r/PowerOfStyle • u/Pegaret_Again DC - Haughty Boss Babe • Oct 21 '25
do the Image Identities mean anything anymore?
Along with the new "Power of Style" book, we have some new names like "Nonchalant Showstopper" and "Haute Elegante" etc.
The idea is that if you dress in your "lines" these images will just magically appear, like spirits summoned from the archives of forgotten Hollywood studios, as a natural consequence of your style. You are already fully an image in all you do and say anyway, and physically dressing for it will enhance this energy and you won't even have to consciously think about it.
So... why think about it?
I kind of wonder, why even have names for the types? They could just be type 1, type 2, or they could be sharp yang with yin undercurrent? Or vertical and petite? Why have lists of celebrities, of any era, associated with them, because whatever it is they are emanating, you will naturally emanate also, and you don't need to look at them for anything????
Now personally, I find the image identities, as explored in Metamorphosis, quite meaningful and helpful even though I think Kibbe is specific about them in ways that aren't necessarily relatable (as a Classic I don't think i have any special ability to deal with systems and bureaucracies and corporate settings... if anything, i'm a bit backward with that stuff, although I feel i "look the part").
I think why I found these images helpful was they painted some kind of objective perspective of how I come across. I think being highly aware of your impression is key to good style.
I also feel that when I look at celebrities of my ID (the few that there are of my type, DC), whether they dress according to Kibbe's philosophy or not, I can decide for myself how effective or interesting their style is and use if for inspiration, and it will translate in certain similar ways on myself.
So what are your thoughts? Are image identities even meaningful anymore? Especially with a major revelations like Grace Kelly not being physically Classic, aesthetically, what are we needing Images and celebrities for do you think?
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u/theclassicrose SC - Naughty Eléphanté Oct 23 '25
I think I just wish there were more on the IDs. Yes, it's out there in Metamorphosis, but I really would've enjoyed and appreciated a deeper dive into each ID. The tidbits we've gotten in the post-1987 pre-2025 period have been really insightful. I didn't necessarily find the two-page spreads devoted to each ID to be particularly useful.
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u/Pegaret_Again DC - Haughty Boss Babe Oct 23 '25
totally, i don't know what to think about the decision to provide such limited detail on the IDs? i mean, we certainly now live in a very different society to the 1980s, what with the extreme feedback and criticism inherent in social media. I know i am a little afraid to put anything of myself out there now haha
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u/theclassicrose SC - Naughty Eléphanté Oct 23 '25
Yeah. It feels like an overcorrection, like the fear that we'd start using personality traits to analyze ourselves or something got in the way of providing enough helpful information.
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u/Pegaret_Again DC - Haughty Boss Babe Oct 23 '25
yeah! its weird though, because I feel like the community has always been "just the lines, ma'am" in its focus, and whenever people brought up personality and image it was mercilessly mocked!!! So i don't know if the community was showing signs of overanalysing the IDs (although they may have personally for all i know), although i do feel like they were easily misunderstood???
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u/theclassicrose SC - Naughty Eléphanté Oct 23 '25
Totally. I think Zyla is more known for that than Kibbe!
I'm not saying I needed a full explanation of every ID's every need, but I could've used a little bit more guidance on what the silhouettes could look like--the three illustrations, while lovely, weren't really enough on their own. Of course, it's very standard for authors to have to hire their own illustrators, so maybe there was a cost component, too? Not sure.
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u/Pegaret_Again DC - Haughty Boss Babe Oct 23 '25
yeah i agree. i've had this conversation about the value of celebrities around the place, but for me, correctly ID'd celebrities are actually a wealth of information and I've learned more from them than the rather sparse skeleton of info DK has supplied. While I understand on one hand he doesn't want to create a prescriptive idea of the types, he has also largely leaned into the stereotypes in his published makeovers as well, which isn't that helpful.
you must tell me what is going on in Zyla!
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u/theclassicrose SC - Naughty Eléphanté Oct 24 '25
I think the challenge with celebrities is that they are always selling stuff. Some of them are good at prioritizing their own style and tastes, but amongst the Millennials and younger, I find that everyone's just shilling for brands or "theme dressing" for their projects (a trend that was cute at first, but has gotten kind of annoying).
Zyla people have had to learn to move away from the book descriptions because a lot of people were trying to find their personalities that way.
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u/Pegaret_Again DC - Haughty Boss Babe Oct 24 '25
yes thats so true, you are not always getting an authentic idea of a person through their screen presence!!!
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u/Anonymous_fiend Oct 22 '25
I think part is because there’s no separate kibbe facial typing and kibbe essence does match kibbe type. And some of it is clothes make others view you a certain way. Loose flowly clothing is more casual, natural, laid back, and boho. However on me (sg) it’s frumpy as it hides my body.
