Episode 5: Playing Dress Up with Michele
Today we played dress up with Michele! Her style is artsy and colourful! Michele is a regular customer but has only shopped online. Today was her first visit in store 🙌🏽
Michele is 5’6” tall and is the shortest in her family (with the exception of her grandchildren)! She has broader shoulders and narrower hips— an inverted triangle body shape. Her bra size is 36D and her bust, waist, and hip measurements are 40”, 34” and 40”.
Tops
Michele is most comfortable in her favourite style, the long tunic with side ties. The style was the perfect length to even out the width of her shoulders and her hips without making her look boxy. She looked great wearing this style both with the V to the front and the back.
We quickly discovered that Michelle looks best in prints that are asymmetrical and randomly scattered across the fabric. Patterns that were too repetitive ended up looking boxy on her frame. We forgot to try on a front tie top even though Michele owns one and enjoys wearing it. Michele also owns boxy tops and enjoys wearing them with higher waisted pants and skirts. Check out this one that she ended up buying--Michele loved the how the reversible top allowed her to choose between warm and cool tones depending on which side she wore to the front.
While the waterfall top suited Michele, she felt that there was just a little too much fabric for her liking. The sheer version, made from silk georgette had a better drape on her frame than did the same style in a crepe silk.
The hi lo top, however, worked well on her body frame.
Michele was surprised that the tapered tunic looked as good as it did—she thought that there would be way too much fabric.
Customers who watched our live felt that the kimono-sleeved top suited Michele, but she personally felt that there was too much fabric horizontally across her body for her liking.
TOPPERS
Another clear winner was the versatile, vest style. This style worked extraordinarily well when worn with a longer back or a shorter back (styled as a vest) and with the vest worn as a top.
Michele was immediately drawn to several of the cardigan styles. When she wore them with a solid black underpinning, the result was an elongating black column through the center, which was very flattering.
Michele owns a duster but we forgot to try one on today 🙈. We did try on the kimono sleeved jacket and liked the look of it.
Oops! I just realized we also forgot to try on a poncho 😬. I think we were having too much fun chatting to be meticulous about picking one of each style to try on 💕
DRESSES
As with Heather from our last episode, all the dresses looked amazing on Michele. The boxy baby doll dress worked best when the pattern was asymmetrical and the fabric was sheer.
The maxi dresses and jumpsuits looked incredible! Michele loved the versatility and the flowy fabrics.
The jumpsuits were equally well-received:
Michele liked the sheer sculptural tunic dress and is looking forward to when we have more in stock.
Michele came in wearing a self pocket dress that matched the funky felted wool in her hair. The one she tried on in store didn’t look as good as the one she came in with, mostly because there was a small pattern in a rectangular shape across her front, which we now realize doesn’t suit her frame.
The jury is still out on whether the one shoulder dress suits or not—it was really hard to get a sense of the look over top of her long sleeved black underpinning. We did discover, though that longer vertical lines in that style dress suited her better than more blocked patterns.
Michele was hesitant to try on a midi length kaftan, thinking it would be too much fabric, but we realized that sheer fabrics work really well on her and the kaftan looked flattering.
Thank you so much Michele for your patience and positive energy! It was so much fun playing dress up with you ❤️❤️❤️!