DYT Update

It has been a while and I have not yet gotten around to the historical project I started, because I had too much freelance work and then school started up again. But I have also spent a lot of time really delving into Dressing Your Truth.

I have a long history with this system. It may even be the first system I came across when I began this whole process. For a long time, I kind of dismissed it as a style system that was lacking, or more of a “starter system” compared to others. But I think part of that was that I had placed myself incorrectly, so of course the style component didn’t work for me, and since I first discovered it, the team behind it has made real headway in developing new ways to use the information.

To quickly summarize my journey, when I discovered the system, I decided I was a 3/4, since I couldn’t see T4 perfection in my features, and I related a lot to both descriptions. I never liked the T3 clothes on me–too substantial, too heavy, not enough structure. I generally stuck to the colors, because they aligned well with where I had placed myself in Sci\ART, but I never wore the clothes in any real way. Over the course of the years I believed I was a 3/4, I never did a 30-day challenge, for instance.

Then out of the blue, I saw the T4 in my face. I assumed I was a 4/1, because there is a video about how 4/1s and 1/4s can mistake themselves for T3, and somehow that more convoluted explanation made more sense to me than the simple idea of having simply reversed my dominant and secondary.

But after going back recently and watching videos on their website about the yin/yang balance and energy levels of different types, and how to make your T4 style true to you by incorporating your secondary–I realized that an S1 didn’t make sense for me at all. My style instincts were clearly pointing in the direction of an S3, and so was my movement.

Since realizing I’m a 4/3, I have enjoyed shopping so much more. It feels almost full-circle in a way, because 4/3 is fairly close to how I dressed before I ever got into style systems. 4/3 means getting to wear all the things I love, and not feeling like I’m limiting or depriving myself. I still love Flamboyant Gamine, and that is still incredibly informative for the yin/yang balance of my lines. I know how to make things work on me and how to combine them. But 4/3 gives me a different kind of yin/yang balance, the yin/yang balance of how I move through life, and how to reflect that in my style.

The real conflict between the two systems is in color. Right now, I’m enjoying Type 4 colors, and I plan on focusing on them. But I will see how it feels to live in these colors for a longer period of time.

Do you do DYT? Have you tried it in the past? Have you ever mistyped yourself in a system for a long period of time?

17 Comments on DYT Update

  1. Elizabeth Stewart
    March 6, 2019 at 4:37 am

    I think the DYT system works for overall shape and facial features, but in quite a crude way – I find the Kibbe system much more useful. And I completely disagree with linking our colouring to our personality. It makes no sense at all. As Kibbe himself points out, Elizabeth Taylor and Ann-Margret were similar in personality type (Romantic) but completely opposite in colouring. Their figures had much in common, their faces only a little less so, and their colouring not at all. Taylor was clearly a Winter (T4) and Ann-Margret an Autumn (T3). And then there’s dear Marilyn, a Spring if I ever saw one! Maybe I’m reacting against DYT’s key word for Springs (T1), which I definitely am, as “cute”. As a T1 in shape and facial features, I think this word demeans women. It treats us like children. A mature woman with Spring colouring is not at all “cute” – a better word would have been “radiant” or “glowing”, anything but “cute”! Nobody has ever called me “cute” in my life – they wouldn’t dare! Certainly not my husband, kids, colleagues and students. And so I gave up on DYT.

    Reply
    • stylesyntax
      March 6, 2019 at 11:07 am

      The issue here is that you’re conflating energy type and season. You don’t dress for your coloring and your coloring doesn’t determine your personality. It is the other way around. I’m not a Winter. You could very well not be a T1, and it sounds like you’re not. Ann Margret I don’t think would be a T3 either. You look at facial features and movement, not season. Carol was actually draped as a Winter way back when. I like DYT partially because it *ignores* season. The basic idea is that draping/seasonal systems look at one dimension (color) and DYT considers 5 when assigning a palette. I would never drape into Winter, but hues–and black–seem to match my self better than Spring or Autumn, holistically.

