Style Syntax

December 28, 2015

With the end of 2015 comes resolutions for 2016. This has been a year where I’ve nailed down my season as best as I can without getting draped and further developed what “Flamboyant Gamine” means to me. I’ve decided upon my Zyla archetype, and have used it to refine my season and my Kibbe. Now that the work of deciding what I am is done, for now, my task for 2016 will be wardrobe rebuilding. I created a roadmap for myself while writing the workbook, but I definitely still have a long way to go.

What I’ll be concentrating on in the coming year is:

1. Accessorizing!
I tend to err on the side of practicality when it comes to clothing. I have a limited budget, so when I do have money to spend, I’m far less likely to purchase accessories than I am something that I need in order to stay warm or just clothed in general. You can walk around without jewelry just fine, but walking around naked in winter would certainly garner some stares (and an arrest). Jewelry is my last priority.

I also have trouble finding what works for me. I have a jewelry board, but it’s mostly out of my price range and some of may be too heavy for me. I have to be careful to stay in FG and not go too far into FN. And the kind of jewelry I like can’t be found by the basketload at a place like Charming Charlie’s.

Despite the fact that I don’t remember the last time I wore jewelry, I know that it’s an important element for creating a head-to-toe look for any Kibbe type. I need to take some cash and do some damage at H&M or Forever 21 to have something to wear while I work to supplement the cheap stuff with nicer pieces. I will probably seek out necklaces first, since they won’t bother me when trying to type at work or interfere with gloves and coat sleeves like bracelets or rings would. I also have sensitivity issues that make cheap earrings something I can’t do.

2. Building up my One-Star wardrobe.
One of the central ideas of the workbook is “The Three Levels of Dress,” so roughly casual/business/formal. I call the second level “one star,” and it’s the one that is almost completely lacking from my wardrobe. My job doesn’t have a dress code, and if given the choice, I’ll go with what’s more comfortable. But the archetype I created for myself is “Grown Up Punk,” and I think that a more polished, “higher level” daily look goes along with that. Occasions that absolutely require one-star dress come up rarely–the only one I can think of is when I’m visiting my dad and he wants to go to a restaurant that doesn’t allow jeans–but I think that if I really want to fulfill the “grown-up” part of my archetype, it’s something I need to work on.

3. Getting fully dressed.
This goes hand-in-hand with one of my personal resolutions, which is to get to bed and wake up earlier. It’s all I can do most mornings to make it out the door vaguely on time. A head-to-toe look, however, is key. I need to do more in the morning than just run a brush through my hair and slap on some moisturizer and lip balm. So if I could style my hair and put on some minimal makeup, it’d go a long way toward making my look more polished overall.

What are your style resolutions for 2016?

December 24, 2015

Style Systems | 4 Comments

Do You Need the Label?

It’s human nature to want to belong to a group. And in a community where people are defined by labels–Soft Autumn, Tawny Spring, Soft Dramatic–sometimes it seems like finding out your label and being able to belong to a group of women who identify with the same label as you become more important than what the labels are supposed to do, which is help you find a flattering personal style.

Belle Northrup, the originator of using yin and yang to describe women and clothing, eschewed labels altogether.

…each of her individual traits depends upon the others and forms the sum total of her personality. We will not then rate this person as a “type” because she has blonde hair or is tall and willowy–partial and inadequate judgements–but we will form a picture of her in her completeness. No one part will be overemphasized, and a fairer, broader basis for dress selection will be established.

I have a good idea of my types in Kibbe and Sci\ART and Zyla. Sometimes I think about exploring other systems–Caygill, for example. But then I realize that there’s nothing another system would add that I can’t find in the combination of types I already have. It would be more of an exercise for the purpose of finding a label than something that will help me to understand my style needs better.

If you’re active in the color and style community, sometimes the focus shifts from what we’re actually supposedly here to do, which is refine our personal styles, and it becomes more about the community itself, and being able to say definitively what we are. You want to be able to participate in the roll call, and say you’re a DC-VS-BW-T4. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that these types are all really just tools to help us dress better, and if you already know enough to know that your style is as good as it’s going to get, one more definition isn’t going to change anything.

So if you already have your style pretty sorted out, and you’re stressing over your Kibbe type (or your Zyla archetype, or your Kitchener essences), I would stop a minute and ask yourself if this information is really vital, or if you just want to be able to say what you are. If it’s the latter, I’d question if it’s something worth stressing over.

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Audrey had a defined personal style without knowing her type in every single system, and you can have one too. 🙂

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Know your type in several systems but having trouble putting it all together? My workbook can help.

