As an image and style consultant I’m in the business of ‘getting it right’ when it come to dressing my clients. The task of choosing and wearing the right clothes to ultimately look your best can be the biggest challenge – ask any woman!
With that said, it is fair to say ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’.
Let’s study some of the important but not always obvious aspects of ‘doing it right’ when styling yourself and making wise choices at the checkout.
Understanding proportions also known as ‘vertical proportions’ allows us to know where and where not to end garments and hemlines. It also helps us to know how much fabric or accessories to apply in any given proportion area.
Leonardo Da Vinci developed a theory that the balanced human is 8 head lengths tall. Generally most women aren’t, but clothing ranges are developed upon this assumption and that the body is broken down into the following equal measurements.
1. Head length (top of head to chin)
2. Bottom of chin to nipple (mid bust)
3. Mid bust to navel (narrowest part of the waist)
4. Navel to leg break (this is where the leg bends up at the hip, where you will see majority of trouser creasing, and is just above the crotch).
5. Leg break to mid thigh
6. Mid thigh to mid knee
7. Mid knee to mid calf
8. Mid calf to sole of foot
We see below left the gorgeous Kate Middleton in a dress that’s not quite right when compared to the one on the right. We always look more aesthetically pleasing when we dress in the thirds. In other words, when we’re dress in uneven amounts of clothing making our legs look longer than our torso.
The horizontal stripes at the center of Kate’s dress are too low and not sitting at her natural waist, further elongating her very long torso. If the same stripes were not added to the hemline it would look more appealing by lengthening the skirt part of the dress. And if the dress was a midi (mid calf length) rather than above the knee the Duchess would once again be perfectly dressed in the thirds.
Further, as Kate is the ectomorph body type this dress fails to add curves and volume to her lean frame. The Duchess is better in structure and taut type fabrication, such as: stiff linen, denim and lace, scuba, corduroy, brocade, leather, taffeta, raw silk, heavy thick knits, fur and organza.
Visually the other two options have the Duchess much better styled and dressed for her height, scale, proportions, body shape and type.
As seen in The Weekender Herald newspaper http://www.weekenderherald.com.au/
