A Few Thoughts On FN, Feat. An Unlikely Source

So I mentioned this on another thread, but thanks to Scribd, I’ve fallen back down the Trinny & Susannah 12 Body Types hole. Like many style systems, I think it could actually be super helpful to people seeking really actionable styling advice, if they can get past some of the… patriarchal language. 

Anyway, while I might do a more comprehensive post on that in the future, this is not that post lol. Instead, I wanted to focus on one of their 12 body types and how I think it can actually, weirdly, help clarify (what I believe to be) a couple of common misconceptions about one Kibbe ID in particular. 

The body type in question is The Column. This type is defined by:

• Shoulder width the same as hips
• Slight waist
• Longer legs

This is the girl who was “a head taller than the rest” in her school photos. The style challenge they emphasize for this type is primarily length (of sleeves, pants, etc.). Since it’s an “Hourglass-Based” system, they recommend avoiding shapeless clothes and essentially creating a waist, since the type is otherwise “perfectly proportioned.” 

They provide three celebrity examples (as they do for every type). In this case, they are Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Kidman, and Jane Fonda. 

That’s right: All three of their examples of  “tall + balanced” are Kibbe FNs. 

Now if you wanna stop me here, I get it; it could legit be a coincidence. After all, apart from Pear (all of their examples are verified Kibbe Naturals), most of their examples are all over the place in Kibbe; Halle Berry (SG) and Meryl Streep (SC) are both Skittles, and their Goblets include Renee Zellwegger (SN) and Jessica Lange (R). And I’m sure that there are plenty of Kibbe Dramatics who would be Columns; Keira Knightley and Michelle Dockery come to mind. Perhaps most importantly, Kibbe is not a “body typing” system. 

But… I do think this speaks to a couple of big misconceptions about FN. 

• Sharpness/narrowness aren’t bugs in FNs; they’re features**:** Flamboyant Natural is Natural + Dramatic. Someone having narrow shoulders or hips or limbs—sometimes in combination, even!—isn’t going to exclude FN; some of those attributes are to be expected. 
  • An additional piping hot take: By virtue of this fact, pure Dramatic is exclusive, while FN and SD are inclusive. 
• Not only can “Kibbe width” look like conventional balance–it often is conventional balance: Before anyone comes at me, I’m not saying he should have used a different term. Nor am I saying that these folks don’t “have width" or that they do have balance. What am I saying? That an upper back that is wider than the rest of the upper torso, even without an unobstructed bust, will look balanced when the hips and shoulders are similar. Which is not at all to say that every FN will look balanced; rather, given how isolated width is in Kibbe’s sketches (it’s the only accommodation that doesn’t reach at least the high hip), it’s inherently going to apply to a more diverse group of people.

Anyway, just some thoughts!