David Kibbe's Power of Style: A Guided Journey to Help You Discover Your Authentic Style

by David Kibbe

Welcome to legendary style guru David Kibbe’s program of Love-Based Beauty, filled with revolutionary techniques to unlock the secret superpower that is your authentic style.Prepare for a guided journey through Kibbe’s ingenious method of games created to take you by the hand to uncover all the things that are unique to you. His new vision of beauty will help you completely redefine what style is, what it can do for you, and how it can help you uplift the world around you.As you travel this journey, you will learn such visionary concepts • Beauty comes from individuality.• Style evolves from identity.• There are no “flaws”—only unique characteristics.• You are exactly who you are “supposed” to be.• You are a star—it is your irrefutable birthright.Here you will find all you need to banish the old, restrictive style rules of yesterday and smash the stifling boxes of stereotypes. David Kibbe’s Power of Style will show you how to capture and express your star qualities from head to toe.

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published January 7, 2025

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

METAPHYSICAL RAMBLING
Having been professionally draped as a Winter last year, I was excited to take additional strides toward dressing for my body with Kibbe's Image Identities. But for me, this book fell flat. 70% of the book is metaphysical rambling ("True style is cyclical. The energy starts with you, reaches out to others, and then returns tenfold... Love-Based Beauty combined with the power of focus sends your dreams right out to those of like minds...This cannot fail to materialize, because love begets love when your style is inclusive"). When Kibbe is not engaging in metaphysical rambling, he is thrusting his "spirituality" onto the readers ("We come to earth as little bundles of pure love... We just exist in a state of love" -- False. Original sin and total depravity. "We are all Nature's children, and she has given us each a built-in possibility of transforming into our most glorious self" - False. Mother Nature did not create us).

INCLUSIVITY & SELF-LOVE
Another 20% of the book is full of exercises that I thought were going to ultimately help me determine my Image ID (making inspiration boards on Pinterest, etc.), but they were actually all about recognizing and addressing your prejudices and insecurities. Maybe other readers needed multiple chapters and exercises helping them work through their childhood woundings and body image insecurities, but I really was just looking for practical advice on how to most beautifully clothe this well-loved body that has birthed 4 children in 8 years.

FINALLY! IMAGE IDENTITIES!
I was so excited to finally start reading about Yin/Yang and Image Identities, but there were only ten pages - TEN PAGES in a 255 page book! - on determining your Personal Line and subsequent Image Identity. These 10 pages were the entire reason I bought the book. I needed help reading my personal line sketch, and I did not find additional help here that I hadn't already seen online. Extremely disappointing.

SEASONAL COLOR ANALYSIS
Kibbe spends three times as many pages on Seasonal Color Analysis as on Image IDs, which isn't even his area of expertise. And for such a visual topic, there are surprisingly few photos. Why not show the way the skin changes from sallow to glowing when draping in warm versus cool colors?

HARMONIZING SEASON & IMAGE ID
Ultimately, I have decided on my own that I am likely a Soft Classic Winter with a Dramatic Essence. Kibbe didn't mention Essences at all in this book, perhaps because he didn't want to broach this topic: How do I harmonize the delicate balance of the Soft Classic with the boldness of the Winter colors and Dramatic Essence? Soft Classics are to wear soft, monochromatic outfits, Winters wear bright and bold colors, and Dramatics play with asymmetry and sharpness. These are the sorts of style questions I would have loved to see addressed in a book on the Power of Style.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as helpful as I was hoping

I was familiar with Kibbe's system before reading this book. This book added nothing new to my understanding. If anything, the author has backpedaled so much that his system no longer has any "meat" to it. His "explanations" of the accommodations are only 1-2 sentences. He states that everything comes down to the Line Drawing, but doesn't explain it very well (and the illustrations don't help much either) because the shoulder mark starts in a different place on each example with no explanation as to why.

All in all, a very unhelpful book that didn't teach me anything new, useful, or valuable.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

The narcissistic musings of a man who really “loves women.”

