Dressing Your Truth update

[darkemeralds]

On Tuesday I had the nicest compliment: a co-worker, a well-dressed young guy from India whose graceful manners make him a constant pleasure to work with, said, "I like your colors today. You have a very good dress sense."

(I was wearing a red skirt suit, a red-and-purple striped top, and purple tights. I mean, there were only two colors, but there was a lot of each of them. The compliment was, therefore, sort of surprising and deeply gratifying. Because I meant that outfit, but I'll admit it was eye-bending.)

Over the past several months my closet has become like a box of Crayolas.


Purple and yellow (aka fuck you, subtlety)

I've taken a "strict compliance" approach to Dressing Your Truth (because "strict" is generally a good descriptor for Type 4),


Sulfur and houndstooth--one of my few available prints and patterns to break up the huge color-blocks

and once I accepted the limitations on color¹, texture², design line³, and fabrication⁴, it's been amazing how brilliantly everything works together.


Apparently I like orange now

So yeah, nice outfits and all, but it's more than that, and there's a whole community of DYT-ers (mostly on Facebook) constantly trying to figure out and express what that "more" is.


Trenchant

For me, it's...

• bending "rules" of workplace, social milieu, city--even gender a little bit--to express something true about myself
• taking bits of style inspiration from across the Type 4 spectrum, from Adam Lambert to Anne Hathaway
• saying fuck you to age-based (and weight-based!) restrictions on clothes, hair and makeup
• feeling like it's okay to show myself to the world
• not being shocked to see a photograph of myself
• telegraphing clearly to the world what it can expect of me⁵

Accessories

Also? Packing for my next trip, whenever that might be, is going to be a breeze.


Waterproof

---

<sup>1. Black and white plus pure hues↩

2. Smooth--even shiny--firm and crisp.↩

3. Bold, straight, simple, clean, fitted↩

4. Structured, shaped, tailored ↩

5. Still, reflective, discriminating, demanding, logical, bold, and don't hug me, okay? So, basically, a Vulcan in really saturated colors.↩</sup>

Comments

[darkemeralds]

A) Thank you! And I really do feel awesome every day--well okay, MOST days--so it IS fun. I think I freak people out with my groovy old lady on a bike thing, and it just pleases me ridiculously.

B) How interesting that your mother picked out the DYT book. There is something so absolutely compelling about it for so many people. I can't remember if you and I discussed Carol Tuttle's latest book, The Child Whisperer, which is her energy profiling approach to parenting. Obviously, that's not a subject real near to my heart, but I've been through the whole book three times now, and it has given me fresh insights into my own upbringing as well as into the four Types. I recommend it (and I have acquired the audiobook, which I'm happy to share, if you're interested and if we haven't already had this conversation).

How's your Type 2-ness coming along?

[panisdead]

We didn't discuss The Child Whisperer, but I bought it as soon as it became available. I've read it, but plan to go back and reread to better absorb. I found it a bit overwhelming, frankly, as there are techniques I think could be very useful, but changing direction midstream with an 8-y-o is not necessarily a breeze.

Coming along! I feel comfortable with it. I went back and forth for a good while on subtype until, interestingly, The Child Whisperer, where it became immediately obvious to me that I'm a 2/3. Of course, that's the subtype I had completely ruled out prior. Of course. ::g::

[darkemeralds]

there are techniques I think could be very useful, but changing direction midstream with an 8-y-o is not necessarily a breeze.

It's hard for me to imagine that you haven't already done everything to nurture your son according to his nature, though.

2/3 is an interesting combination. I think I can see, from when we've met, that sturdy substrate. I feel like I'm a secondary 3 as well, but mostly it seems to add impatience with boredom to my Type 4 impatience with stupidity. But it does let me consider cable-knit sweaters...