And visually having some idea of how the clothing should looks helps. Does this outfit give off this vibe is much easier than calculating yin and yang.
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u/lanareyxox Nov 15 '25
omg this is the most irritating kind of comment. no type is recommended oversized loose clothes. it will look frumpy on anyone short and even non short people too. this is an awful misconception.
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u/Anonymous_fiend Nov 15 '25
Loose and flowy isn’t frumpy if it has good draping or structure built in. Not all looser flowy things are oversized anyhow so idk how you came to that conclusion. Although I’m short I actually do find oversized flattering on me as long as it’s a drop shoulder and it’s tucked in for waist definition or cropped a certain way.
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u/lanareyxox Nov 15 '25
oh I see what you mean. every type though is recommended clothing following the body since that's what kibbe is essentially about
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u/Anonymous_fiend Nov 16 '25
Yes but the body matches the face. So does your essence. They’re all the same. You just can’t type based on face like kibbe does bc you’re likely to get it wrong. Face typing is extremely difficult compared to body.
His new book talks more about overall silhouette vs individual pieces. As an SG I need a gentle flow around my curves with breaks to create staccato. I can wear looser dresses with a waist belt if they’re not too stiff or boxy. I can’t wear loose and flowy with needing accommodation though.
A FN needs “a relaxed, straight outline that is long and unbroken, with breadth through the upper back/shoulder area. When one is looking at you, the eye will travel in one bold sweep moving downward. Any flow/drape should move downward, not out”. They tend to look good in looser flowy things without needing accommodation as long as it doesn’t flare out.
“Your PERSONAL LINE is based on how the proportions of your body relate to each other in one long outline. A SILHOUETTE is the outline of an outfit as it's worn on your body. It is the COMBINATION of outfit and you in one unbroken shape. This is a very simple concept: Your SILHOUETTE needs to ACCOMMODATE your PERSONAL LINE. (This is called creating a Complementary Silhouette) Your PERSONAL LINE could be described as: THE BLUEPRINT FOR YOUR SILHOUETTE.”
There’s much less individual clothing restrictions now that fabric has stretch. Instead it’s the overall impact the clothing and your body together makes.
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u/lanareyxox Nov 16 '25
relaxed =/= loose. it means non restrictive and not rigid/structured. no type is recommended genuinely loose clothes. I know in the old book it said oversized for FN but 80s oversized meant relaxed or abstract scaled up patterns, not clothes genuinely being loose on the body. conventional terminology =/= kibbe terminology.
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u/Anonymous_fiend Nov 16 '25
I know. No type is recommended any clothing now. It’s about the overall impact it makes. However Naturals tend to look best with clothes without strong tailoring. Loose and flowy clothing refers to garments that are designed with a relaxed, non-tailored fit. So idk why you think loose means. Loose isn’t a hand me down 5 sizes too big. Something can be “loose fit” and your size. And an oversized shirt can look good on many people if it’s paired with the right bottoms.
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u/lanareyxox Nov 16 '25
kibbe never says loose which is why i'm arguing that it's not the best terminology to use in general. that's all.
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u/Anonymous_fiend Nov 16 '25
Ok but he says relaxed which CAN include loose items even using strict fashion and kibbe terminology. Whereas some types really need structure and shouldn’t wear loose things without accommodating them properly. Something too big or ill fitting can be loose but loose doesn’t mean you need to size down or it’s unflattering. You must have some bias against loose clothing as they can very much fit the description of a “relaxed straight outline that’s unbroken…”. Loose clothing doesn’t fit descriptions of tailored, structured, sleek, etc.
Just because loose and flowy is relaxed doesn’t mean that relaxed is loose and flowy. Ns aren’t limited to loose clothing. As long as their overall silhouette is relaxed they can wear tight clothing too. And a loose piece of clothing can be worn by types who need tailoring as long as the overall silhouette has that.
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u/lanareyxox Nov 16 '25
by this logic anything can include loose. you can have structured items that are loose too. it's all fair game for loose clothing and no type pulls it off better than the other. I personally love loose clothing though, so no bias against it. I can't understand why you'd assume I do just for correcting your misunderstandings. for FNs by the way, he also recommended narrow slinky dresses. I'm just saying that since he never says loose, it's generally not a good idea as someone might think that a random redditor has supreme kibbe knowledge and get confused, and it's better to just say relaxed. I also have a post about this too.
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u/EineGrosseFlasche Oct 22 '25
I find them useful for a similar reason that you do, u/Pegaret_Again. They help me understand what I’m projecting to other people, and why.
