Personal Stylist Leeds - Personal Shopper Leeds - Image Consultant - Arash Mazinani
Does the way you view your body on a day to day basis determine what you wear? I’ve been thinking a lot recently about self perception and how it affects your style. I wanted to write a post that invited my readers to get involved and comment about how their own self perception dictated the clothes they wore or maybe it doesn’t? Kind of like the old reader’s questions posts I used to do.
Today you’re going to learn how to add more colour to your wardrobe and stop playing it safe when it comes to wearing colour.
One of the biggest concerns many of my clients have when it comes to their wardrobe is often how to incorporate colour. Maybe it’s the bleak summers? Perhaps it’s the belief colour looks better with a tan? Whatever it is about wearing colour, it seems for many in the UK, working bold colours is a bit of a challenge.
Remember the 80s …?
Neither do I, but from what I know of it, there was a particular boom in colour analysis and dictating what colours people can wear by putting them into ‘seasons’. Call me a poor image consultant but this isn’t something I advocate. I think colour is a very personal thing and over time you’ll know which colours suit you best and which ones to leave on the rail. Besides, if I tell you never to wear orange but that colour is in every store, what are you going to do?
Are you crazy about colour but don’t know where to start?
Then this post’s for you.
“In 2007, at Washington DC’s L’Enfant Metro station, a man performed six classical Bach pieces for 45 minutes on a violin. Some people stopped and listened, most scurried on to meet their busy schedules, and 27 people placed money totaling $32 in the violinist tin cup. Only one person recognized that she had been treated to a free, unpublicized concert by violin virtuoso Joshua Bell. Bell, who had played to a sold out theatre in Boston two days before (average $100 per ticket) had performed the subway concert on a 1713 Stadivarius worth 3.5 million dollars. Subway passengers perceived another talented man down on his luck hoping to make a few bucks in the subway. I wonder what would have been the outcome if the subway passengers would have known the identity of the violinist.” – www.examiner.com
I posted the above quote because I think it is a perfect example of what I wanted to communicate with this post. The other day I was having a conversation with a good friend of my mine about his career and his thoughts on the corporate world. He revealed a story about an employee he hired at his company that recently left because of a massive promotion. He put it down, partly, not to his ability but because he looked the part. He looked like someone who would fit right into the boardroom with the other high flyers. The brands he wore were the sort that those in the roles he wanted would have coveted. While my good friend put it down to him ‘playing the game’ part of what he said struck a chord with me.
We also talked of other people we knew in the white collar world who were struggling to get ahead. Again he cited their attire as the reason that particular person had been overlooked when his company were promoting.
You may or may not agree…
The thoughts he shared with me certainly made me think. After consideration I have to say I do agree with him. While doing the best at your job, this will only get you so far up the corporate ladder. You have to also consider your style and how you look. When employers are looking for someone for a promotion, especially to higher level jobs, they want someone who will represent the company well.
Perserving the image of the company is paramount, especially if you’re going to be in settings where you’re meeting current and potential clients. If you’re good at your job but you turn up everyday like you haven’t really made an effort, of course your managers are going to notice.
Take the photos of the wonderful lady below. The lady on the left is a cleaner at the office, the lady on the right is the director.
We all know the importance of image in the work place, it’s perfectly illustrated in the interview. It’s in our subconscious that we have to dress ‘well’ or dress ‘up’ to try and get the job. But often, once we have the job we want, we then rest on our backside and let off the gas a little. We end up wearing the same suit until it’s worn and a bit shabby. We forget to polish our shoes or skip a day’s shave. We don’t take time to spray cologne or brush our hair.
Laziness creeps in and that initial impression we gave was just a facade. Your managers take note and then when it’s time to promote you’re overlooked or you didn’t ‘quite’ cut it. “Don’t worry“, you tell yourself, “maybe I don’t have enough experience yet”, “maybe next year”…
I’d love to hear your thoughts and hear about any experiences you’ve had that are similar to what I discussed in this post.
