Whole body here. Sometimes on a jeans day, I pay more attention to polishing up my top half, but I still make shoe and bag choices that will enhance my overall comfort and appearance.

Whole body most days. However, when I have to work, I concentrate on the top half, because the bottom half is just going to get covered in dirt and produce drippings (seriously, I even wind up with produce in my shoes some days)

Head-to-toe here, regardless of whether the lower half will be seen or not. I dress to feel happy for myself and that means the whole package. That said I do tend to dress in ways that highlight my hair (and face too, I guess ).

Whole body, without a doubt. Indeed, I often put more thought into my shoes and THEN the rest of my outfit than the other way around!

jessikams - doesn't this beg the question - "who are you dressing for?" I dress for me. I would feel fake, undone, incomplete if I dressed for what is seen. It's like ratty, holey undies under a designer suit. Who are you fooling and how would that make you feel. Like surface cleaning your home, you can fool others but you can never fool yourself. Team whole body/team whole life/team real and authentic. I do what I do for me, because I can never fool myself.

gryffin, I take your overall point about the importance of dressing for oneself, but I disagree that the "bust-up" strategy necessarily represents trying to fool others or oneself. I think sometimes the strategy that jessikams describes is about figuring out the most effective way to deploy limited resources of time, money, or space (i.e., in a suitcase -- I often see "tabletop dressing" advocated as a strategy for travel).

Personally I do think about the whole outfit, but lately I find myself drawn to very simple, basic, neutral clothing on the bottom half (mostly jeans without embellishment or distressing; plain ponte leggings; or skirted leggings). So most of the interest in my outfit is in the top half -- pattern and texture mixing with top and topper; jewelry; scarves. It doesn't mean I don't respect myself! It's just what I'm into in this phase of my style journey. (I do still appreciate a really nice/quirky/interesting shoe, though.)

Interesting question! I wear a column of black often and that includes black trousers and shoes and the colors, patterns, jewelry, scarves are used to draw attention to my face. However, I care about having nice black footwear, perfect length trousers etc. I also love to add colorful bags, although at work, my bag is usually sitting by my desk. I don´t know if this qualifies as whole body dressing, but I guess it still does.
Lately, I started to try to incorporate also interesting shoes and bottoms and thinking more about the whole outfits from toe to top. For me, it is the YLF effect - I make more effort, take pictures and analyse in a whole new way. I am shifting more towards the real whole body dressing. Thanks to the inspiration and knowledge I get here from Angie and the Fabbers.

I've got a pink round face and a super short waist, wide hips and super long and skinny legs. If I don't dress my whole body, I tend to feel like I'm doing a human imitation of a pink flamingo!

My mother, on the other hand grew up unable to almost ever find large enough shoes or long enough pants (back in the Ukraine). Although she is here in the states now for 40 years now, she definitely is super keen on scarves, hats, eyeglasses/ sunglasses frames, purses, and the like, and pretty much ignores the bottom half.... When I was a kid and midi skirts were in, that style worked for her, but now she tends to feel like dresses look better than skirts, but that dresses are mostly too formal for her everyday style.She will sometimes wear simple beach midi or maxi dresses.

Honestly her style can drive me a little bit batty, because I want to go fix everything, but I am grateful that when I was growing up she always bought me the best quality she could afford, and made sure my shoes were comfortable.

gryffin, I must admit that I find your comment rather prejudging. I suppose you hadn't read the comments by Liesbeth and me, which might have helped you understand others' viewpoints a little bit better ...

gryffin, SarahD8, Jessikams and others, dressing "bust-up" (perhaps better known as "dressing your portrait area") doesn't need to mean that you are fooling others or are neglecting the rest of your body. Rather, among stylists and fabbers it usually means that you are dressing your body in a flattering way AND concentrating on creating a face focus-- an effective strategy, for several reasons. Imogen at insideoutstyleblog.com has given wise advice about this concept several times. Take a look at this: https://insideoutstyleblog.com.....highs.html

just wanted to add, when I’m in a rush I think a scarf and some earrings can carry me through. And I agree with Imogen from inside out style- dressing the “portrait area” is a fab technique :).

Everyone I'm terribly sorry if I was not articulate and you misconstrued my comments and thought I was judging in any way. That is never my intent. Perhaps I did not understand the question. If the question was about placing emphasis alone then I misconstrued, and I'm very sorry for the confusion. Also my style is minimalist, simple and quiet - so my opinion may also not be relevant. But there was no judgement intended. I wear extremely simple minimalist pieces. Sarah like you I often wear black leggings and black skirted leggings - extremely simply bottoms. I do not think simple implies that we have not dressed our lower halves with care, flattery or elegance. I also agree it's important to put the emphasis on what we want seen and where we want people to focus. What I was trying to say, obviously badly, for which I am terribly sorry (if you read my comments I try never to be less than positive and it is never my intent to judge), is that I personally dress all of me - even though parts of my outfit may be quiet, understated- even forgettable. But I do it with care and all my pieces focal or background give me pleasure from my head to my toes, from inside to out, so I feel polished no matter where I put the emphasis. I hope that makes sense.

Yes, exactly— this is all about emphasis. Where we want to draw others’ attention, or where we want to lavish our own attention on a particular day!

Team head to toe for me! Like Aida, I dress mainly for myself and like to think that the whole look works together. I do like to dress for comfort too, so anything that is uncomfortable or fussy is unlikely to be worn, this is especially relevant for footwear. I guess I like to think that I don't have to compromise on either criteria. I want clothing that makes me feel good as well as comfort - from head to toe!

I sometimes read Imogene at inside out style. As far as portrait area emphasis, her blog articles helped me realize that my subtle blond highlights had gradually turned into unflattering bottle blond, and that I needed to get a substantial haircut so that my hair would be in better harmony with the rest of me.

Thank you for bringing this point up, Jessikams! A couple of times recently, when I have been at an event where I was seated at a table for pretty much the entire evening, I've felt very drab and under-accessorized. My style is somewhat restrained, and I often depend on shoes, belt, etc. to add interest to an outfit. You've helped me realize that I need to train myself that for a seated event I should perhaps wear a shorter, bolder necklace or bigger earrings and/or an extra bracelet or two compared to what I would normally choose. As well as putting more emphasis on wearing a particularly flattering color on top. Even though the outfit might look a touch "unbalanced" in full length view, it would probably be better suited to the particular occasion.

Also, this conversation reminded me of the female news broadcaster who always wears jeans and sneakers with her conservative suit jacket. You never see the casual pieces when she is on air, but she dresses the same for outside appearances and it always cracks me up - in a good way!

As gryffin said. My footwear is every bit as important as anything else I wear - every single day of the week, as is my bag, my pedicure colour, etc etc etc. I can't imagine dressing from the waist up - unless I sat behind a newsdesk on-camera.