So what we call the left+down quadrant,
I think is very misunderstood, but it's also something that is super
widespread in our aesthetic culture. So to show you a few current aesthetics, which I often see left
down women embracing. This is including this athletic wear
look that's, you know, everywhere. So it's kind of the girl that puts
on her sweat pants and baseball cap, the comfy shoes, and she's
ready to take on the world. Maybe even tomboy styles. Then we
have the "insta baddie" aesthetic,
which is the slinky dresses, bodycon
revealing looks the sculpted makeup, just generally very inviting and sexy. Then we have he art hoe
and e-girl aesthetics, which are kind of bold, dark,
rich colors and patterns, shapes that obscure the
body or are very revealing, unusual hair colors. And just this attitude of
embracing imperfections. And we have the "boho chic" where
the body takes first place, um... clothes are chosen because they feel good. They provide a lot of grounding and the
clothes o
ften involve a lot of elemental prints, colors, and
accessories. And finally, we have this kind of grunge or edgy looks, which includes a lot of black
and heavy shoes, leather jackets, this general attitude of being
a bit tough and unapproachable. Hi and welcome to Style
Thoughts by Rita, with me, the special guest
Meradj, our style expert. Today, we're going to talk
about that left down quadrant. We're going to first review our system
key words, show you some celebrities. Then we're going to sh
ow
you some celebrities, offer some general reflections and talk
about the archetypes in this quadrant. So hopefully by the end of this, you'll really understand what
we mean by this quadrant. And finally Rita, the wonderful, the magnificent is going to talk about
placing yourself in this left downplace and offer some style reflections. Okay. So first we're going to start
with our keyword review. Uh, the, on the left, our keywords
are sensual, intriguing, enveloping, magnetic, elemental, Gaia, a
nd the lost girl. That's the
shadow. And as you remember, this is kind of the
left right distinction, which is then filtered through
the up or down styling. So down styling is about
ease, approachable, intuitive, delicate, understated, personable, and kind of the
archetype of the girl next door. So together we think
for the left-down woman, any combination of these keywords
as possible, I'll talk about that. But in general, the left-down woman,
she is intriguing, but understated. She has very st
rong magnetic gravity, but she's being personable
and she's really sensual, but brings a feeling of ease to her
style. In our first essence video, we already showed you four
celebrities in the left-down quadrant, including Zendaya, Kirsten Steward,
Kim Kardashian, and Awkwafina. So we think that the style that
these women have developed really represents the left down aesthetic. But today we're going to show you a
lot more celebrities starting with Megan Fox. Yeah. So we think Megan Fox is a
gre
at example of a left down person. You know, when you look at these clothes,
she just really looks great in them. And there's something very like,
understated and ease and personable here in the way she dresses herself
and her dressing herself that way we think really allows her to
filter her left essence of being this kind of like intriguing
and sensual. I mean, when you think about Megan Fox, you definitely think about intriguing
and essential, right? Yeah. And she does such a good job
filterin
g this like "down" way. Yeah. And here we have some outfits
that she looks less good in. So the first outfit,
right up outfit, you know, but not like super right and not super
up, but you know, in that quadrant. Then we have an outfit that is
significantly more right up in the middle. And then finally we have
her in a right-down outfit.
And in all of these things, we think that obviously she looks good, but she doesn't look as good
as in the previous pictures. Cause it really doesn't allow her
t
o like filter her intriguing-ness and her, uh, sensuality in these outfits. She's trying to bring a lot of
refinement in all three of these, which is a very strong right
element that for her is not native. I'm not saying that I can can't be
refined, but her essence is not her fine. It is very much, um, this elemental. And now here's something really
interesting with Megan Fox. So if you notice in the first set of
pictures, she was kind of younger, but here in this set of pictures, it's her when
she's a bit
older and what do we see here? We see her arguably moving upwards. Right? So in all of these
pictures, these are outfits, which we think are more left
up-wards tilting outfits. I think the one furthest to the right, it's a really left up outfit and this
is just what we think we're noticing, you know, Megan Fox she got a divorce. She's now with Machine Gun Kelly (who's
a paradigmatic left up guy) and has such good style -- that she is perhaps exploring
more of what she is by moving le
ft upward. And that's a bit of her journey. Right. Cause she was really
sexualized and then so on. So I think part of her also as becoming
older and a woman in Hollywood is claiming more of this intimidation
and a bit more mystery and moving a bit away from this approachability. So I think this is just interesting
to see her kind of explore that. Yeah. And so we placed Megan Fox not super
far to the left and not super far down. And we think this has
always made sense for her, but it definitely m
akes sense
for her in her coming journey to perhaps even move a bit more up here. That was beautiful. And now, we're
going to talk about Olivia Rodrigo. Just going to quickly talk about her
. The pop sensation. I love her style. I feel like this is just a great, I'm
really happy for like young people today. If they can look like this, she
just seems to be having a good time. I would definitely describe Olivia as
having a bit of a...I think Olivia is a bit of a lost girl, you know...
