We’re all familiar with the epic makeover in Devil Wears Prada. The Chanel boots, the bangs, the seemingly endless supply of fall coats. But unfortunately, most of us will never get access to the Vogue closet or have Stanley Tucci as our fashion guru. But we can take some pages out of the Runway Lookbook and give ourselves a style edit if not full on makeover ourselves with just a few key frameworks.
- Find your color season — In the last two years there’s been a resurgence of interest in color seasonal analysis. I personally discovered my season as a small child when my mother gifted me “Color Me Beautiful.” Color Seasonal Analysis helps you find your personal best colors, helping you to edit your wardrobe to a color palette. There’s nothing wrong with wearing the rainbow, but being able to match anything in your closest and knowing its going to look good on you takes so much stress out of dressing. The Color seasons are based on the actual seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Spring and autumn are warm seasons, while summer and winter are cool. Spring and Winter tend to be more vivid and bright, while summer and autumn are muted. Winter and Autumn have depth and darkness, while summer and spring are light. There’s tons of websites out there to help you discover your color season, but you can also test it out for yourself by trying different colors on and assessing your features. If your hair is dyed you might have trouble accurately assessing your contrast level and if you have tan skin you might have difficulty assessing your warmth. From there you can find your subseason and get even more specific. For an in depth color analysis book a styling session here. Andy Sachs in the Devil Wears Prada is a Winter. It’s why she looks amazing in Black, Dark Green and yes even cerulean. Emily on the other hand is a summer, which is why the all black on her gives goth and the red hair is too warm. You can play outside of your color season for different effects. But if your goal is a harmonious look, your color season will give you a wide range of colors to choose from.
- Find your body type — There are several different body typing systems, with the most famous being David Kibbe. The jury is out on how foolproof of a system it is, but it at least presents some guidelines that may help find what your best lines are. If you’re like me, certain trending pieces just don’t seem to fit me. I discovered I was a romantic type and dressing became a lot less puzzling and deflating. My lines are round, so any straight pieces cut me off and make me look boxy. And because my frame is petite, anything oversized or long makes me look frumpy. Perhaps you have width in your frame so closed necklines make you look wider. Perhaps you have length and width so you need flowy fabrics to accentuate your frame. The Kibbe system is all about the balance between yin and yang, masculine and feminine, and finding the right fabrics, garments and accessories to showcase your features and express your unique essence. Anne Hathaway happens to be a Flamboyant Natural (although there’s always disagreement in the Kibbe Community), the most common supermodel type, which is why she can so effortlessly play in the Runway closet.
- Find your essence type — Knowing your shape and colors helps narrow down your unique style, but you might find it confining or not totally true to who you are. That’s where your essence comes in. Your Kitchner essence pulls from Kibbe but aims to capture your vibe, which may have more to do with your facial features then your body type. But the two systems can work together. For instance you may be a romantic but have ingénue essence, such as Marilyn Monroe or Christina Ricci. This accounts for their more doll like features versus a pure romantic with a dramatic essence such as Elizabeth Taylor. Sofia Loren is a soft dramatic, she has curve like a romantic but she’s tall, but her romantic essence is what gives her that Hollywood siren vibe. A natural essence will give you an athletic energy, even if you don’t have a natural body type. A natural body type with an ethereal essence may given fairy elf, while a dramatic with an ethereal essence may give space witch. There are tons of combinations and infinite ways to interpret it. Use it as a jumping off point to play with characters or different versions of yourself, and let it ease any frustration you may have around certain aesthetics not working on you. Anne Hathaway essence blend is up for debate, but there seems to be a consensus that romantic is at least one of them.I find that romantics and winters often go hand in hand. You can see through her various looks that she can play in a variety of styles and the length in her frame coupled with the softness in her features gives her a dramatic feel.
- Put it all together — There are endless systems for styling, but at the end of the day you have to like what you wear, it needs to feel good on the body and you have to like the way you look. So the best thing you can do is try things on. Maybe you settle on your body type, essence and color season, but still feel lost. Find a system that works for you, whether its Alex Bornstein’s three words, David Zyla’s Color Your Style, or the many other systems stylists are developing everyday. Hell you can use your venus and rising sign to explore your style. Come up with your own system, experiment with no rules, or book a consultation with us here to get access to our system. At the end of Devil Wears Prada we see Andy return to a more personal yet still stylized version of herself. She no longer needs to dress for the fashion world, but that doesn’t mean her personal appearance doesn’t matter. Taking yourself seriously as an artist and professional also means caring about how you present yourself. Not to meet the expectations of others but to express yourself and dress for the job you want.
Words by
Josette Ramnani
