Valentine’s Day for the Style Essences
Happy early Valentine’s Day! Here’s Valentine’s-inspired outfits for every essence—plus how any style type can create a sexy, “romantic” look (without actually adding Romantic).
How Gamine does sexy: Mini and cropped
When you tease or flirt, the saying is that you’re “poking fun.”
So with its playful vibe and pointy, “pokey” features, Gamines have highly flirty beauty.
Fittingly, Gamines wear some of the most playfully sexy silhouettes, like mini skirts and cropped tops.
The spaghetti straps in this outfit add some Romantic, too. If you want a fully Gamine top, try:
Sweets-inspired style
Embody the sweetness of Valentine’s Day with whimsical Gamine prints featuring candy or fruit.
Pair with a short, sharp-angled skirt with a matte sheen (plus tights if it’s cold).
How Natural does sexy: off-the-shoulder
Wide necklines are awesome for Natural, especially combined with roomy silhouettes and casual fabrics.
Coral is also the perfect Natural pink, since more standard light pinks are so iconically Ingenue.
Complete the Natural look with relaxed fit jeans (and optional fun Gamine patches).
Other idea: T-shirt dress, sweater dress, or sweatshirt dress
Oversized tees aren’t just activewear or sleepwear. Add boots and waist emphasis (like a Romantic Dramatic corset-belt) for the ultimate sexy-casual look.
You could also wear a simple leather belt for an even more Natural feel, or cinch your waist with a flannel or other Natural top.
If it’s cold, swap the T-shirt for an oversized sweater, sweater dress, or sweatshirt—this one takes on some Ingenue in light pink.
How Dramatic does sexy: Deep V-neckline
The most obvious way Dramatic does sexy: a deep V-neck.
Not every V-neckline will be Dramatic—if it’s in a pale pink, sheer, polka-dotted fabric, for instance, it just might not have an intimidating Dramatic vibe, no matter how sharp the V is.
But deep, angular V-necklines in matte, solid-color fabric will typically have Dramatic.
Other idea: Blazer dress
Taking a cue from the Natural T-shirt dress—sexiness is typically increased when you ditch pants.
Wearing an oversized, sharp-edged Dramatic blazer as a dress can look very runway-inspired. Pair with tall boots and leggings if cold.
If you’d prefer to wear actual pants, you could even go for a full suit:
A double-breasted blazer can easily feel traditional and Classic. But styled with an intensely plunging neckline, it becomes fully Dramatic. Pair with matching floor-length trousers for edgy-sexy style.
To make it more V-day themed, add a dark red lip or pointed toe red flats.
How Classic does sexy: Buttoned-down
The easiest sexy style trick for Classics: wear conservative Classic pieces in slightly more revealing ways, like a button-down with several undone buttons. You still project polished Classic vibes, but with increased conventional sex appeal.
Skip the rolled sleeves and knotted hem if you don’t want to add Natural.
Another option: pair an unbuttoned Classic blazer (this one also has edgy Dramatic lapels) with a simple, relatively low-neckline top.
Other idea: Go with nudes
Wearing “nude” color clothing, especially in fitted styles, is generally viewed as sexy (a lot of revolutionary content in this post). Classic, out of all the essences, also happens to be the ultimate wearer of neutral color schemes.
To create a sexy Classic look, choose a simple, slim-fit top or sweater with a fairly modest neckline (like a crew-neck or moderate, blunt-edged V-neck) in a color somewhat similar to your skin tone. To add even more punch and keep the V-day theme, pair with a creamy medium red lip.
How Ingenue does sexy: Short skirts
The short circle skirt is iconically Ingenue. (This one also takes on some Ethereal from the sheer hem and marble print, with the tie-top adding Romantic.)
Choose a skort for a more practical version.
Other idea: Ballet-inspired
While ballet may be seen as a “romantic” dance, ballet-inspired fashion, like short tulle skirts, embodies Ingenue. Pair with slim-fit light-colored Ingenue capris—or tights or leggings to really emphasize the ballet theme.
How Ethereal does sexy: Sheer
The Ethereal vibe encompasses seeing through literal reality to detect hidden meaning. So see-through fashion is both sexy and highly Ethereal.
This outfit also has Romantic, especially with the waist emphasis (good velvety belt for Romantic, too), plus Ingenue from the ruffle peplum effect.
Other idea: Goddess-inspired
As covered recently, the typical wedding dress is highly Ethereal: long, flowy, delicate, dreamy. Combining all those elements creates a gentle yet regal, goddess-like feel.
This version looks cool with Gamine ankle boots. There may be some Romantic too if the slit is built into the garment, but overall it’s a mystical Ethereal look.
How Romantic does sexy: Roses
Romantics can do sexy style in endless ways, but the most on-theme for V-day is large rose prints or embellishments.
Red roses are an obvious and gorgeous choice. Your color season’s darkest neutrals can also create a moody Romantic feel.
