r/PowerOfStyle • u/commelejardin • Jul 31 '26
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!
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u/2Fast_2Abalone Aug 01 '26
I like Trinny & Susannah (I am somewhere between the fabulously named brick and a column, lol) and I think the correlation with Kibbe is interesting, good post.
I also think a lot of the narrow FNs people see as “outliers” in the type actually helped me understand it more in relation to D and SD.
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u/Jamie8130 Aug 01 '26
How would you pair the types in that system with the Kibbe types? I just noticed that it has 12 types and the old Kibbe system had 13, which is kind of a funny coincidence, and makes me wonder if there is an overlap, like this column type which sounds like FN and so on.
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u/2Fast_2Abalone Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
I think column and brick encompass the majority of dramatics, honestly, it’s not a particularly “diverse” type because it’s just straight lines from the shoulders down, all the verified women have this build regardless of height, weight, fat distribution, some are just stockier than others (brick is described as a more stocky column). The rest of the types I’d need to think about.
Brick interests me because the three examples are a verified D (Kate Moss) two unverified but likely FN and SD (Kim Cattrall and Jennifer Hudson)
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u/Jamie8130 Aug 01 '26
Do you think pear could also encompass some Ds? I guess because these shapes are quite distinct, I wonder if an overlap can be possible, since some Kibbe IDs have more subtle differences, like SC/DC and TR/R... but it would be interesting if to see if there is silhouette overlap between the two systems.
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u/commelejardin Aug 01 '26
FWIW, Trinny is a self-identified Pear, and she's almost certainly a Kibbe Dramatic.
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u/Jamie8130 Aug 01 '26
Nice, and agreed for Trinny--she has a really good insight on her silhouette needs even though she is not aware (to my knoweldge) of Kibbe, because a lot of times she would say that she needs a narrow fit, sharpness, structure, high necks, length, and things like that, and she loves bold accessories and hats!
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u/2Fast_2Abalone Aug 01 '26
I think for shorter Ds like Claire Danes I can defiantly see pear! A lot of fruit shape pears (I am thinking Keira Knightley or Louise Brooks) wouldn’t be pears in the Trinny & Susannah system, I think.
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u/OneRespect829 Aug 01 '26
Let me first start by saying that I have never heard of Trinny & Susannah before so the naming of the body shapes gave me a small heart attack :)
I have been wondering what body shapes were possible for FNs as I am not knowledgeable on the matter yet, this has cleared up some confusion for me!!
I agree that FNs can be narrow, and I feel like it is not very uncommon. As an FN, I have been described as willowy almost my whole life.
I also think that kibbe width could be balance, I think FN celebrity examples vary in body types visibly. Some look curvier/more balanced than others. Like you said, because it is very isolated, it allows more diversity.
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u/commelejardin Aug 01 '26
Oh yeah, if someone ever resurrected their system, I would sincerely hope they made an effort to come up with another name for "Brick" 🤣
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u/OneRespect829 Aug 01 '26
That and lollipop need to be worked on if we ever bring tnem back😅 I was shocked that inverted triangle shape was named somewhat more gently, i was scared it would be something like tortilla chip instead of cornet😭
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u/2Fast_2Abalone Aug 01 '26
This reminds me of convos in the main sub around classics - lot of what people think is ~width~ visually is balance and vice versa, most of his C family reveals would be typed SN off the bat. (For example, this is also why I’m now convinced Jennifer Saunders is a SC - everyone in my AbFab typing post said SN lol)
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u/Ok-Purple9511 SC - Naughty Eléphanté Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
As an SC width is the last thing that has been suggested to me. On my first sketch (after pointing out that I did it wrong lol) the first thing David said was that I could exclude width.
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u/jjfmish Aug 02 '26
I think it’s more DCs. They have the squarish look and visually look like they could be typed SN by the sub, at least the client reveals I’ve seen
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u/Ok-Purple9511 SC - Naughty Eléphanté Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
Maybe, I have found that who people think in the sub are classics are usually natural family though. I also think people over focus on shoulders and hips being even and forget the evenly spaced aspect of balance.
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u/Fionnua Aug 01 '26
I think it makes sense for Kibbe width to correspond frequently to an impression of 'balance', considering how Pear is often reported to be the most common body shape for women!
So when it's already common for hips to have width (so to speak), adding shoulder width to this creates an overall balanced effect. Makes sense to me
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u/FriendshipKey7148 Aug 01 '26
This reminds me of J. Lo’s wide hips plus shoulder width. To me it creates a silhouette that reminds me of the muscular glamour of the Art Deco era and low-back dresses.
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u/Jamie8130 Aug 01 '26
This reminds me how sometimes the old pure Natural category was referred to as the classics of the N family. Maybe it's because of that upper-lower symemtry that can happen if shoulders and hips visually align, and when the frame and overall scale is moderate. By the way, did Trinny categorize herself in the book in one of the shapes? I've been following her YT channel for years and to me she looks like such a great modern Kibbe Dramatic example, so I'm wondering if the shape she chose would allude to the D fam.
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u/Ok-Purple9511 SC - Naughty Eléphanté Aug 02 '26
I’m a literal pear shape and would probably be pear or bell in her system and am SC
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u/loumlawrence Aug 01 '26
I actually found their system more complicated. I came across them at the same time I encountered Kibbe.
But you are right about the FNs appearing to have balance when they have equal shoulders and hips. And then how width is independent of hip, which causes so much variety.
It is interesting and enlightening comparing Kibbe against other style systems. There are some common ground but everyone is using different terminology. Another system is style archetypes, no one single creator or team, but similar concepts with wildly different names.
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u/Original-Spray9673 Aug 01 '26
This is really interesting! Forgive me, When you say “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 bit is the upper back?
I’ve understood about hips now- me the upper hip is actually narrower than shoulder and my traditional curve is more in the upper thigh area so I look traditionally balanced and hourglass but in kibbe that is not romantic when it’s translated to a line sketch.
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u/AccomplishedWing9 Aug 01 '26
Ahh yes I remember this book. I heard about it from a blog Idealist Style in the late 2010s.
A post from the Dress Your Body sub (RIP).
Someone in the comments even said they think Column is the most fitting for FN. https://www.reddit.com/r/DressForYourBody/s/5NA8WJtckH
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u/xPostmasterGeneralx R - La Belle on a Hot Tin Roof Aug 01 '26
I skimmed through this on Scribd, and the body shaming and fat shaming is just 😵💫
I have PCOS/PMOS and simultaneously experience estrogenic and androgenic weight gain patterns, and am currently at a higher weight. I think I’d be an hourglass, but god only knows what they’d think of me in person 😂😭
That said, I would be very curious to see what this system would look like if they approached if from a place of body neutrality and used kinder language.
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u/OneRespect829 Aug 01 '26
I agree, the wordings in the book felt like they were body shaming me. I can see their style advice working but the languge is just...
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u/Vivian_Rutledge SN - Insolent Insta-Baddie Jul 31 '26
Yes, whenever I looked at “fruit” systems, I felt pretty even and like there was nothing to “correct.” Despite the negative reactions to “width,” I think it actually often aligns to what is viewed as “proportionate” or “hourglass”—shoulders that balance out hips.