2015 12:46:27 pm

This is a really interesting question, and I think I can answer it. But I'm having a hard time thinking of male celebs who look good in a ponytail! :-). Can you suggest a few more?

1/9/2015 06:46:51 pm

OMGosh River Phoenix, of course! Especially when it's longer than chin length.

1/9/2015 07:18:40 pm

Sorry, I just realized that my example of River Phoenix may not count because although he's had long hair it's never in a ponytail, plus I really don't think he looks good with his bangs pulled up and away from his face.

1/10/2015 07:23:24 pm

Tom Mison is very similarly baby-faced and effeminate without the facial hair and ponytail I find.

1/19/2015 01:53:34 am

I really like Solania's question and I'm curious what your answer will be, Rachel. I'm writing because I think, that Orlando Bloom could be an example as well. To me he looks much more manlier with long hair, while he has quite a baby face with short or middle lenght hair.

Susan R

2/6/2015 07:10:33 am

Wow, I love what you said about the comparisons! I never thought of it like that, but it explains why I look better in short hair and also explains why wearing anything more "girly" looks ridiculous on me! I just never really thought of it this way. This site is the most helpful that I've seen with all the style stuff. I am supposedly a natural, but I have a smaller head, smaller eyes and narrower face, so I've been told I'm a Yang Natural, which does make sense to me, but the styles always seemed weird. Back on your page for naturals, explaining it in the way you did by defining is as everything we're not actually made sense to me. Even the differences between classic and gamine is helpful here too, because I always thought I was "classic" in my style, but I now know I am not. At almost 53, it is odd that I would still be exploring all this, but when I decided to let my hair go naturally gray, I guess it was kind of a renewal process of trying to find a style again. The thing is, I am so a jeans and tee shirt girl, even if they are embellished with chunky necklaces or scarves or whatever, it's like my basic costume is some sort of tee shirt or simple chunky sweater with jeans, shorter skirts and pants.

Tara

10/5/2015 02:24:18 pm

Has anyone ever typed Julie Andrews? To me, she appears quite gamine. But, I was shocked to learn last night that she is 5'7" like Audrey Hepburn. Fascinating!

10/5/2015 03:29:54 pm

She looks great with short hair. That's certainly suggestive.

Corinne

1/22/2016 06:54:37 pm

Does a youthful look always mean ingenue or gamine? I'm fairly certain I'm mostly ethereal and natural, but I do regularly get comments about how young I look (I'm in my late 20s, but I look more like early 20s).

1/23/2016 11:18:01 am

It's tricky to say "always" about anything, but youthfulness defines Ingenue and Gamine, just as womanly sexiness defines Romantic. So I would feel pretty confident in diagnosing G or I in someone with a youthful appearance.

1/23/2016 11:19:13 am

It may be a small portion, though. I've also been told that I look younger than I am, and I do have some Ingenue, but just a smidge.

1/23/2016 08:34:07 pm

Thanks! I can pull off some ingenue type styling (bows, etc.), but since I don't look particularly cute or girly overall, I wondered whether that could really be my third essence.

Stephanie

9/15/2016 08:10:03 am

Hi!
I have a small question: I have realised recently that I look quite younger when I wear short hair, which is not the case when I have longer hair. I have also realised that I look weird when I have a large smile as if I had forced it. Would this rule out Gamine? I think I have a lot of Classic in me and I am not sure if I am a "pure" Classic or if I am a blend of other IDs... Thanks!

Cindy

10/13/2016 10:03:45 am

Wonderfully written piece, thank you so much for writing this! Interesting that although many gamine women are small and short, it doesn't necessarily mean that tall women can't be gamine. Does this also apply to petite women? I've noticed that many ethereals are very tall and willowy, but can short women be ethereal?

4/25/2017 02:19:08 pm

Sure they can. It's really more about the face than anything else. (I have a blog post about this!) I think Ethereality is a little less common in petite women because, for whatever reason, they seem less likely to have the elongated and narrow features typical of Es. But it's not impossible.