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars, mostly because the physical book itself is lovely. What's in it is hit or miss.

I read this in one night because most of the text can be skipped over. As other reviewers have mentioned, it's very fluffy, awkward, and is either written by someone who is trying way too hard and thus is ingenuinous, or is a narcissist trying to make people like him by love-bombing the reader. (I've never heard Kibbe speak, so I don't know which of these two options is the correct one. Did he just have a terrible editor that gave bad advice about how to try to make readers like him?)

Speaking of terrible editors, whoever edited this book should be fired. The ramblings of the line drawing explanations for the "additionals" made zero sense. They weren't grammatically correct sentences and they were word salad. Also he talks about additionals and secondaries in one or two paragraphs, but doesn't explain if they're synonyms or different things.

I stumbled upon the whole Kibbe Image ID years ago randomly in my youtube feed and have fallen down the rabbit hole a few times. Honestly, though, I think I like the Youtuber's take on it more than the OG. I found his message to be pretentious (you can DIY yourself but don't you dare try to help someone else or listen to anyone else that hasn't been "professionally certified" in his methodology. Dude, it's clothes and a body styling framework. It's not that serious.)

Some of the exercises may be helpful with the Pinterest mood boards, but I didn't do them. Maybe I will later...idk. The line drawing was kind of helpful, but more guidance would have made it much more beneficial. I get that he wanted to simplify his system and get rid of the quiz element, but some additional text could be helpful to explain the images. Like, the arrows on the thighs of the petite additional -- no idea what that means. Does that mean short thigh bones? Or that they curve in? Or something else? The distinction between the two dominant options is helpful, as that's something that I struggled with as a 5'3.5 person who has long legs and long arms for my height. Apparently I am vertical because I'm definitely not curve. Cool. Still can't figure out if my additional is width or balance, so some additional descriptors would have helped. I'm still going with dramatic classic, as that seems close enough.

More examples and photos for each ID would've been nice to provide styling suggestions and visual guidance. The color seasons section was a little odd, and also flawed. He focused so strongly that genetics requires that you're entirely warm or cool and you won't have mismatched eyes, hair, and undertones, which is not true (case in point: me.). As others have pointed out, seasonal analysis isn't his area of fame so it's weird for such a large portion of the book to be focused on that.

I'm glad I got this from the library and didn't buy it, but at least the book is very pretty so it would look nice on a coffee table for those who did buy it. But, this isn't a book that I would ever refer back to in the future....I will instead go back to random Youtubers when I want to go down this rabbit hole again.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first picked up this book, I was deeply disappointed that this book was not like his first book metamorphosis. After learning a lot about his system from the online community, I could not wait to soak up the knowledge from the expert himself, but then opened it to read that I should take Susan breaths? What? And where were the descriptions of the IDs?

However, I did revisit the text and I think there are a few really excellent parts about the book:

1) history: kibble puts his framework within the greater context of women’s fashion and that helped me to understand his thinking better. I appreciated this.
2) games: some of the games are fun and provoke creativity. I’m going to do them all because I think they provide value.
3) line drawings : the line drawings helped me to understand the system better without lengthy text. He makes finding the identity easy but then never says what to do with it once you have it.

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is filled wuth overly dramatic hyper love bombing language that makes no sense other thn to keep reminding you that David Kibbe loves you. I liked Kibbe's first book from the 1980's. Yes the styles are outdated (and were even over the top for that era) but there was page after page of useful information and it's beyond my comprehension that this book, written fifty years later, is written by the same person. Still shaking my head.

[Maddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a long term admirer of David Kibbe’s work, I found this book wonderful. I think I benefitted from having the luxury of hearing David speak a few times. I would recommend watching David’s interview with Gabrielle Aruda on YouTube to get a feel for David and Susan’s vision before diving in. His voice and his passion comes through so strongly. To get the most out this book you really have to go in with an open mind. If you are expecting a lot of specific styling recommendations, you may be disappointed. It has far more about self love and self acceptance. Where it could potentially veer into something too campy, I think David’s genuineness and earnestness keeps the book engaging. I appreciated the updates to his system. Some of the games were fun and some were more difficult. The new information did help me figure out my image identity. It changed from what I thought before this book was released and feels much better with the new information. I’m excited to keep exploring and utilizing the new things I’ve learned.

