My Kibbe Journey: Part 1

When I started looking at Kibbe, I was fairly certain I was a Gamine of some kind. I’m small in general, with especially small feet and hands, short legs for my height, and what I felt was a gamine energy. When a friend compared me with a celebrity, it was usually someone like Jean Seberg, who is obviously ultra gamine:

jean-seberg-in-jean-luc-godards-c3a0-bout-de-souffle-breathless-photo-by-raymond-cauchetier-1960
(Source)

At first I thought I was a Flamboyant Gamine, since those are the clothes I’m drawn to naturally and what my closet is already full of. But as I read the description, I realized that I was in no way leggy and lacking curves, the way a FG would be. I figured then I was a Soft Gamine, since I have curves, short limbs, and feel heavy even when I’m not, since I don’t build muscle easily and am always soft.

But when I would go to a store and look at Soft Gamine clothes, I didn’t even want to try them on. They just felt wrong. At first, I thought it was just a classic case of resistance to my Image Identity. But I liked the idea of Soft Gamine. I had no underlying psychological issues about being Soft Gamine. The clothes just didn’t seem right.

So I went to Seasonal Color, and asked for some opinions. I found, with the help of the very helpful members there, that the broken, staccato silhouette of the Gamines doesn’t work for me. I need a continuous line. I also found that my face while my face has a lot of volume, it still is quite yang in structure. (This makes sense, considering I’m a Type 3/4.) It lacks the sweetness and doll-like qualities of a Soft Gamine face.

Where my face does fit is with the Soft Dramatics. I have full features and a prominent nose. I also have the high hip common to Soft Dramatics, and I can relate to the idea of my curves being “circles placed onto a square,” the source of which I can’t find at the moment. But my limbs are shorter. Also, it’s far harder than I imagined it would be to find Soft Dramatic clothes in stores; I think I am going to wait until fall clothes are in so I can find some nice sweaters with SD lines. I also think I’ll probably have more luck in expensive stores, so I am going to have dress up nicely and brave the snobbishness and try stuff on in fancy places.

There are also the Classics and the Naturals to experiment with. I don’t relate to the Classics at all, though, because my features are not even. “Symmetrical” is not a word I’d used to describe myself. But the only thing to do is to try things on and see what works and what doesn’t.

How are you doing with Kibbe? Do you know your type and happily go to the store and buy all the clothes and love it? Do you know your type but are unsure if you can live your life in that type? Are you completely lost, like I am?

2 Comments on My Kibbe Journey: Part 1

  1. Tordis
    July 23, 2014 at 1:00 pm

    I was really lost for a while when all the sparse chaotic information about Kibbe confused me so much. It didn’t help that English isn’t my mothertongue (many words Kibbe uses aren’t 100% translateable). And I was lost between wishes and reality. Between what society tells me and what my guts tell me. Between what I was and what I am and what I want to be.
    It was overwhelming, so I tool sabbaticals from this topic. To think about something else, to get some distance and a grip on reality again. This really helped.
    Now, my colors, my lines, my vibe starts to feel like home, like me.
    Finding one’s personal style is often just a proxy war, when it really is about identity and finding a way in a world, were identity isn’t given any longer, but has to be actively constructed.

    How does personal style connect to your identity?

    Reply
    • stylesyntax
      July 23, 2014 at 2:30 pm

      Hmm, I think for me it’s mainly a question of bein in a transitional phase in life, where I’m kind of leaving youth behind and want to define my “adult” style. So I think that in terms of my identity, it relates to how I want to be perceived, and how I can express who I am and what I like via clothes. I don’t want to wear clothes that make me feel blah.

      One thing that I really like about Kibbe is that I think it emphasizes self-acceptance. I may like the Dramatic look, but there’s no point in me spending my life dieting to get that lean look. My hope is that with Kibbe, I can find a way to wear a style that I love, but that works on what I have.

      I don’t feel yet like I know where I’m going with style enough to write a personal style statement or anything. I’m still experimenting with trying SN (I need to write an updated Kibbe Journey post, even though this post was only written a week and a half ago), and then once I feel like I’ve mastered that, I’ll move on to tweaking it a bit.

      Reply

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