Wardrobe Colors, Part II

As I said in my last blog post, there are five different body shapes, hour-glass, triangle, inverted-triangle, round, and rectangle.

Last week I went into detail about how to incorporate color into wardrobes for people with the triangle or inverted triangle body shape, so this week to keep it fair I will talk about the other three: hour-glass, round and rectangle.

Let us start out with the hour-glass shape. As I said in my last blog post, this is what most women strive for, and this is also how stylists try to make their clients look, who do not have a natural hour-glass shape.

So women with a natural hour-glass shape…aren’t you lucky! you can tell when a woman has a natural hour-glass shape if their shoulders and their hips are just about even, and the waist has a definitive inward curve; this is the typical hour-glass shape. The woman in the figure below is an hour-glass shape

Hour-glass shape

Hour-glass shape

Because you women have what fashion calls the “ideal body type” you do not have to use clothes to camouflage or accentuate parts of your body to achieve this “ideal body type”. The only thing you need to watch is where you create your waist line, because you still need to be proportionate, so if you know you have longer legs or longer torso, make sure your clothes reflect that by using your clothes to become proportionate, shorter legs will want to wear a little bit higher pants (not low cut) which will make your legs look longer, and vice versa, short torso women should wear a little longer shirts with lower cut jeans to make the waist appear longer. You can play with color almost anywhere, just make sure you are still thinking about proportions. In the figure before we have a proportionate woman with an hour-glass figure.

Hour-glass Work Outfit

Hour-glass Work Outfit

 

Next up on my list, round. Women with a round body shape will often have a round face also, so make sure to keep that in mind when you are choosing accessories or glasses. You can tell when a woman is a round shape because they carry their weight in the mid-drift, they have no defined waist, and have smaller shoulders and neck. Below is a round body figure:

Round Body Shape

Round Body Shape

To incorporate color, you need to do it on the outside. Like I said earlier, dark colors mask, while light colors accentuate? Here is how that works here….have the darker colors on the inside, like a neutral blouse or button up shirt, and then add color on top of that in the form of a belted sweater, a blazer with lots of tailoring! Look for lapels that are rounded, not pointed, you want to let the eyes move easily over the look, and with sharp lapels on either a blouse or blazer, the eye will stop. Prints only work if they are of a medium scale, no large or small prints, have bigger jewelry above the waist line. Here is what I would dress a round body shape woman in for work.

Round Body Shape for Work

Round Body Shape for Work

Last, but certainly not least, is the rectangle. Women with a rectangle shape often have little to no waist definition, long legs and their shoulders and hips are almost perfectly aligned. Below is a figure of a rectangle shape

Rectangle shape

Rectangle shape

 

To incorporate color the only things you have to pay attention to is A. make sure it creates a waist line, and B. make sure it is proportionate….because you do not have a natural waist line, make sure where you do put your waist line, is proportionate to your body…see the round section above. As for prints I would still stick with medium to medium large print. Here is how I would dress a rectangular shaped woman for work:

 

Rectangle for the work place

Rectangle for the work place

 

If you have any of these body shapes, know that you can ALWAYS look fierce no matter what…you just have to play with what you have. If there is something that you love to wear, but you think it looks bad on you or you know you cannot pull it off, there is usually always an alternative! So look for the alternative!

 

Rachel

About Rachel

My name is Rachel Boudreau. I am 24 years old and have been blogging for the Bangor Daily News for almost a year. I am a Certified Personal Shopper and a Certified Fashion Stylist. I have always had a complete love and desire for anything fashion. I have recently started studying French fashion, (Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, etc.) I watch all of the high fashion runway shows every spring and fall. I love shopping for people and picking out clothes for them because I like when people try things they normally would not, that, after all, is how you find new things you like! Happy reading!!!