Other idea: Floral lace
Elaborate floral lace is perfect for Romantic, too. Here the sheerness adds Ethereal (and hard to tell, but looks like a high-neck may add Gamine).
What if it’s cold?
You might need an indoor, long-sleeve jacket or sweater!
Gamine is known for being flattered by short sleeves. But as shown above, long sleeves can work if all the other elements are Gamine. This is true for Ingenue, too.
If your legs are cold, then regardless of your style type, you could try tights or leggings in a very similar shade to your skin tone. From most distances, this will be subtle enough to not add any essences to the ones already in your outfit.
Is Romantic the “sexiest” essence?
To me, this is an opinion-based question, as are so many questions about the precise characterization of all the essences’ vibes. There’s no one right answer.
Romantic definitely has qualities that make it a good contender for “most conventionally sexy essence.” Plunging necklines, skin-tight silhouettes, ruching, slit skirts—all are prevalent in Romantic fashion.
But as seen above, every essence is highly flattered by some style elements that can read as conventionally sexy:
Gamine is great in cropped tops and mini skirts
Natural is great in off-the-shoulder styles
Dramatic—very deep necklines
Classic—nude color schemes
Ingenue—short skirts
Ethereal—see-through fabric.
So every essence can read as very sensual and sexy, even in quite a conventional sense of those terms. And if you delve into hair and makeup, again every essence has options that might be considered conventionally sexy.
Is “sexy” the same as “revealing”?
It’s also debatable whether “sexy” should even be defined as “revealing” (as I’ve admittedly done through most of this post).
Even if Romantic ultimately gets the most body-showcasing fashion, you can still debate whether that equates to “sexiest.”
For some people, the most revealing outfits might be seen as the sexiest, while others might find it most sexually appealing when outfits are more covered and subtly suggestive.
Defining Romantic as “sexy” can be reductive
The idea that Romantic fashion is synonymous with “sexy” fashion can also be misleading (even though I’m definitely guilty of sometimes implying that “Romantic” and “sexy” are synonyms).
For instance, a denim mini skirt and cropped, straight-across tube top will create an extremely revealing, sexy look, but this outfit will likely be mostly Gamine, without much or any Romantic at all.
Romantic style does tend to be overtly sexy. But plenty of conventionally sexy styles won’t have Romantic.
What about sexy facial features?
Especially based on modern beauty standards, Romantic facial features also tend to read as extremely sexy—full lips, plump cheeks, and “bedroom eyes” are common Romantic traits.
But critically, you can still have the Romantic essence even if you don’t have all or any of those features.
And again, Romantic features aren’t the only ones that are deemed conventionally sexy.
In fact, all the types have facial characterisitcs that fit modern standards for sex appeal:
Dramatics and Naturals often have strong bone structure and brows, and Naturals have the ability to look great without makeup, making their aesthetic appealing to people who value more fresh-faced, natural beauty.
Dramatics and Gamines have angular features, which can have an intensity that reads as sexy and enticing. And of all the types, Gamines may have the most flirty, playfully teasing beauty.
Ethereals look dreamy and goddess-like. (I strongly question the idea that Ethereal beauty is “passionless”—Ethereals look dreamy, and many people associate their dreams, fantasies, and aspirations with high levels of passion).
Ingenues look kind, pretty, and often quite friendly and approachable. For many people, these may be key qualities that (consciously or subconsciously) prompt them to find someone attractive.
And Classics have the scientifically-lauded sexiness of symmetry and balanced faces.
Beauty is opinion-based
It’s also such a critical point that whatever is considered conventionally “sexy” or physically attractive is ultimately based on opinion, not fact. And your opinion isn’t invalidated simply because it’s not the most popular one.
An easy illustration of this: some studies cite blue as most people’s favorite color. But that doesn’t mean you’re “wrong” if you say that red or orange or yellow, etc., is your favorite, and that to you it’s the best or most beautiful.
You can’t use popularity to determine what is beautiful. You can’t run a survey and say that if 60% of people prefer blue, then blue is therefore objectively the best, and that the 40% of people who have favorite colors that aren’t blue somehow have the “wrong” favorite color.
Similarly, if 60% of people prefer a certain facial feature, heck even if 99% of people prefer a certain facial feature, it doesn’t magically become the “best” or “most beautiful” feature.
One way to internalize this is to consider something you really love, whether it’s a food or show or activity or anything else, that you know many people dislike. Your opinion isn’t “wrong” merely because it might be unpopular.
I make this point a lot but will probably continue to make it, because the modern world tends to conflate popularity with beauty. It can be easy to internalize (even subconsciously) that the type of faces you see most commonly represented in media are the “best.”
It really would be boring if we all looked alike and had the exact same type of beauty and the exact same opinions on what epitomizes beauty.
And the cool thing about opinions is that they can change. If you have a feature or features that you dislike, you may be able to practice viewing yourself in a different way, taking a more neutral or even positive stance.
