You can tell I am the same person. But even though the picture is a little blurry, isn't it easier to see my facial features clearly in the picture on the right?
Think about the questions that ask about jawline. Or how big your eyes are. Or if your cheeks are fleshy.
In the picture on the right, I can see some elongation. I get a sense of the relative straightness of my waist and hips. I see an angle or two.
But in the other picture, all of those traits are harder to see. Even in pictures with more form fitting clothing, it's harder when I am overweight. Which has been most of my life.
Confession: when I take any version of the Kibbe quiz, including my own, I go find pictures of myself when I am thinner.
But these videos may help you. And after that, I will tell you how using or altering your recs might change when you weigh more.
Scale and Weight Change
Here are scale choices you might consider changing with weight gain or loss.
(1) The size of your accessories
(2) The size or shape of your hairdo
(3) The weight of your fabric
(4) The degree of closeness your silhouette has to your body
(5) The size of patterns and prints
What I don't mean - if you are angular, gaining weight will never mean that you need round accessories. Or if you need geometric shapes, you will never need to switch to swirls or diffuse, unstructured ones.
But, as an example of what I do mean, think about earrings.
On a woman who is almost 6 feet tall, studs will be completely lost on her. But on a woman under 5 feet, earrings that are the size of the top of a can of beans will overwhelm her.
The same possibility is there for women who are very thin and women at the other end of the continuum, no matter what their height.
Long before Kibbe, I knew I needed to wear big, chunky, funky earrings. But all things being equal, when I lose weight, within the "big" range, I can wear smaller ones. And oversized ones can sometimes seem too big. The same thing is true for me hair, by the way. I am not an FN, but when I am overweight, I need fuller, wilder hair than I do if I lose weight.
The Cautionary Tale
Let me caution you, though. As an image consultant, I know that you are not likely to need to transition from small scale to oversized.
Go up one frame size and see how that feels, before considering anything bigger.
The same would be true if you are very tall and then, you lose weight and are considering smaller accessories. Go down no lower than medium-large and try that out for a while to see if it fits.
The Basic Message
If you are sure of your type, but you aren't sure that the scale recs are right, because of your weight, don't throw out the type. You might be absolutely right, that in your case, at your weight, you need something slightly different, even though that is your Kibbe type.
Always honor your need to feel comfortable with what you are wearing.
For any Kibbe type, there are LOTS of recommendations! Give yourself permission to honor 80% of them, instead of 100% if you are concerned about how your weight will affect the way something looks.
As an example, I am convinced that I am a Flamboyant Gamine. So I need structured lines, thicker fabric, geometric shapes and combinations of opposites, which I like to do with color contrast and pattern mixing. But the one about the close-fitting silhouette - I am careful with that one.
I hope this has been helpful!
Let me know if you have any questions.
Jeanine