that's like
her music essence. Very much like troubled,
angsty soul out there. And I think that these looks like,
uh, just wanted to show for her. They are exactly very easy. Um, very understated, very intuitive, again, just like putting some stuff on together, but with a strong current of being
very like sensual and very elemental, I think this outfit with the bra is like,
honestly, just like hilarious to me. Like she's literally wearing
a bra and jeans and sneakers, but I really think she just
looks great
. Looks amazing. So I think that's a really fun, like
thing for the left down woman, um, that you can be that way.
So really, really beautiful. So we put Olivia here, which we think she is quite far
down, but like not super far left. I could definitely see her trying to
pull off right down ish outfits and look really good at that, but just not as good as she looks
in her more left down outfits. And the most important thing for her is
cultivating this image and this brand of being very intuitive.
You know, it's just, she just really expressing the
feeling of her body that day with her clothes rather than trying
to like be very polished. Yeah. And next we get to
the fashion queen Ciara. She has such great style. I mean, look
at this lady. Yeah. So yeah, again, we think this is another
example of a left-down woman. All of these outfits just
great left down, uh, outfits. I don't know what to say.
She just looks amazing. She just looks amazing. Look up her looks! I think we want to feature
more of her outfits. So here are more her on
her left down looks, uh, all of them just like great. I think she's interesting because
she's a left down person who, who can also pull off this like downward, which is typically more associated with
the right in this "approachability", right? Yeah. Yeah. So I think she has
more of an approachability, but again, very sensual, right? Very
intriguing, very elemental. Uh, just like that's her essence and she is
so good at filtering through this like, uh,
delicate, approachable and intuitive
way of dressing. It's wonderful. To like illustrate, uh, the contrast we think these are
outfit in which she looks worse. If we start from the
right, we see that, yeah. This is what we would associate
more with the right down outfit. Solange would look great
in this outfit. So at home. Of course Ciara looks really
good, but not at her best, not as good in the previous outfit,
the middle outfit is a right+up outfit, there... I mean, she really doesn't
want to
be in the right corner. She looks very uncomfortable. Lind of
pulling away. She doesn't, you know, she just doesn't like it there. Now
the outfit furthest to the left here, it's interesting because this is a left,
uh, down outfit and you might think, oh, this is just a bad outfit, but
just think back now to Olivia Rodrigo. Right? She would look
great in this outfit, but Ciara doesn't and that's because
we think that she is like a bit of a different left down person. And we see that when we look
at
where she is in the quadrant. We Think Sierra is significantly
more left. And we think the outfit, even though that was a left-down outfit
that left down outfit in which she looked bad, is an outfit
that is significantly more
to the right and more down. Cause Sierra, even though she's here, we think she is definitely a mover. She could definitely pull
off the left up outfits. even though she's more home
in the left down quadrant. Her brand is really approachable. So I think she could definit
ely dress
in this very intriguing, intimidating, mysterious look. But you would
still like recognize her, "oh, look at Sierra looking so mysterious" Okay. And now we're going to talk
about Lana Condor. I love Lana because I think she's such an interesting
example of a celebrity who is really trying to figure out their
aesthetic. Like honestly, a lot of her outfits are kind of
varied in what she represents, but here are some looks, which I
really, really like on her. Uh, what I really like about
these looks
is that they'd have funky, I guess, something a little bit edgy and kind of
bringing in elements of the left and the right. So I think that she is at her best when
she brings in that sweetness that she has as a person, but actually allows kind
of for her sensuality. A little bit of a lost girl,
this intrigue. When she
allows that to go first, but brings the sweetness a bit into the
look, I think that's when she shines. And when she is at her best. I think like also with
her part of i
t, is that we think she is very close to the
right. So she could like even be there. But what she does, I think with her outfits is she tries
to bring in this like element of refined-ness that is with the right-ness. But that is not the dominant factor. It's there it's like an undertone
and instead hidden up in this like intriguing-ness. It does that make sense? Yeah. So you had a story to tell here! If we look at this outfits: so
