STYLE
BODY SHAPES
It's important to wear clothes that enhance your assets and de-emphasise or camouflage your 'challenge areas'. Wearing the right clothes, can have an almost magical result on the appearance of your body, making you seem to appear taller, slimmer, balanced, etc. This is known as illusion dressing.
The rules of styling (or illusion dressing), simply comes down to studying and understanding your physical body shape and its' proportions. When dressing your body, you need to consider your vertical body type, horizontal body type, face shape, bone structure, height, weight, etc.
While each individual body type, face shape and bone structure has its' stand alone styling requirements, to find what your personal styling requirements are, all elements have to be compared and considered together.
VERTICAL BODY TYPES
There are three (3) standard Vertical body types:
Long Legs, Short Body
Shorts Legs, Long Body
Balanced Body
Identifying your vertical body type is important, so that you understand where to balance your body, to make it look equally proportioned. To balance your body you will need to know what garment lengths to wear. You will need to know
whether you should tuck your shirt in - or leave your shirt untucked; whether you should wear low-rise or high-waisted
skirts and pants. It is also important to know where to best apply colour and texture.
HORIZONTAL BODY TYPES
There are six (6) standard Horizontal body types, they are:
The rules of styling (or illusion dressing), simply comes down to studying and understanding your physical body shape and its' proportions. When dressing your body, you need to consider your vertical body type, horizontal body type, face shape, bone structure, height, weight, etc.
While each individual body type, face shape and bone structure has its' stand alone styling requirements, to find what your personal styling requirements are, all elements have to be compared and considered together.
VERTICAL BODY TYPES
There are three (3) standard Vertical body types:
Long Legs, Short Body
Shorts Legs, Long Body
Balanced Body
Identifying your vertical body type is important, so that you understand where to balance your body, to make it look equally proportioned. To balance your body you will need to know what garment lengths to wear. You will need to know
whether you should tuck your shirt in - or leave your shirt untucked; whether you should wear low-rise or high-waisted
skirts and pants. It is also important to know where to best apply colour and texture.
HORIZONTAL BODY TYPES
There are six (6) standard Horizontal body types, they are:
Hourglass, Triangle, Inverted Triangle, Rectangle, Oval, Diamond
Identifying your horizontal body type is important, so that you know where to enhance, de-emphasise, or camouflage your figure. To balance your horizontal body type you will need to know what shape garments to wear and where to best apply colour and texture.
FACE SHAPES
There are nine (9) standard Face Shapes, they are: Oval, Oblong, Round, Square, Rectangle, Triangle, Inverted Triangle, Heart, Diamond
Knowing your face shape is important in helping you to choose hairstyles, hats, necklines, jewellery, eye wear, make-up application, etc.
There are nine (9) standard Face Shapes, they are: Oval, Oblong, Round, Square, Rectangle, Triangle, Inverted Triangle, Heart, Diamond
Knowing your face shape is important in helping you to choose hairstyles, hats, necklines, jewellery, eye wear, make-up application, etc.
PERSONAL STYLE
So you are now aware that you have to understand your body shape to be able to choose the right garments to flatter your figure. However, you also need to create a Personal Style that fits in with your own personality, lifestyle, career and budget.
There are many styles to choose from. Some of the basic looks are dramatic, romantic, elegant, sexy, natural, casual, classic and creative. These basic looks translate into the more well-known styles, such as: Bombshell, Gamine, Androgynous, Avant-Garde, Chic, Rock Chick, Minimalist, Preppy, Mod, Boho, Vintage, just to name a few.
Style is as individual as you. It's important to choose a style or a combination of styles that reflect who you are and how you want to be viewed.
There are many styles to choose from. Some of the basic looks are dramatic, romantic, elegant, sexy, natural, casual, classic and creative. These basic looks translate into the more well-known styles, such as: Bombshell, Gamine, Androgynous, Avant-Garde, Chic, Rock Chick, Minimalist, Preppy, Mod, Boho, Vintage, just to name a few.
Style is as individual as you. It's important to choose a style or a combination of styles that reflect who you are and how you want to be viewed.
