Hi! It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? It feels good to be back, though this will be a shorter post than normal (I hope it’ll still be helpful though). In this post I’ll be sharing three body type tips that I’ve picked up.
Soft Dominant vs Sharp Dominant
If you’re having difficulty figuring out if you’re a soft dominant body type or a sharp one, then I have a quick tip to help you narrow it down:
Try out some outfits that have waist emphasis and some outfits that have none.
If you feel you need waist emphasis in your outfits to balance out your curves, then that’s a surefire sign that you have a soft body type (for example: Romantic, Soft Dramatic, Soft Classic). On the other hand if you don’t feel you need waist emphasis in your outfits then you probably have a sharper body type (such as Dramatic, Flamboyant Natural, Flamboyant Gamine).
Using Models
Most models are Flamboyant Naturals, Dramatics, or Soft Dramatics. If you have one of those body types, you can more easily rely on photos of models wearing the clothes you’re considering purchasing, especially when it comes to online shopping.
Even if you don’t have a body type that’s common among models, you can still use this to your advantage. As a Flamboyant Gamine, I tend to keep an eye out for pieces that look good on models, but a bit too small for their frames. This usually gives me a good estimate if the piece will be sharp enough for my bone structure, while still having the shorter and more animated lines that look good on me.
Try to find where the lines of your body type and models’ body types overlap and where they don’t. On top of that, try to practice seeing the differences between Flamboyant Naturals, Dramatics, or Soft Dramatics so you can identify models’ types. It can help you out, especially when looking at clothing photos while online shopping.
Lowering or Increasing (Color) Contrast
A general rule of thumb is that body types with higher contrast levels (for example, members of the Gamine family) can wear highly contrasted colors more easily than those with lower contrast body types (for example, members of the Classic family). However, I’ve noticed this guideline can be pushed a bit by changing a person’s hair color.
As an example, I have a friend who’s a Flamboyant Gamine, and who has both pale skin and light hair. While a certain level of contrast looks good on them, wearing super bright colors tends to look overwhelming. When they had darker hair they would’ve found it easier to wear brighter colors without looking washed out.
The opposite is true as well. Take Dita von Teese, a member of the Classic family. Her natural hair color is more of a blonde shade, but she dyes her hair jet black, which complements the rich and dark colors that she often wears. The dark hair contrasts against her pale complexion, so she looks more balanced when she follows the same sharp contrasts with her makeup.
If you want to nudge how contrasted you look, especially in regards to your face, you can look less contrasted by dyeing your hair a shade of similar lightness or darkness to your skin, and you can make yourself look more contrasted by dyeing your hair a shade either much lighter or darker than your complexion.
Thanks for reading, and thanks to my friend Samia for helping me with line edits! Sorry it’s a shorter post than usual for this week.
Cozy Rebekah 