the outfit to left is an outfit, which has a very right,
right. V
ery right down. And even though in the outfit
you just previously saw, you could definitely see that they
have some right elements to it too, in the sense that they are refined. And they have a bit of this like
luminous and dreamy quality to them here, where in this outfit where there's just
this refined-ness, this dreaminess, luminous, but she hasn't like covered
it up in this like intrigueness, elemental-ness, the sensuality, then it really doesn't work for her. And this is how we can know
tha
t she is like a left down. Cause it doesn't matter. And
this is like a general tip. I think it doesn't matter if it's
the case that you've can pull off, for example, uh, concepts, which
are more associated with the right, unless you can pull them
off by themselves. If you
can pull off those concepts, but you need to pull them
off in the mix with the, uh, left concept and you can pull off
the left concepts by themselves, then that's like a proof
that you're on the left+down. Yeah. I think that wa
s really good. Can I say something quickly about
this left outfit? I just think like, look at her body. In my style talks, I'm often talking to left down
women about this. I'm like, just look at how she's standing!
And this is not just a bad picture. Because we can have a bad picture
in any outfit. but it's like, she's just so unhappy. the body
is very unhappy with the outfit. I'm sure she's happy because she's at
this premiere of this movie in which she was great and adorable
and I love her. Ye
ah. And yeah. And then like in the
outfit furthest to the, to the right, that's a very strong,
left up outfit. And again, doesn't work as well for
her as the previous one, because it doesn't have some of
this, like it's too far left. It doesn't touch upon
some of these like right concepts in the same way. But compare that to the outfit to the
left and recognize that she looks a bit better in that outfit. She looks more
comfortable more at home. Cause yeah, she is like ultimately in the left down
quadrant and then in the outfit in the middle, that is her just doing this
like perfect mixture of the two. Yeah. Cause she has
these like spiky black, they're actually thigh-high boots
you can see in the photo. Which is... very like "high-heeled thigh, high black
suede boots" -that's like very sexy. But then she has this kind
of like dreamy refined tops, but it's also sensual. Yeah. So I really, I really liked this mix and on other
people it might look like, well, you're like mixing completely
different
styles and it doesn't really match, but that's the magic of her is that,
that is how she makes it match. Yeah. And then, so you see here
in the quadrant, she is very, not that much left down and not that
much left and she's very close to the right. And that made sense,
given everything we just saw. Yeah. And I am going to
talk about Maisie Williams. So I think Maisie Williams is a great
representative of the left down kind of style. Um, I really like her street style
where she really
leans into just like the comfort for the body, this like sensuality of just letting
her body breathe and move in a way that feels good. And she's doing this kind of like fun
hair and she has these like, you know, comfy fun shoes and the way she's
combining patterns. It's like, I just think when you look at these
outfits, you think like, well, this person is really well-dressed. Um, but at the same time she looks like she
is really doing herself. And I really, I think it's just great. I also real
ly like her on the red
carpet where I think she brings a lot of this sensuality, a lot of intrigue into these looks
with kind of these patterns or textures or just this slinky
shapes on the dresses, really having the sensuality,
but even here on the red carpet, she's still, I think maintaining this personable
kind of vibe that she has in her street style-- where she is like, I am me, I am not like "generic
Hollywood actress A". This is who I am and I'm here for myself. I feel like that's what th
ese
outfits really say to me. And I think this kind of expression
of personal aesthetic power is really cool. So, and we put
Maisie kind of near Lana, where we think that she's kind of close
to the middle, close to the up. Um, but overall we do think that her style, it's definitely this kind of intriguing, but understated, very intuitive
and personable approach, even though she's not super
down in terms of the aesthetic. Yeah. And we think even though
she's closer to the right, she isn't a reall
y person who can move
to the right in the same way as the previous lady. Yeah. And then finally,
our final celebrity here is Selena Gomez. Another fashion icon. But anyway, all of these outfits are
great left-down outfits. I think by now you're getting it.
