Alright well big sis Sery will give a couple of basic tips then. I’m admittedly still quite new to this myself so I don’t think I can do much beyond the basics. I’ll also post some cute berets similar to this one at the end.
Colour
So, first important thing is colour. Different colours will look good on you depending on your skin’s undertone. Essentially your skin might be slightly warmer or colder in tone. Whichever it is, you generally will want to pick colours which are also warmer or colder to match. Taking myself as an example, my skin leans a little warmer, so I find that colours like red look very good on me. That doesn’t mean I can’t wear blues, it just means I have to proportion them differently.
Similarly, your hair colour will go well with different types of shades. If your hair is darker it looks better with darker and less saturated colours, whereas if it’s lighter it will go well with brighter colours. Like before this isn’t a hard and fast rule though, you can wear other stuff too.
So, you have a basic idea of what colours to go with, but you can’t just wear any colour with any other. So, we need to think about how the colours themselves relate. Colour theory is a lot to go over so I’ll summarise very quick: colours that are next to each other on a wheel (red and orange, for instance) go well together. So do colours which are opposite of each other (red and green). But you have to proportion these two types of relation differently. First, one colour will always be the primary colour, usually the one you have the most of, on you so use that to determine these relations. The adjacent colour can be used pretty frequently or dominantly in the outfit. But the opposite colour has to be used more sparingly, because if you have too much of it it will clash heavily with the main colour. There’s two ways to do this: the first is to wear things which are only barely tinted in that opposite colour. Note that this also includes colours adjacent to that opposite colour (and in fact you should maybe wear them more often over true opposites) Taking the image as the example, she is wearing tan and brown, which are effectively orange and yellow. The opposite of orange is blue, so her shirt is a very dark blue. It thus acts as the opposite colour in this fit. The other way to make opposite colours work is to use very little of it. One or two accessories, for instance.
Note that black, white, and grey are neutrals. They can be used with basically anything without clashing. Just try to check whether they are a warmer or colder tone, since colders work better with other cold tones and vice-versa
Cutting this here for now since my class is starting and I already lost this wall of text twice, I’ll post the next bit later when I have time, sorry!
Finally got some time, so here’s part 2 of the mini-guide:
Sizes
Sizes are a bit of a pain to work out when you’re just starting to wear different clothing. The rule of thumb you’ll normally hear is to go one size larger compared to your usual if you’re switching from men’s to women’s. But I’ve found that, while this is helpful for choosing quickly and buying online, it’s often better to just eye whether you’ll fit in something while shopping in-person. I normally wear men’s mediums but I can fit in both men’s and women’s smalls depending on the exact piece. It takes a while to work this out though, so the rule of thumb works until then.
I would highly recommend learning your full measurements if you plan on shopping for dresses online. It’s possible you’ll find that all of your measurements can fit except for one and often it’s better to err on the side of caution and go the one size higher to compensate. You can do this yourself if you’re uncomfortable with being touched by someone else doing it. I’d also recommend occasionally buying dresses one size larger anyways if you’re tall so as to compensate for your height with a longer skirt.
Note also that different countries can have different sizes called the same thing when shopping online so that’s something to be careful of. I buy a lot of imported Japanese clothes to fuel my lolita obsession and for those I usually buy L or 2L rather than the M or L I buy where I live. Knowing your full measurements can help you compare and figure out what sizes are right.
Proportions
No clue if this is the right term but it’s what I’m gonna call it. When you’re working on an outfit you want to think of how much of your body is covered by each piece. As an example, take a basic shirt and pants. If you keep the shirt out of the pants it will make it so that each cover roughly half of your body. If you put the shirt in the pants, however, it will instead make the shirt cover 1/3rd and the pants cover 2/3rds. You want to try to create these 1/3rd and 2/3rd splits because they’re more visually interesting compared to a halfway split. Try to visualise the splits using the waist/hips as the centre line: you want to avoid having things end there.
Taking the image as an example: her jacket goes down below her waist, so it covers roughly 2/3rds of her body. The shirt is cut off by her (obscured by the text) skirt, so it is covering 1/3rd, the skirt then is covering 2/3rds or maybe just 1/3rd depending on its length. The important thing is to create these sections of thirds and to make sure that two pieces on the same area (the jacket and shirt) are not covering the same proportion of your body.
This is the tip I’m most iffy on, I had read it in a transfem fashion post on reddit that I couldn’t find, and I’m mostly working off of my vague memory of what it said. I had thought it came from this post* which I saved, but I couldn’t find it in a quick skim and I think I had actually read the tip in the comment which linked to this post. I would recommend reading the post btw, I don’t follow its advice much since I have a very different aesthetic compared to what it suggests but it can give you some basic ideas, especially on how to de-emphasise the masculine aspects of your figure.
That’s about all I can think of. So, as promised, here’s a couple of cute berets that fit this image’s look. They’re all from etsy but I like them all a lot and bought one to wear which has been very comfy. I’ll probably combine and repost these into a proper post later so other people can read them and it can be a bit easier to save and look back on. I’ll add any extra tips I can think of when I do.
Alright well big sis Sery will give a couple of basic tips then. I’m admittedly still quite new to this myself so I don’t think I can do much beyond the basics. I’ll also post some cute berets similar to this one at the end.
Colour
So, first important thing is colour. Different colours will look good on you depending on your skin’s undertone. Essentially your skin might be slightly warmer or colder in tone. Whichever it is, you generally will want to pick colours which are also warmer or colder to match. Taking myself as an example, my skin leans a little warmer, so I find that colours like red look very good on me. That doesn’t mean I can’t wear blues, it just means I have to proportion them differently.