Have you ever wondered why some people have a certain allure when it comes to their style? It’s almost like no matter what they wear they always look good? While no matter what you wear you don’t feel you look as good? It’s a dilemma that you’ve probably discussed with your girlfriends. Why does she always look so good? Which could be referring to someone you’ve spotted in a magazine or someone you pass on the way to work everyday. It’s a style that causes heads to turn and tongues to start wagging for all the right reasons. But what if I told you that ‘thing’ is something that everyone can achieve?
It’s hard to define that ‘thing’ some people may just refer to it as stylish, chic, cool, trendy when referring to someone that has it. It’s an elusive concept but a timeless one at that. See if you peel back the layers of clothes, you actually begin to see that we’re actually talking about an attitude rather than a particular ‘way’ to dress. That ‘thing’ is really a self assurance, not to the point of arrogance but an inner confidence that you look good to the point where you just know, it just feels right and becomes effortless.
If you view style as a whole made up of various parts you have the external which are made up of the clothes, the hair, the make up then you have the internal which is all about the confidence. This is the reason that you can copy an outfit head to toe that you may have seen in a magazine or on someone else and still not pull it off.
Look at certain icons through different generations, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe etc at how they exude confidence.
So how do you build up confidence?
That’s a difficult question to answer, it’s about knowing you look good and having the confidence in your ability to put clothes together. The only way you can build that confidence is to practice. That’s why I stress the importance of look books and modelling in a lot of my posts, yes copying for copying sake is not the point but in copying different outfits you start to build your own sense for what looks good which will allow you to then start to co ordinate pieces that work well together yourself.
Don’t forget, confidence alone won’t make you turn heads, you still need good clothes and that all important attention to detail.
I’d love to hear you thoughts on the matter
I promised a couple of week’s ago I’d write a post dedicated to expressing you’re individuality through your clothes. I had scheduled to bring to you last week but got caught up in the Nike Mag hype so had to postpone it until this week. This post came out of the post I wrote about the AW2011 menswear trends being uninspiring. I wanted to focus on the different ways you can look to become a more individual dresser. It may seem as though; dressing in the clothes you like = expressing your individuality. But if your inspiration comes from a limited source and others are getting their inspiration from the same source it soon means you’re no longer individual because everyone is dressing in the same clothes, following the same trends, getting the same inspiration. So how do you cultivate individuality in your style?
Think Outside The Box
It may sound cliched but thinking outside the box will help you stay stylish and individual. Seek inspiration outside of your comfort zone. Maybe look at fashion from days gone by and see what you can rework and modernise for yourself, after all this is what the designers often do. Another great example is to look at the current trends in womenswear and see what you can take and work using menswear.
Take Inspiration From Different Cultures
Have a look at pictures of different people around the world, notice how the subtleties of style differ in different cultures. Again see what you can take from different cultures and use in your own style. I’ve recently been looking a lot at fashion in the far east from places like Japan, Korea and Taiwan, I love the creativity I’ve seen in the pieces that they wear. They take classic styles and add their attitude to it. Use the web to have a look at style around the world, there are plenty of street style blogs which will be really useful for this.
Experiment
Again it sounds pretty obvious but how often do you take time out to actually experiment with clothes. You have to be like a chef mixing together different ingredients to see what works and what doesn’t. Take time out once a week or so and just go through your wardrobe experimenting with new outfits. It will also give you the opportunity to see if there are any pieces that you need to update in your wardrobe or acquire to finish off your outfits.
Look Book
I’ve mentioned this a lot recently but keep a look book you can use it to inspire yourself when you feel like you don’t know what to wear or you just want to explore a new look.
Avoid The Masses
In the gift and the curse post I talked about avoiding dressing like a mannequin. I guess this is culmination of all the points above. If you want to have an individual style then go out and inspire yourself, seek new styles and look and the past and different cultures to help you hone your own. If the shops are selling a certain look remember you have a choice, you don’t have to buy into it just because thats what everybody is wearing and they’re telling you to wear.
I hope this helps and gives you a few ideas on how you can make your style a little bit more individual.
picture:lacarmina.com