It's like, she's very sensual, very intriguing. And she really
filters this through these understated, intuitive outfits. Very delicate, delicate. It's a very
delicate beauty. That seems really gentle. Yeah. And here are some more pictures
of
her at the kind of red carpet, more fancy ways. And we've just included these pictures
and the previous picture of Maisie Williams to give you, dear viewers, some examples on how like the left down
women can like dress for like fancy occasions. So I would also like super much
expect as she becomes older that she's one of those who actually and moves
up and perhaps ends up being like kind of like left up. Yeah with an Intimidation factor. Exactly. Kind of the J-Lo journey. Yeah. I wanted to say s
omething quickly about
this specific dress with the laciness. Which we really like, because it's
kind of a sweet looking dress in a way, but because it has this
like laciness on the bottom, it also almost looks like a negligee. It's just like very sexy and an
it's extremely bare color. Um, and then she has this like necklace
that's really leading visually into her boobs. Um, so I think like what's really like
interesting to me is how like sexual this outfit is, but how on her? I don't think it l
ooks like sexual, you
know, it just, it looks very pretty. It definitely looks sexy, but it's not like this like aggressive
sexiness and I think that's definitely something for the left-down women.
It's like you can do so much of this sexy look without appearing
as sexual as it does on other people. But we'll talk about that later. For now we just want to
tell you where Selena is. Yeah. So even though, as I just
said, we think in her future, we can really see her moving
upwards to left up quadra
nt. We think right now she's kind of like
quite down as you saw in the first outfit, where she looks great. All
of them are very like down. They're very like understated,
very delicate, very intuitive, but she's not super, she's not super left. Yeah. Okay. So that's kind of it for
our celebrity placements. And now we're going to come
to the archetypes, which is, I guess like my favorite part of the
videos, because it's so artistic and fun. So in the kind of inner corner here
we have what I call
"the seductress". and if you're left a woman watching this
video, I bet as soon as I said that, you were like, oh, what,
like what this is, you know? But !that's just you and that in a nutshell, this who you are and this
immediate response of like, oh my God, this is like, not what I want. That is literally like 90% of all
left down women I know. It's like, I'm not saying you are like this siren. Who's doing everything to like... seduce.
It's like, that's just your nature. Or like you are litera
lly
sensual, intriguing, magnetic, and enveloping in your essence.
But you're also like approachable, personable, delicate, and
easy, which means there's like, you're drawing people in and there's
literally no boundary. Right? So this means that people are just
very drawn into your being and that's kind of you at your best.
And what that means is, you know, you kind of do your own thing
and you dress the way that feels the best for your body. And that really like accommodates
the actual wants an
d needs of your sensual body. Then
people will love that. They're kind of seduced by you
and by the quality of your energy, when you have the courage to be yourself
and the more you are able to actually invite people into you, the more
they are coming to you. I mean, look at like Kim Kardashian, the woman literally has people watching
hours of her everyday life just doing literally nothing because she's
just like, "yeah, come on in like, be part of my world". So that's
kind of the seductress and
I. Think one way to think about this, that takes away the potential
negative normative sound of this is just to realize that yeah, the seductress is really the female
equivalent of the male Charmer. Yeah, exactly. So it's not like... With a charmer is not like we think he
is always going around like thinking about how to Charm people.
