<center> ***"It does take courage to present yourself boldly to the world."***</center>

I've wanted to explore Kibbe body types for a long time, but always passed it up in favor of other less superficial and more serious topics. So over the past few days, as I'm (still) trying to rest up my leg injury, I've been allowing myself to delve into this particular rabbit hole.

Developed by a man called David Kibbe in the 80s, the Kibbe body types were something of a fashion game changer that many women still return to religiously to this day, almost 40 years later. Rather than asking you to follow one trend or dress a certain way, Kibbe focused on *understanding* your body structure and working with it, rather than against it.

Which is something a lot of us do, especially if we're not "blessed" with whatever feature we covet:  a perky, round butt, generous cleavage, a long, sculpted frame, etc. So much of our fashion experiments revolve around altering reality, in a sense. We keep trying to "dress taller" if we're short, or fake ample breasts when we're flat-chested, or generally go against the grain, which is what Kibbe preaches against.

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Anyway, Kibbe designed a quiz in his book aptly titled "Metamorphosis" to help women figure out the precise ratio of Yin and Yang elements in their bodies. This looked at things like fleshiness, bone structure, width vs vertical line, etc. It's designed around the simple concept that the reason why you look off isn't that you're too short or too tall or too fat or too thin. The reason is you're wearing the wrong thing. You're trying to look like something else, and since you can't be that, it accounts for the "off" element in your appearance.

**I found it interesting, going in, that everyone (from modern Youtubers to Kibbe himself) emphasized how difficult it is to look at your body honestly. Without prejudice or projection.**

I thought I was more real, more honest than that, so proceeded to take the photo to help me unravel the quiz. I ended up taking the quiz like 6-7 times. All because I kept giving the wrong answers. I'd looked over the body types and kind of figured where I should land, so pretty soon, I was giving answers according to that. Like, my answers (based on what I assumed) should've been A/B. I knew I was one of those, so I didn't even look at the C, D and E options for questions.

Added to that, there was this insane amount of projection. Questions relating to chest size, which Kibbe emphasizes should not be understood as breast size, but ego does as ego does. Questions like are your thighs wide naturally translate to are you fat? 

Much as I believed myself above common-place inhibitions and ego-driven stereotypes, I kept coming up with the wrong answers. I was very determined I was in the A or B categories. I had my idea of what my reality was.

**So imagine my surprise understanding that *wasn't* my reality.** I'd look at the picture of myself and it took several tries until I was able to step past my pre-existing image of myself and admit that even though I *did* belong in the A/B category most of the time, some of my answers didn't. Because you can't be 100% of something. It's very rare. 

And managing to side-step our pre-existing notion of self? That's even rarer. The exercise reminded me of something my therapist often comes back to. When I started therapy, I was someone with fairly low self-esteem and was genuinely shocked when she'd compliment me, say I had great presence and character that I attracted attention through things like my walk or posture. Interestingly, I recognized some truth there based on how the world generally seems to react to me. But it was so far away from *my* image of myself that I just wouldn't believe it.

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I think it's fascinating to do this sort of exercise because it asks you to see yourself as an objective, external observer. To put away prejudice both on a purely physical level (e.g. my breasts are small or my nose is too big or whatever), but also on a psychological level. Because obviously, these body types also ascribe to certain traits.

**After I'd completed the test to my satisfaction, I started reading about my assigned body type, and *immediately* recognized myself. Not 100%, again, nothing is. But insanely much. Reading the detailed fashion suggestions and guides for that body type, I again started recognizing patterns that were already evident in my life. Certain accessories or styles that do look wonderful on me. Certain things that I might like but that refuse to work with my body type, so always ended up looking off on me.**


**What attracted me to this whole Kibbe thing was that he talks a lot about harmonizing the Yin and Yang in your structure, about being true to your essence and emphasizing the things you're maybe awkward or insecure about. It's easy to see why his body types were so successful because they introduce the notion that, rather than trying to mold yourself to a trend, you alter the trend to fit you and I think that's a huge game-changer. In how we present ourselves. Which affects how we carry ourselves. How we perceive ourselves. How we think.**


*On a personal level, I find it telling that though I first heard about Kibbe a few years ago, I only really got it now. And looking back, I can see that there is a lot of courage as he rightly points out in presenting yourself to the world with confidence. In embracing the parts of yourself that you've thought clunky or "wrong". It's easy to see now why it never worked when I first heard about him -- I wasn't in a confident place, or in a place where my faults could be anything other than that. Now I am, which is probably why I felt so called to delve into this. I can finally resonate with the theory behind this approach to fashion.*

It's not about learning how to dress right. It's about accepting both your personality and your existing image, and figuring out how you project one while emphasizing the other.


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