12/28/2017 05:02:24 pm

It's interesting because based on face alone, I would have mistaken all the Ethereals I know as being much taller than they actually are. Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska both have strong E in my opinion, so I was surprised to find out that they were only 5'4. Not short, but not tall. Sissy Spacek has a lot of Ethereal in my opinion, and I envisioned her as being a lot taller than her petite 5'2. I think tallness helps with making someone think one is Ethereal, but in my experience it's hard to predict.

12/28/2016 10:25:47 pm

Is Winona Ryder considered a pure Gamine? because she has an otherworldly Ethereal quality to her. In some pics in her younger years she had a very delicate, waifish look, and she looked gorgeous in the period films she did.

8/23/2018 01:33:23 pm

Sorry for replying to my own comment but I realized that something just doesn't look right when Winona has long hair and drapey dresses. Watching Reality Bites, she looks effortlessly perfect in thrifted menswear and short, shaggy hair.

Jamie

4/23/2017 05:00:52 pm

gigi

6/9/2017 03:36:12 am

I really disagree with Gwen Stefani being representative of the 'gamine' type. She may have a gamine component to her (mostly due to her body shape and her style), but she has a strong romantic component too (her face). She looks gorgeous and sensuous/womanly in pin-up romantic styles (like in the movie Aviator). I would guess her to be more of a Romantic Dramatic Gamine.

6/9/2017 12:35:29 pm

oh and the same goes for Janet Jackson. Though I really don't see anything gamine about Janet. Nothing gamine about Halle Berry either. Both women look quite tall/heavy-boned and voluptuous, and neither have that gamine 'baby-face'. It seems like all the women who get pixie haircuts get lumped under gamine, it's silly.

Kels

7/19/2017 08:48:43 pm

I think they have romance in their body frames, but neither Janet nor Halle is muscular, strong-looking or heavy boned. They are 5'4 and 5'5, and have rounded faces, big eyes, and large foreheads, as per the guidelines for gamine. Romantic gamines, maybe?

Kitty

1/20/2018 07:46:50 pm

I agree. Both women are very curvaceous and womanly. Nobody would ever mistake them for waifish little boys or impish pixies. Both seem heavily romantic to me , no sharp lines

Milly

1/28/2019 07:21:35 pm

I feel the same about Rihanna. Just because a celeb goes through a style phase doesn't seem it's what actually suits them in their essence. Currently, in an SD look she looks incredible and has always suited long curly/hair. Same with Michelle Williams, just because she decided to go for a pixie cut, I don't actually think she has the sharpness in her features for such a full blown gamine look. It looks at odds with her softness.

Kate

8/18/2017 07:23:38 am

Hi Rachel,
My name's Kate, I am a young italian girl who's trying find her own style. I thought I might be a mix of gamine, dramatic and ethereal. People often call me cute, delicate, ladylike... I am neither tall nor short, I weigh 100 pounds and I am 5'5 inches tall. My eyes are not narrow at all, they're more oval/rounded (not very big though), my mouth is tiny, my face is oval, my features are not very sharp, but I have some angles😭... I don't why so many people describe me with "gamine" adjectives... Could you help me?❤️

anastasia

9/29/2017 09:16:02 pm

HeyRachel Do you know if this polyvore set https://a-birago.polyvore.com/?filter=sets looks Theatrical Romantic?
I completed the kibbe quiz and got mostly A answers which came out as dramatic. I also did the Mcjimneys quiz i think and got soft natural. For some reason i feel drawn to dramatic clothing but not all the way. As for soft natural i just don't feel like it resonates with me at all not even the jewelry.

10/3/2017 09:51:19 am

Hi! When I paste that URL, I get a page full of sets, not one individual set. Which one do you mean?

10/3/2017 09:58:46 am

Hey sorry it was this set https://www.polyvore.com/casual_girly/set?id=217521847 i'm not sure what type of style this would be.