That's not what we mean. And the same thing with the seductress. She's not going around like
plotting her next seduction target. It's just like that the
essence i
s very much this. Like they get people to like
feel at ease with them to relax and they pull them in. Yeah. It's just people that are
really interested in you. Yeah. And it's not your fault,
but that is who you are. And then in the outer corner we have
here, what I call "the outsider", but this is again, parallel to the men
system where we have the rebel, right. It's just like... By virtue of being so far on the
left and having this extremely strong, intriguing sensual enveloping, it's like you
create your own kind
of energetic bubble that is just by definition, kind of outside of
the group and social dynamics, whatever that is happening around you. It's not like you can't be
part of things. It's more, it's just like your basic way is
to be like very personable.like, this is who I am and this is my world. So it's natural to kind of feel like
there's this little like bubble of yours that people are very welcome into, but that is not so easy maybe to
click into other people's worlds. Yea
h. So those are the two archetypes here
and now we are going to say goodbye to Meradjuddin. we are going
to say, thank you. You know, we're very happy that you're
here. Yeah. Bye. Bye bye. Okay. And now I want to offer some general
reflections on left-down woman and some styling tips. So I want to
start by saying that to me, the left-down woman is, the inhabiter of the most yin
energy. If that makes sense to you, the most kind of receptive. You are so magnetic and enveloping and intriguing, but
also so
approachable, personable, easy. So it's kind of like you're drawing people
in and there's really no boundary to keep them out, which is like a, obviously a really amazing energetic gift
because it means that people naturally want to be obsessed with
you. I mean, at your best, you are just doing you and
everybody is so happy to see that and you make it so
easy to look to just like, be true to yourself and you really inspire
and encourage and give other people courage to be themselves also
because you just show how effortless it is to be yeah, personable,
easy and intuitive. Um, and yeah, of course, any energetic gift also can
feel like a burden and a challenge. So I wanted to talk about
two themes really relating to this. One of these is
courage and boundaries. So, um, style for you, is really
an exploration of your
personal vulnerability. Of the courage to actually
be visible to others. It takes a lot of courage
to be seen for who you are. So much also of what you've learned
ab
out dressing is often about hiding yourself and creating a boundary between
yourself and the world that doesn't come from, I don't know, some weird place, but comes from a very real realization
very early on in your life that you do have this incredible magnetic
force. And then it's kind of scary. So you learn to kind of shield
yourself from the world. So your style exploration as
a left-down woman, of course, it's not about removing
all of these boundaries, but it's about learning how to really
dance between the vulnerability and the boundaries and how to bring
in both elements. So for me, like this vulnerability comes from
showing your sensuality that is from showing just skin, um, using body
con shapes or slinky fabrics, Lacy, sheer materials, shoes and
accessories that are like "sexy", like shoes with thin soles
or touchable fabrics. I mean, anything that actually brings people
in, right? Uh, on the other hand, this expression of boundaries
visually is all the opposite. It's all sh
apes that obscure the body
kind of like thick boots or, you know, chunky shoes, um, sunglasses,
you know, hats, bangs. Big bags, any like thick fabrics or colors that
basically just hide you from the world. And so the style expression is kind
of the dance between these two things. And then the second theme I want to talk
about is just pleasure for the self. So when I talk about sensuality, I mean, wearing clothes that feel really good
for your body and that let you enjoy the physical pleasure of
being
alive and inhabiting your body. Clothes that you like to be in.
The way they feel on your body. Um, I have a video on sensuality
in dressing because it is a longer concept than I
can quickly explain -- if you want some more information on that. But the short answer is that
there is no correct way for you to be sensual in your
dressing. So for somebody, a body hugging satin dress, that really feels like floaty and
very naked can feel really sensual. For another person, a heavy linen jumpsu
it that
feels really like secure and grounding is very sensual. So again, it's really about what the
feeling that your body wants. The most important thing is that you, as a left-down woman are
dressing for yourself and choosing clothes that feel
good for you physically. Um, when you meet your needs
through your clothes, you allow your own happiness and power, like the color that makes
you feel good that day. You do not need to be like other people. You don't need to have
the priorities they hav
e. You don't need to follow
the rules they have. Just allow your style to
be for you And by you. That being said, I know
that's a bit like abstract, so I'll give you some styling tips.