December 23, 2015

Kibbe's Metamorphosis, Three Levels of Dress | 4 Comments

The Three Levels of Dress: Flamboyant Gamine Casual with Athletic Wear

This post uses affiliate links.

One of the chapters in the workbook is about something I call “The Three Levels of Dress.” The basic premise is that there are three general levels of formality, and it’s important to know how to dress true to your style for each. You don’t stop dressing Theatrical Romantic because you’re in casual wear, and you don’t skip out on formalwear because you have a Natural base.

I’ll do more posts in the future talking about specific types and what the different levels look like for them, but today I’m going to focus on my own type and one way to approach casual dress if you’re also a Flamboyant Gamine.

While Flamboyant Gamine isn’t exactly challenging for casual wear, since as a type, it has low level of formality in general, it still can be a bit intimidating when you look at Pinterest. It can seem a little out there, or like you’d need the body of an 18-year-old runway model to pull it off.

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Typical FG Pinterest example… No one needs to see that much of my legs!

One approach that I really like, and something I do in my own life, is mainly getting my casual clothes from two places: the “basics” section of stores like H&M, and athletic brands. The latter is something I’ve done for a long time, before I had even heard of Kibbe.

Now, if you’re picturing the Real Housewives of Orange County going out to lunch in their gym gear, that’s not what I’m talking about. Athletic brands are actually a great source of clothes that tick essential FG boxes: asymmetry, boxiness, bolder choices in color and pattern than most “street” clothes, and pieces that can provide the narrow base FG is built on. Put in a different context, they’ll look like more interesting versions of a sweatshirt, t-shirt, leggings, whatever, rather than you looking you were too lazy to put on real clothes.

I got a little end-of-year bonus yesterday, and since I’ve found myself with only two sweaters to my name, I decided to invest in some sweatshirts.

Nike Tech Fleece Cape. I’m not sure why this is called a “cape,” since it’s really a hoodie/jacket. Number one for me here is the asymmetry, obviously. But I also love how the hood is oversized, and since this hoodie long in the back, it means I can wear it with leggings. Definitely something I can wear all year long–as a sweater layer in the winter, over another sweater when it’s really cold, and as a jacket in the spring/summer.

T/F Cropped Crew. Here we encounter one of the problems with every single model being FN 🙂 I promise you that this looks boxy on me! Cropped, boxy sweatshirt + bodycon tunic + leggings/skinny jeans are one of my uniforms, and the old sweatshirts I have, a gray leopard-print one and one in the elusive DA yellow, are from Forever 21 and thus can’t really be worn and washed for more than a season. I hope that this sweatshirt–mine has black accents, not silver–will last a little longer. Plus it was on sale.

Athletic wear is also a great place to find pieces you need to put together FG’s narrow base layer.

These Legendary Engineered Lattice Tights could be paired with an oversized, boxy sweater.

Stella McCartney’s Adidas line is one that I shop from when I can afford it, and the Essentials Short Tights would look very cute with a boxy t-shirt or sweatshirt.

The color selection is also more varied than we usually find in these styles. If you’re a soft season FG, it can be hard to find clothes… but this Running Essentials Graphic Tee would definitely work.

Brands like Nike and Adidas are expensive, and I can’t imagine buying these clothes just to sweat in them. When I buy clothes for exercise, I always go to H&M. But their clothes are actually just as cute, and while I haven’t gone to the gym in like a year, the clothes I bought to go to the gym are things I wear on a weekly basis. This Sports Top I picture paired with skinny jeans in a neon color and a statement necklace, or a tight miniskirt.

The athletic wear department is an easy place for FGs to find their asymmetrical, cropped/boxy + narrow silhouette in a variety of colors. Plus it’s super comfortable. If you mix it up with non-athletic clothing, it will definitely not look like you were too lazy to change after the gym.

Is there an unexpected source of clothing that is a goldmine for your type? How do you do casual?

December 14, 2015

Services | 0 comment

Style Syntax Type Customization and Wardrobe Rebuilding Workbook: Update

The nice thing about ebooks is that they can be “living” books. Having a Facebook group for the workbook enables me to see where people have trouble, what needs to be expanded upon, and what can be added.

A lot of people have been having issues with creating their own archetype, which is to be expected–it’s the most challenging exercise in the book. To that end, I’ve expanded the chapter on creating your own archetype by a page. If you’ve already purchased the workbook, you should have received a PDF with the new section. If not, please email me at hello@stylesyntax.com or comment below.

(And if you’d like to purchase the updated workbook, you can do so here.)

December 9, 2015

Color | 2 Comments

Things I Love: Lipstick Queen Saint Lipsticks

This post uses affiliate links.

