JFE is for short term wear until I can replace it with a better version.

Like last summer, the only T-shirts I could find that were thick enough to wear without layering, and had a decent length in the short sleeve, had a crew style neck (though not too high thankfully). Ideal would have been a V-neck, but those were nowhere to be found.

Ledonna nailed it re. relationships...no room for JFE there!!

Also, IMHO, comfort trumps everything.

If I recall correctly (and maybe I'm not), the original concept of Just Flattering Enough had to do with outfits, not single items. So for example how wearing a wide or boxy shape on both top and bottom can be brought back nearer the zone of flattery by baring skin at ankles and wrists or neck. Some of you have alluded to this, eg in playing with proportions.

How this relates to my answer to the question is as follows: When I buy a wardrobe item I picture what outfits I will make with it, and when I try the outfit on I look in the mirror and edit until I like what I see. Many of the single items I choose skew menswear (brogues, pants, oxford shirts) but in the execution there is balance, even if only with long loose hair. In fact I have a harder time with an outfit that is too fitted and traditionally feminine; a fit and flare dress needs sneakers or funky booties. I wore a fitted sweater with an a-line skirt and pumps, and it felt all wrong /not me until I added a boxy vest.

So in buying an item I go by comfort, quality, do I love it, what would I wear it with. My only fail so far is a wonderfully comfortable and cosy pair of twill check mom jeans. Every outfit I have worn it in is supremely unflattering. I am going to wait until my eyes have adjusted to high waist looks and then try again.

Also there was my Man Repeller outfit (condemned by DH) from 2 Easters ago.

JFE to others or myself? I understand JFE as referring to conventional flattery. I wear lots of things that don't make me look thinner, taller, or more of an hourglass. But I won't wear something if I don't like it.

Reading the resounding lack of tolerance for colors that don't work clinched my decision to let go of a grey sheath dress: a color that doesn't do much for me and doesn't bring me joy. Although I held onto it to pair with one blazer, the blazer looks best with another sheath dress, so it's time to pass it on.

As far as JFE as a concept, I feel my best in items that are flattering to my eye, and edit my wardrobe accordingly - but for others, if they feel their best in JFE ensembles, I fully support that!

I think I do hold flattery high in mind when choosing clothes, even more so
As I get older. Rightly or wrongly I don't know, but when I was 24 I felt I could wear baggy tees and pants and still look great. Now I consider I need more help- with makeup, hair and good shaped clothing. It also has to feel like me but I won't wear some trends that I find unflattering. However, I don't always walk around in a sheath dress and heels which is my most conventionally flattering look. I also wear boyfriend jeans and beanies and sneakers.

I think I'm still struggling with the definition of JFE. Thanks for your explanation L'Abeille. I also don't understand the concept of conventionally flattering. It seems like these are terms people have taken in and adapted for their personal use in a helpful way. I don't find them helpful, or at least haven't made use of them so far when I shop or plan my outfits.

https://youlookfab.com/welookf.....he-culotte

What a great thread topic for reflexion. Now that you ask, I must stop and ask myself this same question.

I have very low tolerance for Just Flattering Enough, unless there is a story attached to the outfit. For example, I'm into swing dance now, therefore I gladly wear a JFE outfit combining an A-line full circle skirt with a hoity-toity Claudine-collar short sleeve white shirt, even though on petite me it could look like I am 12. (From Backview). (Then with my mature face you can imagine how it is not the most flattering). But nevertheless I totally love it, and the happiness factor is through the roof.

L'abeille points out how JFE describes an outfit, not an item; yet what is in my closets are items, and you do ask if there'd be room for JFE's. I do have a lot of them (boarderline orphans) lingering in there. But lately, I have come to see them differently.

