IMAGE - Clothing Personality - The Classic

Last time I gave an overview of the four Clothing Personalities that I like to use in helping determine the most complimentary styles.  Today, I want to start with the CLASSIC - the Graceful Lady.

The CLASSIC is the epitome of style and grace and is the image most often associated with high-income brackets.  Thankfully, income is not a pre-requisite for dressing as a Classic.  So, let's see how this can be accomplished.

What does a Classic look like?

• Basically symmetrical with slightly angular bone structure and features
• Usually H Frame or 8 Frame
• Physically balanced.  Not too thin, too delicate, or too sturdy
• Average to attractive face
• Innately, controlled, refined, elegant, and calm with an added dash of powerful, majestic, charismatic
• May have limited characteristics of the Dramatic or Romantic as well

Who is the Classic?

• Woman of elegance and tradition, refined, sophisticated, and aristocratic.
• Emotional nature is balanced and controlled
• Moderator and trusted friend
• Strong sense of justice
• Strong intellectual vision and deep emotional sensitivity
• Loves organization and detail, and a controlled environment
• Strong sense of traditional values
• You love quality and excellence - good taste
• You may even have an aura of "breeding" 
• May appear to be a bit stuffy, arrogant and aloof

Hairstyle Examples for the Classic

 Clothing Examples for the Classic

Business Attire

 Casual Attire

Evening Attire

Remember, you are seen as the Sophisticated Lady!  So, the key to maintaining this appearance is to wear smooth and controlled shapes and outlines of everything you put on, head-to-toe.  A sleek hairstyle, bluntly cut and smoothly styled; symmetrical and even lines and silhouettes to your clothing; a perfectly blended makeup in soft neutral shades; and beautifully understated jewelry and accessories express your aristocratic elegance with grace and ease.

• Clothes should be tailored or ever-so-slightly flowing
• You will prefer solid colors, but prints include soft abstracts, houndstooth, and herringbone
• Textures should be refined such as silk, woolens, cottons, or knits
• Fabrics should be those that have richness and quality; matte finishes and low lusters
• Clothing should be very symmetrical - SYMMETRY is your cardinal rule!
• Nothing oversized, superfluous or outrageous

"My dear, gracious, aristocratic, pragmatic, Classic friend, you are like a flawless diamond, brilliant and sparkling in your absolute perfection."  Metamorphosis, David Kibbe 1987

Classic Celebrities

Coco Channel

Meryl Streep

Olivia de Haviland

Phylicia Rashad

Grace Kelly

Scarlett Johansson

 











Next time we will look at the Romantic.

IMAGE - PART 3 - Your Clothing Personality

So what is "clothing personality?"

This is your natural, inborn tendency toward particular types of clothes.  It is based on your genetics and generally determined by your body shape which we have already talked about.  It is interesting that most of us innately know the type clothes that make us feel great about ourselves and those that make us feel "not quite right."

If this is true, then why do we continue making mistakes and never feeling sure about our clothing selections?  One reason may be that we have been influenced over time to accept certain colors and clothing styles that just aren't right for us.

Example:  Your mother or adult female role model may have been a Romantic and thought everyone should wear ruffles and lace and lots of flowers.  Although you may have hated this as a child, you have grown to accept that this is what you are supposed to wear.

Back in the golden years of Hollywood we learned that one's beauty came from individuality.  Each of the famous ones from that era was known for her specific beauty, based on the combination of how her unique physical features were brought out and enhanced her unique personality.

Let me give you some examples of different celebrities who knew and dressed for their own particular clothing personality.

Elizabeth Taylor in the formal from the 1951 To Catch a Thief  that was the most sought after prom dress of the decade.  Now imagine the Sporty Natural Diane Keaton in this billowing bosom-fitting style. Can we say ridiculous?

Can you honestly see the Romantic Elizabeth Taylor in this tailored, rough textured outfit or the sloppy pants and tie that was so fitting for Diane Keaton as Annie Hall?  Never!  She was much too feminine and curvacious to hide behind this much clothing.

Now, imagine Audrey Hepburn as seen here in the dramatic dress from Breakfast At Tiffany's in Marilyn Monroe's white dress as seen below.  What would JFK have thought of that?  You certainly wouldn't see the curves and personality that Marilyn gave it.  In fact, it would have emphasized her boyish shape instead of enhancing it.

What about dressing Marilyn a' la Breakfast at Tiffany's instead of this stunner from The Seven Year Itch?  Laughable?  I think so.  I can't see the audiences drooling over the matronly and heavy set appearance she would have had in that dress.

Now try to picture the Classic Grace Kelly in any of the above outfits.  It just doesn't paint the same picture does it?