      Reply
  2. Elizabeth Stewart
    March 7, 2019 at 6:10 am

    Yes, I admit to being confused by the whole concept of DYT. The energy type I relate to most, and whose clothing styles I usually choose instinctively, is actually T2. I am a quiet, introverted person who writes poems and paints watercolours for hobbies, and in real life am a counsellor. So, I could be T2 with Spring colouring, perhaps. I also feel that 12Blueprints does a disservice to clients by describing the personalities of the different seasons, but I now wonder whether what they describe is the overall look of the colours and the personality that belongs to the colours, not the person. What do you think? I always look best in warm colours, with Spring and Autumn featuring pretty much equally in the colours that net me compliments. In shape, I’m rounded and suit Romantic styles, just as DYT Type 2 suggests. My face is a mix of upward diagonals and rounded shapes (Spring and Summer, I think). My overall colouring is light and warm, and anything dark or cool dulls me down. I find your posts really helpful and would love to know more on this – to me – difficult topic. Thank you for writing about it.

    Reply
    • stylesyntax
      March 10, 2019 at 5:20 pm

      DYT T2 isn’t rounded; it’s elongated S curves and teardrops. So there is a lot of elongation, which I don’t think exactly equates to Romantic in other systems. T1 is where you find rounded shapes. (You don’t seem like a T1, though! You don’t seem to share their way of expressing themselves and their way of thinking.) You wouldn’t be a T2 with spring coloring; you’d have spring coloring in other systems and be a T2–it’s up to you whether you’d follow it. Carol was draped Winter and she obviously doesn’t take that into consideration at all! I think you have to look at DYT on its own terms, and not try to use other systems to reverse engineer it. It is better not to think of it as warm or cool. I am in the same color space as you, at least according to Kibbe, and I have found that I enjoy wearing T4 colors because they express my energy, regardless of undertone or anything else. My suggestion would be to watch the free course.

      I have no idea about 12Blueprints, since I have given up on Sci\ART altogether 🙂

      Reply
      • Elizabeth Stewart
        March 11, 2019 at 5:10 am

        Thank you for this enlightening reply – it’s clear to me now that I have not understood the DYT energy concept at all. I’ll look up the free course and try to understand it better. As for colours, I’m now using the best of the warm colours (in terms of light and dark) from both the spring and autumn seasons, and that seems to work best. I have been draped as both spring and autumn in the past, and they both have a bunch of colours that I enjoy wearing and which get me compliments. Summer colours do nothing for me, apart from making me look ill, and winter is just too bright for my pale skin.

        Reply
  3. Constance
    March 11, 2019 at 5:40 pm

    Just a thought, does DYT have any correlation to your DISC or temperament? I could be wrong, but it seems similar.

    Reply
    • stylesyntax
      March 13, 2019 at 2:38 am

      The personality traits would line up, but personality is the last thing you look at, because that can be affected by so many factors outside of what is inborn in you.

      Reply
      • Elizabeth Stewart
        March 13, 2019 at 8:27 am

        I’ve just discovered that as a Myers-Briggs INFP, this correlates with DYT Type 2. I do automatically choose the Type 2 shapes when I buy clothes, so perhaps this is the right category for me. I would add the subtype of DYT T1, so that’s a Type 2/1,and this seems right. As for the “Romantic” style, this came about when I was analyzed by someone in Atlanta who had been trained by Kibbe. She said my facial features were rounded but delicate and that I have an hourglass figure, which puts me into the Romantic style type. I also like the Enneagram system, in which I’m a 4. So, all the personality traits seem to line up, but the colouring seems to be on a separate and unrelated scale. The Kibbe analysis treated colours as quite distinct and unconnected with the person’s shape and facial features. Do you think perhaps colour is a wholly different set of parameters, one that does not reflect personality but adds an extra “filter”, or “overlay”, through which each person’s energies will be seen?

        Reply
  4. Shawna
    May 14, 2019 at 6:16 pm

    All of the systems have strengths and weaknesses but in the end they are another person’s opinion or way of seeing you and what is most helpful to me is to learn from them all and then do what pleases me. As soon as I stopped agonising about which box I should fit into and worrying that I didn’t fit properly into any I figured out what works for me and I don’t care what its name is or if I can make all the systems somehow line up in terms of what works for me. At this point I’ve been through a stage of believing myself to be just about every option and practically gone around full circle. I definitely believe that what works for a person has some kind of connection to their energy, personality, body lines and colouring, but I’m not convinced that one particular ‘expert’ is the only one who can identify it. You seem to be really enjoying your DYT exploration at this point and that’s the more important thing.