10/4/2017 09:38:10 am

I see a lot going on here! That bomber jacket reads as Gamine with some Natural. The top looks sexy and uncomplicated -- that's Romantic and Natural.The bag is pretty Classic, perhaps with some Natural. The jeans read as Natural Gamine. The heels are sexy and minimalistic, with a sort of sinuous effect -- they have Romantic and Ethereal, then, along with either Natural or Dramatic. Those flat sandals are severely minimalistic (that's Dramatic, usually) but they also look simple and comfortable with that low stacked heel (that's Natural),

10/4/2017 10:36:08 am

thanks and how about the girl with the red dress on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNPCTHUP10E

at 3:00 min

Shawna

5/20/2018 10:07:37 pm

I know this is an older post but I often re-read and I want to comment on something I experienced recently. I am tallish-5'9 1/2" and have always believed this made me seem less feminine. A friend recently expressed surprise when I said this and stated that I am the most feminine woman she knows. She may happen to know a lot of very tomboyish females but it was still an interesting comment to me. I think it's true that we really don't have a very good idea of how we appear to others.

anastasia osei birago

5/20/2018 10:51:55 pm

I noticed the people that have trouble knowing their Kibbe type are actually soft dramatic. I’m a soft dramatic except with narrow arms. At first I thought I was an ethereal dramatic but something didn’t seem right. On Pinterest I would see celebs who were typed as soft dramatic dressed in other types and they looked incomplete and the clothes hid their figure and didn’t make them look womanly. You want to be able to see all their dimensions that make them the chosen Kibbe type. I feel like you would know your type if you find yourself having fun searching for the clothes you want.

Avril

10/29/2018 11:52:41 am

Hi! So I read your posts a few times and, looking at the images of Gamine and Dramatic women with VERY short hair, I have to argue that more 'boyish' isn't necessarily better for most of the women featured on your site. For example in the case of Winona Ryder, I wholeheartedly agree the shorter hair is absolutely gorgeous for her. Notice however, that I said shorter....her hair is not spiky, or cut super close to her head, or in any way 'boyish' to my eye. Her hair reminds me more of the shorter cuts for women during the 60's...wherein the hair appears more full as well as longer on the sides and back of the head, as opposed to most of the hair being piled on top of the head. With the haircut she has, she seems elegant as well as feminine. Another thing I wondered about was if you are a gamine with naturally curly hair, keeping it very short doesn't seem to make too much difference....it still is not as flattering because it is still curly, and curly= feminine. In short, I would really like to see more examples of short women's haircuts that are not overly masculine. IMO most little boys with gamine faces don't look their best with super short hair either....but perhaps all of this is due in part to a feminine aspect to their faces that has been overlooked? Thank you for all of your posts, they have been helpful and quite fascinating to me. :)

Emme

3/16/2019 04:57:12 pm

What style identity would a truly androgynous face fall under? With long hair, none of my friends could ever imagine me looking boyish, even without makeup. However when I had short hair, people had a hard time believing I was girl, as I was so convincingly boyish. I'm often thought to be much younger than I am, and I'm offered crayons at restaurants! What identities and combos include young looking, androgynous girls? I know you can't tell what I fall into if you can't see me, but if you could give me some ideas I might be able to narrow it down on my own.

Tracie

8/6/2019 12:25:20 pm

I think even though I am 5 ft 10, I am gamine in style. I look better in "cute" looks rather than the sweater set type classic looks, though I can see how classic influences me. I am slim and do have that boyishly cute approach, and I like how Audrey Hepburn did in her style. I think definitely the simple cute looks, like striped tops and ballet flats are very me. If I look in my closet, a lot of things i can see are in the gamine vein. I don't think the fact that i am tall should automatically exclude me from the style. I also look my best in a long pixie or short chin length bob style. I never get compliments on medium to long hair but always do with short hair. I am very pale and have large eyes and definitely don't look good in frilly styles, or neutral classic looks, and ingenue is too youngish a look for me, and natural is too flowy for my figure and I drown in fabric and look shapeless. Dramatic I think is too angular, or sexy, or too much drama when I am more casual than that.

I feel that gamine fit me best.

Truth is Beauty

Style Identities: the GAMINE

Boyish Beauty

Classic or Gamine?

Gamines (and Ingenues) are tiny, right?

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