Dear reader,
Like many girls, I have a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. I’m picky when I shop, I try on a million items and buy two, and then when I try them on at home I hate them. Recently I figured out what my issue is and how to solve it. Two things:
Color Season + Kibbe Body Type
Some time ago, I discovered color seasons, which is a system to figure out which colors suit you the best. Those who know me well have heard me talk about this obsessively (my poor darling husband). Using an online quiz, I decided that I am a Soft Autumn.
Also some unspecified time ago, I discovered Kibbe body types. The Kibbe system tells you what clothing looks good on you based on your bone structure and flesh. Using an online quiz, I decided that I am a Soft Classic.
And so I shopped, with my Kibbe body type and color season in mind.
Recently, I thought it would be interesting to see if my self-typing was correct, so I went on chatgpt.com to determine my color season. I uploaded a couple photos of my bare face. (For more accuracy, upload photos with different lighting and wearing different colors, but I didn’t.)
Then I typed, “What’s my color season?” Surprisingly, it told me I’m a Light Spring, and gave me the reasons why, so I have no choice but to believe it! Light Springs shine in warm, light, and clear colors because their coloring is warm, light, and clear.
That was not what I wanted to hear because most of my clothes fit a Soft Autumn palette, not Light Spring! Ugh.
Then I figured that since I was so wrong about my color season, I’d better reanalyze my body type. I inputted 3 photos of me: front, side, and back views, head-to-toe, wearing clothes that show my shape.
Also IMPORTANT: Include your height and where you normally gain weight first, because this matters in body typing. At first it gave me the wrong result because I didn’t include this information.
My prompt looked like this:
“What is my Kibbe body type? I’m 5’7” and gain weight first in my chest and stomach.”
Lo and behold, I was wrong about my body type too! I’m a Soft Dramatic, not a Soft Classic! That means I have long, angular bone structure with a softened shape, so I look best in bold silhouettes and lightweight, flowing fabrics, according to gabriellearruda.com. Also, long, soft hairstyles are the most flattering on Soft Dramatics, so good thing I just chopped all my hair off into a short, blunt style! (Not.)
This means I need to donate almost every pair of jeans I own because I mostly have skinny jeans from high school that apparently don’t suit me at all! And all my shirts and dresses are in Soft Autumn colors, or black which I may never fully let go of even though it is not in my color season. Black is my comfort color <3
Anyways, as devastating as it was to learn that most of my clothes don’t suit me, it’s also liberating because now I know what does! And I believe in the results because some of the styles that ChatGPT suggested are things that I naturally gravitate towards, but now I know exactly why so I can apply that knowledge to future purchases. It has also given me new ideas for styles and colors to try.
This knowledge also helps me filter clothing more effectively. For example, I can skip past all the mini and knee-length dresses when I shop because I know that’s not my best look. These systems show that you might not actually be ugly; you’re just wearing the wrong clothes for you.
Let’s figure out what clothes look best on you. To recap the steps:
- Go to chatgpt.com (or your preferred AI).
- Color season: Upload a photo or two of your face, preferably bare-faced in natural lighting. Type, “What is my color season?”
- Kibbe body type: Upload full-body front, side, and back views of you, with your hands showing, because hand size matters for this. You can also include a close-up of your face. Type, “What is my Kibbe body type? I’m [height] and gain weight first in my [body part].” If you’re not sure about where you gain weight first, just leave that part out.
Once you get your results, ChatGPT will tell you what styles of clothing will flatter you and why. What I like to do from here is when I’m looking for a specific item of clothing, say, jeans, I will put in a prompt like this:
“Show me in-stock jeans that flatter a Kibbe Soft Dramatic with a Light Spring color season.”
You can also include other criteria such as a maximum price or excluding some styles that it may suggest (for myself I type, “No high-rise,” because though that style is recommended for my body type, I don’t like how it looks on me).
I use ChatGPT shopping in person too. When I went to Boot Barn to find jeans that aren’t skinny, I would upload a photo I took of a few different pairs and type, “Which of these would flatter a Light Spring color season?” And it would tell me. It’s like having a personal stylist! Now I just need to learn how to sew my own clothes so I can design garments that suit me exactly.
You can play around with this. Ask which hairstyles, hair colors, and accessories would suit you. If you like a certain aesthetic, say Dark Academia, type in,
“Show me Dark Academia outfits that would flatter a Kibbe [body type] with a [color season] color season.”
I’ve done the color season analysis on my children, and it’s made buying clothes for them so much fun. They look so good in their colors! And it helps that they’re the same color season as me so we can all match. One thing to note: As babies grow, their color season may change.
Before I go, here are a couple resources I love:
- gabriellearruda.com for in-depth articles about each Kibbe body type and color season.
- shopmypalette.com to find clothing filtered for your specific color season.
I hope you use this information to your advantage. Shop away!
Madelyn <3