The second time i was draped, we were again surprised. I had been lifeguarding that summer and was very tan, possible darker than i have ever been before and am likely to ever be again. None of the colors seemed to flatter with my darker coloring. We couldn't decide between warm or cool. It was given up and it bothered me for a long time. Shouldn't colors still be flattering if your skin darkens or pales, as it did once i reached twenty-one and stopped spending so much time outside?
I already mentioned that i have blue eyes. To be fair there is some hazel in their, too, around my pupil and a slate blue around the outer edge. But my hair is inexplicable. I grew up with blonde hair, it was never very pale after the age of about three or four though. It was a horrific dishwater blonde that i could not stand, far too ash for my sensibilities. I always wanted red hair, but didn't think i (a presumed summer) would look good with red, so i wished for brown, instead. The trouble is that a true brown would probably be too dark for my coloring, but i didn't know that until later. The irony is that that summer i got too tan, my hair turned into a beautiful honey blonde all on its own. I was so happy, my hair wasn't too light or too dark and it went reddish on its own! Alas, by the time i turned eighteen it had darkened into a horrible ash brown that i soon started to highlight and dye.
Those who are really into color analysis will tell you that your body will produce colors that flatter you. They might as well tell me that my body will produce shapes that flatter me, it seems just as believable. Of course i agree in theory, but personal experience has taught me that my natural hair color was only ever flattering for one year out of thirty. I have tried going back to my natural hair. It is a very strange black-blonde, iridescent to the point of having no color at all in it except a very dark gray that looks horrible with my coloring. I like the color gray but have been told that i should never wear it by some of these analysts writings. I have yet to find a gray hair on my head but the ash is so extreme that it's distressing.
Fairly recently, my sister discovered colors again. I have no idea how or when she stumbled upon the idea that there are actually twelve "season"s, not four, but she let me in on the secret about a year ago. When she had been draped we had always thought that she was a winter, but she has come to the conclusion that she is actually a Bright Spring. She's had a similar battle with her blonde hair because she always felt blah with her shade and resorted to dying her hair red and strawberry blonde. She was naturally strawberry blonde at the beginning of her life i am told by our mother, but she quickly became tow headed. Armed with new, brighter colors she is coming to terms with her hair. The irony is that the colors i was originally given to work with made me hate my hair even more.
So what of the new Autumns: Soft, True/Warm, and Deep? I kept dabbling in it on and off for months. I definitely am not a Deep Autumn. Nothing about me is dark, except my skin when i send entire summers out of doors, and that's only dark for a Caucasian. For a while i was convinced that i must be a Soft Autumn. They are close to Summer and as a result lean cooler. I think that the main thing that drew me to this season was the fact that some of the colors they were showing were more muted than the bright colors of a True Autumn. That appealed to me for a long time. But at the same time, if i looked at a palette, many of the colors were simply too pale. In addition, the longer that i have worked in a job that requires me to wear blue and khaki every day (with a royal blue right next to my face), the more i have wanted to rebel and wear Warm Spring colors...mostly because i am tired of feeling drab, unremarkable, and can't seem to find any descent Autumn colors anywhere i shop.
Which brought me back to Warm Autumn...which some analysts say can borrow from Warm Spring. Perhaps this appeals to me because of the celebrity red heads that are pictured in relation to this season? I am not convinced, but I will stay with it for the time being. The only other option, I feel, is the possibility that I am a Soft Autumn Deep in the fledgeling 16 Season system. I'm not sure if that's me leaning back to muted colors in a way, i have yet to see any palettes for this "new" season.
I recently did a series of "makeovers" based off of one photo. Looking at these did little to help. I must be some kind of chameleon because in the photos the ash colors don't even look that bad on me, nor the pink (which i used to hate and still rarely wear). I just don't know where i fit. Except i know that i'm not a winter. The weakness of these makeovers is that the colors i can use are limited to my face and hair...i can't drape the photos.
You ever hear the expression "When God made you, he threw away the mold?" I would be rather surprised if i have ever fit into a mold. Take the Kibbe system...apparently in the 80's this guy wrote a book that basically said that if you have a certain body type you should dress a certain way. I took two different quizzes, perhaps the most helpful being the illustrated one (i.e. it had celebrity examples). You can find the links to that here and here. So i took this quiz three separate times and got three separate answers: Natural, Dramatic Classic, and dominant Bs and Cs with equal As and Es.
Natural is what i assumed i would be, but some of it just doesn't fit my personal sense of style. There was a time where i would have been okay with Dramatic Classic, but that was when i was in junior high, and i only dipped into that sensibility briefly. Kibbe seems to have missed out on my type entirely (what about athletic girls who only ever wear workout clothes? Beach Wear? Ethnic clothing? Why no Ingenue?). I'm not entirely convinced that he knew what he was talking about and furthermore i'm not convinced that the shape of a person's body should define their personality!
But to demonstrate what Kibbe made me feel...i am going to take the quiz again, and instead of trying to fit myself into his categories, if none of the answers apply i am going to choose F. Which might as well equal Fat but i chose because they always have five options, A-E.
- Vertical Line - A (i'm only 5'5", but people always think that i'm taller)
- Shoulders - F (i want to go with B, but in reality i have football pads for shoulders: they are broad, muscular, and soft)
- Arm/Leg Length - F (my legs are an average length, my arms are short)
- Hands - F (small/stubby and broad)
- Body Type - B (with a lot of fat covering it)
- Bustline - E
- Waistline - B (again, lots of fat)
- Hips - A? (i want to say F again...)
- Arm/Thigh Flesh - F (i can't choose between B and E, and think that E would only be because i am overweight. How is flesh elongated?)
- Jawline - C (Nearly put F because what jawline? It is covered with a quadruple chin. Even when thin i have a double chin.)
- Nose - C
- Cheekbones - B or E (i'm not certain)
- Eyes - C
- Lips - C
- Cheeks - C?
- Hair - B
A - 2
B - 2
C - 5
D - 0
E - 2
F - 4
With all of those F's i probably would put B if i were to force myself into a category. But C = that Dramatic Classic of which i am definitely not a member! Kibbe obviously had a narrow vision of women.
Last night an old casual friend of mine posted a link on Facebook to Back When Women Wanted to Get Fat. I bet you i couldn't go pick up some Wate-On at my local drugstore. Is my body the old ideal? Am i living in the wrong time? I really think that my body has been ravaged by the modern food industry. My breasts don't have the same shape as the bras i wear and are threatening to grow again, probably because my waist has expanded a little bit. It's scary. I don't want to be thin, but any time i try to lose weight i only lose 10-15 pounds...and when i stop working out six days a week i gain 30-50. I don't want to break 300 but if i do diet/train again then it will probably happen. I need serious help now.
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