The Golden Ratio and Proportion in Design

The “golden ratio” has been a subject of fascination for artists and mathematicians for millenia.  The golden ratio occurs in nature, and is a mathematical formula used by artists, designers, architects, and even musicians in creating beauty. 

What is this magic ratio?  Technically it’s 1.1688.  But for artistic  uses it’s often simplified to this:  1:1.5, or a 2:3 ratio.

The Swiss architect Le Corbusier, who applied the golden ratio (as well as the related Fibonacci sequence) in his work, believed the golden ratio naturally appeals to the human eye, and that people throughout time and space are drawn to it whether they know it as mathematical formula or not.    

Corbusier’s idea is an intriguing one, and there’s ample evidence to support it.  Art and science both recognize that faces and figures considered “beautiful” throughout history have features that relate to each other in the golden ratio.  Leonardo da Vinci was intrigued by the golden ratio and depicted it in his famous Vitruvius Man (above).

Architecture, art, and design of all media also use a 2:3 ratio in many applications for good aesthetics.  These two diagrams show “good” and “bad” proportion in art compositions—the “good” rectangle approximating the golden ratio. 

In addition, well-proportioned clothing has historically been based on the golden ratio.  Here’s a picture from a 1926 high school home economics textbook, in a chapter about proportion in clothing construction.  The figure on the right captures it; the one on the left is off.  The two sections of the dress at right are generally in golden-ratio proportion, and the sleeve divides the girl’s arm into golden ratio sections. 

Isn’t this fascinating? 

For more about the golden ratio, here’s a site you might like, and here’s one more.

Please come check out my collection of well-proportioned vintage dresses, vintage shoes, and other vintage clothes at Chronologie Fine Vintage!    Love,

sallymandy

Everything You Need to Know about Fashion over Forty (or Fifty)

I started this blog because of a conversation the day I got my first pair of bifocals.

The lady helping me was admiring the frames I’d picked out, and I told her, “Well, my book about style over forty says plastic frames are flattering for my age.”

And she said, “You have a book about fashion over forty? What else does it say?”

So I told her about my book—two of them in fact—and as I drove home, I thought, what are the rules? And why are there rules? Should there be rules? Should we care?

To me, clothing is the tip of a deeper iceberg that incorporates who we are as individuals and in relation to the rest of the world. It’s not that clothes matter more as I get older: it’s that enjoying the beauty in all of life matters more; being authentically myself matters more; quality matters more; and all these things make a difference in how I dress.

I’m not a fashion professional, but a professional researcher and writer who has design and art training. And: I know what I like. My posts are a reflection of my own learning as I navigate the changes in my life and closet. The best part about writing in a blog is the give and take with readers. I continue to learn and find new inspiration. I hope you’ll join me!

To get started, here are my favorite posts about personal style:

The Differences Between Fashion and Style

Do This First: Read The Pocket Stylist

Elements of Design: Proportion and the Golden Ratio

Elements of Design: The Line of Beauty

Elements of Design: Line Part II

Colors that Flatter Everyone

What a Difference a Shoe Makes: One and Two

Risk Free Updates for Twyla Tweeners

Elements of Design on People over Forty (or Fifty, or Sixty)

Fashion Colors for 2009