My Kibbe Guide is my attempt to expand on the book. My aim is to take the material in the book and add visual references and additional detailed analysis to make the different types more understandable. It’s still a work in progress, but I’ve divided into four sections, based on what I feel is the most useful order of analyzing yourself.
1. Essence
I examine the vintage celebrity examples. (Modern celebrity images aren’t quite as clear or controlled as they were during the era of the Studio System.) I do look at the examples that were contemporary to the book’s time, but no one newer than that. I try to discern the range of essences within a type, as well as the underlying thing that all these women have in common. I also use the results of the Essence and Body Survey for clues to how people react to these types in real life. In terms of figuring out your own type, it is useful to understand how others see you and how that can provide a clue to your type. Are you a Girl Next Door or a Femme Fatale? Sometimes, however, we are not seen clearly by others for various reasons, let alone by ourselves, so I don’t think this is a foolproof method.
2. Recommendations
I am going to create Hue & Stripe lookbook for each type to show how the recommendations would look if you went to a store in the present day and wanted to find things to try on. Try ons are the best way to figure out your Kibbe type without getting bogged down in details and distractions.
3. Body
I am going to examine the body lines of the celebrities in each type and try to find what they have in common. I will also use the survey results to figure out some clues to each type.
4. Face
My intention with face will be pretty much the same as body.
I’m leaving the more visual/detail-oriented ways to finding your type because sometimes we can only understand why we’re one type after the fact, after we’ve lived in it and can see why these clothes work for us. Sometimes we think that our boobs are too big or our hands are too small to be somewhere, and we miss the forest for the trees. With Kibbe, the entire picture must always be kept in mind.