Seven Style Essences

Style analysis is fascinating because in practice, it works extremely well, but in theory, it shouldn’t work at all.

Style Analysis Theory argues that every single human face can be defined by just seven shapes. These shapes are often called style essences or just essences.

And actually, according to the theory, most people’s faces only contain two or three of those seven essences.

The seven essences are called Dramatic, Gamine, Natural, Romantic, Ingenue, Ethereal, and Classic. Above, each celebrity is very high on one of the seven style essences.

Upper left to right: Lucy Liu (highly Dramatic—long and sharp shapes), Audrey Tautou (highly Gamine—short and sharp), Jennifer Aniston (highly Natural—straight and blunt-edged), Selena Gomez (highly Romantic—large and circular)

Lower left to right: Lupita Nyong’o (highly Ingenue—small and circular), Uma Thurman (highly Ethereal—elongated and curving), Naomi Watts (highly Classic—moderately-sized features and balanced proportions)

How many style essences do most people have?

Most people’s faces have two or three of those seven main essences.

For example, Lucy Liu has Dramatic, Natural, and Classic. Audrey Tautou has Gamine and Classic.

It’s also possible, though less common, to have four essences or only one.

Does style analysis work?

In theory, these ideas seem too simple—seven core essences shouldn’t be able to capture the vast variation that exists in human faces.

But sometimes simple theories can explain complex phenomena. For example, a leading theory of personality (Big 5) claims there’s only five core personality traits. So if personality can be conceptualized in five, then seven may suffice for faces, at least until we find better theories.

And for me, the theory of the seven essences works. Everyone I’ve ever tried to type fits into this style system.

How to enhance your beauty

Many people find they look their most harmonious, and their most beautiful, when their clothes, hair, and makeup match the shapes in their face.

So for example, because Lucy Liu has Dramatic, Natural, and Classic shapes in her face, she would choose Dramatic (long and sharp), Natural (long and blunt-edged), and Classic (balanced and proportional) shapes for her fashion, hairstyles, and makeup looks.

What’s also interesting is that the style essences’ literal shapes evoke different vibes, like power and intimidation for the Dramatic type.

This is relevant for fashion, because fashion is so inherently emotional and psychological. So highly Dramatic faces will want their outfits not only to literally have sharp shapes but to also figuratively appear powerful and intense.

Understand how others see you

People with intimidating-looking faces don’t necessarily have intimidating personalities, but we might sometimes assume they do—especially because in TV and movies, villains’ faces often look villainous.

So learning about the style essences doesn’t just help you look your most beautiful—it can also increase awareness of how we perceive people based on first impression, including biases that we have toward others or that they have toward us.

Should you dress for your body or for your face?

In my observation, people look most harmonious when they dress in clothes that flatter their faces, regardless of what their bodies look like.

From a psychological perspective, this makes sense: in most social interactions, we spend far more time looking at people’s faces than bodies.

We also have a whole brain region—the Fusiform Face Area—dedicated to processing and remembering faces, a region far more specialized than any devoted to processing bodies. Humans are hardwired to focus on faces, far more than we’re wired to focus on bodies.

Plus, since our hair frames our faces, and since makeup goes directly onto our features without obscuring them (in contrast to clothes, which often obscure the contours of our body, anyway), it makes sense to match your hair and makeup to your face. Style analysis will also give you the tools to dramatically enhance your beauty by discovering your most harmonious hair and makeup.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t take body shape into account when dressing but rather to say that you’ll look most harmonious, and most beautiful, if you primarily match your clothes, hairstyles, and makeup to your face.

Learn more about the style types

The next posts provide further descriptions of the seven core types, starting with Dramatic.

Here is a list of all the celebrities I’ve typed so far, with links to Pinterest to visualize the blended types.