Style Type #3: Exuberant-Lively

Illustration by Sue Tait Porcaro

Are you bored easily? Would it feel like death to wear the same thing every day? Is your shoe and accessory closet as big a deal for you as your basic wardrobe? Well then, you might just have a pretty measurable amount of the Exuberant – Lively style.

From my perspective, I think this is one of the more misunderstood and misinterpreted of the seven archetypes described  in my book, Shopping for the Real You. That’s because frequently people confuse Exuberant-Lively  with the Youthful–Playful style archetype.

Here’s the difference: Youthful types have a wide eyed innocence about them. Exuberant–Lively types will never be accused of being innocent. They have a bit of mischief about them. It’s the difference between being “sweet” and being a little “edgy.” Physically, they are often highly kinetic. They’d rather skip than walk, fidget than stand still, dance than watch a play. In fact, they’d rather be in the play –dancing – than be watching it!

Since I referenced their shoe addiction, let’s take a look at a few pairs that define what it means to have a high-spirited style. You’ll often see “points” (or pointed toes) repeated dots (perforations in the leather) or over-stitching. They almost tell a “story” of some kind, as if they had their own voice: “I’m going somewhere,” “do you get the joke?” “Look at me!” And still, even with the more extreme examples, the scale and the pattern of the shapes is not overwhelming.

These types love to play dress-up, but there’s a lot of thought that goes into that haphazard-looking cleverness.  One of the challenges  with this style is in making sure that their outfit stays on this side of “costume.” Although, you certainly will find a lot of performers, particularly dancers and comics, who fall into this category.  

And although this blog is primarily for women, I have to show you a photo of one of my all-time favorite male dancers because he was the epitome of this type:  Merce Cunningham. (The hair is often a giveaway – as it is in our darling girl here on the left.) First of all, I loved his name, which I always associated with “Winged Mercury.” There’s a quality of movement in these types, even when they are standing still.

Now with all style archetypes, but particularly this one, you have to consider the overall impression. Let’s look at the ever-adorable Audrey Hepburn. Yes, Audrey had some Romantic and Classical, but the thing that was compelling about her was her impishness. There was always something brewing in those eyes. And regardless of her attire, whether it was cigarette pants and ballet flats or a ball gown, you expected that at any moment she would be up for some fun. And we got caught up in that fun.

Another element of this style is that these women can get away with wearing things that are slightly oversized. But here’s the deal: there’s a big difference between wearing something that is one size too large, and wearing something that is intentionally cut larger, like sporty jacket (on the left) or this gorgeous lilac coat. Yes, there is a lot of the clean, Classic clean line in both these images but they each still have something of a “wink, wink, nudge, nudge.” to them, with the flirty skirt and the hat and large, round sunglasses.

Then there are the hats! If ever there were a style that could rock a hat, it’s this one.  None of these are really necessary, but they’re all just so much fun and they each bring a kind of “coda” to the outfits.

 

 

 

 

And, of course, the Exuberant-Lively style type is certainly not limited to any age. It’s all in the eyes, the expression, the motion.

Motion, humor, taking life a little less seriously – this is what the Exuberant-Lively style type is all about.

So – how much of this style type do you have? Take the quiz in my book, Shopping for the Real You (available here and on Amazon) and find out!

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