[Jage]

Not going to give it a star rating, but unfortunately this was not a good use of my time. I feel like this confused me more than helped.

[Bec]

Well at first I was disappointed that I didn't have a shortcut to my Kibbe type. Then I learned, there is no type and there is no shortcut. I enjoyed learning about love based beauty, and I would recommend this book to anyone who has heard about "Kibbe body types" online and has gone down a rabbit hole they don't know how to get out of. Consider me released

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was nice to learn how to figure out where my daughter and I fit into Kibbe's system. The rest was unfortunately a lot of filler. I suppose if you've never been exposed to any type of style system, some of the exercises might feel interesting or enlightening. Creating a pin board for a "Yin Party" and a "Yang Party," was, for example, fun, but in our opinions, completely superfluous. Even if you'd never heard of yin/yang as a concept a 30-minute exercise was unlikely necessary. I did enjoy creating a kind of creepy, circus/carnival themed masquerade party for my board, but for us, we did one or two of these and that was plenty.

The other, bigger disappointment was that there were hardly any examples of types of clothing to look for to apply Kibbe's theory. We had much better luck looking at YouTube for application. Kibbe's book provided 3 sketches and then one real-life, photographed model. He insisted that the photos did not show "makeovers," and that the reader should NOT view them that way. But this was a laugh, as there were traditional "before" and "after" photos, with models that had new haircuts and/or new hair colors. But they WEREN'T makeovers. lol. Gotcha.

I can say that Kibbe's system made sense for me once I learned the types of clothing that he suggested will most flatter/enhance my figure. I like that his system does not aim to "balance" your figure as to hide imperfections to conform to an ideal goal, but instead uses shapes and materials to enhance and work with one's proportions. I learned about why it was that I have felt better in V-neck and boat-neck rather than crew-neck shirts for example. I knew I felt this way, but I could never understand why. I learned that it wasn't just "me" and my opinion, but the shape of my body. Again, however, I feel like I learned the specifics of which clothes would work (as opposed to Kibbe's, "fabrics that float over your curves") from YouTube creators that showed "this-not-that" photos that really brought the message home and helped me to figure out the cuts, patterns, and materials of clothing that I can look for when I head to the thrift stores.

Kibbe also includes a cursory look at seasonal analysis in the back part of the book. We skipped this part as well since we both already knew our seasons. Also, since the book wasn't really about this subject, the information there was unlikely to be too helpful to someone who is completely unfamiliar with the theory. In fact, I was surprised he included it in the book at all.

[Susannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Kibbe is the pioneer of a style system called the Kibbe method, which has recently got a lot of traction on social media, especially YouTube. The Kibbe method involves dressing to fit your shape, rather than dieting, or otherwise altering your figure to conform to an ideal. Namely, the Kibbe method asks women (and it applies to men as well) to take their bone structure, or overall frame, into account when dressing. So accommodate height if you have it, or width in your shoulders if you have it, etc.

This book is the updated edition of Kibbe's orginal book which was published in the 1980s, and which is now out of print. He wrote it partly in response to all the renewed coverage his style system was receiving on social media. I wanted to read this after becoming very interested in his method, and I wanted to get the final word from the man himself.

The book is divided into 7 parts. Much of the first 70 pages of the book is devoted to Kibbe encouraging the reader to let go of their old ideas when it comes to style and to embrace their unique figure and build their self-esteem. So the book is mainly aimed at those who are completely new to his method. For those that already have some knowledge of Kibbe, the most useful section is pages 72 - 80. After that there is a large section covering styling ideas for the different figure types, such as Romantics, Gamines, etc. Further sections cover colour theory, makeup, and hair style.

