Improvability Blog

One day an old Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson.

He said, “There are two wolves fighting inside all of us – the wolf of fear and hate, and the wolf of love and peace.”

The grandson listened, then looked up at his grandfather and asked, “Which one will win?”

The grandfather replied, “The one we feed.”

Hundreds of years ago, when I was a mere whippersnapper and had no idea that colour and style advice even existed, I was looking for a dress for a bit of a college ‘do’ when my then-boyfriend said, “If you buy another black dress, you’ll be going on your own.”

Stupidly, I took this to mean that I didn’t look good in black and I didn’t wear it again for quite some time. What a twit I was, and how much time I wasted.

Many moons later I had my colours ‘done’ and discovered my Winter colouring and learned that black is one of my best colours. I had dark hair at the time but even with my current blonde locks, black is still a bit of a stunner on me.

What was his problem?

The problem was that this chap was an Autumn and black wasn’t one of his favourite colours. When I think back, he looked ruddy awful in black so I can now see why he didn’t like it.

He wanted me to wear the colours HE liked – olive green, autumn gold chocolate brown – colours in which a true Autumn would most probably look stunning but both of which make me look absolutely ghastly and in severe need of immediate resuscitation!

Once you understand your own colouring, you don’t need to listen to mis-information like this ever again. You’ll know exactly what suits you, and why. And you can also educate those who insist they know better than you do about what suits you!

Most people base their opinions on their own likes and dislikes

- and some of them just won’t let up

I have a friend who, every time I used to see her, told me I should have my hair cut. As you can probably imagine, this irritated me beyond all comprehension and, over the years, I cut down to a bare minimum the times that I saw her.

Finally though, the trials of remembering to be a lady at all times, smiling sweetly, thanking her for her advice, and saying through gritted teeth that I would bear it in mind just became too much for me. I found myself telling her that I have absolutely no intention of ever having it cut and, if she wanted to remain friends, not to mention it ever again!

“Better out than in”

It’s one of my favourite sayings, and I have to say that I felt so much better.

The fundamental problem here is that she is an out-and-out Classic and wants to see me with a neat, ordered, classically-acceptable hairstyle like her own.

I had to explain to her that I’m different. I’m a Dramatic with Romantic hair and a neat, ordered, classically-acceptable hairstyle like hers isn’t me at all. It’s not my style, it doesn’t reflect my personality and I will wear my hair as long as I flippin’ well want to!

If there’s someone in YOUR life who is offering such self-opinionated and uninformed advice, might this not be a good time to set the record straight? Just tell them it’s a slightly belated New Year’s resolution and you need to get this off your chest…

Wearing what someone else likes will only make you grumpy in the end

I suggest that you go and find out which colours are the best ones for you, find out which styles suit your body shape and personality (and which ones don’t), and then you will know what makes YOU look absolutely fabulous.

And then you can confidently:

• ignore people who don’t take YOU into account
• educate them as to what really suits you
• or ‘do a Kim’ and tell them to mind their own business!