Mature Fashion; What Shape are You?

Errands, Lunch, Appointment

Hello Stylinistas:

One of the oldest (and still most reliable)  statements that have been made regarding fashionistas and stylinistas is to remember that fashion, trends, styles, whatever you want to call them exist for you, not you for the fashion.  Everything about what you wear should be a bit about the way a fashion (whether you like it our not) adds to the uniqueness of you and to what "flatters your body type, and "you" specifically; but first you have to identify what is"you". A particular set of design elements may make you look thinner, or taller, or longer legs, etc., but, you may dislike that style.  You may love a certain style but it does not look the same on you as it did on the model, or the mannequin in the window, etc. You may try on dozens of garments and not be happy with any of them, or worse yet, buy the garment and it hangs in your closet, unworn, until you finally get rid of it.

Every hair stylist in the world is familiar with the customer who brings in a picture of a style they have seen in the magazine and says "I want this hairstyle", then is unhappy when they do not look the same as the model in the picture. It is up to us, if we don't already know, our body types and the types of design detail that will best flatter our figure and features. It is important to know and understand the rules so you know how to break them.  As you must know by now, based on my posts, that most rules are really meant to be broken based on your individuality.  You must also learn the difference between an arbitrary fashion "rule" and a design principle.  T

There are basically five diffferent body types; they may be defined as fruits, flowers, or other terms, but they all come down to a geometric shape: an inverted triangle over a triangle (usually called an hour glass), a circle (usually called an apple), a rectangle, a triangle, or an inverted triangle.  Most people can usually identify their basic shape from these terms.

An hourglass, or the inverted triangle over a triangle simply means the shoulders and the hip line are somewhat equal and they have a narrow waist. A circle means the waistline is bigger than the shoulders and the hips, which are usually about equal, A rectangle means the shoulders, waistline, and hips are all about equal, a triangle means hips are significantly larger than shoulders, and an inverted triangle means shoulders are significantly larger than the hips.

The problems arise when stylists attempt to invent concrete rules based on the above definitions;  every woman's body is different.  Some women will fit comfortably with design principles and these ordained rules based on the principles. For example, a triangle (pear shape) body type usually  has rather heavy legs to go with her larger hips; what happens when she has beautifully shaped legs?  In our discussions, we must always remember that each person is an individual and you will break rules when they do not fit your individuality.

The important difference between a design principle and an arbitrary fashion rule is based on artistic illusion that is factual; arbitrary "rules" such as "a person with a large top half of the body should never wear horizontal stripes'" is based on opinion. In general, you would always be "safe" following the arbitrary rule, but you could certainly lose out on a lot of fashion opportunities to show yourself to advantage; one of the reasons is people who rigidly follow these rules often have a wardrobe that can be somewhat boring, and is always what is expected. Almost all major fashion changes are brought about by individuals who confidently break these arbitrary rules.  It was not all that long ago when major assumptions were made about a woman if she wore a red dress, or wearing navy and black or brown and black together was a fashion no-no.  Today we look at those restrictions as silly, and rightfully so.

Consider the above fashion rule about stripes and an inverted triangle body type: What happens when you have a horizontal stripe with a diagonally printed design that actually appears to slim a waistline or you have a body where you may have large shoulders and bustline, but a narrow midriff, and the stripe design would call attention to this very flattering midriff? These arbitrary fashion rules based on body type do not allow for individual variety of the individual. (we will talk more about stripes as a design element later).

In this post I have identified the five body types.  You may have one or more indivuals roles in which you are cast, however the "costumes" we will need (or choose) to wear should be fashioned in such a way as to flatter our own bodies and style of dressing.  Each body type is described in more detail on RockMyStyling.blogspot.com

in our next posting, we will examine the design elements that you can use to assist in balancing any body type.  For now, all you need to do is determine your Basic body type; it may have changed over the years. (I have underscored "basic" because the guidelines (rules, if you will) may be adjusted for your own body.  You are a unique individual, and your styling will be customized for you.

Until next time, Happy styling............Geneva