Hollywood knew what they were doing when they dressed these classic beauties according to their "specificness" or clothing personality.  It certainly launched careers and clothing trends, didn't it.

Are you beginning to get the idea of why dressing according to your own clothing personality is as important for your appearance as it was for these Hollywood beauties?

If there is anything I want to accomplish with my blog is to help you realize, if you haven't already, that God created you perfectly.  It's true! There's not one thing about your natural physical appearance that isn't absolutely perfect for the totally unique individual you are.  You are God's unique, special design and it just doesn't get any better than that!

Since you can't tamper with perfection, it is so important that you gain the confidence to express that special brand of perfection which is unique only to you.  You may not be a Hollywood star, but never forget that you are a star of the highest quality because you were created in the image and likeness of the Almighty God.

So, what are the different clothing personalities?

There are many different systems that are legitimate and I encourage you to search out some of these.  But because I need to keep things simple, I prefer to just use four types because they seem to cover all the bases and are easy to remember.  Most of us can easily relate to these and they also relate to the body shapes that we have already talked about.

• Classic - the simple but elegant like Grace Kelly
• Sporty Natural - the earthy clothing personality like Diane Keaton
• Dramatic - the entrance making style like Audrey Hepburn
• Romantic - the sexy clothing personality like Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe

Next time we will break each of these down and look at them more closely.  In the meantime, do you dress according to your clothing personality or someone else's?  Good question!!!

The Foolish Woman

Last week I wrote about the Proverbs 31 woman and had several comments from you that you enjoyed reading it.  This week I am a bit under the weather and just haven't felt like composing, but I read the posting of a favorite blog to which I subscribe and thought it to be a perfect follow-up to what I wrote last week.  Please take the time to go to this link and read what this wise woman has written about the Foolish Woman.

http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/2011/10/foolish-woman-her-feet-would-not-stay.html

May we always seek to be the Proverbs 31 woman and not the Proverbs 14 woman.

Proverbs 31 Woman?

Before I move on to the next Image topic, I want to share something else with you.

Recently I saw a blog entitled "Seeking to be a Proverbs 31 Woman."  My initial thought was "Bless her little heart."  Then I remembered those early Mother's Days when this Proverb always seemed to be the topic of the sermon.  I can't recall one single message, but I do remember how I struggled with a feeling of inadequacy, knowing I could never live up to this high standard.  Shucks, I was doing well if I just got the laundry done and folded and put up and maybe one meal on the table every day.  How could I ever possibly be as industrious, as productive, as godly, as perfect as Mrs. Proverbs?  With two toddlers it just wasn't happening!

Then I remembered a conversation I had with my precious daughter-in-love this past summer as we were planting flowers in front of her house and she mentioned this godly Proverbs lady.  I had an epiphany and suggested that perhaps our role model did not do all these things at the same time, but was able to accomplish them over her life time.  As I thought more on this, I realized that "Hey, I've done most of those same things in my life time."

Okay, I haven't bought a field or planted a vineyard, or dressed my family in scarlet.  But, I did keep my children clean and healthy and loved abundantly.  I made my daughter's clothes out of the best fabric I could afford until she finally informed me she was ready for something with a label in the neck.  At one period, I planted a garden and reaped what little harvest there was.  I made fresh bread for my adoring family on a weekly basis.  I played ball with my son, baby dolls with my daughter, and mowed the yard with my husband.  I taught Sunday School and sang in the choir.  Through the years the Lord put me into positions of authority and greater responsibilities outside the home so that I was able to help support our family.

But, do you think Mrs. Proverbs would pat me on the back and say, "Well done my child, you have lived up to my example and perhaps even excelled?"  I don't think so.  I think she would say, "Libby, did you do all these things 'in delight'?  Did you do them for the Glory of God?"

I'm afraid I would have to shamefully answer, "No" to those questions.  My striving for significance and meaning by performing the acts I thought were expected of me were not always done in delight or for God's Glory.

Donna Morley, in her book "A Woman of Significance" writes this as a statement from Mrs. Proverbs that I like:

"I suggest that they (the contemporary lady) live life at the bottom.  The bottom is the place of humility...It's a place that saints of the past have occupied, where great rewards are found.  Those who live at the bottom come to discover that it's really living life at the top.

"It is important that each woman realize that God has given her a specific personality, talents, and giftedness...a unique beauty...that can be used to fit into His plan and accomplish His will.  Real change...and real significance comes from the inside out."

The beautiful, significant, special lady seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these (other) things will be added to her.

I admire the young mother and wife who challenges herself to be the Proverbs woman before her family and community.  Oh that more women would have this desire.  As for me at this "Senior" time of my life, this should still be a desire of my heart; to strive to be the woman God would have me be, willing to live at the bottom in order that I might live life at the top.