How to Dress Soft Dramatic Kibbe Body Type

You’re a Soft Dramatic if your Bone Structure (shoulders, limbs, vertical line) and Facial Bones are Yang-dominant (mostly answers A) while your Body Flesh (bust, waist, hips), and Facial Flesh (eyes, lips, cheeks) are primarily Yin (answers E). If you think you’re a Soft Dramatic, this article will help. Here’s how to dress a Soft Dramatic Kibbe body type.

These tips are based on David Kibbe’s book Metamorphosis (sponsored link). Without further ado, here’s how to dress a Soft Dramatic from head to toe.

What makes a Soft Dramatic body

In a nutshell, a Soft Dramatic is mainly a Dramatic (extreme Yang) with Romantic undercurrent (extreme Yin).

To make sense of the following descriptions, it’s important that you first understand what’s Yin and what’s Yang. This article should give you visual examples: Yin vs Yang Examples of Kibbe Body Types.

Note: The following descriptions are merely general outlines and not meant to 100% describe a Soft Dramatic down to her very last detail. 

Meaning, two Soft Dramatics do not have to have 100% uniform Yin and Yang parts. Sofia Vergara and Rachel Weisz, for instance.

While Sofia’s waist is waspish, Rachel’s is more straight. And yet, they are both Kibbe-verified Soft Dramatics. The straightness of Rachel’s waist isn’t enough to upset her Soft Dramatic Yin-Yang balance.

Where they’re similar, however, is with their Bone Structure– and Bone Structure is what matters the most. It dictates how clothes will hang on the body. 

While Body Flesh (bust, waist, hips) and Facial Features are definitely included in the criteria, less important and less influential than Bone Structure (shoulders especially, limbs, and vertical line).

Therefore, a slight deviation from these descriptions is always possible and should not be worried over as long as the overall outline meets the Yin and Yang balance of a Soft Dramatic (extreme Yang Bone Structure with extreme Yin undercurrent in flesh).

Skeleton (bone structure):

• Height is moderate to tall and usually 5″5″ inches and over
• Large and angular.
• Long limbs and large hands and feet (may be long, narrow, or wide)
• If your Bone Structure is narrow, (particularly the shoulders, hands, feet, wrists, or ankles), you may think of yourself as delicate like a Romantic. But this isn’t true, for your extreme length offsets your narrowness.

Body Flesh (bust, waist, hips, thighs, upper arms):

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• Fleshy (unless very thin) particularly through the bust and hip area.
• Usually have long legs and arms which can become fleshy in the upper arm and thigh areas without exercise.
• Usually have a moderate-sized waist which can become thick.

Facial features (facial flesh and bones):

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• Facial bones are prominent or sharp (nose, cheekbones, jawline).
• Full, lush, sensual
• Large eyes, full lips, fleshy cheeks

When overweight, heaviness is usually seen at the fleshiest parts of your body: the bust, hips, waist, thighs, upper arms and especially the face.

A Soft Dramatic will not have:

• have a boyish figure (Gamine)
• be overly petite or small in stature with short limbs (Theatrical Romantic)
• have delicate or small facial features (Romantic)
• be symmetrical in Body Flesh or Facial characteristics (Classic)

Kibbe-verified Soft Dramatic celebrities

Take a look at Sofia Vergara, a celebrity example of a Soft Dramatic. As you can see, she has a Yang dominant Skeleton (long vertical line, long limbs, sharp shoulders). However, if you look at her Body Flesh (bust, waist, hips), they’re well-defined— large bust, curvy waist, and prominent hips— which are all Yin (feminine)

While her face is mostly Dramatic (almond-shaped eyes, sharp nose, high cheekbones, tight cheek flesh, angular jawline), it does have a Yin undercurrent— her full lips (E).

1. Sofia Vergara
2. Rachel Weisz
3. Christina Hendricks
4. Ava Gardner
5. Sophia Loren
6. Maria Callas
7. Raquel Welch
8. Valerie Perrine
9. Anne Bancroft
10. Barbra Streisand
11. Christina Hendricks

How to Dress Soft Dramatic

With Kibbe system, you have to match the balance of your body’s Yin and Yang to your outfit’s Yin and Yang balance. For a Soft Dramatic, that means wearing mainly Yang clothing but with Yin undercurrents.

First, let’s get a general sense of what’s Yin and what’s Yang in clothing:

YANG	YIN
Long	Short
V-neckline (angular)	Rounded neckline
Plain finish	Lacy/ ornate finish
Angular	Rounded
Straight cut	Waist emphasis

And now, let’s combine these Yin and Yang to match a Soft Dramatic figure.

1. Look for long, waist-hugging outfits.

Pieces with long vertical lines highlight the Yang frame of a Soft Dramatic while waist emphasis highlights her Yin undercurrents. This allows a Soft Dramatic to showcase both her Yang bone structure and her Yin softness.

Hence this dress as the perfect example:

Had she only worn a long straight dress with zero waist emphasis, her curves would’ve been buried with all the Yang and it would’ve looked awkward. And had she only worn an all-Yin dress, the outfit would have looked off and a little separate from her. (More on that later).

