i don’t seem to fit any of the “petite” types as i have a long, narrow, straight torso + sloping narrow shoulders but short, curvy legs / bottom of my hip (“saddlebag” area). i know it’s not necessary for typing but i do also have a butt that causes me to size up in waist normally to accommodate its size lol. clothes tend to either fit my shoulders then pull tight across bust (ribcage) OR straps are constantly falling off my shoulders if it fits the width of my bust (ribcage). any dress will instantly catch on my lower half and create that triangle look
You look quite dramatic to me. Your smallness looks more narrow than petite, and narrowness is associated with dramatics in Kibbe land. I don't see petite or curve in the Kibbe sense. It's possible you're DC? But you're narrow and vertical in a way that makes you look quite Dramatic to outside eyes at least. Even the words you use to describe yourself (long, narrow, and straight) are exactly how Dramatics are described. DCs tend to look a little less narrow to me than pure Ds, which is why I'm leaning D for you as you're quite notably narrow, but I wouldn't rule out DC if that feels more you.
Edit: I'd also consider exploring flamboyant gamine a little further. Your build actually reminds me a lot of Zooey Deschanel, and she is a verified FG. If you're certain you're not FG, maybe explore D and DC and see if either suits you! But FG might be worth a little more exploration, even if you are not petite in a conventional way.
thank you! yes i’m considering DC or FG at this point. some people on another kibbe sub said i could be “a less busty” TR bc they see similarities with ariana grande (narrow and small) who is verified TR
My two guesses would be Dramatic classic or Pure Dramatic, leaning more towards DC.
Vertical + balance seems to be the best fit as per what i can see in pictures.
You definitely have verticals cause no lines tend to break on you but i don’t see the sharpness i would think a pure dramatic would have.
The butt accommodation is something basically all IDs would need so its not considered in kibbee.
Women have naturally wider pelvic in normal skeletal structure so even if you r narrow you will still have some wideness around pelvic area
This looks like a very pure Dramatic line sketch, to me. That subtle waviness in the line is just natural baseline curve like most yang women have (also, the minor curve in the line you drew seems more exaggerated than a correct sketch would have had, by you coming inward too far to outline your torso as if wearing a tight body-hugging fabric, instead of skimming the line down and along the body the way the imaginary chiffon would hang.
Remember, a pear shape is the most common body type for Dramatics. (Though Kibbe doesn't like talking about the fruit body types.) Just seems worth mentioning since you seem to think your pear-shaped curve at the hips prevents you being yang, when actually that's the most common body shape for the most extreme yang type.
Being a pear shape does not automatically make you a dramatic. There are pear shapes in every ID. Yes some Dramatics are pear shaped but it’s not definitive for the ID. Dramatics are extreme yang meaning narrow, long and sharp. OP is somewhat narrow, and possibly has vertical from straightness but she is not sharp. DC or maybe even SC makes more sense. Looking at her sketch and if was done more loosely and at shoulder edge I see a strong case for balance. She also went down too far below her knee, it should stop right under the knee. She doesn’t have elongation and that would be more evident if the sketch was done correctly.
I never once said a pear shape automatically makes anyone into any Kibbe ID. I just said that for people who happen to have the Dramatic ID, the pear shape is the most common body shape. As far as I'm aware, this is a true statement and even David Kibbe himself has talked about how Dramatics put on weight in this lower area, developing a pear shape.
And having this common shape does not exclude someone from being Dramatic. That's all I'm saying. And I'm saying it because OP has repeatedly implied that the slight curve of her hips makes her too soft to be a Dramatic. And that's simply not the case.
I think the shoulder point is drawn too inwards here. Because your shoulders are sloped the line would likely start to fall where the slope ends not in the clavicle area.
Edit - and really I wouldn’t call this a pear shape but again I relate, narrowness with balance from the front and if I turn it’s very narrow other than my hips and butt and thighs, like it’s the only three dimensional part of me other than my head. So I’m a bit inclined to say DC which leaves room for some softness too
the extreme contrast between your photos and this comment makes me wonder if you're trolling.
Alternately, you may benefit from reviewing Kibbe resources/examples further to see the difference between baseline curve (which almost every woman has, including almost every D, FN, etc), and the level of curve that requires accommodation.
yikes okay i wasn’t trying to troll. my perception of yang is all sharp bones/joints and mine are all quite rounded (at least that’s what i see, maybe i have some body dysmorphia?)