So the first tip is, yeah, just, you don't need to conform to other
people's rules or priorities. Um, your peers maybe place a lot of value
on like looking rich or looking young, looking skinny, looking feminine,
whatever, in the "correct way". Um, it's really good for those people
to have these aspirations and wa
nts, um, role models. That's great, but you are really meant to do your own
thing and people are so enchanted by you and you're so irresistible when you step
into your own power, it's like just, I really want to encourage all left
down women to have the courage, to like, make that leap to say like, "okay,
this may be important for you, but it's not important for me". And "I am still like able to be
recognized as this incredible, beautiful force of nature,
just being myself". Um, the second tip i
s you may be really bored
with your clothes when your sensuality is not on display. I know that many women in the left down
have fallen into this kind of sensible dressing, or you've just
put up too high boundaries, especially because I think in our culture, we have this really warped view of
what sensuality or sexuality is. And if you don't look like Kim
Kardashian and it's like, you know, "you're not sexy", but so just, you know, I really encourage you to reflect
on where there is space for se
nsuality in your clothing, because if
you're not letting your body breathe, if you're not letting
yourself be seen by the world, you will feel eventually
like your style is off. And you're kind of like losing connection
with yourself as you put on your like "sensible woman costume". So that leads me to saying that you
can wear things that look really sexy on other people, but they
will look so normal on you. Let yourself experiment with that.
I mean, if you haven't, before, it may feel a bit lik
e a risk, but it's
like among the left down women I know, um, the women, they can wear like really
short skirts or like these crop tops, whatever, like just things that are very
revealing. And it just doesn't like... The Selena Gomez dress that
I talked about earlier. It just doesn't look that sexual. So just take a bit of a leap and
try these things out on. Seocondly, That your body is going to really tell
you when clothes work for you when they don't. This is not to say that you never want
to
be like uncomfortable because you might like shoes that are
really uncomfortable, um, because you really like how they hold
your foot or how they may be shape the way that you walk. Similarly with
kind of really body con clothing. Maybe you just like the feeling
of being held for example... So it's not like you're always striving
to have the most comfy clothes and you should just wear a t-shirt every day. But the point is that being uncomfortable
for the sake of looking good to others just feels
so immediately fake
to you. So stop bulldozing yourself and let yourself just feel that. And don't force yourself that because
at your best you are dressing for what like feels physically good to you. Um, and that again can mean
textures. It can mean patterns. It can mean shapes but it
also means like colors, the color that is really feeling for you, the pattern that you're really connecting
with, um, you know, the accessories. So you may have really struggled with
systems that tell you what yo
u "should" be wearing because you, for some reason, don't trust your right to
feel good in your outfits. And that's definitely
something to explore. Um, so
I suggest you, first of all, let yourself discover the sensuality
in the clothes you have that you love, you know. Are there these buttery soft
leather shoes with these really thin soles or maybe shoes that
really strap up on your leg? Or is there like a long
swishy skirt you have, um, or, you know, do you have kind of this perfect long
cardi
gan that really drapes around your body in this pleasureful way? That's
this exploring the sensuality. And then on the flip side, explore: how do you right now actually
create physical boundaries? So like, do you only wear shapeless kind of
clothes? Do you wear only thick, coarse, dark fabrics or heavy shoes? Do
you have minimal makeup? Do you have ... Always wear a hat or bangs? All of these elements make
it harder for you to be seen. So it's not like you
have to stop doing them, but it's about
discovering
what you are doing right now. For like traditionally feminine
elements, like dresses and skirts. You might kind of struggle with that. So I suggest either choosing things that
are kind of sleek and follow your body. Um, I also like skirts that
have like slits for you again, just so your leg kind of moves in and
out of the skirt, that's like very flowy. Um, but also it's like,
if you just don't like it, you can just avoid skirts altogether. um, for your hair. I really like, um, kind
of bobs or at least kind
of like sleek hair or also easy natural waves and curls. Just
whatever makes you feel personable, like you are you, and you're not
being kind of artificial. For jewelry, I especially like kind of
chunky, sleek, metallic jewelry. That's very cool and subtle. Um, but that's not the only one you can
wear. Just a suggestion. That's again, kind of "grounding". Um, any like
with shoes and products, you know, anything that you feel like you want
to touch on yourself, or, you kn
ow, maybe chunky, comfortable shoes.