    Reply
    • Shawna
      May 14, 2019 at 6:28 pm

      Oops I put the above comment in the wrong post but I guess it will do here. Will add that like you, I ruled out T4 because I couldn’t reconcile myself with all that stunning perfection but I’ve no doubt now I am a T4. Not sure of the secondary as all seem possible but I’m leaning towards 1. When I tried out T3 it felt so heavy and overdone, 2 felt drab and 1 as a dominant made me cranky.

      Reply
    • Elizabeth Stewart
      May 15, 2019 at 3:14 am

      You sound as though you have found your way through this maze and are now confident in your choices – well done! Unfortunately I don’t seem to share your ability to be objective about myself, but am reaching a point after many years of research that I do at least know my inner self, my personality and essence, so it’s now a question of how best to convey that through my style choices so that I remain congruent. Perhaps one day I will have that confidence. I love this website as it is so well written and helpful.

      Reply
      • stylesyntax
        June 1, 2019 at 5:10 pm

        Thank you!

        Reply
  5. Cassandra
    June 3, 2019 at 8:46 pm

    All of these systems are fascinating to consider but we should acknowledge straight up that they all impose “rules”,even if these are not entirely obvious.

    Take black for example. Easy to buy in garments, safe for functions and evening wear, practical to care for. Why wouldnt you want some in your wardrobe?

    So the way to do it, i believe is read up on how to make black work for you, try draping yourself at home and be experimental. I had a fashion design teacher who insisted that i was an Autumn, therefore no black. At the time i regularly wore an oversized black coat and this is how she saw me, swamped by it. I never felt good as an Autumn and was later draped as Cool Winter – lovely palette that brought me lots of compliments.

    I still had to be careful how much black to wear against my fair skin. It’s all individual; the theory is best used just as a guide not a prescription.

    Reply
    • stylesyntax
      June 4, 2019 at 2:51 am

      Let’s say you are a Light Spring and you want black in your wardrobe. What happens when you wear that black with all of your Light Spring colors? There is a reason why most systems will limit black to a small percentage of people. It’s not just because of how it looks on someone, but also what it does to an entire outfit. Put black pants or shoes on someone wearing light, bright colors, and sure, it’s not affecting how your face looks. But you don’t just see someone’s face. You see their entire outfit. And the black at the bottom will drag the entire outfit down, and suck up all the life. You need to pair black with colors that can hold their own against black.

      For me, cherrypicking is useless. I would never want to wear Kibbe Spring or Autumn, and then add black–because to me it’s not about how I look in black, but the overall effect that black has on my outfit, head-to-toe. Since I do find that I really, really like wearing black, and neons, and white, I have found that I just gravitate towards T4 colors, and I have made peace with that now. I do not need to make compromises with other systems. I think the problem comes when people want to make contradictory things work, or do not feel like themselves in what they have been told that they are. You have to listen to yourself, but not at the expense of your outfits. 🙂 If you don’t like black against your face or head-to-toe but you’re still wearing it with Cool Winter colors that hold their own against black, it’s not contradicting the idea that you, as a Winter, can wear black. The rest of your colors hold it. I love wearing all-black outfits, actually, and I’m fine with the fact that analysts who deal solely in color would not see me that way.

      Reply
      • Carissa
        November 23, 2019 at 10:03 pm

        I could not agree more with what you said! The whole appeal of a color “system” to me is that all your colors are harmonious. That makes you look more pulled together, that helps add sophistication, and credibility. I don’t even like mixing (the lightest) ice tints with black. I know they technically stand up, but for me it doesn’t look harmonious, I’d rather see it with white. Granted I might be a little bit extremist ? Few things make me grind my teeth so hard as mustard yellow combined with pure black.

        Reply
  6. Ellie
    June 10, 2019 at 6:31 pm

    Hi! Asked this question on another post, but it didn’t seem to go through and I couldn’t find it? (Apologies for spam if it DID go through though.)

    Question: Have you shifted away from a CMAS fan for any reason? They’re far less pricey than other ones, but I’m noticing that there are color differences between a CMAS fan and other more expensive fans. Have you found it unsatisfactory or is there a community consensus that it’s a “starter fan” or…?

    Reply
    • stylesyntax
      June 10, 2019 at 9:42 pm

      I’ve never had a CMAS fan. It’s just a completely different system from the systems based in Sci\Art (12Blueprints, TCI, PrismXII).

      Reply

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