Couture Italic

Its x-height is 69.3% of the cap height, near the 69.6% typical of serif fonts in the library, lower than 24 of the 39 other serif fonts. Ascenders on b, d, h, k and l line up with the capitals (100% of their height), and descenders on g, j, p, q and y drop 32.2% of the cap height below the baseline, deeper than 35 of the 39 other serif fonts. Its letters are of average width for serif fonts: an average lowercase letter, spacing included, is 87.8% as wide as the capitals are tall (an average capital, 104.3%), within 2.2% of the median. The o is close to a circle, 1.02 times as wide as it is tall, and M is the widest capital, at 1.07 times the width of H. Round letters overshoot: O rises 0.7% of the cap height above H and dips 1.2% below the baseline.

The letters lean about 15° to the right, where most serif fonts in the library stand upright. Vertical stems measure 13.4% of the cap height, lighter than 22 of the 35 other serif fonts. Ink covers 24.1% of each lowercase letter's box (its advance width by the cap height), lighter than 32 of the 39 other serif fonts.

Its 148 characters include 105 Latin letters, plus 43 figures, punctuation marks and symbols; 53 of the Latin letters are accented or special forms beyond A to Z. The word space measures 33% of the cap height, and the blank space either side of a lowercase letter takes up 4.6% of its width. Spacing is adjusted with 12 kerning pairs, fewer than 29 of the 39 other serif fonts. The tightest of them is YA, which closes up by 23.9% of the cap height. The figures have different widths, so columns of numbers set in Couture Italic will not line up exactly.

Couture Italic is drawn on the same letter structure as 4 other fonts in the library. Compared with Couture Italic, Parlour Italic Shadow adds a separate drop shadow and puts down 29% more ink. Pointe Italic puts down 15% less ink.