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Four Essence System: Left + Down -- the Seductress and the Outsider

00:00 start 02:00 keyword review 03:00 Left+down Celebrities 03:15 Megan Fox 06:22 Olivia Rodrigo 08:00 Ciara 10:30 Lana Condor 14:47 Maisie Williams 16:40 Selena Gomez 18:56 Archetypes 19:04 The Seductress 21:32 The Outsider 22:30 Reflections and Styling Tips 23:50 Balancing vulnerability with boundaries 25:23 Style as Pleasure for the Self

Style Thoughts by Rita

2 years ago

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.

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@timetraveledOwl

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”.

@amym976

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!

@sactownaimee

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.

@kimberlym4289

"dance between boundaries and vulnerability" - wow...that speaks to me

@jwashingmachine8307

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

@arich20

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.

@margies735

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!)

@RoseJackson1607

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)

@someareroses

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 💕

@kajamiletic3223

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

@sarahirwin6631

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.

@amandae7896

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 :)

@hibazafran1765

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.

@EricaMorgan

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?

@xoxomagily1038

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.

@fifimsp

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!"

@sigridj9459

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

@catblack7124

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! ❤️

@mariannek6735

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. ❤