Similarly, your hair colour will go well with different types of shades. If your hair is darker it looks better with darker and less saturated colours, whereas if it’s lighter it will go well with brighter colours. Like before this isn’t a hard and fast rule though, you can wear other stuff too.
So, you have a basic idea of what colours to go with, but you can’t just wear any colour with any other. So, we need to think about how the colours themselves relate. Colour theory is a lot to go over so I’ll summarise very quick: colours that are next to each other on a wheel (red and orange, for instance) go well together. So do colours which are opposite of each other (red and green). But you have to proportion these two types of relation differently. First, one colour will always be the primary colour, usually the one you have the most of, on you so use that to determine these relations. The adjacent colour can be used pretty frequently or dominantly in the outfit. But the opposite colour has to be used more sparingly, because if you have too much of it it will clash heavily with the main colour. There’s two ways to do this: the first is to wear things which are only barely tinted in that opposite colour. Note that this also includes colours adjacent to that opposite colour (and in fact you should maybe wear them more often over true opposites) Taking the image as the example, she is wearing tan and brown, which are effectively orange and yellow. The opposite of orange is blue, so her shirt is a very dark blue. It thus acts as the opposite colour in this fit. The other way to make opposite colours work is to use very little of it. One or two accessories, for instance.
Note that black, white, and grey are neutrals. They can be used with basically anything without clashing. Just try to check whether they are a warmer or colder tone, since colders work better with other cold tones and vice-versa
Cutting this here for now since my class is starting and I already lost this wall of text twice, I’ll post the next bit later when I have time, sorry!
Omg thank you so, so much. This is really useful. Also no worries about cutting it short, what you have given is already so good 😊😊😊
Finally got some time, so here’s part 2 of the mini-guide:
Sizes
Sizes are a bit of a pain to work out when you’re just starting to wear different clothing. The rule of thumb you’ll normally hear is to go one size larger compared to your usual if you’re switching from men’s to women’s. But I’ve found that, while this is helpful for choosing quickly and buying online, it’s often better to just eye whether you’ll fit in something while shopping in-person. I normally wear men’s mediums but I can fit in both men’s and women’s smalls depending on the exact piece. It takes a while to work this out though, so the rule of thumb works until then.
I would highly recommend learning your full measurements if you plan on shopping for dresses online. It’s possible you’ll find that all of your measurements can fit except for one and often it’s better to err on the side of caution and go the one size higher to compensate. You can do this yourself if you’re uncomfortable with being touched by someone else doing it. I’d also recommend occasionally buying dresses one size larger anyways if you’re tall so as to compensate for your height with a longer skirt.
Note also that different countries can have different sizes called the same thing when shopping online so that’s something to be careful of. I buy a lot of imported Japanese clothes to fuel my lolita obsession and for those I usually buy L or 2L rather than the M or L I buy where I live. Knowing your full measurements can help you compare and figure out what sizes are right.
Proportions
No clue if this is the right term but it’s what I’m gonna call it. When you’re working on an outfit you want to think of how much of your body is covered by each piece. As an example, take a basic shirt and pants. If you keep the shirt out of the pants it will make it so that each cover roughly half of your body. If you put the shirt in the pants, however, it will instead make the shirt cover 1/3rd and the pants cover 2/3rds. You want to try to create these 1/3rd and 2/3rd splits because they’re more visually interesting compared to a halfway split. Try to visualise the splits using the waist/hips as the centre line: you want to avoid having things end there.
Taking the image as an example: her jacket goes down below her waist, so it covers roughly 2/3rds of her body. The shirt is cut off by her (obscured by the text) skirt, so it is covering 1/3rd, the skirt then is covering 2/3rds or maybe just 1/3rd depending on its length. The important thing is to create these sections of thirds and to make sure that two pieces on the same area (the jacket and shirt) are not covering the same proportion of your body.
This is the tip I’m most iffy on, I had read it in a transfem fashion post on reddit that I couldn’t find, and I’m mostly working off of my vague memory of what it said. I had thought it came from this post* which I saved, but I couldn’t find it in a quick skim and I think I had actually read the tip in the comment which linked to this post. I would recommend reading the post btw, I don’t follow its advice much since I have a very different aesthetic compared to what it suggests but it can give you some basic ideas, especially on how to de-emphasise the masculine aspects of your figure.
*(https://www.reddit.com/r/transfashionadvice/comments/meqn5x/how_to_build_your_wardrobe/)
That’s about all I can think of. So, as promised, here’s a couple of cute berets that fit this image’s look. They’re all from etsy but I like them all a lot and bought one to wear which has been very comfy. I’ll probably combine and repost these into a proper post later so other people can read them and it can be a bit easier to save and look back on. I’ll add any extra tips I can think of when I do.
Berets
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/932653632/women-berets-hat-beret-hat-with?click_key=8651645229ca53e692cba1315118554961d8f8d2%3A932653632&click_sum=6007b519&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=beret&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&pro=1
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1412156478/hand-embroidered-100-wool-flower-french?click_key=fb91d52fcdc0f5ab5cefdba017a0d7b81dcbc57f%3A1412156478&click_sum=68706b79&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=beret&ref=sr_gallery-1-5&pro=1&frs=1&sts=1
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1107346888/big-bowknot-wool-hatneedle-felted-design?click_key=70bff656a9a5d8bc38c972a53478f9fb84bd6c60%3A1107346888&click_sum=4e7673f5&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=beret&ref=sr_gallery-1-9
Thank you so much again!!! You are super helpful. Also those berets are simply adorable, I’ll definitely pick one up. Thanks for the help big sis. 🥰🥰🥰
Of course, anytime!