Finding Your Style // Color, Shape & Resources

Hello again dearies! Are you all prepared for our very first, actual, lesson in Finding Your Style? Let's get started!
After trying to write this post myself based off of some books I have, I realized that it was WAY too much information for me to write myself, as your tour guide and fellow student, and a poor one at that! SO I decided we would go to the experts through the following links I have found across the internet; since if we visited a city, like we do in the roadmap, we would talk to several different people to gain the information necessary for our journey.
Moving on...

Today we find ourselves in the city of Color, Shape, and resources. Let's start out with:

The first place to start with color is a seasonal color analysis where you will find out what color "season" you belong to. Here's a link to a page explaining why you should take a color analysis quiz, and if you don't want to spend time reading about that (though I suggest you do) here's the direct link to the quiz, which is really just a self analyzing quiz, so you should probably get someone objective to help you out with if you're not good at being objective about analyzing yourself (like me).

If you weren't satisfied with the last quiz, here's another one, which is pretty much the same as the last one, though I personally don't like it as much.

Another one that might work, which isn't interactive, and I think just might be my favorite.

With all of these quizzes you should, as I said before, probably have someone help you, or, as I read in some tips on the subject, stand in natural light (outside maybe?) 6 feet away from a mirror, and analyze each characteristic of your coloring.

This place, "Shop Your Shape", has a lot of different figure types and descriptions of them as well as pictorial examples of what styles look good on each figure. Though some of the ads might be off-putting to some, as long as you can look past them, this is a great resource.

Real Simple has a pretty simple, easy to understand guide here, though they only cover 4 figure types, not as many as the previous example. Plus they don't have any disturbing ads.

This last link covers the basic five figure types, and uses celebrities as examples, making it still a great resource, though the one I would probably suggest last, if the other two didn't help.

If, by now, you have discovered that some (or maybe most) of your clothes do not flatter you in color or shape, DO NOT THROW THEM OUT! Most of us don't have the type of money to just throw out our whole wardrobe and start over, and plus it's a waste of time and material to be so frivolous. Instead I would suggest that over time you start replacing items in your wardrobe that you don't like, with items that you do like. I would also recommend that you do not go out and buy cheap-y clothes that will work right now, but will be worn out in one season. Rather, I would suggest you buy good quality clothes that will last a LONG TIME. How do you do that on a budget?

THRIFTING!!!

If you've read this blog for any extended amount of time, you will know that my sisters and I love to go thrift shopping. Now, of course, not all the clothes at the thrift store are high quality, or in good condition, but we have found some great pieces. If you haven't ever been thrifting before, here are some links and tips on the subject:

Here's 8 thrifting tips from "Through The Eyes of The Mrs."

And some more thrifting tips, including what to wear from "Craft Leftovers"

And just in case the other two don't work for you, some thrifting tips from one of Charlotte's favorite blogs, A Beautiful Mess

Now, as you might have read in the thrifting tips from "Through The Eyes of The Mrs." You can also refashion things you thrift... as well as pieces you already own!

REFASHIONING!!!

Do you have a T-shirt that the color looks great on you, but the fit isn't so great? If you know how to sew you can refashion it! Take in the side seams, shorten it, do what ever you need to make it look good. There are TONS of refashioning tips and ideas out there. Just do a quick Google search and you will find tutorial after tutorial. I'm only going to give you a few links, that I think would be most useful.

If you are an advanced seamstress and can just follow a picture, here is an awesome idea for enlarging the bodice of a too small dress.

If you don't like your v-neck tee shirt, why not try this ruffle neckline tee tutorial?

An AWESOME tutorial on turning printed shorts into a skirt.
The same blog as the last tutorial has tons more awesome refashions, so go check 'em out! 

Cotton and Curls has some great tutorials as well as refashioning tips.

Now I have a challenge for you all... With what you have learned from the links on Shape & Color in this post, I want you to go to your closets, pick out an outfit that flatters you both shape and color wise, take photos of yourself in it, and post it on your blog (if you have one) and link it up here in the linky widget below, OR if you don't have a blog, send me an email with photos of your outfit with your name, and a description of what you are wearing, and how it flatters your coloring and shape. I'll post a round up of all the outfit pictures and posts next monday, so get your links and photos in by friday, please!

Sound fun?

Link up your blog post below, or send me an email at : boyerfamilysingers(at)gmail(dot)com

Blessings,

Brigid
The Middle Sister and Singer