I think this book is best suited to people who have no prior knowledge of Kibbe's system, as they will get the most out of it. If you have any familiarity with the system, then you can skip over most of the book. Personally I was a a bit disappointed in it. I think I wanted a more definitive guide from the man who created the system, but instead he has broadened and made his system much less prescriptive, but that is disappointing if you were hoping for any final answers. However, it is still worth a look if you are interested in the Kibbe system.

[Ms. Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having enjoyed "Metamorphosis", and worked out my own Image ID and Essence from that book, I hoped to find more elucidation and updated styling in his new book. I was very disappointed. Kibbe seems to have ditched the system he created, and which many women have found so useful, and replaces his former helpful descriptions and recommendations with lots of woolly, New Age ramblings and declarations that we are all beautiful anyway. Which is not at all helpful to someone looking for styling tips.

The only problem with the earlier book was that the styling advice was very dated, and the clothes worn by the women who exemplify each type now look very 1980s and not at all what someone would choose today. Like others who've commented on this book, I had hoped for more modern clothes to be featured - and for some outfits that would be useful in a leisure activity, rather than getting all dressed up for a grand theatre outing or dinner at a posh restaurant.

But no, the outfits are still very dressy and the photos don't add anything to our understanding of the different Image ID's - and we are not even supposed to use that term any more! Well, thanks a lot David, but it has been a great help to me in the past even if you no longer use it yourself, and I'm keeping mine.

The only good sections were the line drawings and the analyses. What counts as vertical, what is a double curve, and so on. These exercises (now called "games" for some reason) were part of the online Kibbe Facebook content, which was hard to access. It's good to have them written out and drawn in a way we can understand and relate to.

But this doesn't make the book worth its hefty price tag. If you can get a copy of "Metamorphosis", this is still a very useful book for those looking to upgrade their styling. Otherwise, don't bother.

[Izel · Rating 2 out of 5]

So yeah... I don't know what to tell about this book. It was fun to read and it mentions different areas. But I think Kibbe was a little obsessed about the "self-love" concept. Yeah sure every woman should have a healthy self-love, but we need some clear 'lines' and clarity. We, as humans, always tend to categorize ourselves and it's not always harming and actually it can saves lives. As a teenager when I first read Metamorphosis, I was really relieved to have the same type of Audrey Hepburn. Because as a teenager with an adolescence's mind, I had a low confidence about my body and fashion sense. So being a gamine inspired me. Now, as a woman I have a healthy mindset about my style and my body and I'm still sure that body types exist. I think those body types weren't insulting like other body type names such as "pear" or "apple". By knowing your body structures features, you can easily decide which features do you want to emphasize in your body with your styling. When I was confused about which glasses frame to pick, I remember from a video about kibbes body types, it was told that "There is no such thing as a right or wrong frame. You just need to decide whether you want to emphasize your round face with round frame or the opposite, contrasting it with a sharp frame." I think in this book Kibbe wanted to criticize the postmodernity, fast fashion and the endless trends. He is right about those. The games were fun, actually. But I think buying the parts of an outfit at the same moment, cannot be appropriate for everyone. I know that he works with rich, upper class, celebrity people, but I think one can also find their image identity by thrifting, buying second hand, or simply knitting their clothes themselves.

[EMA · Rating 2 out of 5]

if you got into kibbe online during the last few years, you can skip this book. it's basically a workbook for someone who knows nothing about his methods and wants a total revamp of their whole life to include love and positivity and personal style and colour seasons and makeup and decor according to his ideas and personal philosophies. there's only ten pages devoted to the different body types and not a lot of questions answered, which was a huge disappointment. there is far more about colour seasons than the body types he is famous for, it's honestly kind of weird. there is a chapter devoted to his ire at people's interpretations of his work on the internet and lots of insisting throughout the book that no one can type anyone else except people who are certified in his method (there is no certification available)--i wish he'd put that energy into expanding his work on different types of silhouettes. also the body types photos and illustrations here feel very dated, i struggled to find anything that felt like something someone today would wear who is under the age of 60. i think his ideas for outfits would work for baby boomer women but that's about it. the functional and interesting core of his work is already out there online. i can understand why most of the stylists i follow online either haven't mentioned this book or have gone on to build on his ideas to create their own interpretations of body types.

