Type 4
I've been like a convert to a new religion lately. Dressing Your Truth is my latest thing, and I've been running around trying to resist the urge to put all its precepts into practice, right now, perfectly, in my clothes, hair, makeup, accessories, jewelry, bike, home decor, and blog style.
DYT is a beauty profiling system that identifies "four main Types of women who express four different Types of beauty in their physical features, body language, personality, and behavior tendencies." Instead of looking at body type, shape-and-size, coloring, or age, it studies energy movement and forms of unconscious personal expression (like speech styles. And doodling!).
Me, I'm a Type 4, the "bold, striking woman", with an energy of no-movement--still and reflective. We are thorough. We like things done right. We care a lot about order. We are discriminating. We are characterized by parallel lines and narrow rectangles: our faces, our noses, and our fingers tend to be straight-sided, our smiles horizontal lines, our posture very vertical.
We're the ones who have heard a lot of "Lighten up!" and "Why don't you smile?" in our lives. We're the ones who got in trouble for correcting other kids in school (but who were otherwise the teacher's pet). We...don't actually doodle at all--it would mess up the paper.
Type 4 style involves straight edges, symmetry, bold saturated hues, smooth surfaces, simple lines, perfect fit, very black black and very white white, solid blocks of color, not much pattern or decoration, shiny silver...you get the picture.
DYT says that in dressing to disguise those things (trying so hard to seem livelier, or softer, or warmer) the Type 4 woman just scares people. Her clothes and grooming say, "Approach" while everything else about her says "Stay back." Type 4 style lets people know the truth--that I need to observe you for a while before you come nearer. That way, I don't have to use my Freeze Ray.
To discover a style that actually celebrates the real me has been wonderfully liberating. Now, there's just the problem of buying a whole new wardrobe.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, where there are
comments. | Comment at Dreamwidth.
DYT is a beauty profiling system that identifies "four main Types of women who express four different Types of beauty in their physical features, body language, personality, and behavior tendencies." Instead of looking at body type, shape-and-size, coloring, or age, it studies energy movement and forms of unconscious personal expression (like speech styles. And doodling!).
Me, I'm a Type 4, the "bold, striking woman", with an energy of no-movement--still and reflective. We are thorough. We like things done right. We care a lot about order. We are discriminating. We are characterized by parallel lines and narrow rectangles: our faces, our noses, and our fingers tend to be straight-sided, our smiles horizontal lines, our posture very vertical.
We're the ones who have heard a lot of "Lighten up!" and "Why don't you smile?" in our lives. We're the ones who got in trouble for correcting other kids in school (but who were otherwise the teacher's pet). We...don't actually doodle at all--it would mess up the paper.
Type 4 style involves straight edges, symmetry, bold saturated hues, smooth surfaces, simple lines, perfect fit, very black black and very white white, solid blocks of color, not much pattern or decoration, shiny silver...you get the picture.
DYT says that in dressing to disguise those things (trying so hard to seem livelier, or softer, or warmer) the Type 4 woman just scares people. Her clothes and grooming say, "Approach" while everything else about her says "Stay back." Type 4 style lets people know the truth--that I need to observe you for a while before you come nearer. That way, I don't have to use my Freeze Ray.
To discover a style that actually celebrates the real me has been wonderfully liberating. Now, there's just the problem of buying a whole new wardrobe.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, where there are
comments. | Comment at Dreamwidth.