When I was first exploring Dark Autumn, the makeup options scared me a little. No matter how obvious it was in the mirror the colors of the palette were working for me, I was so used to thinking that only the lighter colors in a makeup shade range were appropriate for my coloring. Now it seemed like things were going to change completely, that I would be restricted to the darkest colors, and I wasn’t sure if I would pass the test and be able to pull it off.

I ended up going to Ulta armed with a mental shopping list from Cate Linden’s blog. I’m not pink-skinned, but I am light, so I figured that if these colors worked on a fair Dark Autumn without the super-dark hair you often see associated with the season, it’d probably be my best shot at finding things that work. I did end up picking up Smashbox Fig, which Cate mentions in her blog post, but my true discovery was Lipstick Queen’s “Saint” line of lipsticks.

Among their other formulas, Lipstick Queen has “Saint” and “Sinner” lines of lipsticks, with the same colors, but differing opacities. Saint is sheer, with 10% color opacity, and Sinner is matte and full-coverage at 90%. I picked up Berry that daysite calls a “deep mocha with a delicious pinkish hue.” I happened to be shopping with my mom, and when I put it on, she expressed surprise that it didn’t look too dark or out of place on my face. My mom would totally be the first one to tell me that a lipstick wasn’t right, so I took it as a pretty sure sign that maybe I could handle this dark lipstick thing after all.

A couple of weeks later, my hair salon was having a Lipstick Queen clearance sale, so I picked up another Saint Berry, Berry in the Sinner formulation, and Saint Rust for $5 each. I didn’t end up loving the Berry Sinner–it was very drying–but Saint Rust I liked even more than Berry. It’s a muted red-brown shade, and was one of my go-to colors last summer, along with Clinique Mega Melon. The warmer and clearer Dark Autumn shades definitely feel more summery to me, for obvious reasons. The rest of the DA lipstick wardrobe I had at the time seemed to fall more in the berry family, with crossover DA/DW shades, and felt too heavy for the humidity and the heat. These two colors, I found, were basically at the limit of clarity that I can handle in makeup, plus they both have a similar balmy texture that feels great and moisturizing on.

I highly recommend the Saint lipstick formula for people who daunted by their new season’s makeup, and want an option that will be sheer, but still in the correct shade range. Plus it really feels more like a balm than a lipstick. Just looking at the options, I’m kicking myself for not having picked up Coral already.

What are your favorite “beginner’s lipsticks” for your season?

November 27, 2015

Services | 0 comment

Black Friday Sale

From today through Monday, November 30th, I’m offering the Style Syntax Type Customization and Wardrobe Rebuilding Workbook for 50%, so $5. This is a great time to pick up the book, since by the New Year, you’ll be ready to refresh your wardrobe and start the year with a new image. (Also, January tends to be the month where stores tend to put their fall and winter stuff on sale, at least in my neck of the woods.)

So if you’ve been thinking about picking up the workbook, now’s a great time to do it. Plus, it will still come with the Facebook group membership and/or one-on-one advice from me via email. As always, if you have questions, feel free to email me (hello@stylesyntax.com) or comment below.

November 23, 2015

Style Systems | 4 Comments

What Do We Get Out of Color and Style Analysis?: Line

In my first post in this series, I discussed the impact that knowing our best colors can have on our lives. When it comes to what is more important, color or lines, it is a bit of a chicken-or-egg question, and many feel that color is more significant. Perhaps because I’m a person for whom wearing an all-black uniform holds a certain appeal, I find lines a lot more important, personally.

Knowing my lines enables me to look over a bunch of garments and understand immediately which ones will work and which ones will make me look like a lumpy bowl of gravy. I no longer waste time with clothes that I know won’t flatter me, and I don’t have to feel bad about myself when I look in the mirror. I no longer wear things that fight against my body lines.

One of the major frustrations with being a type like Flamboyant Gamine is that things that are generally regarded as “universally flattering” for women everywhere don’t work all that well on a Flamboyant Gamine. Jerset wrap dresses are my sworn enemies.

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What I love about yin/yang systems is that they are all about stopping fighting with yourself. Systems that are strictly body-type based tend to focus on making you what you are not. If you’re short, you should look taller. If you’re curvy, you should look less so. Supposedly, with the “right” clothes, you will arrive at some kind of “medium.” Medium height, some curves but not too much, everything in proportion…

And yin/yang systems say it’s okay to not be a classic. I’m shortish and bluntly angular, rather than curvy, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s no point in wishing I had smooth curves that would look great in said wrap dresses. I can wear my short and sculpted dresses instead–which I like better anyway!

