Ask Angie: Why does this look great on Shannon and not on me? - YouLookFab Forum

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Ask Angie: Why does this look great on Shannon and not on me?

Peri

Veteran

This is not a K/R....it is already packed to R! It's not a lament either...PPP tells me this is not right for me. I'm just wanting some feedback for my own education!

I loved this jacket on Transcona Shannon and thought I would love the soft print. It went on sale so I ordered it. I really don't love it on me. I took these pictures wearing a dress that we both have in order to take styling out of the equation.

She and I have already discussed proportion differences...I am long torso so maybe the cropped length jacket is just off on me. Or maybe I should have gone with a smaller size...when I open it there is a lot of bulk flapping around. But my bigger question is about prints, because I always feel like I am overwhelmed in prints...like they wear me. I was hoping this soft black and white would be better on that count but I just don't think so.

Someone said I was "delicate" but I don't see that at all. I have high contrast coloring and I would think delicate would be more tonal. Also, I have a long face, long nose, pointy chin...sort of Snow White meets the wicked witch.

Can Angie or anyone else tell me what is off here? Should I avoid all prints or try different colors or what?

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31 replies

Latest reply was from rachylou

Marlene

Veteran

I think for a print its a pretty neutral and goes with your coloring well. I don't see that it is "wearing you". The only thing I can point out is that the jacket seems a wee bit too big for your frame, even when done up.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I agree 100% with Marlene. The jacket looks terrific in #1.

Anonymous

I think it looks fabulous on you! I have the same jacket, and my body type is closer to yours I think. It looks like it fits you well on the shoulders. Mine is looser on my torso too.

http://ceit.lookfab.com/post/wiw-floral-moto

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I agree with Marlene and Angie. It looks great in #1, though maybe just a touch big for your frame. (That is tough to say from the photo angle and such and because we don't have a full length shot.) But the print is not wearing you, IMO. I think it works well.

However, it might be slightly outside your comfort zone. And you will feel odd if that's the case, as if it is wearing you. Until you get used to it. Angie has written some blog posts about this. Sometimes we have to wear an item a few times before we feel comfortable in it.

OR...you might decide it's just not your style. The stories are legion of Fabbers seeing something on another person and falling in love...only to learn that it is really not "them." Maybe it looks good, but it isn't right for their lifestyle, their climate, or it doesn't mesh with the way they see themselves.

Also, I think you are right and the people who call you delicate are right.

You do have high contrast colouring. But that doesn't rule out delicate, which doesn't necessarily refer to colouring at all. Your sharper, more refined features are what people are responding to when they use that word. As well as your lovely porcelain skin! Combined with the wave in your hair, this all reads very feminine and delicate. Plus, your overall frame is small...smaller than Shannon's although she is petite.

MsMaven

Veteran

I think I see what you mean about feeling overwhelmed by some prints. I have the same problem. I often love things on others, but don't like them on me. I wonder if bone structure is part of the problem. I remember reading somewhere about how your basic bone structure and body shape influence how you look and feel in prints. Perhaps it was on Imogen's blog.

Some people look and feel better in more geometric prints and others look better in flowing curving lines. I'll see if I can find where I read that and pass it on.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Well Peri - after our private conversations I was expecting this to look quite different on you. I think it looks lovely! And personally speaking, I do not find it too big.

I think both the colors and the pattern are flattering to your complexion and your features. To that point, Suz is quite correct that you have smaller features than I do. Even though I'm petite, I'm definitely medium boned and I would say you are fine boned. Of course we'll leave the weight difference out of it - lol!!!

I also do not wear this jacket done up. But then I rarely wear any jacket that I'm using more as a blazer done up. I prefer the soft drape of a jacket when open and the vertical line it creates for me with the clothing underneath.

But if it doesn't feel like you that alone can create the feeling that it doesn't look good on you. Meanwhile it is flattering and looks good but you can't see that past your personal discomfort with the item.

Anonymous

Oh, I forgot to mention Peri, I have a print phobia too, and this is one of the first printed items in my wardrobe in a decade!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Peri, I also have a print phobia and had to fight myself to purchase a few prints this year.

