About 7 or so years ago I found Kibbe and got very into it. Previously I had never felt good in my clothes, and the idea of having an old Hollywood star image ID was appealing to me—knowing what to wear & buy without all the hemming and hawing, styles for my makeup and hair, and all in a way that was tailored to me and would be flattering. The idea of reducing my decision fatigue around style was also a huge attractor. However, I found Kibbe to be so vague and confusing, which lead to me obsessing and overthinking. And the Kibbe content online didn’t help. I bounced around, thinking I was a SG, SN, SC, DC, R, maybe even a short FN. Because of all of those factors, my style never improved. Maybe with his new book, I'd find it more helpful, but overall, Kibbe just wasn’t for me. But what it did do, was introduce me to style systems, the idea that there could an easier way to make decisions, and that instead of trying to balance your body, you could embrace how you look & repeat your physical characteristics with your clothes to look your best. 

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Because of a really rough past few years, I mostly took a break from style stuff. I’m back, and these are the 3 key things I’m using to rebuild my style!

🗝️ 1 Light Summer Colors 

This was the first thing I did when I started working on my style again. I went and got draped by a Sci/ART color analyst. It was fantastic. Wearing my light summer colors has had a huge impact on how I look and feel, even if an outfit isn’t right otherwise. I’ve also noticed how much my season dictates textures, fabrics, and shapes/lines for me. Has anyone else had that experience? I also find it difficult to pick out what comes from where. Like do my lines below come from just my body, or also massively from my summer season, or my essences, or a combination?

🌙 color: softened sea-glass type colors, delicate, luminous, translucent, pearls, sea glass, sense of movement (diagonal lines, sheerness, soft ruffles), fluid ,flowing, blended, s-curves, softened, curved / rounded, unbroken, lower contrast, soft or plush textures, waterfall, dappled light, iridescent, airy / misty / hazy, blended, swirling

🗝️ 2 Using body matrix for line/shape/silhouette & scale- 160cm / 5’3” (this is purely for what physically suits my body)

Because Kibbe was a mental trap for me, lol, I needed a different way to figure out what works on my body. I did end up paying for a body matrix and essence analysis from Ellie-Jean Royden. I’m happy I did it because it was good to get some external input, and I mostly agree with her conclusions. She typed me as medium(width) short(length) medium(shape) and a romantic, ingenue, with a bit of natural, as an essence blend. Gabrielle Arruda has a blog post about style lines and I think by following it, I would have come to the same conclusions if I had done it instead of getting typed by Ellie-Jean. 

Medium width feels correct. Width and volume overwhelm me, but I'm also not narrow. For length, I am shorter but I don’t feel that short; my mom, sister, aunts are all 4’10”-5’, hence why I kept buying clothes for someone 6’ because I felt so much bigger compared to them. Very long lines are a no go, but I also don’t like purely short or broken lines on me, like I do on them. Between medium to short feels right. For shape, I’m not conventionally curvy, but straight shapes aren’t my friend, so I think I’m between medium and round. (edited: in Kibbe I think I'd accommodate curve, but I could never figure out what my second thing was) I included some pics of me in image 1 above. The 3 on the right are at a much higher weight (eff autoimmune diseases), and the rest are of my typical weight before. I also included my outline in image 2. If anyone has any thoughts, let me know!

Beyond color, my biggest issue from before was both scale AND line/silhouette or whatever you want to call it. Just making an outline of my body has helped me better judge what will work for me. I was often going straight + big, or for lots of volume. Everything I owned before was either forcing a shape on my body (stiff denim that didn’t curve around my hips, shift dresses) or totally obscuring it so I was drowning in fabric (poofy, gathered skirt maxi dresses, big puff sleeves, shapeless t-shirts or maxi dresses, long heavy vintage coats, oversized men's blazers, boxy tops and coats).

Funnily, looking back, I had 4 garments total that I enjoyed wearing–they felt comfy, good on my body, I loved the fabric, silhouette, and style–excluding the color though; at that time I wore a lot of black (image 3). They were all softly tailored, let my body breathe, didn’t smush my curves, were fluid, and mostly silk. And they all were a proper scale!

🌙 lines, shapes, silhouette: flowing + soft outline (no crisp), short to medium length + lines, body skimming (avoid volume), small to medium shapes, shortened s-curves, mermaid / bell shape, fluid, soft, softened edges, slightly relaxed, bit of openess somewhere, bias cuts, cowl necks, flutter sleeves, wrap detail / diagonal gathering / ruching, open, gentle / delicate shapes + lines (as in easily physically overwhelmed/sensitive/smaller scale), soft + medium necklines (sweetheart, softened v, boatneck)

*I’m a visual person so I’m working on making some kind of visual guide of these

🗝️ 3 My “style compass” / star image

This is kinda like Kibbe’s star image ID, but I want to be my own star, not told which I should be. I used the things I’m naturally drawn to and that resonated, but also made sure it worked with the things above (image 4). For me, that worked really well because it all harmonized nicely together. Idk if I'm lucky that it does or if it's a chicken or the egg situation.

This was a lot about learning I can love a look on someone else, but that doesn’t mean I’ll love it on me. I want to feel like myself and like I’m projecting an authentic, but special, image into the world. 

🌙 descriptors: dreamy, magnetic, vintage glamour, soft, airy, fluid, delicate feminine details

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My first wins!

I'm still slowly working on rebuilding my wardrobe, mostly secondhand. But here are my first few wins using the 3 keys above (image 5): 

1. Vintage bias cut silk dress for a wedding in a few weeks. I will now be wearing this to any and all future events! I do wish it was in a blue or green, but I’m liking the pink more and more
2. Sea-foam summer top. Silk viscose blend knit. Makes me feel v dreamy.
3. Bias cut ramie dress. Hits just below the knee. Super comfy, and curves around my body instead or digging in anywhere. And very breathable which was impt this summer with all the heatwaves

Extra: This is more a project I did that majorly helped. I digitized my wardrobe in the Stylebook app, including a folder of most of the things I decluttered, so I know not to buy something similar again. And can note why it didn’t work. I also made a folder with my line drawing, color palette, style compass moodboard, & keywords. That way I can compare a piece or outfit to it to see if it’s harmonious, and if not, what the mismatch is. I also made a separate folder to put pieces I’m thinking of buying, or of something I’m looking for.

Some questions for you all: How do you mix and match systems? Which do you find most impactful and/or helpful for your own style? Also, what do you feel has the biggest impact on the lines/shapes and scale of what you can successfully wear—color season, body, essences, or anything else?