Knowing our lines improves our lives in two ways. First, it obviously saves us time because something like 90% of what is in any given store is going to be eliminated immediately, and we will only consider what we know actually works for our bodies. Second, it helps us to embrace our natural beauty rather than wasting time trying to become what we are not.

November 15, 2015

Kibbe's Metamorphosis | 15 Comments

David Kibbe Letter #3: My Response, Part 2

I’ve already written about David Kibbe’s most recent letter, but there’s something I overlooked last time that I want to address. It’s at the end of the letter:

—-HEAD TO TOE, ONLY. (Don’t forget accessories…shoes, bag, hat, jewelry, stockings)

—-MIX ‘N MATCH= MISMATCHED! (Don’t buy a piece at a time….Think outfits).

The first point I absolutely agree with, although I’m not the best at it. I only have one bag and one hat per purpose (small and large, and keeping warm, respectively) and I definitely don’t have enough jewelry. Finding jewelry that fits my exact specifications has been a challenge.

But even though I should do better myself, generally, I agree. When people are trying on types and just put on a dress, it’s hard to get the full picture. You need the hair, the makeup, the shoes, the accessories to really understand the full picture of a type. Especially if you’re in good shape, a lot of different things can be flattering, but the key is whether you need the whole image of a type. You might look great in that TR wiggle dress, but do you need the TR jewels, or does it look better if you pair it with something simpler? If you don’t have it all put together, it’s not an outfit; it’s just clothes.

The second point, however, is more difficult for me. My goal with style and color analysis has always been to put together a small, but high-quality and stylish wardrobe where different pieces can be “remixed,” as fashion bloggers like to say. I want to be able to “shop my closet.”

But here, Kibbe seems to be saying that you should put together a head-to-toe look, and have those pieces just be for that one outfit. For my lifestyle, that just doesn’t make sense. I live a casual life. I have the kind of job where jeans and a t-shirt are just fine, and I find myself in situations where more than that is required maybe two or three times a year. I don’t tend to have the need for Outfits like the ones you can see the Kibbes wearing in photos.

Yet I’ve also seen the Kibbes “dressed down” in photos from people who have gone to see them: sweaters and khakis or leggings. I doubt that David and Susan buy a new pair of khakis or leggings for each sweater or t-shirt they own. That would be totally ridiculous. Like anyone else, for their more casual clothes, I’m certain they have a set of clothes that they mix and match, just like everyone else.

I think that thinking in terms of outfits is good for special events. But you’re more likely to get mileage out of your more hard-wearing, every day clothes if you can think of a lot of pieces in your wardrobe that your new piece will coordinate with. And once you’ve pretty much converted your wardrobe to a cohesive style, that process becomes more or less automatic, since everything already works together.

Hyper-coordinated outfits are great for the when the occasion calls for it, but our daily lives are probably served best by maximizing our possibilities with every new purchase.

November 6, 2015

Kibbe's Metamorphosis | 4 Comments

David Kibbe Letter #3: My Response

For the past couple of months, David Kibbe has been posting “letters” to his Facebook page. I responded to the first one, and this latest missive is also one I found interesting.

Kibbe writes:

At this point, I’ve had the chance to get a handle on the “land of Kibbe” that’s all over the web. While I’m delighted, gratified, and thrilled at the vast landscape where my work has reached so many people….I have to honestly admit, at times I’m also horrified, and even heartbroken, at some of what’s misleading out there that’s contrary to my intent, and actually harming people that are genuinely looking for my philosophy of style help. The results being: a mass of incorrect analysis and misguided concepts of updated silhouettes, leading to wrong clothing choices.

I’ve spent a lot of time pondering what’s the difference between some of the current misconceptions on the internet, and the successes of the thousands of people who’ve either come to me personally or read my book before the internet existed.

Then it hit me: Two things have been cut out online……..My Vision……. Your Heart.

So if you’ll let me, I’d like to help correct what’s wrong. Think of this as a USER’S MANUAL to reinterpret from analogue to digital!

Anybody who has looked at Pinterest could tell you that there are a lot of misconceptions about how to interpret Kibbe’s guidelines to our contemporary understanding of fashion. I think the best thing to do for people who are new to Kibbe is to try to understand what he means by yourself. Don’t look at Pinterest for examples of Soft Classic. Google to see what the terms he uses mean, and learn from the text so that you can extrapolate that, say, line-breaking does not mean color-blocking.

I. REVAMPING THE WAY YOU USE MY BOOK.

A. You’ve got to take the journey yourself. Your Metamorphosis is a personal journey that has to start from the heart—-YOUR heart. Take the tests yourself; identify with the descriptions yourself; decide for yourself. If you’ve let someone else do it for you, go back again and do it yourself. Your metamorphosis is designed to be a journey, not just the destination. If you forsake the journey and skip to the destination, even if they guess it “right”——, you may reach a destination— but it won’t be your destiny.