The exception in my case is stripes -- I love stripes. And I like some other geometrics -- especially if they have lines on the diagonal. Polka dots can be good. And some animal print. But the scale and contrast has to be right for me to feel okay.

This year I made myself try some florals and a few curvier lines as a sort of experiment. I learned that on the whole, I like them best on dresses, and the LINE needs to be the thing that predominates, if that makes any sense. There has to be some sense of sharpness, or angularity to it, even if the pattern is curving. The exception was my Zara floral jacket. I enjoyed wearing it, but I doubt if I would have, had the cut been less modern or the colour less good for me.

In short, MsMaven is correct -- certain prints will work better on certain body types and on people with certain facial features. I'm still working out what that is for me personally. On the whole I think geometrics with some crispness or contrast, not tiny (despite my size), diagonal shapes or slashes. My first dress (pic 1), while technically a floral, fits this idea.

Kibbe is big on this stuff.

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Vildy

Veteran

You features are all very distinct and there is a lot of "white" space in your cheek area - how do you look in a medium scale print with defined edges and a quantity of background color? And maybe with some diagonals or delicately curved diagonals, like leaves?

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Heh - sounds like my dresses, above!!

Peri

Veteran

Wow, this is so interesting! First the objective opinions that it looks good against my subjective feelings about it. I just don't feel the love that I want to feel for something new to earn its place in my trying to improve closet. My heart didn't rise when I put it on, it sank. I guess the heart is not objective...but Marlene, Angie, Ceit and Shannon, I truly appreciate the kind words from you all.

Perhaps like Suz has said, it is a comfort zone issue. And thinking also that it won't fit my life because even in winter I would find it too hot for indoors (I'm hot natured) but not quite right for outerwear. And Shannon, yes, it just doesn't feel like me.

So Suz, MsMaven and VIldy...seems like I have some learning to do! I never tried to analyze prints before. I love the dresses, Suz...but if I ordered them, would I love them on me?! I think I have very little understanding about visual things. I don't know what white space is...like there is space because my face is long, or like I need some blush?! I'm glad I asked the question, because it has opened up a lot of issues for me to investigate!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I never analyzed prints really until this year, either, except very broadly with respect to scale (ditsy teensy florals vs. great big bold prints) or colour (did I like it or not). But I think if we're going to wear prints and we feel "print averse" it can help to know what might work best on us.

I am not Vildy so could be wildly out of line, but I suspect by "white space" she simply meant that you have a high forehead and fairly wide cheekbones (based on the pics) - and combine with the fact that your features are fine, this means that your features seem spaced out in a way. Some people's look smushed together by comparison.

Shannon's features are also quite fine, BTW. But her face is narrow as well and she wears specs that take up space.

Here is something else to consider: Shannon's haircut is sharp and angular. This, along with her slight cat's eye specs, might provide a bit of "edge" that provides a pleasant contrast to the soft, almost "blurred" floral of this jacket.

Ceit has an angular jaw and glasses as well as straight (ish) hair. These provide a similar contrast.

In your case, your features contrast a similar way --- but your hair is very soft and wavy and a bit "blurred" like the print.

IMO this does not look bad at all. Some might prefer the effect. There's no "right" or "wrong" here. But it might account for your feeling that "This looks different on them than on me!!"

This is all incredibly detailed thinking by the way - the kind of thing I never remember to consider when I'm about to make a purchase because I love the way something looks on another Fabber! Hmm. Maybe I should do it more often.

merwoman

Veteran

There is wisdom in what has already been posted. Another thought I will add, is hair colouring. Shannon's salt and pepper hair works beautifully with this jacket - if you style the jacket in exactly the same way - you won't have the same result. I would play around in your closet in a little more. Yes you need a smaller size, but maybe try different garments on with it to see what happens.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Merwoman is right, of course, too. Shannon's hair works perfectly with this. For a similar effect you might need to go with a jacket in tones that echo your own hair. But then Ceit's hair is brown and it works for her, too.

Peri

Veteran

Suz, that was the very thing that I said to Shannon before I even ordered it...that she has an edge to her look, maybe from her hair, that I admire but don't have. I don't think edgy could fit in any of my style descriptors. And Ceit has it too. So I did wonder from the beginning that the jacket might not be right for me.

I'm not sad about it, just getting some good education!