That's very available to you. In terms of makeup, I know that
a lot of left-down women, um, don't really wear makeup. And this is another way that you
don't want people to see your facial expressions, right? So, um, if you
don't like wearing makeup by NO means, do I think you should start because
"some lady on the internet told you to do that". What I'm saying is that makeup, you know, on camera now (with
Zoom), or with bold outfits, it shows the contours of
your face more. So it reveals your expressions to other
people more clearly and dramatically. So it makes you more enticing.
So just something to reflect on, whether you could use makeup to show
your face a bit more, if you like that. And then the final styling tip really
is just to explore like textures and colors that feel really good to you. And just like practice giving yourself
that: the things that you want. And I made a little bit of
like a five point kind of "hints that you could be in t
he
left down". Again this is not like, meant to be determining this is just
my ideas. I want to finish with that. So first of all, I think it's like when traditionally
feminine garments almost never look right on you. So you feel like in general,
you're not being feminine enough. You don't like things on yourself
that are like frilly or sweet or cute. It just feels UGH. the second point is you may feel kind of
self-conscious about how naturally sensual you are, um, and how sensual
you like your
clothes to be. So the clothes you were attracted to
may look kind of sexy on other people, but they, they look natural on
you. And somewhere along the line, you may have also told yourself that
you don't want to wear things like that. Um, the third thing is: you prefer your hair to be sleek
or in natural waves and curls. You like jewelry, that's a bit heavy. You don't like anything that's like
fussy or difficult or feels like you're trying to mold yourself
into this other vision. It just feels s
o bad for you. Um, the fourth point is, you know, your favorite outfits are the ones
that feel the best for your body. So if you think back to
your favorite outfits, it was really like how it felt
for you to be wearing that. I actually think a lot
of left down women, um, also almost have this like tomboy style,
but they just really like, you know, these kind of like very easy
jeans and t-shirts looks, and that may be your favorite. And
you know, you don't have to say like, "that's not my favorit
e,
cause it's not fancy enough". And then the fifth point is, like
I said, you either like makeup, that's very sleek, bold, and contoured,
or you don't like makeup at all. And I think that's kind of a
common situation for the left down women is feeling like you either
have to go like all the way there or it's nothing. Um, so these are just some of
my styling reflections, thoughts and ideas for the left down lady. I hope that you enjoyed this video
and let me know what you think. Bye.
Comments
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I hope this doesn’t sound completely awkward, but I have been struggling with feeling like myself and my style for years and your description and tips at the end were so spot on, especially on creating boundaries and the sensuality of clothing, that I got a bit emotional. Thank you for this! This was so much more helpful than any other style systems were I inevitably end up obsessing about whether clothes “suit my type” or are “appropriate”.
I am so shocked by how accurate I feel this is for me! And it went so beyond outfit tips. The boundary thing is so spot on, like a lack of want to draw too much attention in as an act of protection. Not wanting to wear too much makeup to reveal expressions. And it is all to do with not wanting to be TOO enveloping (the existence of creepy men have not helped this tbf). But it is deffo about unlearning the 'rules' that don't suit a left down and then dressing for oneself again. Also, its interesting how most of these women are brunettes!
The best description of how it feels being me that I've ever heard. You know me better than I know myself - and I had some big aha moments during this video. You both have a special gift to see the inner story, and the true essence of others, and your examples of how we can express our essence are very enlightening. Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us.
"dance between boundaries and vulnerability" - wow...that speaks to me
I definitely feel like I can express myself more comfortably among friends or when I’m out in public with someone I know! If I’m out in public on my own, I prefer to put up a ‘shield’ to avoid street harassment and unwanted attention (especially since I have a small frame, prominent curves, and I live in a big city). I’ll reveal less skin, wear less figure hugging clothes, and use a large tote bag that I hold in front of my body. It feels more comfortable to be unseen and unrevealing. But it also prevents me from connecting with strangers, so it’s difficult to find balance. I might experiment mixing sensual pieces with ‘tougher’ pieces (like a sundress + leather jacket). Thanks so much for the video! <3
When you got to the 22 minute mark and started talking about vulnerability, courage, and learning to hide yourself... I cried. I balled. I didn't expect to. Thank you for making this accessible.