2 things: First I'm in the process of moving in with my husband to be (this guy: https://youlookfab.com/welookf.....he-culotte! I could never thank the culotte enough lol). So I temporarily have two homes. This has forced me to wear JFE items and be more creative with them. Because of course it's when you are at one place that you realize you miss that perfect little other piece that would have matched your outfit... so here come the JFE's to the rescue. And sometimes it's a total fiasco, at others it's a new discovery.
Secondly, the body changes. Something that was JFE a year ago turns out to be VFTYVM (Very Flattering Thank You Very Much) now. I am surprised to discover the JFE's as new workhorses.

This is such a great question! I had to really think about it. My first thought was no, I always try to dress in a flattering way. But then I realized that what feels flattering to me might not be conventionally flattering (to me that means making me look as thin as possible - maybe that definition is different for everyone?). For instance, my favorite weekend cardi right now is an oversized neutral one that I usually wear with my skinny jeans and stompy boots. Definitely doesn't make me look thin but I love the details of the sweater- hi-lo hem, snaps instead of buttons - and the combo makes me feel good. So I do think proportion matters to me but overall flattery isn't the only consideration.

I think JFE definitely has a place in my wardrobe. Most of my outfits are barely fashionable or flattering!

I'm kind of with Alexandra and L'Abeille on this one - in that it depends on how you define JFE. I like to wear shift dresses and straight tunics and low block heels, which are some of the items being described here as JFE. But, honestly, I think those items ARE flattering on my particular rectangular-ish modestly endowed body. I'm always pleased when those things are "in" because they are easier to find in the stores, but I will be wearing them regardless of trends.

But certainly every item in the closet and every outfit I put together can't be a 10/10. I definitely don't think of that as JFE - that's just reality.

I'm considering what JFE means to me, and can see there would be several interpretations. My original question was more for styles you normally don't wear, not just clothing you feel meh in.

As far as styles I don't wear. My answer still stands.

NOPE

It would truly be a waste of $$$ if it was jfe or a place holder. I don't care if it was. $2 or $2,000. This just reinforces my first statement of a meh relationship.

There is and will always be compromise but that is why I have a fab tailor.

If it is a fab piece and a bit off with fit then it will have a place in my home. Some of the things I see on YLF are faband out of my comfort zone. They are not made for my size or body type. They are fab and i go on the hunt for the same or similar unconventional fab.

In the past life i would settle for jfe but I'm worth FAB all the time and so are you all.

I remember Angie introducing the idea of "just flattering enough" in a blog post. It is the third one down; the others also speak to aspects of the same issue. This is for those of you who came in partway through the conversation, as it were.

https://youlookfab.com/2012/03.....-tradeoff/

https://youlookfab.com/2010/08.....lattering/

Like Approprio and Suz, I draw the line at bad-for-me colors and patterns close to my face. But I'm afraid that if I got rid of all my JFE stuff, I might have very little left to wear! It isn't easy to find those perfectly-flattering-in-every-way outfits we all desire.

I do think we're going from a lot of different, individual definitions of JFE, and of flattering itself.

The definition I've had in mind for "conventionally flattering" is outfits that echo the supposed ideal female body. So, things that make one look tall-ish, thin, and narrow-waisted, with some sort of ideal proportion between neck, torso, and limbs. A lot of us have grown up with the idea that the right clothes are ones that play up our features that match these supposed ideals and de-emphasize features that don't. For instance, someone with my shape might prefer heels with a skirt, or cropped jackets to make short legs look longer, or tops that come in at the waist rather than hang straight down from relatively wide shoulders. Or colors that make pale skin look more alive.

I've enjoyed learning which of those concepts work well for me. My own perception of my proportions, vs what someone else would see, have required a lot of adjustment. I just bought a jacket that is, alas, way boxier on me than I realized, in a way that just isn't the look I was going for. So understanding figure flattery is helpful.

But a lot of us also reject the idea that each outfit should cater to that goal of the ideal figure, and that's the definition of the JFE concept that I use. Heels might look better with my short legs, but I think it's just fine to wear flats that make my legs look shorter. A top that fits well in the shoulders but makes me look two sizes larger is often exactly the look I'm going for.

