Blog

Let’s start with the Flamboyant Gamine body type! These girls will generally have squared shoulders and slightly wide bones. They may have a shorter frame and will tend to be 5’4” or under. Their facial features will tend to be wide and they may have large hands and feet. Their body will look lean and strong and these gals will have legs for days! As there’s quite a lot of Yang in this shape they may not be as curvy and will have a fairly small bustline and hips. When it comes to their facial features a lot of these girls usually have very large eyes and taut cheeks. Audrey Hepburn has been used a lot as an example of this shape.

As your frame is more petite it’s a good idea to go for fitted styles, as an oversized fit can often drown the body and take away from the silhouette. As there’s still a structured Yang side to this shape, it’s a good idea to go for something with straight edges and defined shoulders

Colour blocking is always a great idea for this shape in order to honour your small frame. As you may be on the petite side, you will have what Kibbe refers to as a “short vertical line”. Our go to in the past has always been finding outfits to elongate our frame, but this can often make the look seem disharmonious. Colour blocking is a great way to accommodate for your shorter frame without necessarily emphasising it, just like this skirt and top.

Now, onto our Pure Gamine shape! These girls will generally be 5’5” and under with a fairly narrow shape and squared shoulder and long limbs. Their body shape will again be quite straight with a flatter bustline and hips. When it comes to their facial features they will tend to have delicate features with large eyes. Mia Farrow is a great example of this shape!

This body type often has an air of animation and excitement, so you can really play around with bold colours and small, fun prints to really bring this across in your clothing. In fact it’s often been said that there’s no such thing as too much detail for this body type!

Remember those long limbs that we mentioned earlier? Get ready to show them off in a shorter hemline! Long skirts can often drown your small frame, while shorter skirts will accommodate for your height and let’s face it, nobody can rock a mini skirt better! Again, this style Is always a little bit better when it’s fitted to avoid too much material on the frame.

Finally, the Soft Gamine shape is petite and slightly broad with angular edges and squared shoudlers, similar to other Gamine shapes. Their arms and legs will tend to be short but will still be in proportion to their height. They will tend to by more curvy than other Gamine shapes and will have natural waist definition. They will have delicate yet broad facial contours such as nose, cheekbones and jawline and will have almost doll-like facial features like big eyes and round cheeks. Winona Ryder is a classic example of this shape.

While you should still keep your clothes fitted in order to stop your body from drowning under too much material. However, it’s also a great idea to keep a sharpness in the outfit to cater to the Yang elements that are still present in your shape. You can to this really easy with pleats or sharp collars.

You will have more feminine Yin elements present in your body than other Gamine shapes so while you can still rock a loud pattern, it’s important to keep the pattern rounded and soft rather than a sharp, angular geometric pattern.