Verified Celebrity Height Distributions: Visualizing the means and standard deviations of all 10 Kibbe types
There are two height rules that get cited in Kibbe, both from Power of Style.
- If you're 5'5" and over, you cannot be SG.
- If you're 5'6" and over, you have automatic vertical and can only be D, SD, or FN.
I wanted to see what the data actually looks like, so I plotted verified celebrity heights for each type and charted the distribution. Mean, standard deviation, range, outliers.
I've always believed automatic vertical should be raised by an inch or two. But maybe it shouldn’t exist at all?
I also see a lot of "you can be D/FN/SD at any height." You can. It's not against the rules. But you'd be an outlier, and I think that word should mean something.
Every type has outliers. I don't think that's a flaw in the system, or a mistake on David's part. I don't think every outlier needs to be retyped. I think that’s just what distributions do.
To me, a good system doesn't need strict lines to be reliable. It needs a mean, a range, standard deviation, and room for the edge cases.
Basically, a statistical model. Closer to how David actually wrote Metamorphosis, where height shows up as usually ___ and over, or typically under ___.
What's actually interesting is the shape of the whole thing. Where the bulk sits. How wide the normal band really is. And that every type lands with a standard deviation of about ±2 inches from its mean.
Disclaimer: Now with all that said, the analysis tool and any typing I partake in will follow David’s most recent rules. This is just a thought experiment and a display of existing data. You can also see these charts on the individual types pages on site.