Friday, March 25, 2011

Fashion on the Cheap

Being an artist by nature, I've always been interested in fun clothes, shoes, and accessories. I must admit, I went over the top at times when I was younger, so due to the criticism of others, I toned things down and became much more subdued. For a lot of years after that, I was a jeans and t-shirt girl since it was the easy way to go and it was unlikely to receive criticism. But I still had a lot of items with that Becci "flair" to them, such as my crazy sock collection or purple leopard print belt with studs on it. I've struggled to find the right look for myself and feel like in the past few years I have slowly been able to find a lot of things that really suit me. Sometimes, though, I have trouble narrowing things down to what I really love. I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that feeling.

So, I was really excited when a friend posted on Facebook last weekend that Dressing Your Truth was having a 5-day trial for $1 (it's over now-I signed up just before the deadline). Carol Tuttle, the creator of Dressing Your Truth, has divided people into 4 types based on personality traits and physical characteristics (mostly, since personality can be influenced a lot more by our upbringing & surroundings). She corresponds these four types to 4 of the major elements and their type of movement. I went through whole course and discovered that I am a type 1, which is a bright, animated woman. I had almost all of the traits she listed for a type 1, such as a heart-shaped hairline, rounded face, apple cheeks that tend to get rosy easily, dimples, a youthful face, and shorter, chubbier fingers with round nail beds. Although I had a lot of personality traits of a type 3 and I organize like a type 4 (with a place for everything and my closet in rainbow order), I am strongly a type 1. As such, I went through the course for the type 1 woman. While I don't agree with some of her philosophies or beliefs, I really enjoyed learning more about who I naturally am and that it is ok to use that flair even more than I have been. On the other types, it might look silly, but on a type 1, it is natural. How refreshing!

So, what I learned about how I "should" dress as a type 1 was really helpful, and I'll definitely be taking many things to heart. Light, crisp fabrics, fun prints, brighter/lighter colors, and lots of variety and pizazz. My best shapes in design line and jewelry will be circles, hearts, stars, and curlycues. I also found out that gold is actually a better choice for metal, which I'm finding I like on myself. However, most of my pieces are silver in appearance even though many of them fall within the other descriptions she was using. For each type, there is a chroma, or color scheme to follow as well. For type 1, it is hues, which are colors with white added. Black is out, but in its place we can use cream/tan, dark navy, and chocolate brown. If I had chosen to purchase the course, I would have gotten a style guide, which is a card with various hues on it. On the back side are all the tips for design line, fabrication, textures, etc. The idea is that you hold the colored side of the card up to you garments when you're shopping and see if the colors harmonize with the colors in the items. The tips are there to help you pick things that will look the best on you. Well, being the frugal mama that I am, I didn't shell out the money for lifetime access just yet, but I did dive into all of the information I could get my hands on. I watched all the video clips of club nights, viewed the entire course while taking notes, looked at all the pictures and examples of type 1 clothing, and then copied and pasted them into a Word document. Also, being resourceful, I found a downloadable color wheel with nothing but hues and made my own style guide card!
I even put the most important tips on the back.

I have to say, it looks pretty good even though it's not the real thing! Then I went through my wardrobe to see how things matched up. With the exception of a few items and some black things, most of my clothing fits pretty well into the guidelines as far as colors, lines, and prints. I already had what Carol describes as a "beauty sixth-sense" and I didn't even know it.

The best part? Most of my wardrobe has been bought on extreme clearance or at thrift stores. And now that we're using Gleaner's, we can browse the donated clothing area, too. The rest of my clothes I have purchased with gift cards or birthday money, with the occasional full-price purchase if it's something that is worth the cost that I really need, such as good running shoes. My things that don't fit within the type 1 description can easily be altered with a bit of creativity and a can of gold spray paint, some buttons, headbands, hair clips, and a bit of fabric. I'll be posting pictures of my wardrobe refashioning because it's fun and I think you'll enjoy seeing the transformation, especially if you're the artistic like me. I kicked off my type 1 wardrobe with the rest of my birthday money at Old Navy. I got the pictured shoes (clearance) and jewelry with a 30% off coupon for just over $30.

They look and feel great on me, and they're really fun, too :). I love seeing how good I can look on a small budget.

So, even though the link over on my sidebar is not the most frugal thing, I still think it's worth having there for those that might be interested. If you have the $279 for the course, I'm sure it would be worth it, as it can be really helpful in other areas as well.While I'm hoping to be able to join at some point in the future, the short trial I did was totally worth it, and actually very eye-opening. When you're learning to dress for your type, you're also learning about yourself as a person, which is a fun process. Just feel free to disregard some of her spiritual viewpoints, as they're not for everyone.

*For full disclosure, I do get a percentage of the purchase price if someone enters through my link*

2 comments:

GrammaGrits said...

Becci, interesting blog and web site you found. I have a book called Good Girls Don't Have to Dress Bad from a Christian speaker from NC that's very similar to this. Your library might have it, too! Blessings on your week.

marythemom said...

Just finished the Dressing Your Truth free series (which is free from the website, but only helps you figure out your type without all the what you should wear stuff). I discovered I'm also a Type 1. I did want to tell you that if you do the free classes (which are emailed to you daily) then at the end she offers the Dressing Your Truth (which has all the stuff you mentioned) for only $99. I couldn't afford that so I've been looking around the internet. Love your site! Now I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what was in the part I couldn't afford. Thanks!

Mary