Who looks good in pink tulle? A study in style essences

The answer is: People with the ethereal and/or ingenue style essence.

For example, Lana Condor looks fabulous in pink tulle.

Why? Because she has an ethereal-romantic-ingenue essence.

Lana has a lot of ethereal, otherworldly beauty…

A lot of ingenue, girlish beauty…

And a dash of romantic, womanly beauty.

Here she is in more ethereal-romantic-ingenue looks. (Not all her best lines/colors, but with at least some good elements.)

By contrast, women with the other four essences—dramatic, natural, classic, and gamine—don’t look nearly as good in pink tulle.

Example one

Kendall Jenner has a dramatic essence.

Wrapped in pink tulle, her sharp features look pointy and exposed, like scissors in tissue paper.

She’s more beautiful in something sleek.

Whereas Lana Condor is not her best in anything dark, sleek, or shiny.

She looks much better in something light and frothy.

Example two

Consider this woman in a pink tulle gown.

Do you recognize her? I didn’t.

Is that Margot Robbie?

January Jones?

Rosie Huntington-Whitely?

No…

It’s Doutzen Kroes, former Victoria’s Secret model.

The frothy tulle is all wrong on her. (And the strong red lip isn’t helping.)

Put her in relaxed, natural looks, and her effortless beauty shines through.

Whereas Lana Condor needs clothes with more structure.

(To understand structure, think of draping a piece of clothing over your arm. Does it flow like water, like a silk slipdress or a loosely crotcheted sweater? That’s unstructured. Does it take more effort to bend, like a wool blazer? That’s structured.)

She needs more structure than a natural, but less than a dramatic, classic, or gamine.

Her best looks are somewhat structured, very delicate, and demure.

Example three

And finally: Catherine Zeta-Jones.

(Alright, Catherine knows her style too well to wear frothy pink tulle on the red carpet, but here she is in something close.)

A romantic-dramatic woman like Catherine Zeta-Jones looks older and too done-up in frothy tulle.

So. You’d think pink tulle would make someone look younger, but it makes Catherine look older.

Now, consider Catherine Zeta-Jones in a corset-style white dress.

You’d think a sexy, cleavage-baring outfit would always make someone look more mature…

But it makes Lana look younger.

Long curls and a corset top looks costume-y on her, like a cliched romance-novel cover—trying too hard to be sexy. We’re all the more aware of how young she is.

Isn’t it amazing how the same lines can have the opposite effect, depending on the person?

A woman like Lana Condor looks more grown-up in frothy tulle.

And that’s what makes ethereal-ingenue beauty so unique.