This is something I believe wholeheartedly. It’s why I’m working on a DIY workbook, instead of offering typing services or something of that nature. I run a Kibbe Facebook group, so obviously I’m not opposed to groups, but I have considered banning typing from that group (although I would never actually do it, since it’s what the people want). While I’ve learned a lot from the women in the community–I had so many ideas that were wrong!–I definitely feel that my journey has mostly been a solo one, one that has taken place offline for the most part. Suggestions for my type mainly showed me how wrong these types were for me. When I go to Flamboyant Gamine basically on my own (with some encouragement, especially from the wonderful women in the FG group on Facebook), it truly felt like reaching something, and no one else could ever tell me that I was something different. I knew it in my bones.

The best use of groups, I think, is a central place for gathering knowledge, for support, for encouragement. While I used to enjoy the parlor game, I now try, as much as possible, to ask someone how they feel in this type. What is their experience of living in this look?

B. Don’t give up your power. Your analysis should not be a group consensus. The most effective use of the groups is to support and encourage each other’s journey. “Too many cooks spoil the broth,”and ruin the recipe! When the groups or individuals decide and/or vote on what you are—- a delicate souffle can turn to mush!! Guessing is great….fun, and encouraged…voting, deciding and especially, critiquing…NOT.

Yes! There is nothing that pains me more than when I see a woman who is in a type that is clearly wrong for her, but she sticks to it because other people told her so, or, even worse, was “verified” by some person offering services based on Kibbe. Someone who has declared themselves to be an expert told you so, therefore, your own instincts must be incorrect. Funnily enough, these people often tend to dress in the correct type anyway, and just call it the type they were determined to be by a third party.

These style systems are all about you finding something that works for your wardrobe and your life. Sometimes, someone else’s opinion can be helpful, and lead to a revelation. But other times, it can lead you in the wrong direction entirely.

November 2, 2015

Color, Personal | 6 Comments

What Do We Get Out of Color and Style Analysis?: Color

The other day, a friend of mine commented that it was the second time in our eight-year friendship that she had seen me wear lipstick. It’s true that I never used to wear lipstick, or if I did, the shade was so nude you wouldn’t even notice it. I would buy the pinks and reds generally recommended for fair-skinned blondes, but I would never wear them out of the house. When I did, I would get comments like, “Oh, you’re wearing LIPSTICK.” I didn’t understand how to choose lipstick that I would actually wear out of the house and feel comfortable in.

Same with colors in clothes in general. Most of my wardrobe was–and still is, since replacing an entire wardrobe takes time and money–black and gray. When it came to adding color to my wardrobe, I didn’t even know where to begin. How could I be sure that something would flatter me?

There were a lot of missteps along the way, and for a good reason. Most of what I’ve heard all my life is in line with the advice for Light Summer and Light Spring: turquoise, pinks, lighter colors. Nothing too dark. When I started looking at color analysis, I assumed that this was my fate. I resigned myself to bright and light spring colors.

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But once I actually had a Light Spring fan in my hands, it was clear that it was bad. Really bad. It was a long process, but I found myself staring at Dark Autumn.

It didn’t seem to make much logical sense. How could my leading characteristic be darkness when I was so light to look at? But the colors worked, even notoriously difficult colors like yellow. Putting together Dark Autumn colors is easy and feels right. Dark Autumn lipsticks, even some that look very dark in the tube, look right on my face. I’ve gone from never wearing lipstick to having it often be the only makeup I’ll put on.

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The colors in the Dark Autumn palette are so unexpected for my natural coloring that, although they are colors that I am drawn to and appeal to me, if I hadn’t come to Dark Autumn through color analysis, I never would have reached for them myself. It would never have occurred to me that this is the color family that suits me. You’ll never find a picture of someone with my coloring as a celebrity example of a Dark Autumn palette–although blonde hair with a lot of depth, eyes that are a deep mix of green/blue/gray with spots of yellow, and pale skin are fairly common among draped Dark Autumns in 12-season analysts’ portfolios.

What color analysis has enabled me to do is understand how to use color. I have a fairly strong background in art, so I know how to use color more generally, but I was at a loss at how to use it on myself. It freed me from literal my-lips-but-better colors and always selecting black or gray.

Seasonal analysis can seem quaint and old fashioned to those whose only reference is something like this video. But contemporary color analysis enables us to pinpoint exactly which colors flatter us and bring out our best selves. It enables us to select clothing and makeup with confidence, and more practically, it creates a wardrobe where everything coordinates perfectly.

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