Using Zyla to Customize Your Kibbe Type

Flamboyant Gamine is a type usually represented in colors from the Bright color palettes and True Winter. A lot of black and white, graphic geometric prints, and so on. This works with the idea of Flamboyant Gamine as funky, colorful, and offbeat.

But of course, being a Bright season or a True Winter are not prerequisites for being a Flamboyant Gamine. While my self-designation of Dark Autumn hasn’t been confirmed, I know that I am not in the Brights or True Winter.

This is not what I have to work with.

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This is closer to what I am. Texture. Leopard-print fur.

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But still, I often try to make the other vibe work for me, basically taking what you’d give a Winter or a Spring and trying to find it in DA colors. It works, because I’m a Flamboyant Gamine and the shapes work, but it’s still not what I want it to be.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what archetype Zyla would give me if I did see him. I don’t talk about Zyla very much on here. This is because Zyla’s system is one that is truly about a single person’s vision and the results are hard to DIY.

The types in the book are so specific that it’s hard to see yourself in them. You see yourself in none of them and all of them at the same time, kind of like horoscopes. I have often felt that in the descriptions, there’s really no room for me.

I was discussing Zyla in the Flamboyant Gamine group a while back, and Gamine Autumn was suggested for me. Of course. I had discounted Gamine Autumn before, because it seemed to be relatively Soft Natural-looking on Pinterest. But as we all know, Pinterest is one of the greatest hindrances out there to really discovering a type, since it locks you into someone else’s perception of what a type looks like.

When I read the reports of people who have been typed Gamine Autumn, a lot of things clicked for me. Lots of texture. Brushed metals. Prints from nature. And he said something very important in all of the Gamine Autumn reports I read:

You are not a Mondrian.

Whoa.

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Not everything would work for me personally. But a lot of what he said resonated. And when I went back and looked, the things that resonated could be found in the Flamboyant Gamine recommendations as well. They just get ignored, often in favor of things actually found in the Gamine recommendations. But that’s a story for another time.

I realized that I don’t need to find an autumn version of a chevron print. My Autumn influence causes me to look toward nature: my beloved animal prints and perhaps a splashy botanical. Blanche Deveraux’s bedroom decor, which is originally from the Beverly Hills Hotel, would be perfect for me.

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So while I don’t think I’m going to make it to see Zyla anytime soon, and I don’t know for sure that he’d give me Gamine Autumn, the information he has still helped me figure out how to make Flamboyant Gamine my own, and I’m excited to explore and develop it further.

This segues into another big announcement of mine. In addition to launching styling services and working on my ultimate guide to Kibbe types, I’m also writing a workbook. This workbook will help you to DIY the customization of your Kibbe type. Using a system as a springboard to creating a personal style is really what this site is all about, so I’m very excited about it.

I also finally launched my Facebook page today. So go and check it out. 🙂

7 Comments on Using Zyla to Customize Your Kibbe Type

  1. Elizabeth S
    May 29, 2015 at 12:32 pm

    Hiya! I very much enjoy your blog, and your differentiation of the 2 types of FG was personally very helpful, — I am a confirmed Sci/Art DA and a Zyla Gamine Autumn, so it can happen! I have also had a USS with David so I have extra recs that are personally specific. Keep up the good work!

    Reply
    • stylesyntax
      May 29, 2015 at 5:05 pm

      I’m glad to hear you’re DA 🙂 I’ve seen Gamine Autumn listed as equivalent to Soft Autumn, but I don’t think that Zyla types and Sci/Art have a one-to-one relationship. Thanks for your pinterest board link! I can definitely see some stuff I could wear, but some stuff I’m too short for. 🙂

      Reply
    • stylesyntax
      May 29, 2015 at 5:07 pm

      Haha, I don’t like chevron at all… It’s too popular and I feel like that makes it something that will look dated in a couple of years. Every house shown on Pinterest has a chevron rug or pillows or whatever.

      Reply
      • Elizabeth S
        May 29, 2015 at 8:24 pm

        Yes I know!!! It was cool, oh, back when Domino (god rest its blessed soul) was still pubbing.

        Reply
        • stylesyntax
          May 29, 2015 at 10:16 pm

          Haha, it took me a couple of minutes to get what you meant. I thought Domino was a pub band or something for a moment before I remembered the magazine. But yeah, that’s exactly it. A vaguely modern yuppie aesthetic that has now taken over stores of housewares across the land.

          Reply

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