Do you set much store by colour seasons, Kibbe types, etc.?

[HolidayAtNight]

Asking as I've noticed a few references to these cropping up in different threads on S&B recently. Do you think most people fit into one, or is it more like fashion astrology?

Personally, I've spent far too much time trying to figure mine out, but the fact is that I don't fit into any season or any Kibbe body type, with some features and good/bad colours that are majorly incompatible. I've been buying clothes for long enough to know which colours and shapes suit me, and luckily there's a fair bit of overlap between that and clothes I like the style of. However, I have a good friend who fits perfectly into a colour season and Kibbe type, and happens to also really like those colours and the recommended clothes styles, and always looks great!

Do you pay any attention to these, and dress for your lines or wear your colours? Anyone else who likes the idea but doesn't fit into any of them?

I try to but I can't really work it out beyond the fact that navy pink and grey suits me and avoid browns, khaki and mustards. So I end up just buying navy everything.

Never heard of Kibbe types. Only encountered colour seasons on Mumsnet. I've never heard a person IRL described themselves as any colour season.

I know what colours I like and think look good on me. That's what matters to me, not whether someone else would choose these colours as being among the best or thinks I should wear another shade I don't like. (Also, there are some limitations in case of what's actually available anywhere, even though I do and have dyed some clothing).

None whatsoever.

I used to but not any more. I think there's a bit more to the colour stuff than there is to body shape/type advice but neither have got any kind of objective reality to back them up, it's all pretty much someone else's opinion.

I guess there's a broader question around how different people choose which clothes to buy. Do you pay purposeful attention to fashion? I think most people are influenced by changing silhouettes to some extent, although some obviously look to stay up to date while others either don't bother or actively don't want to.

For the past couple of years, current fashion has been very out of step with what either looks good on me or looks good TO me in many cases, so I've been buying a lot of vintage clothing. As the stuff I like is largely out of fashion, there are good bargains to be had at the moment. (Non-chunky boots and shoes, unfashionable heel shapes and fitted, structured clothing.) That's not to say I think I'm above it or something, certainly not, just that at the moment, I'm mainly having to look to older styles to find things that work for me.

That's a good way of putting it. Sometimes people do talk about them, especially the colour seasons, as though they are objective, which I don't agree with.

I did a colour and style session and for me it was definitely money well spent. It all made sense to me; I know I look better when I dress in line with my colours and style (I get compliments and things feel right). It saves me a lot of time and money (mostly time) when shopping as I can pick out the right things much faster.

I think they’re helpful and useful up to a point, but when they start trying to make a connection between physical type and personality it’s overreach. A load of rubbish and actually quite offensive- basically an expansion of the old stereotypes about jolly fat people.

I get loads of compliments about my clothes - from work colleagues, friends, random strangers in the street (and work environment is big enough that often work colleagues are "random strangers")

I haven't the faintest idea what "my colours" are and just about every colour features. (Except maybe purple)

I've a vague idea from what's said on here that if I paid attention to "wear what suits your shape" I'd have been told not to buy many items.

I like seasonal analysis and find it helpful but also just generally interesting. Kibbe types I don’t really get and seems bordering on sexist from what little I know- the “curvier” you are, the more romantic/sensual you’re supposed to dress? That sounds like it was made up by a man tbh. I bet nobody is out there telling blokes that they have a feminine essence if they have small shoulders or a big bum or whatever.

Indeed, he is a man, and the personality and "essence" stuff seems totally ridiculous! I have been surprised to see it mentioned, on here and elsewhere online, quite frequently recently. Maybe it's just having a mini resurgence.

I think there's something in the colour theory. I know I look utterly dismal in forest green, despite loving the colour in general, and I look good in raspberry pink. I wish I had the talent to find more colours that really work for me, and understand why. I think some people who look amazing just have this innate understanding of colour that eludes me, for the most part!

Body shape stuff... not so much.

"Wear what suits your shape" is an interesting one. I feel like a lot of the advice around this is too heavily based on trying to hide parts of yourself, and "draw the eye away from" certain areas. Authors write in terms of balance, but it feels like a very negative way to look at dressing, to approach it from the perspective of trying to draw attention away from bits of you that are judged to be problems. Also seems focused around taking up less visual space and being more uniform.