It's a separate concept from whether I love something or feel fab in it. Angie's original post, to me, suggested JFE as an intentional style component, not a compromise. So for me, colors we dislike, or summer clothes that make us feel meh, don't fall under JFE so much as the occasional necessary compromise.

I was thinking the same as Greyscale, that we might be interpreting the concept differently in our responses. The concept as coined here mostly means anything that doesn't follow what conventional figure flattery prescribes for our given shape. This can be a garment or an entire silhouette. Not at all attributing JFE to style that's not quite right, or a fit that we desire that just isn't so -- As Greyscale says, it's something intentional.

So for example, my secondary shape is hourglass BUT stylistically I'm often not interested defining my waist which is, you know, like the key hourglass thing you're supposed to do. My straighter cut tops aren't considered a conventionally flattering fit and would therefore fall into JFE, but that doesn't necessarily make them UNflattering especially if they jive with my style (which they do). Same with many cropped pants. And BF jeans. And oversized fits in general. (Etc.)

Delurked, if your original question is more about pieces that don't quite fit with your style or that feel off some other way when you wear them then my answer to that is YES those pieces absolutely don't get worn! For myself, this happens most often if the piece is off in terms of style or has a fit (intentional or otherwise) that I don't gravitate to or don't feel comfortable wearing. In some cases, though, pieces that don't fall neatly into my generally preferred style still have a home in my wardrobe if I've got the right support act to balance whatever is off about it.

Thanks to L'Abeille for linking to the blog posts. That 2015 post explains the concept extremely clearly. Conventional figure flattery is to make our bodies look the most like a "conventional" or even an "ideal" ( in whose eyes?- society in general's?) female form, so take whatever part of us doesn't fit that eg too short legs, too thick waist, too big bum in my case, and try to balance those out in some way to make them less obvious. ( But yay to JLo and KimK to mean I can somewhat celebrate my big bum now !) I feel I rebel against some of that advice. Yes, of course I may be conventionally more flattered by a heel with my short legs. Well goodbye to that, who gives anyone the right to decide that I am going to be uncomfortable to please society in general? I will do it occasionally, FOR ME, and not for anyone else. So in those terms yes, I will go against conventional figure flattery often if I love something. But I still can feel insecure about how I look and so will ask opinions on outfits here. Before YLF I would be asking only my family or my best friend, or assiduously reading magazines or style books like Trinny and Susannah's The Body Shape Bilble to help me. And the magazines of course, as in a much earlier thread of mine about "Are fashion magazines mean?" often just made me feel worse.

I like Ledonna's response.

This has been such an eye-opener and a thought provoking thread. Thank you Greyscale for your definitions and explanations.

I find I can wear a JFE outfit on days when I'm particularly confident, but when I suffer a bad image day, it is too much .

JFE often involves wearing daring, round-toe, flat, masculine, bulky footwear on my short legs.

Just like Jenni, I have always felt the pressure to elongate my legs with heels. As a result, I now suffer painful bunions and arthritis which prevent me from wearing most traditionnally flattering heeled pumps.

This condition sometimes pushes me back towards JFE outfits and pieces in my wardrobe, because these quirky looks also happen to be more foot friendly or work with flats and tennis shoes. However at this point it's not JFE anymore but veering towards what Greyscale describes as compromise. Or is it?

With age my body changes, it's not as lithe as it used to be, I have more bulk at the top, breasts are larger, etc. So consequently, JFE should be more difficult to wear, if anything. Well, it's the opposite that is happening. First, with age I am more confident so even if I know I could look slimmer/taller/leggier in something else, I still go for the JFE when it suits me. Then I have the foot condition that has been changing my whole outlook on fashion and coquetterie, and made me prefer confort above anything else. Finally, I find that now I don't want to fit into a mould anymore.