Kibbe Body Type Test

Quick answer: Kibbe body types are David Kibbe’s ten Image Identities in five families — Dramatic, Natural, Classic, Gamine and Romantic. Each family has a sharper, leaner Yang side and a softer, curvier Yin side. Your family comes from your vertical line, your bones and your face; the side, from where your body is soft. The test above gives your closest type in seven questions.

How to use it

Stand at a full-length mirror in something close-fitting and answer what you see, not what you wish you saw. Four questions — how long you look, your shoulders and hands, the bones of your face, and the first word a stranger would use — pick your family. Three — your body flesh, your waist and any sharp edge — pick which of the family’s two types you are. The answer updates as you tap, and the map lights the type your answers point to.

When your answers sit exactly between a family’s two types, you get both. In Natural, Classic and Gamine that middle used to be a type of its own; Kibbe’s updated system asks you to choose a side. When two families tie, you get both families, and the question you hesitated on is the one to look at again.

How the test decides

Kibbe’s system, as the guides describe it, reads three things: in Sumissura’s words, it “classifies people based on their overall physical essence, blending factors like bone structure, body flesh and facial features.” And “Kibbe looks at your balance of Yin (softness) and Yang (sharpness).”

• The family — each answer about your vertical line, your bones, your face and your overall look gives a point to the family it describes (a long vertical line gives one to Dramatic and one to Natural, the two families the guides call long). The family with the most points wins.
• The side — your body flesh, your waist and a sharp edge are each scored Yang, middle or Yin, and only the answers that tell that family’s two types apart count. A Romantic and a Theatrical Romantic are both soft and curvy, so only the sharp edge decides between them.

The questions and the way the answers add up are ours, written from the published descriptions — not Kibbe’s own quiz, which is in his book. The types, their lines and what suits them are quoted from the guides. Only Kibbe, or a stylist trained in his system, can type you officially.

The 10 Kibbe types

The ten types as Sumissura and kibbebodytypes.net describe them. The Yin and Yang column is Sumissura’s table; the last column is kibbebodytypes.net’s line for each type.

13 types or 10?

Both, depending on the date. Kibbe’s book, Metamorphosis: Discover Your Image Identity and Dazzle as Only You Can (1987), has 13; Sumissura notes that “the original book is out of print”. His updated system has ten. A stylist who worked with it, Style Scholars, lists them — “there are 10 IDs: Dramatic, Soft Dramatic, Flamboyant Natural, Soft Natural, Dramatic Classic, Soft Classic, Flamboyant Gamine, Soft Gamine, Theatrical Romantic, Romantic” — and kibbebodytypes.net says what happened to the other three: “Natural (N), Classic (C), and Gamine (G) were absorbed into their flamboyant/soft variations in Kibbe’s updated system.” Kibbe himself, Style Scholars adds, calls them Image Identities rather than body types.

Does height decide it?

Less than people think. kibbebodytypes.net: “Height restrictions exist for only a few types (Romantics under 5’5″, Dramatics typically 5’6″+).” Sumissura puts the Dramatic line a little higher — “around 5’7” or more” — and adds that “height is not the defining factor; the key is the visual elongation and sharpness of their overall appearance.” So the first question asks how long you look.

Worked examples

Tall, broad-shouldered, lean: a long vertical line, broad and blunt bones, a wide jaw, ‘relaxed and sporty’, lean and straight, waist nearly straight, a little edge. Natural wins the family 4 points to 1, and lean flesh with a straight waist puts her on its Yang side: Flamboyant Natural.

Petite, curvy, round face, pointed chin: short, small rounded bones, soft facial bones, ‘soft and glamorous’, curvy, a clearly curved waist — and a sharp edge, yes, at the chin. Romantic wins 4 to 1; in the Romantic family only the edge counts, so: Theatrical Romantic.

Even all over, a little soft: in between in height, even bones, symmetrical face, ‘polished and elegant’, a little soft, a waist that curves in a little, no sharp edge. Classic wins 4 to 1, and the one Yin answer tips it: Soft Classic.

Common mistakes

Sumissura lists the ones that send people to the wrong type:

• “Misinterpreting facial features as more Yin or Yang than they really are”
• “Letting body size or weight fluctuations skew perception”
• “Confusing fashion style preference with Kibbe recommendations (you may love minimalism, but that doesn’t mean it’s harmonious for your type)”
• “Focusing on a single feature, such as height or hips, instead of the whole essence”

What to do with your type

Start with the lines of your clothes: sharp or soft, long or cropped, fitted or relaxed. Needle Style has Dramatic Classic hairstyles, outfits that flatter an hourglass figure, how to dress if you are short and curvy, outfits for broad shoulders and a bust and old money outfits. For numbers rather than lines, the free Body Shape Calculator works from your bust, waist and hips; for colours, the Color Season Quiz; for your face, the Face Shape Finder.

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