7 Kitchener Essences: How do I know what my essence is?

If you have recently discovered Kitchener's 7 Essences, you are surely eager to discover your own essence to understand which facet of your personality predominates and thus define your clothing style.

In this article, I will reveal to you what Kitchener essences are, explain the differences between Kitchener and Kibbe, guide you on how to incorporate your essence in combination with your Seasonal Color Analysis, and most importantly, help you discover which one is your Kitchener essence itself.

What are Kitchener essences?

Within the world of fashion styling, there are Kitchener Essences, a technique that allows us to identify the morphology of the body from our facial characteristics, which influence our personality. This innovative system was developed by John Kitchener, who was inspired by the contributions of Harriet McJimsey and Belle Northrup for its creation.

The purpose of understanding body morphology lies in identifying the most appropriate clothing, hairstyles and makeup to enhance the person's silhouette in a harmonious way, without modifying it. More specifically, Kitchener essences establish a connection between the morphological characteristics of a person's face, their personality and, therefore, the style of clothing that best suits their personality.

How Kitchener essences work

It is important to note that, in the beginning, the Kitchener scents created by John Kitchener consisted of six types: Dramatic, Romantic, Classic, Natural/Athletic, Gaminé and Ingenua. Later, McJimsey added a seventh essence: Angelic/Ethereal.

Of these seven types, three have Yang characteristics, which are related to masculine type energies: Dramatic, Natural/Athletic and Ethereal. On the other hand, the other three types of essence have Yin characteristics, mostly related to feminine energies: Romantic, Gaminé and Naive. The Classic essence, on the other hand, incorporates elements of both energies, both the feminine Yin and the masculine Yang.

Difference between Kitchener essences and Kibbe essences

Surely you have wondered at some point what the distinction is between Kitchener and Kibbe essences, since there are numerous classification systems for body types that can confuse and disorient us.

It is important to understand that Kibbe essences are divided into 13 body types that are based on our physical characteristics, with the purpose of offering us advice on our clothing style, designing garments that enhance our figure. Unlike traditional approaches that attempt to mask or slim the body, such as the aforementioned oval, diamond, hourglass, rectangle, triangle and inverted triangle, the Kibbe system focuses on highlighting the natural beauty of our body.

Kitchener's body essence system shares the same premise as Kibbe, maintaining that clothing should fit the body without attempting to modify it.

In that aspect, they share a fundamental similarity. However, the distinction between the two lies in the approach to evaluation: Kibbe focuses more on the physical attributes of the body, while John Kitchener focuses on analyzing the face to determine the person's personality, spirit, and values.

However, when it comes to the definition of Kitchener types, it is possible to state that they share similarities with Kibbe types in terms of style.

Similarly, we can see that Kitchener's 7 styles align with Kibbe's 13 styles.

Therefore, the Kitchener Dramatic style corresponds with the Kibbe Dramatic style, the romantic Kitchener is paired with the romantic Kibbe, the Classical Kitchener finds similarity with the Classical Kibbe. From the Kitchener Naturals to the Kibbe Naturals, and from the Kitchener Gamine to the Kibbe Gamine, as well as from the Naive Kitchener to the Soft Kibbe bodies, and from the Ethereal Kitchener to the Extraggant and Theatrical Kibbe bodies.

This parallelism often leads to people, after identifying their Kibbe style, discovering that their Kitchener essence can be composed of two types, such as Soft Dramatic which combines the Ethereal Kitchener essence and the Dramatic Kitchener essence.

Types of Kitchener Essences

Kitchener's 7 essences focus on our appearance and relate to our personality:

• Dramatic Kitchener Essence: people with a dramatic Kitchener essence have a shocking energy, they are determined and imposing individuals, but at the same time, this quality is fused with a certain reserve and a touch of mystery. For the most part, their characteristics tend to be predominantly yang, meaning they have a more masculine nature.

• Classic Kitchener Essence: Classic essences harmonize yin (feminine) and yang (masculine) energies, embodying serenity, exquisite manners, measured communication and an innate elegance in your manner.

• Natural Kitchener or Athletic Essence: People with a Natural Essence tend to exhibit predominantly yang (masculine) traits. They are individuals who enjoy freedom and perpetual activity, standing out for their sociable and close nature. They feel an affinity with nature and experience a sense of detachment.

• Romantic Kitchener Essence: People with a romantic Kitchener essence are characterized by their femininity and seductive charm. They are dreamers, full of creativity and ideas, in addition to possessing a magnetism that attracts those around them. These predominant qualities reflect a marked yin (feminine) balance.

• Kitchener Gamine Essence: People with Gamine-type Kitchener Essence are noted for their sociability, sense of humor, vitality, and ability to relate. They tend to project a youthful image and awaken the spark of creativity. These predominant qualities mostly align with the yin (feminine) spirit.

• Naive Kitchener Essence: People who embody the Naive Kitchener essence resemble innocent children, possessing good intentions and frank sincerity in expressing their thoughts. These predominant qualities reflect a mostly yin (feminine) essence.

• Ethereal or angelic Essence created by McHarriet Tilden Jimsey: this essence manifests in a wise, introspective and slightly mystical person. He exhibits a timeless quality, which seems to transcend the current era. This person is cultured, philosophical and serene, with a predominance of yang (masculine) traits.

You can discover a detailed explanation of all Kitchener Essences, including their appearance and clothing style, along with a test to determine which of these essences most closely matches your personality, in my Essence Guide Test available on the shop.

How to combine the essence with our Color Seasonal

The adoption of a Kitchener or Kibbe style invites us in a certain way to maintain certain colors and prints in our clothing, with the purpose of enhancing our figure and highlighting our essence.

On many occasions, these colors can conflict with our seasonal color palette. For example, if our essence suggests the choice of striking tones and we are in the Summer season, which is characterized by more muted colors, it is possible that a tone of vibrant red does not harmonize well with our appearance at that time of year.

In my perspective, I suggest that we adapt the style of clothing instead of the colors proposed by Kitchener or Kibbe. However, if we want to incorporate the colors of our seasonal palette, it is important to transform the red into a tone more in line with the Summer color palette, such as a more muted red, according to this example. In this way, we manage to maintain coherence with both our personal essence and our seasonal color palette.

How to know what my Kitchener essence is

Understanding what it means to have a Kitchener essence can be achieved through two approaches. One of them is to identify your Kibbe body type, which you can then associate with the different Kitchener body types (get the Kibbe body type calculator).

O también puedes realizar Kitchener test, which is a personality test that finally classifies you into one of the Kitchener essences.

However, it is perfectly viable to perform both assessments to define both your Kibbe body type and your Kitchener style. Then you can compare them to see if they match.

If you find discrepancies between both classifications, it is likely that you have made an error in one of the tests, either the Kibbe or the Kitchener. In this case, I advise you to repeat the questionnaires to obtain a more precise evaluation.