Page 5 - Working Copy Beauty Fashioned Simply - Flip book

Introduction

Are you one of those women who are remembered? If not, why? What do those women know the
rest of us don’t? Are they born beautiful with perfect bodies? Do they have loads of money because
their clothes look expensive? Or are they just lucky?
I believe every woman is born with her own beauty. We don’t have to wear expensive clothes to
dress impeccably. It’s not luck, but knowledge used strategically, which creates impeccable outfits.
Women come in many shapes, sizes, and coloring. Most women cannot wear a wide variety of
styles and colors. Not every style and color enhances their bodies; even though the fashion industry
would like us to think so.

How many of you go shopping and try on lots of clothes only to go home empty handed?
Nothing seems to look good on you. Nothing fits. No wonder most women have a poor body
image.
Here’s some perspective on this subject. First, the fashion industry uses women (or girls) who are
tall and slender. They prefer females with a rectangular body shape. Those whose shoulders, waist,
and hips visually appear to be the same width. You know why already. Most styles and design
lines look great on this body shape. As a result, this is the shape promoted by the fashion industry.
Second, most fashion designers design for their muses. Ralph Lauren’s muse is his wife who is
slender with a rectangular body. Dona Karen’s muse is herself with a curvier body.

Recently, the industry has started to recognize there are other body shapes. They are in the
beginning stages of including clothes befitting a figure eight body shape (the shoulders and hips
appear to be the same width with the waist substantially smaller). Women with this body type can
find some basic pants, tops, and dresses where the silhouette has a waist smaller than the shoulders
and hips.

So, the question is: how do you know what clothes enhance your body?
When looking at clothes one needs to consider the following fundamentals:

• Silhouette
• Inside lines (shape of collar, pockets, cuffs, and prints, to name a few)
• Color and color combinations
• Placement of horizontal lines
• Placement of vertical lines
• Scale of prints and design detail

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