Here are just a few reasons why enlisting in the services of professional image consultants can change the way you look, feel and put you on a new path on how to dress and always look absolutely fabulous.
Wouldn’t we all love to have a personal stylist? Someone like Givenchy who took the young and sweet Audrey Hepburn and transformed her into the magnificent iconic beauty we know her as today. Would Audrey have morphed into such a beauty if she hadn’t been styled by Givenchy? Who knows…. what we do know is that Givenchy and personal stylists generally know how to play up our ‘best bits’ and draw attention away from the ‘not so good bits’.
They say even Audrey Hepburn had issues with her legs and knees. Givenchy knew how to dress Audrey in such a way we didn’t even notice. In fact Audrey Hepburn remains at the top when it comes to icons of style along with women like Princess Dianna and Jackie Onassis. While such women may have innate style, would they have achieved their true visual potential if they had not been guided by a personal stylist?
Some fortunate individuals are born with good taste and style; they have a natural sense of colour and design. Many of us are not so lucky or naturally gifted. We learn what we can from those who influence us in our lives, from magazines or simply by trial and error. Which is why in so many cases we end up with a wardrobe full of clothes but “we have nothing to wear”! That’s why a personal stylist is worth the investment.
Before a stylist dresses an individual they consider the following:-
Under their tuition they will help you to develop a style that reconciles with what suits your height, shape and age from what’s currently in fashion and to understand which looks are appropriate for which occasions. You will learn to co-ordinate colours, patterns and which fabrics drape well on your body shape. The gaining of this knowledge will give you the confidence to become creative with your wardrobe. Then dressing will become a pleasure and shopping a dream.
Karen Before A Personal Stylist
Karen After A Personal Stylist
Engaging the services of a personal shopper would have once been considered the domain of the rich and famous. Now this service is available for real men and women who just want some good sound advice and a discerning eye when it comes to the sea of clothes out there in the stores.
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It is said that we wear 20% of our wardrobes 80% of the time. That translates to thousands of our hard earned dollars spent and wasted on clothes we don’t wear. The evidence is right there in your wardrobe. There they are, all those poor orphan garments hanging unworn and unloved, most of them clutching invisible ‘guilty tags” to make you feel bad.
We’ve all at some time hit the shops in a mad passion to buy something new that will make us look terrific. With money in our pockets or a credit card handy, we’ve all scoured the shops for hours for that special little number, only to return home empty handed or even worse, with that item that smacks of ‘this will have to do’ to quench our desire to buy something. As a result our wardrobes contain only a few items that make us feel good, and so we wear these most of the time. Shopping becomes a chore, success is a matter of luck and finding items that make us look great seems to get more difficult with each passing year. With all this to consider you really cannot afford not to enlist the services of a personal shopper!
Not only will a personal shopper ultimately save you a fortune, but with their trained eye will also be able to choose items for you based on their judgment and understanding of your colouring, body shape and proportions, your lifestyle and your personality style. Garments are carefully selected to harmoniously mix and match with each other and to go with what is already in your wardrobe.
So all the work is done for you !
Consider hiring a personal shopper as an investment in you even if your clothing dollar is limited. It makes good sense to spend money on someone that knows what they doing and who will ultimately achieve for you a wardrobe of clothes that really work for YOU.
Being a ‘personal stylist’ is just one of the multitude of hats worn by a qualified image consultant. The two terms are not necessarily interchangeable, however. The role of a personal stylist is to enable his or her client to fulfil their visual potential; to be the very best version of themselves that they can be. It’s exciting and immensely rewarding to help someone discover how fabulous they can look. The repercussions go way beyond the superficial changes made to someone’s appearance. The visual transformation affects a person’s sense of self, their confidence and self esteem. Therefore, it is a privilege and an honour to work with a client as their personal stylist.
In order that the changes are successful in the medium to long term, the personal stylist needs to learn some important aspects about the client. First and foremost they must know and understand the social and professional life of the client. If the new image is to endure, it needs to support and complement the client’s lifestyle, otherwise the changes will be transitory and quite meaningless.
Another important consideration is the style personality of the individual. We each have a way of dressing that communicates to the world our values, our interests, our inner self. Our style personality will very often determine how people interpret, value and respond to us. For many people it is almost instinctive and a result of who we are and where we come from. For example, if you are someone who loves the outdoors, enjoys participating in sports, has an athletic figure and has better things to do than spend time on make-up and acrylic nails, you probably have a relaxed, casual style personality. On the other hand if you have an eye for detail, love geometric patterns, bold colours, are tall and statuesque and in a position of authority, chances are your style personality is dramatic. Other personality types include romantic, alluring, classic, elegant and innovative. A personal stylist is adept at analysing someone’s style personality as well as helping a client to develop and enhance it further.
One of the final considerations but certainly not the least is the physical attributes of the client. This includes their horizontal and vertical proportions, physical fitness and tone, significant features such as a sway back or broad shoulders, their face shape, neck length and colouring.
