Your Personal Architecture: A Framework for Style Harmony – PART ONE

What is Personal Architecture?

Your Personal Architecture is the visual pattern your body creates in space –it’s about how your physicality is perceived in terms of length, breadth, angularity and scale. It isn’t about zooming in on a single feature, such as “shoulder width”. Literal dimensions like height and width contribute to your presence, but your Personal Architecture is less about the numbers themselves and more about how they read visually as a whole. Two people with the same literal measurements can read very differently depending on their proportions and presence. Personal Architecture gives you a language to apply to that design, so you can align your style with the way your body naturally communicates.

If you are totally new to the Poeticize Your Presence system,  you can learn more about the Silhouette Identity framework here.  In brief,  your Silhouette ID is your unique body and facial architecture. There are 7 Silhouette IDs: Sleek, Celestial, Stately, Luxuriant, Fresh, Delicate and Timeless. In my system you rarely actually have just one Silhouette ID type.  Instead, you’re a blend.  (Most people are a blend of two or even three Silhouette types).

01. Visual Breadth

Visual Breadth is about how much space your frame appears to command horizontally.

This is not purely about LITERAL measurements. You might have 36 inch hips while your much taller friend has 40 inch hips — yet your breadth may still read as greater relative to your overall size.

EXPANSIVE Visual Breadth: thicker joints, boxier silhouette, appears grounded in build, takes up space horizontally. Example: KELLY CLARKSON

MODERATE Visual Breadth: appears balanced and proportionate. Example: DEMI MOORE

NARROW Visual Breadth: appears streamlined, with less horizontal emphasis. Example: KRISTEN WIIG

VARIED Visual Breadth: Asymmetrical — relatively broad in some areas, narrower or moderate in others. Example: JOAN CRAWFORD. (Joan had broader shoulders relative to her height, smaller ankles, narrower hips)

Silhouette Identity Associations:

• EXPANSIVE — Stately
• MODERATE — Timeless, Luxuriant, sometimes Sleek
• NARROW — Celestial, Sleek, Delicate
• VARIED — Fresh

           

02. Visual Length

Visual Length is about how tall or elongated you appear, regardless of your actual height

LONG Visual Length: longer limbs & fingers, people often assume they’re taller than they really are. Faces often read long as well. . Example: WHITNEY HOUSTON (she was around 5ft 7 but appeared taller)

MODERATE Visual Length:: No significant elongation, tend to look their actual height — no more, no less. Example: LUPITA NYONG’O

PETITE Visual length: Compact proportions. Often appear shorter than they really are. Example: MILA KUNIS

 VARIED Visual Length: a mix of proportions (such as long legs for your height, but very short torso). Example LUCY LIU

Silhouette Identity Associations:

• LONG — Celestial, Sleek, Stately
• MODERATE — Timeless, Luxuriant, sometimes Fresh
• PETITE —Delicate, sometimes Fresh, sometimes Luxuriant
• VARIED– Fresh

03. Angularity Factor

Angularity Factor describes how visible and defined your bone structure is. Are your bones prominent, or are your edges softer? 

SCULPTED: often have squared or sharp shoulders, strong bone visibility, prominent/defined cheekbones.. Examples: ANGELINA JOLIE, TEYANA TAYLOR

[Note: you can be Sculpted without having much Visual Length or Breadth. ZOE KRAVITZ is an example]

BALANCED: Neither overly sculpted nor overly soft. Example: DIANE SAWYER

SOFT-EDGED: Sloping or rounded shoulders, collarbones that remain subtle (as opposed to prominent) at any weight, a frame that never looks very sharply-etched even when very lean. Example: MARILYN MONROE

 VARIED: a mix of the traits detailed above. Example ZENDAYA – sculpted body, soft, rounded facial features.