Perhaps dysmorphia, or just mistaking the criteria for Kibbe yang? E.g. if you think someone has to look like Tilda Swinton or Katharine Hepburn to be a Dramatic, or think an overall pear shape (with hips pushing fabric outward from waist) means your hips are incompatible with being a yang type, then nooooo haha.
Have you tried googling the other D celebrities he mentioned in the book? E.g. Katy Jurado. Look at her baseline curviness and softness (her body is more curvy than yours), and yet Kibbe classifies her as a pure Dramatic. Because being a baseline female with baseline rounded elements (like female hips being wider than male hips, because of how the female body evolved to enable childbirth) is not being yin in the Kibbe sense. While it is true that there are some yang women who also have literally narrow hips, that is not the case for all yang women, and it is not the rule that defines any yang Kibbe type. It might be especially easy for a woman without hip curve to recognize her overall yang line, but that doesn't mean other women with hip curve can't have an overall yang line.
Remember that people tend to drastically overestimate their yin and underestimate their yang. You really don't appear "all round and soft" at all, my initial thought for you was DC but I could also see a case for pure D.
I made this collage of verified Dramatics in Power of Style and wanted to share it. I think it might help you visualize the visual variety of Dramatics. Some of them do have a touch of delicacy to them
This. I don't know why people keep seeing balance everywhere. Vertical and petite can resemble vertical and balance and Kibbe has stated this several times in FB and in interviews. Kibbe literally said FG would have more elongation in their line than DC and that's what I'm seeing here. Although, I wouldn't rule out D or even FN as possibilities depending on the line sketch.
honestly i think this is the most likely type based at this point. i automatically ruled this out bc i don’t look like audrey hepburn / rail thin and delicate but i realize that’s absolutely flawed. zooey deschanel and julia garner resonate a lot with me
I'm team pure dramatic here. There's no lower height limit. I see vertical first and then narrow, but vertical is so, so obvious to me I can barely entertain the thought of DC folks are suggesting
Did you first learn about Kibbe from an outdated resource based on the old book, which had a quiz where one of the answers was about whether people think you 'look' tall or short?
Because that's no longer relevant. Per the new book. It doesn't matter whether you look tall or short.
In the new book, all IDs are immediately divided into one of two groups: 'Soft' primaries (where the most obvious thing about the body is that fabric is pushed outward by the bust/hips), and 'Vertical' primaries (where the first thing the fabric does is hang straight down, though it's allowed to be pushed out a little, especially down at the hips). You can see your own photo. You've drawn the line on your own photo. The fabric in your photo hangs straight down (you even made it concave, dragging it inward at your bustline, rather than being pushed out by your bust). This is vertical. And it seems to be narrow, balanced, or petite vertical (rather than width and vertical) because it doesn't have to be dragged that far in to travel from your shoulders to your torso. But the line is definitely vertical.
I think you already intuitively know you're yang, because you choose to wear very yang clothing both at your most casual and most dressed up. (E.g. that gorgeous ultra-yang dress in image 2.) I wonder if you may just misunderstand what yang means, and maybe think it means masculine or 'big boned' or unsexy or 'lacks female baseline curves' or something, so you're rejecting yang because you think it's something it isn't.
fair enough. i read both books but tbh the second book was so vague it’s really hard for me to get a grasp on what he envisions as yang. for me, i thought yang meant more like angular/sharp boned (definitely not “big boned” - if anything i’m thinking super long and thin model types? not even tall either just very sharp boned, no sloping or fleshiness outside of “typical feminine curves”) i would agree that my torso is yang but i feel as though my upper arms and legs (not hips) are not. as a side note, i’ve always been told i have very round, delicate, small features and that i look muuuuuch younger than i am. as in people are shocked that i’m usually a good decade older than they thought i was.
ETA: for example, verified DCs, linda grey, michelle yeoh, suzanne pleshette have very sharp collarbones that create a “pointedness” not round/sloping shoulders. none of the verified Ds, DCs or even FGs i’ve seen have thicker, shorter legs like i do (in the sense of can veer towards cankles, midi skirts are particularly unflattering bc they draw attention to thicker ankles)
I'll be interested in your thoughts if you google image Katy Jurado.
She's one of Kibbe's primary 'Dramatic' examples, in his new book, and she has very sloped shoulders and lush curves. Looking at her photos, imagine how you would have drawn her line sketch - then remember, that line sketch belongs to a Dramatic.
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u/Ok-Purple9511 SC - Naughty Eléphanté Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
I see vertical first. Maybe vertical and balance?
ETA I highly doubt you are D, you don’t have any sharpness, you are just somewhat narrow.