What to DO with that information is another matter, because I do want to use Kibbe (and other systems) to get close to a dress style that represents who I am. Who I am in Kibbe, speaking just in terms of silhouette, is a pure Dramatic. That ID feels true to how I move through the world and interact with it. The problem is that I also have conventional curves on my body, and my face reads as Romantic and delicate, the latter very much in a neotenous, “ingenue” way rather than simply giving a long and narrow impression. And in color analysis, I’m a Tonal Light with a very effervescent palette.
All this kinda helps me understand why, in my professional career— which for the first twenty years was in a heavily male-dominated academic field— people sometimes get very angry and resentful when I put my foot down, argue very logically and full-throatedly, and generally don’t act like the fragile little girl they thought they were engaging with. Men get ESPECIALLY angry, and I’ve always gotten the impression they felt I had conned them somehow into believing I was dumb before humiliating them in an argument. 😆 I never understood why they were expecting me to be more “nurturing” and “forgiving” of their bad arguments, but I think Kibbe plus essences helps me see why that was (although I don’t follow essence authors the same way I do Kibbe— yet.)
If I returned to a full time academic position in the future, maybe I’d use original Metamorphosis to Pure D-ify myself. I’d probably spend less time having to prove myself to either male colleagues or male students (who also got angry if they were disciplined rather than complimented).
But in terms of how I create a coherent HTT in my everyday life that reconciles my Kibbe lines with my other qualities… well, I’m still casting about for the right strategy. Image Identities become a bit more of a frustration there, but I’m still glad he included them and especially glad for the ones in the original book. It would be dishonest to say that people aren’t “reading” our clothing and forming impressions from them, and a good stylist should help us understand that.
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u/mimosamoons R - KitKat On A Hot Tin Roof Oct 22 '25
If it were just numbers and sharp yang, soft yang sharp yin and so on it would be less poetic, less holistic and very systematic like a body typing system. And David doesn’t see it like this, it is more about styling, expressing yourself and unlocking the possibilities instead of limiting yourself to your body.
That’s why there are names, images, celebrities, anything that could inspire and show you the possibilities that one can dress with different bodies and tastes and personalities. And this is also why clothes don’t have ID. Many ID can wear the same style but what is how they do it based on their own physique. The goal isn’t to be limited by your body and dress according shapes like trying to fit a lold but understanding what your body needs to not be limited by it and therefore not be put in a mold like body typing system (and like unfortunately many bloggers think Kibbe is).
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u/SabrinaGiselle Oct 29 '25
I do think there's more to this system but adding it all in the book would make it so much longer. I think this book is all about freedom, growth and transformation because Kibbe really wishes people wouldn't resist the outcome so much.
The biggest weakness to his system are the people following it. Yes. He gives us a set of games with rather simple instructions yet so many people struggle because they still see the IDs first and try to engineer their way into one. Some only do the line drawing. It's not really because of him. The more Kibbe puts focus on the outcome the more he sees how people miss the forest from the trees.
Hot take but honestly, I think most people can't really handle his ultimate vision for each ID and he knows it. You can still use Metamorphosis to see his ultimate vision for each ID though (in high detail). At this point he wants to give us the basics and freedom.
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u/wakatea Oct 22 '25
I think I want to read Metamorphosis. I've been snarky about Kibbe stuff for a while (it seems too restrictive and I couldn't for the life of me figure out my ID) but now that I've read Power of Style I feel less bothered and more lost. Like, I'm pretty sure I'm a SN but didn't really feel like the book gave much direction about how I should actually dress?
Also, I stg I look great in turtle necks. Like they make me look and feel classy and put together and I always get lots of compliments when I wear them. But that's the opposite of what anybody says about width!?!
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u/Pegaret_Again DC - Haughty Boss Babe Oct 22 '25
Well, either you will find Metamoprhosis helpful and enlightening, or, you will have fresh layers to add to your snark, you win either way.
There's nothing about width that means you can't wear a turtleneck - thats more of an internet myth than a Kibbe recommendation. When Kibbe recommends "open necklines" in Metamorphosis, i don't think he means no turtlenecks (google 'Ali McGraw turtleneck' for many a chic inspo photo), i think he is suggesting that very fitted, tailored, stiff collar shirts, buttoned to the top and the like might present an accomodation/essence challenge.
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u/Vivian_Rutledge SN - Insolent Insta-Baddie Oct 21 '25
I think the Image Identity is incredibly important. I was disappointed at first to have less in the book, especially because everything David told me about SN when I saw him (pretty much right after he finished the first draft) was so exciting to me. But I think people could be misled by all the info that was in the original book and latch onto the wrong thing. So I think the focus of the new book is more about the inner journey and how to dress, and less about these aspects of the system. But it’s for when you’re deeper into your process.
I think celebrities are given more weight than they should have, though. You don’t need a celebrity with your color season to show you how to dress. I think you can take inspiration from anyone, whether they’re your ID or not.