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

I think I agree with the edge factor Suz and others mentioned. I have longish wavy hair as well and I find it very hard to wear tops that are printed -- esp. florals.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Texstyle - that is fascinating.

Obviously some of this is highly personal and about individual style, because there are people here with long wavy hair who do wear prints (Mo, for instance). But if I think of myself, I imagine I might be similar if my hair were longer and wavier. Well, I guess that's obvious since I already worry a bit about patterns as it is, LOL. But maybe some of that worry springs from a time when my hair was longer. Hmmm.

catgirl

Veteran

You look great to me, but you have to feel it in your heart... I often have this disconnect so I sympathize!

Anonymous

I agree, if your heart didn't lift when trying it on, then that is a sign.

catgirl

Veteran

More often for me is the reverse - I love it but it looks bad on me!

tarzy

Veteran

It's all so subjective, isn't it?

Personally, I don't see you as high contrast. Yes, you're fair with dark(er) hair, but to me you have a softer overall look (similar to mine, I think.) Your hair is soft and wavy, your eyes (from what I can tell from these photos) are soft, your
eyebrows are not really high contrast. You also seem, at least in these photos,
to be somewhat delicate.

To me, the print overwhelms you. When I look at the photos the print jumps out at me; I see the print and not you. That's not to say it's bad or wrong. That's just what I see.

I know I would not feel comfortable wearing this print. I love softer colors that sort of blend or blur, or at least are not high contrast. I also don't prefer prints that have bright, stark or optic white, particularly combined with black.

It's so interesting how we see ourselves v. how others see us, isn't it!

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

Peri, if you are wanting to add some prints to your wardrobe, you might try wearing them as the under layer rather than the outer layer. I wear a lot of prints, but mine are mostly t-shirts that I layer under cardigans or jackets. A lot of the prints I like on t-shirts as underlayers I cannot imagine wearing in a jacket. My cardigans or jackets that are print tend to be non-florals, whether animal prints or stripes or a stylized stripe like the Missoni bargello pattern.

Scarves are also a fun and easy way to experiment with prints and to see what types you like to wear.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

The heart is very subjective. That's the beauty of thinking with your heart and not your head.

You have to love a pattern in order to wear it. That's where the emotional happiness factor as an outfit evaluator becomes extra important. No need to think with your head. I love the colours and pattern on you - but YOU have to, too. With Shannon, the pattern was love at first sight. Not so with you. That makes sense too.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Nodding with Angie here.

That's why I went for the Zara floral jacket, by the way -- despite quite a few nays from the forum. My heart loved it. Turns out that feeling was fickle,,,I'm tired of it now. But that is only because I wore it to the ground. Got my CPW out of it and won't be sad to pass it along.

Echo

Veteran

I don't have anything new to add here, but I wanted to reiterate that the jacket looks fabulous on you. It may be slightly large, but I think it is very flattering.

But it is also true that all of us have a poison eye for certain things on ourselves, and if something about this jacket strikes one of those chords, there is no making it work. I often find this to be the case. I will try something on, see that it fits and have others tell me it looks good, and yet I do. not. like. it. If they ask me why, I often cannot put my finger on it, just like I sometimes cannot identify what makes me love something so much that I will buy it even when it doesn't fit my lifestyle particularly well.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I just can't leave this thread alone....I love these learning opportunities because I always come away understanding more for myself as much as for the other person.

Wanted to say that I also see what Tarzy sees -- that while your colouring is high contrast, you actually seem quite "soft" for someone with dark hair and light skin. As she says, your brows are not sharply delineated, etc. So I am not sure high contrast is quite right for you to begin with.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Well this has been a fascinating read and a little strange I must admit with respect to seeing myself analyzed - lol!

Bottom line Peri is that we love what we love sometimes for good reasons and sometimes just because. As Angie said with this pattern, it was love at first sight for me.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oh no, Shannon, I hope I didn't say anything to offend you. You know I think you are gorgeous and look amazing in this jacket (and just about every other article of clothing I have ever seen you put on!)

I think Peri's gorgeous, too, and would look equally smashing in this jacket -- but not if it does not feel right to her.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Oh goodness no Suz! No one said anything offending at all Just weird reading a conversation that includes observations about yourself, that's all.

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