THE SCIENCE OF PERSONAL DRESS

"THE EARTH SPEAKS TO US IN THE  
DEEPEST LANGUAGE WE KNOW"

The Universe has an archetype language that has symbols, lines and colors that give meaning and form to our lives. The order and harmony of the Universe expresses its beauty through four different templates, or energies. You can see these specific energies illustrated in the four seasons — each adding to the balance of the whole.

"I didn't invent a color system, so much as discover an order to human colors and body lines which already exist, and then organized them into harmonics based on art principles exhibited by Nature. Just as sound exists within a certain range of human perception, so does color and line; just as music creates mood, has a theme and evokes emotion, so does color and line. I have orchestrated, if you will, colors and lines just as musical notes of the scale are organized, so that one can deliberately create with color and line. Because of this Order, we now have a system which can be quickly learned so that a person can compose with not only color, but visible texture and shape which portrays each color."                                                                —   Irenee Riter

Copyright® 1985 by Irenée Riter

The purpose for this work is to bring to conscious awareness that there is absolute order and beauty to everyone’s embodiment. Our bodies follow the natural lines and colors represented by Nature, and are not a hap-hazard mix of genes. One doesn't just happen to have blue eyes thrown in with any-which color of skin or hair — our color schemes have been orchestrated to perfection; one doesn’t just happen to have sloping shoulders or high-set hip bones or tapered fingers — our forms have been balanced perfectly. We are infinitely part of the deliberate order we find in our universe. In fact, each person is a balance of all 4 seasons.

“There is nothing ugly; I never saw an ugly thing in my life,
 for let the form of an object be what it may — light, shade and 
perspective will always make it beautiful.”

                                                                                        John Constable (1776-1837)

      

The material covered in The Science of Personal Dress is the same 90 hour course Irenee Riter taught at the Academy Of Art in San Francisco to fashion design students from all over the world. Going beyond conventional color analysis, the students worked with her advanced testing tools, techniques and master reference manual. The refinements from these prepared lessons and the high interest surrounding these concepts made it obvious that it was time to present them on a web site for everyone. Irenee developed short-cut testers and illustrations for the present computer-age of “wanting to know but little time to learn” phenomena. This  streamlined system delivers a basic understanding of color analysis and then escalates a very complex subject involving all aspects of personal dress into practical application. Even though the focus is directed toward personal appearance, these concepts apply to all art forms.

The following are comments from students at the Academy of Art in San Francisco:           

Isaac Mezradi makes an interesting comment. He says,

“.....it’s just that every single human being wants beautiful clothes, I think. And if they don’t, it’s fine. But somewhere they’re lying, I’m sorry, somewhere they’re lying.”

George Dearborn, one of the early theorists on the psychology of clothes, found that clothes help to protect us from fears; fear of ridicule, of the estimation of inefficiency, or
lack of taste, or lack of charm.

“Protection and relief from such fears .....I take to be the real reason and purpose of wearing clothes. And that is of importance.”

Marjorie Barslow Greenbie, a keen observer of human nature, wrote,

“There is undoubtedly a confused, half apologetic manner — a reduction of the personality to something negative and vague which comes from not realizing completely, and to one’s own satisfaction, one’s picture of one’s outward self.”

Overall, right colors do make a big difference, but there are more elements to dress than the color involved:

This work is designed to be used as a basic guide, taking the student of color and line beyond the limited, conventional "four season" stage into the next level — the Science of Personal Dress. It will assist you in seeing the order and reliability of common sense principles of good dress.

Color is one of the many vibrations of our earth.  Everything in the Universe is in motion and has a unique rate of vibration. For a better perspective of where color fits into the scheme of things, think of solid matter as the slowest and lowest form of vibratory motion.  As the frequency of vibrations increase, matter changes form to become liquids, gases, sound, electricity, heat, and then into the Visible Light Spectrum, our Rainbow Colors.

    ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

Each color has its own rate of vibration, moving up the scale from the lowest vibration to the highest; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and then into violet. After the color spectrum comes invisible ultra-violet rays, X-rays, gamma rays and cosmic rays.

See Psychology For More Interesting Details

Every individual has an energy field of color and line interpreted through the five senses as vibration. Hair, skin and eye colors, feature lines and body shape are all part of the person’s energy field. Clothing colors and lines affect this energy field with added vibrations. Bare naked, a person is completely balanced in color and line. When we begin to add clothing, textures, makeup and accessories, we have the opportunity to enhance, add beauty, variety, change and excitement to the body. Since each person has a unique vibrational field, there will be specific colors and lines that vibrate in perfect harmony with that person. The person will naturally feel good in those colors and lines.

If certain colors vibrate well with a given person, they will also vibrate well with each other. Because of this there will be a common quality or undertone running through all the person’s best colors, regardless of the hue. If a clear bluish red looks good, then it automatically follows that the same bluish-undertone will be best in other colors as well; bluish-green, blue-gray, bluish-dark brown rather than yellow-brown, bluish pink rather than coral-pink, bluish-silver rather than gold etc. The attuned colors will synchronize and vibrate together as though a certain “pitch” or “tone” is satisfying an harmonious chord running throughout the wardrobe.

When clothing, accessories and makeup colors are selected on this basis, they will all match or complement each other. Here is the real value in knowing your colors and lines. It not only simplifies shopping and saves money, it provides a versatile, efficient wardrobe. This is especially important for people who are usually on the move, and who need the added confidence of being well turned out. Let’s take a deep look into how Nature vibrates harmoniously through the energies of color and line.