[Abi Ainley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's just good. I think Kibbe's done a really good job of refactoring his system for DIYers and provided a really accessible guide to the system. There will always be some aspects of his system that will be confusing until you're more experienced with it and knowledgeable of it, and there will always be people who just don't get on with it, but that's just the nature of it. It came about naturally through his work and the way he thought about styling. It's very personal to him so it's not going to be an optimized 5 step process or anything.

Before this book I thought I was a soft gamine and after I know for a fact I'm theatrical romantic and find it hilarious that I ever thought I was anything else because it's so obvious to me now. I didn't get on as much with the colour system. I'm a warm spring but I'm also quite alternative and creative which I think makes me averse to most colour systems, beyond understanding harmony and disharmony a bit better. The book didn't give me anything new on the colour front.

Overall I'd recommend it if you enjoy the rabbit hole of style analysis. You might not like everything but you'll probably find some nuggets that work for you.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed sleuthing the internet to understand his prior system, so this was a must-read for me.

I appreciated the clarification on how to find your best silhouettes. The new recommendations are limited. I haven't re-tested my "type" in his new system yet, but the soft classic recommendations were light. More styling recommendations for each type would have been helpful.

I don't always agree with his ideas. I do appreciate his point of view. Some of the games I really love the idea of and am looking forward to doing.

I also appreciated his deep care about the transformative power of style. While his metaphysical way of seeing style may not vibe with folks who are looking for direct recommendations, it's sincere and I see where he is coming from.

[Chianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

He’s a good attitude and a cheerful engaging delivery in the audible else this would have been single starred.

Guessing I prefer different styling (more nuance and antonyms) tho what to accommodate could be helpful…

Then the ending rant chapter in the name of protecting others who read blogs that misuse his work was the chapter that shouldn’t have been. Also Gabrielle Arruda’s site does what seemed to me an accurate job…esp given this book.

The image IDs were explained in a semi helpful but reductive manner…I expected better and more details.

Could have been 70% shorter and had the same effect.

👍🏽 for his disparaging the Fruit system 😆 and also encouraging loving beauty…

[Kayla Ault · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a really great body positive/body neutral way of looking at fashion and style and i would highly reccomend it to anyone with body image issues. I did not find self typing to be particularly intutive but it put me on the right path and I can now at least put my finger on why certain pieces/outfits don't work for me.

I borrowed the ebook from the library so it was hard to go through the activities at the reccomended pace but they are available in forums as well.

Helpful to a degree as someone looking to rediscover my personal style that got lost along the way through weight fluxuations and lifestyle changes/work burnout.

[Bianca Cardinale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tired of being a KK clone? Try this book! David Kibbe has given us an open invitation to find our truly unique selves. I felt a sense of freedom & possibility as soon as I started reading this book. Such a change from the old ways of viewing women's bodies and the prescriptive rules to minimise flaws. This book is all about discovery and celebration of the self and I highly recommend it. If you are after a quick tick & flick to pigeonhole yourself then it’s probably not for you.

[Kjoanna7 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Kibbe system can actually be really useful, and I was hoping to find in this book an alternative to the obsessive celebrity categorizing under Kibbe types. But instead, I got a fashion book full of some weird New Age stuff. It’s fine that the author likes to emphasize the client’s personality, but in my opinion, he’s really overthinking it and going off the deep end.
Too few photos and practical tips, too much “poetry.”

[Mina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found some of the stuff in here super useful and inspirational which I think I’ll take a way for the rest of my life

I’d recommend some parts of it but…
The majority of book itself is hard to follow, a bit rambly and chapters feel disorganised 😭

[Hana "Nara"]

My expectation was high. Are you sure it is not the draft?