On the other hand, there are some looks I've accepted I can't wear because of my shape, because I just look ridiculous. Oversized and slouchy can look insouciant and cool; I look sloppy or like I spilt something over myself and had to borrow some clothes from the lost property bin. I love the androgynous look and envy women who look amazing in a man's suit, whereas if I try androgyny I look like I'm dressed up as Charlie Chaplin or the Artful Dodger. So sometimes I take elements from looks I like but that don't suit me, but I definitely don't wear anything I like the look of without any thought for dressing for my shape.

Do you consider clothes purely or mainly from the perspective of whether you like them as individual objects?

I think it's definitely true that for some people, there are certain colours that work and that don't. What I don't agree with is the idea that everyone can be put into seasons which mean that certain ranges of colours do or don't work for them.

Do you consider clothes purely or mainly from the perspective of whether you like them as individual objects?

Entirely from that perspective. I agree so much with your first paragraph.

Dressing for my shape means wearing what makes me feel good about myself.
I want to be comfortable but also, wear good shaped clothes and colours. I want to take care of myself.
If I spend a lot of money on clothes that suits me, I’m going to wear them for years. I wear boot cut pants, long tops that I don’t tuck in that hang from my bust, and empire/faux wrap/ fall from bust dresses. I buy from the same brands when my clothes and shoes finally die. I buy things for colour, material, cut and drape.

No.

I think the colour thing is generally accurate; the modern theory is far more nuanced (and complicated!) than four seasons. The Kibbe system is very broadly helpful but people's need to express themselves will generally override their desire to look 'balanced'.

On one side of my family I come from people who have traditionally worn clothes to denote belonging to a family, allegiance to a clan, social and dynastic and territorial status. Women and men dress with joy - to show off, take up space, be seen and understood and respected and admired.

On the other side - a long line of seamstresses. So everyone, farm workers and musicians and hairdressers and house painters, little girls and boys, teachers at tiny rural schools, politicians and writers and travellers to less welcoming lands had their clothes tailored exactly to their particular bodies. No one doubted their right to look their own fabulous selves.

I’ve lived in the UK my entire life - and honestly, it’s only since coming to MN (rather more than a decade ago on the cusp of 50) that I’ve understood how cruelly and pitifully disempowered women here have become with regard to dressing their own bodies for their own worlds.

Yesterday’s ‘Want to wear more dresses’ thread was jaw dropping - but it’s just one of many. I wish I could pretend I understand - but I don’t.

(Killed another one! )

Not at all, I think that post was fascinating! Will respond in more depth later - have been reading the thread about dresses with interest.

I find the Kibbe system quite helpful, partly because it's not really about hiding your body but emphasising your dominant qualities. E.g. I am a "flamboyant gamine"; small and angular. So it recommends angular clothes with broken up lines rather than trying to look taller. The names are really stupid though.

"Wear what suits your shape" is an interesting one. I feel like a lot of the advice around this is too heavily based on trying to hide parts of yourself, and "draw the eye away from" certain areas. Authors write in terms of balance, but it feels like a very negative way to look at dressing, to approach it from the perspective of trying to draw attention away from bits of you that are judged to be problems. Also seems focused around taking up less visual space and being more uniform.

It was the negativity that drove me away - the constant 'I love x but I can't wear it because...' (I'm paraphrasing loads of posts over the years, not quoting any specifically). All the focus on things I don't like about my body, most of which are in my head anyway - it got me down. That said, I've retained some of the broader guidelines, and if something doesn't look as good as I expected, remembering them can sometimes help me work out why and I often find I can make adjustments. But they don't decide how I dress any more and I'm very glad of that.

The other thing that made the scales fall from my eyes was the realisation over time that what was perceived as flattering was largely driven by fashion.

I've tried reading up on Kibbe but the quizzes (at least the ones I tried) all seemed to be based on your own perception of your body so again they left far too much room for personal hangups in my view. Plus I couldn't get past the pretentious names,

The thread about dresses is a bit depressing.

The OP came round to thinking she might have boxed herself in with the "what suits me" take (Yes ! think outside the box , there's nothing to lose except some wasted time on a Saturday afternoon) and there's now post after post of the "don't wear this because...." variety.

Yes - once I discovered what my season is and also what stuff suits me according to Kibbe it has really helped me avoid colours and details I know won't really suit me regardless of whether they catch my eye. I'm a summer and when I wear 'my' colours I get compliments on my outfits. I used to buy clothes in e.g. bright mustard yellow, black or red and then feel like they didn't quite work with my skin or hair.