2. Experiment with slightly oversized pieces.

Unlike Yin-dominant body types, Soft Dramatics can perfectly handle voluminous and oversized pieces (big swirls, large coats, huge drapes). Soft Dramatics never look “buried” in these, thanks to their prominent and Dramatic Skeleton.

However, unlike pure Dramatic, Soft Dramatics do need waist emphasis to accommodate their Yin undercurrents. Otherwise, something like this happens:

Let’s look at two Soft Dramatic ladies Sofia Vergara and Rachel Weisz wearing roughly similar drapey tops.

As you can see, Rachel’s top has waist emphasis, while Sofia’s barely has any. I guess we can agree that Rachel’s top is more flattering for a Soft Dramatic because it addresses both SD’s Yang (V-neck collar) and Yin (waist emphasis).

On the other hand, Sofia’s top looks more like a Natural instead of a Soft Dramatic. It doesn’t look bad (since Natural is also Yang dominant like Dramatic) but Rachel’s top looks more Soft Dramatic and therefore more flattering.

3. Opt for drapey pieces with heavy fabrics.

Drapey outfits are perfect for highlighting the curves of a Soft Dramatic however, the fabric also needs to be heavy so the drape remains close to the body and still compliments the Dramatic skeleton of an SD.

You wanna avoid fit and flare pieces as they have too much flare at the hips and too overpowering to the Yin and Yang balance of an SD. You want your clothing to still hug your body, accentuating your Yin.

4. When wearing a belt…

When wearing a belt, make sure that it shares the same color as your outfit. Doing so avoids “cutting you in half” which is what happens when you wear a solitary color that isn’t found anywhere in your outfit.

Cutting your vertical line in half is the last thing you wanna do for your Dramatic bone structure (skeleton).

5. Best necklines

Since you’re made up of both Yin and Yang, you can wear both rounded (sweetheart) and angular necklines (V-neck, decollete) and expect to look great.

Of course, the neckline is only one part of the equation. Do ensure that when wearing a rounded neckline, you’re also wearing Yang elements somewhere in the outfit (and vice versa) to maintain the perfect balance. See both dresses in tip #1.

6. Say yes to high-waisted pieces.

You don’t have to wear dresses all the time. You can apply the same principles to casual pieces like pants, jumpsuit, and jeans. The best way to do that is to wear them high-waisted. Wearing high-waisted bottoms will accentuate your curves as well as address your vertical line.

7. Best hairstyle for Soft Dramatic

Ever wondered why the tousled, messy hairstyle doesn’t look very flattering on you? Because Soft Dramatics look best in voluminous but defined hairstyles. The roundness defines their Yin while the primness (preciseness) defines their Dramatic bones.

Note that straight or curly, these hairstyles, aren’t going crazy with the tousled and messy look. Sure, the locks are voluminous but you can’t help but notice the neatness and preciseness at the edges as well as the big deliberate chunks of hair. That’s the Dramatic’s Yang in harmony with the Yin of SD.

8. Size and shapes of accessories

Bulky, heavy, long and/ or rounded are the adjectives that describe the best accessories for a Soft Dramatic. Where a pure Romantic might be overpowered by an elaborate and huge accessory, a Soft Dramatic can pull it off while remaining the center of attention.

Note Rachel’s sunglasses in the fourth picture. It has a sharp edge at the top and yet rounded at the bottom. That’s a perfect example of an accessory honoring both Dramatic and Yin elements of an SD.

The same applies to handbags, belts, and footwear.

8. Makeup for Soft Dramatic

What happens when a Soft Dramatic doesn’t wear her lines?

Note when styling a Soft Dramatic

• Know that clothes alone do NOT have a Kibbe type. Therefore, avoid Kibbe-typing a piece of clothing based on its appearance when unworn or worn by other women other than yourself.

•  Just because an outfit looks great on a Soft Dramatic doesn’t mean it wouldn’t look great on other Kibbe types and vice versa. For instance, contrary to popular belief, bodycon dresses aren’t only exclusive to Romantics, nor is Bohemian only exclusive to Naturals. Any body type can actually wear a Bohemian and a bodycon dress and look great. They would just look different from one another but with the right fabric and customization, any body type can pull off most designs.

•  Meaning, don’t be scared to explore and experiment. The system was made not to box you in but to liberate you so you can present your unique expression to the world.

•  The goal is to know the principles first then marry those principles to your own taste instead of following a one-size-fits-all rule. For even two Soft Dramatics look different from each other, not to mention have completely different tastes.

• As with dressing any body types, do not focus on each piece of the outfit. Instead, focus mainly on the overall feel and look of the outfit. For a Soft Dramatic, it’s primarily about honoring your Dramatic frame but also honoring your curves and roundness in small doses.

• David Kibbe’s goal in creating the system was not to put women in a box. In fact, it’s the opposite. He wants women to “expand their repertoire”, have fun, and personalize to their hearts’ desires.

• That said, feel free to follow the suggested tips in this article but know that there are many other ways to style your Soft Dramatic body (while following the styling principles proposed by the system) that’s unique to your own taste and expression.

Soft Dramatic Shopping Guide

Looking for a shopping guide? Here’s a Soft Dramatic’s guide for clothing, accessories, makeup, coloring, and prints.

Having both qualities of Dramatic and Romantic, you should also check out:

• How to Dress a Dramatic
• How to Style a Romantic