Once all these considerations have been taken into account, a personal stylist is ready to start the transformation process. The first step is creating the perfect make-up that will enhance the client’s colouring and face shape while suiting her style personality and lifestyle. The next step in the process is choosing a fabulous hairstyle and if necessary, colour. When these things are done, then it’s time to hit the shops and find the clothes that beautifully reflect the personality style of the client and at the same time flatter her face and figure. This often involves educating people in the current trends and how to make them work for the individual. Accessorising frequently plays an important part in this, because its shoes, handbags, jewellery and belts that truly create the total look. They are also brilliant tools for updating someone’s image and expressing their style.
So, the role of a personal stylist is quite complex but if you are looking to revamp your image, reinvent yourself or discover your visual potential, they are well worth the investment.
The fundamental aspect of any makeover requires the professional to work with someone’s natural colouring and body characteristics. This leads to creating a visual image that is authentic and fabulously flattering. Makeovers for women usually involve a change of hair style and colour, new and updated make-up techniques, new clothes and new ways to combine and layer garments. Great stuff and so exciting, but the icing on the cake for any makeover is the addition of accessories.
The belts, the caps, the earrings, bracelets, handbags…. are the powerhouses of makeover magic. They create the wow factor; they express the inner style personality of the individual. Their importance should never be overlooked or underestimated. Accessories deserve plenty of attention yet for many of us, they are often an afterthought and this isn’t right.
Consider all the things that accessories can do for an outfit and for us:
If they can do all this for us, then we have no hesitation in suggesting that 30% of our wardrobe budgets should be devoted to them. So that great bag you saw on sale last weekend…go get it girl!
If you are looking to refresh your image, shift out of a lifestyle and visual image rut, the quickest and easy way to transform your visual image is through your accessories. Think outside that proverbial square. Is your handbag genuine leather but boxy and boring? Look for an inexpensive, softly structured, quirky vinyl in this season’s hottest shade of purple or orange. Are your earrings discreet, minimal and genuine? Experiment with a drop, even a small one to start with, in a great colour and shape. Look at magazines, and check out the way the red carpet divas are doing it with bags and bling. Go to an accessory store and experiment with something a little different to what you normally do. Have courage, and remember practice makes perfect. Be prepared to get it a little wrong sometimes to end up looking soooooooooo right.
By Michele Gillett
For many women makeovers are the catalyst that heralds a fresh start. When it comes to reinventing your look we all know we need to start with the fundamental basics of learning our own colour and style. Once this is accomplished it is then worth enlisting the help of an image professional to refine and de-clutter your wardrobe to complete your makeover.
Many women relate to wearing 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time. The evidence is right there. All those poor orphan garments hanging there unworn and unloved.
Why we lose our way:
The benefits of a wardrobe organisation after makeovers:
To Organise and plan your wardrobe means:
To discover which styles, brand names and stores deliver the best value for your dollar
So if you thought makeovers were just about finding a new hair style and lipstick colour, think again. Those that are truly comprehensive and include sifting through your wardrobe will be an enlightening and liberating experience.
BEFORE Photo
There comes a time for many women around the age of forty, when upon glancing in the mirror , they realize the aging process has really kicked in. When did those fine lines around the lips and the slight sagging under the eyes appear? They hadn’t been noticed before, and strangely, though our exterior changes we often feel as young on the inside as we did in our 20’s. So how successful are makeovers to help us look younger?
It is worth noting the ten most common areas for concern for forty plus women (just in case you didn’t know) are:-
Even if we address a few of the above concerns and make some recommendations this will often be enough to make a big difference to how you look.
Hair
Hair can be the first step that makes a major a difference when it comes to makeovers. By the time women are in their forties they have adopted a preferred hairstyle and length. One of the quickest ways to look younger is to cut long hair into a medium or short style. This lifts and rejuvenates the face, elongates the neck and slims the upper body. Combine this with colouring your hair with a shade that harmonises and compliments your natural colouring and you are well on the way to looking younger.
Make-up
One of the most noticeable signs of aging is the brown discolouration of the skin or what we commonly know as “age spots”. The youthful glow of our 20’s and 30’s has long gone and now, more than ever, is the need for a foundation that gives maximum coverage and is perfectly matched to your skin tone to smooth out the complexion. Mascara and subtly applied eyeliner and eyeshadow help define the eyes and draw attention to one of our best features. Lips are well defined and finished with lipstick that enhances skin tone and clothing and finally simply add a gentle flush of colour on the cheeks.
Fashion
It’s easy to become lazy with the way we dress as we age. Life is busy and as we age it becomes harder to find clothes that suit our changing body shape. Be warned as some of your clothes may be making you look older.
The danger list:-
Are some of these things in your wardrobe? What we wear has a dramatic impact on how young or old we appear to be and some styles and colours have the power to make us look instantly older by their association with the elderly. If you are sick and tired of settling for clothes that don’t really do you any justice then it is worth the investment of an Image Consultant.
You’ll be impressed by just how much younger makeovers can make you look when you incorporate the above guidelines.
AFTER Photo
By Michele Gillett
