Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Turning beauty inside out
Author tells women to ignore the latest trends and play up their personalities
Carol Tuttle
What's your type?
TYPE 1 -- THE BRIGHT, ANIMATED WOMAN
Key words: Fresh, youthful, animated, bubbly, fun and unstructured
Physical features: Bone structure creates circles and points of a star, with features being asymmetrical or random; circular or heart-shaped face with apple cheeks, often a button or turned-up nose; short, chubby fingers
Common fashion mistake: Wearing a lot of black in an effort to be taken more seriously, straightening curly hair
Famous 1s dressing their truth: Ellen DeGeneres, Goldie Hawn
1s not dressing their truth: Katie Couric, Sarah Palin
TYPE 2 -- THE SUBTLE, SOFT WOMAN
Key words: Blended, easy-going, relaxed, nurturing, warm, detail-oriented
Physical features: Bone structure creates elongated S curves and ovals; very long eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes; smooth, long fingers
Common fashion mistake: Wearing bright and bold, overpowering clothing to counter her more subdued nature
Famous 2s dressing their truth: Jennifer Aniston, Hillary Clinton
2s not dressing their truth: Renée Zellweger, Jennifer Hudson
TYPE 3 -- THE RICH, DYNAMIC WOMAN
Key words: Swift, intense, practical, resourceful, abrupt
Physical features: Bone structure has angles and is chiseled, giving a look of strength with features being asymmetrical; knobby nose, rough hands with lots of pigmentation
Common fashion mistake: Wearing too much black, which dramatically ages this type
Famous 3s dressing their truth: Joan Rivers, Ashlee Simpson
3s not dressing their truth: Christina Aguilera, Madonna
TYPE 4 -- THE BOLD, STRIKING WOMAN
Key words: Authoritative, regal, polished, sleek, structured
Physical features: Bone structure creates parallel lines and elongated ovals; broad forehead, straight nose bridge; long, straight fingers
Common fashion mistake: Wearing soft, flowing clothes to subdue her authoritative nature, often creating a frumpy look
Famous 4s dressing their truth: Anne Hathaway, Gwen Stefani
4s not dressing their truth: Halle Berry
They say that beauty is only skin-deep, but let's face it: Most of us care what we look like on the outside.
For women, that's an understatement.
Ever wish you could bring your therapist into the dressing room?
Or at least learn how to have a healthier relationship with your mirror?
The first step is to stop letting outside voices distract you from expressing your own true beauty, says Carol Tuttle, a Utah psychotherapist and the author of a new book that aims to turn long-standing beauty myths on their head, and to rescue fashion victims who repeatedly fall prey to the latest trends.
"Seven years ago, I started to take back my beauty," Tuttle, 52, writes in the self-published Dressing Your Truth: Discover Your Personal Beauty Profile (US$19.95).
For most of her life, the wife and mother of five disliked her body and her "aged and masculine" features, and spent years trying to improve what she thought was originally flawed. By age 13, she so hated how she looked, she scribbled over her picture in the school yearbook.
"Mine is a typical example of a female journey," says Tuttle in a phone interview. "We don't ever outgrow that original trauma that all women go through to varying degrees.
"The fashion world is based on a system of styles and trends. And when they don't personify your type of beauty, the default for women is to think it's their body and appearance that's at fault."
The current system teaches us how to put on beauty, she says, not how to bring out our own. Just because a woman looks stylish doesn't mean she's dressing her truth. One way to tell the difference is to notice whether you see the clothing, jewelry and makeup first, and then the woman.
If she's dressing her truth, her body looks like a natural extension of her true self, Tuttle says.
After years of doing therapy and discovering how intimately connected a woman's sense of fashion -- or lack thereof -- and her perceptions of body image and physical appearance are to her sense of self, Tuttle developed a beauty profiling system to tailor a woman's wardrobe to her personality type.
It divides women into four basic types: Type 1, bright and animated; Type 2, subtle/soft; Type 3, rich/dynamic; and Type 4, bold/striking.
Tuttle also points out that most current clothing systems only emphasize one thing -- colour. But there are four other elements in a garment -- design line, texture, fabrication and pattern -- than can either add to our natural beauty or conflict with it.
Sorry to break the news, but that perfect little black dress is a myth. In fact, Tuttle says wearing black can actually make a woman look heavier and older.
"No movement, no expression, just stillness, and on most women, it's deadly." (Only Type 4s can really pull it off. For the other types, she recommends various shades of brown.) Apparently even the rich and famous make the mistake of following trends instead of choosing clothes that look good on them and suit their personality.
Take Michelle Obama. Although she has become a fixture in fashion magazines, Tuttle says the American first lady (a Type 3) is not dressing her truth.
"They dress her as a Type 4, and that can make a Type 3 appear harsh and overly intense. Quite often, she's also shown in that mommy look because that's such an important part of who she is, but it doesn't honour her beauty either."
Despite all the plastic surgery, Joan Rivers (Type 3), on the other hand, makes a bold and edgy fashion statement that matches her personality.
Tuttle's book will help readers discover their own beauty profile. To learn how to Dress Your Truth, with help from visual images and videos, there's also an online course at www.dressingyourtruth.com
carolin.vesely@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 20, 2010 D1
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