Better check Ellie-Jean Royden instead.

[Karli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was put together really well and makes Kibbe's body types so much easier to understand. I could easily identify my own Image Identity as well as the Image Identies of friends and friends and family. This book is a great tool to have.

[Veronika Veles · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great starting point for my "metamorphosis". Will definitely re-read.

[Kersti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some unfinished simplistic thoughts, but some very beautiful musings on beauty, fashion and style. Worth a read.

[Amanda Cisneros · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF— couldn’t get into it… a lot of talking about what the book was going to talk about. I even found myself skimming and still couldn’t latch onto the main points.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved David Kibbe's 1987 book Metamorphosis as it helped me understand and appreciate my body shape, and importantly dress to flatter it. Like many Kibbe enthusiasts, I was looking forward to his new book, which I hoped would clarify some concepts, modernise the outfit recommendations, and talk more about the concept of essence and how it connects to the body.

Unfortunately, the new book left me feeling very disappointed as it lacks style and substance. While great care has been taken over the design of the book, there is a lack of information on style, which is ironic for a book on styling. There is a strong focus on loving yourself as you are, which follows through from the previous book, but the focus was so strong that it felt more like a self-help book. The writing is repetitive, waffly, and self-indulgent—and is in dire need of an editor to trim the fat, clarify the ambiguous wording that has created so much confusion around the Kibbe system, and bring the focus back to styling.

While the images of the line sketches to find your ID are a welcome addition, the “imaginary fabric draping” exercise is extremely unhelpful for those with aphantasia, and a real draping exercise would have been more useful for most people than an abstract idea. With the focus on the line sketch and the concept of essence being entirely removed, it feels a lot more like a body typing system (which it claims it’s not) than an essence system (which it claims to be).

Even if you find your ID through the line sketch, it’s now rendered largely pointless because there are no specific recommendations on how to dress for your ID, just a general silhouette for each and a focus on finding your individual style but very little to help you find your style. Instead, there is a big focus on finding the colors that suit you, using an approach (based on hair and eye color) that is widely discredited in color analysis communities.

On the whole, this book offered a great opportunity to modernise the system for the current audience and clarify a lot of the misunderstandings floating around, but instead it seemed to get lost in the self-love and breathing exercises, forgetting that it is ultimately supposed to be a book about style. I loved David Kibbe's 1987 book Metamorphosis as it helped me understand and appreciate my body shape, and importantly dress to flatter it. Like many Kibbe enthusiasts, I was looking forward to his new book, which I hoped would clarify some concepts, modernise the outfit recommendations, and talk more about the concept of essence and how it connects to the body.

Unfortunately, the new book left me feeling very disappointed as it lacks style and substance. While great care has been taken over the design of the book, there is a lack of information on style, which is ironic for a book on styling. There is a strong focus on loving yourself as you are, which follows through from the previous book, but the focus was so strong that it felt more like a self-help book. The writing is repetitive, waffly, and self-indulgent—and is in dire need of an editor to trim the fat, clarify the ambiguous wording that has created so much confusion around the Kibbe system, and bring the focus back to styling.

While the images of the line sketches to find your ID are a welcome addition, the “imaginary fabric draping” exercise is extremely unhelpful for those with aphantasia, and a real draping exercise would have been more useful for most people than an abstract idea. With the focus on the line sketch and the concept of essence being entirely removed, it feels a lot more like a body typing system (which it claims it’s not) than an essence system (which it claims to be).

Even if you find your ID through the line sketch, it’s now rendered largely pointless because there are no specific recommendations on how to dress for your ID, just a general silhouette for each and a focus on finding your individual style but very little to help you find your style. Instead, there is a big focus on finding the colors that suit you, using an approach (based on hair and eye color) that is widely discredited in color analysis communities.

On the whole, this book offered a great opportunity to modernise the system for the current audience and clarify a lot of the misunderstandings floating around, but instead it seemed to get lost in the self-love and breathing exercises, forgetting that it is ultimately supposed to be a book about style.