Silhouette Identity Associations:

• SCULPTED — Sleek, Stately
• BALANCED — Timeless
• SOFT-EDGED– Luxuriant, Delicate
• VARIED — Fresh, Celestial (softly sculpted), occasionally Stately

04. Scale Dominance

Scale Dominance is about the overall scale of the entire picture of your physicality— the sense of size you project

PRONOUNCED Scale Dominance: larger-scale facial features. Often come across as “larger than life”. Sometimes a taller or more elongated presence, but not always — it’s possible to be very short but have large scale (Danny de Vito). Example: MEGAN THEE STALLION

MODERATE Scale Dominance: Visual proportions that are balanced and neither dominate nor disappear. FLORENCE PUGH

LIGHT Scale Dominance: Possess a lighter visual weight and read as subtle in impact. Example: HELENA BONHAM CARTER

Silhouette Identity Associations:

• PRONOUNCED —Stately, Sleek
• MODERATE —Timeless, Luxuriant, Celestial, sometimes Fresh
• LIGHT —Delicate, sometimes Fresh

But aren’t Visual Breadth and Scale Dominance the same thing?

No — there’s a difference, although they often overlap. Visual Breadth refers specifically to the perceived breadth of your frame. Scale Dominance refers to how you read AS A WHOLE in visual proportion; it’s about how it all comes together visually. You can be Scale Dominant without having significantly high Visual Breadth. Rihanna is an example of this.

Another example: picture a woman who’s 5’4, broad-shouldered relative to her height, has a wide ribcage, but also has small hands and feet and average-size facial features. She has Expansive Visual Breadth but her overall Scale Dominance, taking in the full picture of her physicality, may lean closer to Moderate.

OK, so what do I do with this information? 

In Part Two we’ll explore precisely how knowing your Personal Architecture helps you make sense of your natural design and pinpoint which lines, accessories, and details will make you look your absolute best — turning dressing well into a satisfying and fun event.

For now, here are a few quick takeaways:

If you have Long Visual Length: you “lead with length” — elongation is your most striking quality, so clean vertical lines, elongated accessories and uninterrupted silhouettes will harmonize.

If you have Expansive Visual Breadth: you have “horizontal prominence” — you’ll look most at home in styles that echo that grounded presence, like substantial fabrics and pieces honour your horizontal space.

If your Scale Dominance is Light: finer details, delicate jewellery, and small-scale prints are your natural allies, as oversized elements can easily overwhelm.

If your Scale Dominance is Pronounced:, larger-scale accessories and intentional pieces that are bold in scale will tend to sit  comfortablyon you, because your presence can carry them with ease.

The Whole Picture

Personal Architecture is about patterns, not parts.

A single feature rarely defines you. For example, you might have a long, sculpted frame but a softer, rounded nose In styling, that means you’d need elongation and structure — but not edges that are too sharp. You’d honour the whole, not just the nose.

We’re not mannequins. We are living architecture, and style only works when it respects the totality of our pattern.

Case Study:  Personal Architecture Analysis of 2 Besties – Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg

Both Snoop and Martha are objectively tall, but only one of them leads with verticality. With Snoop, the most striking quality is his length: his height (6’4), his long narrow limbs, his elongated hands and fingers, his narrow frame, and even his long face. He reads as a pure column of Visual Length.

Martha, on the other hand, is also significantly above average height at 5’9 and a half — but she doesn’t lead with length. Her presence is grounded, balanced, and more horizontal in its emphasis. Where Snoop draws the eye up and down, Martha commands space across.

Looking at these two besties side by side highlights the contrast. Martha has more relative Visual Breadth than Snoop: her frame feels more substantial, while his reads narrow and elongated. Snoop’s Visual Breadth is slight compared to his extreme Visual Length, and his Scale Dominance is dominated by verticality. His Angularity Factor is high, with sharply etched bone structure and visible definition, whereas Martha’s Angularity Factor is Moderate, leaning Soft-Edged. Nothing about Snoop is moderate — he is all about length and angularity — while Martha sits firmly in the realm of grounded proportion.

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