I think it's fascinating how people are saying they feel more so at home in their quadrant than in their kibbe type. I think the quadrant really reflects the individual personality and expression and we can relate to that so much more. Also if your kibbe has never sat quite right perhaps because your essence is quite different. I think it could be a fascinating exercise to see for example a classic LD or tr RD (which I think I am!)
i am left down and i totally embrace my seductiveness dont worry hehe edit : wow i really relate to what you're saying about trying to tone down your style because you kinda feel that you're magnetic and you dont wanna attract too many gazes and also the thing about people telling you to dress more this or that way (ppl tell me to wear more colors but im like sorry i look very good in black and other dark colors and more importantly i FEEL MYSELF when i wear them)
Interesting including Megan Fox, I'm coming from watching an interview where she said she's putting effort into trying to dress fancier to match MGK's fancy dressing (therefore confirming your theory) I'm super happy that this video is (finally) here and I love the examples. Thank you both so much for entertaining and teaching through these explorations 💕
I have never seen anything that managed to connect all the disparate styles I'm drawn to and express exactly what I'm trying to express. The part about boundaries made me literally cry cause I finally felt understood. Basically my "conversation" with clothes is between having comfortable, enveloping, hiding clothes like big flannel shirts that still feel "touchable" and being drawn to super exposing styles such as strapless tops in silky fabrics and backless dresses
Wow I thought I was right&down, and I think I hide out there a lot. But I think I may actually be left down. Definitely I know I’m a down, but I think I go between right and left and am kinda like the girl who needs to encorporate both sides, but I related so much to what you said about the dance between vulnerability and boundaries. And definitely I think the sensuality and feeling good physically is so important for me. I’ve always hated blazers or anything too restricting. Also I grew up in purity culture and was shamed a lot when my curves were on display.
I was so lost as to which quadrant I was in until this video! I’m now fairly positive that I’m basically right where Lana Condor is— all of the back and forth you two described as far as trying to place her fits me to a tee, and being so close to the right and sorta close to the center in general explains why it wasn’t obvious at first :)
THIS!!!! Thank you Rita and Meradj. I’ve been on this journey through major life and body transitions for 7 years while working in a highly competitive academic environment - and am really in a good space right now. So watching this just pulled it all together for me. I’ve tagged to rewatch with pen and paper! Shout out to silk slip midi dresses with maxi cotton-merino cardigans and sneakers/boots/flip flops. With gratitude from a left-down/boho-outsider, FN, Beachy curls, deep autumn colors woman who wears 70s ripped jeans at home.
I’m 90% sure I’m the cool girl archetype, and it makes so much sense to me now that I feel like I look really bad if I go too understated and boring. But when I dress in more of a cool girl aesthetic I look great. Can you do a video with suggestions for dressing as the cool girl?
As a left down almost 21 year old woman, I like a bold lip with a cat liner. I love wearing loose cardigans over form fitting dresses. I especially love my collar bone area and like to add choker style necklaces to accentuate the area. I have naturally long wavy hair and love sleek hair moment😊. Thank you Rita for this great style video. I understood right away and wasn’t left confused like the kibbe system.
This is so me. I was right. I love that at the beginning you went though the outfit styles and I was laughing and was like, "oh, so my wardrobe!"
If you watch the latest video from Vogue - 7outfits in 7 days with Emma Chamberlain. The way she describes how intuitive her outfits need to be- how approachable her style is- even the way she describes boots. She is a really strong example for a Left Down woman imo
Wow Rita! This is the most personally useful style video I’ve ever seen. Thank you so much for your work. I feel understood and empowered! ❤️
Amazing video, you were really spot on! This is me! Left down, kibbe romantic archetype. I always felt my biggest difficulty was to dress femininely enough to accommodate my kibbe archetype, without feeling like I'm dressing in a way that doesn't represent who I am as a person and my essence. So I really appreciate this video, especially the advice and reflections part. Thank you. ❤