How a ‘proper’ Ladies’ Style consultation finally sorted me out!
27 years ago I finally knew which colours to wear and which ones made me look ill. Colour analysis was still in its infancy in the UK and it had taken 3 whole years to work out that I really was an absolute Winter.
During that time I had been mis-diagnosed as a Spring (long story, I’ll relate it another time) and had then proceeded to terrorise the locals by wearing a light mink suit, light peach blouse, brown accessories, peach lipstick and – God help me – I’d even dyed my hair a delicious copper into the bargain.
In 1983, someone who’d actually been on one of the first organised training courses showed me that I was definitely a Winter and it’s been plain sailing with colour from then on.
But I wanted more
But that wasn’t the end of the story for me. I wanted to know what to look for when shopping for clothes.
I’d just finished a computer programming training course and was looking for a job. I needed smart clothes for interviews and then a wardrobe for work plus, this would be the first time I’d be earning money for over a year, so I was also keen to replace some of the ‘student’ type clothes I’d got in my wardrobe.
I went back to the same consultant for – what was termed – a Ladies’ Style consultation.
What I got
In those days, Ladies’ Style consultations were really only about body shape, scale and proportion which, quite frankly, sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry.
I had to listen to a long diatribe about courtly fashion rules – immensely interesting to me, a lifelong learner, but everyone else said they’d found it pretty boring and totally irrelevant to what they’d come for!.
Then I had to change into a leotard in front of a group of strangers. I was measured to within an inch of my life, told how to compensate for one shoulder being higher than the other, made to feel miserable because I didn’t ‘measure’ up to the image of the perfect body shape that the consultant took great delight in showing us, and came away having no clue about what I should actually buy in the shops.
The only thing I really learnt was now NOT to treat people and that has been the mainstay of my work ever since
Because no-one had really thought about the person wearing the clothes.
It was all about feet and inches, and fitting you into a body shape box (sounds like a coffin!) by comparing your measurements to the ‘perfect woman’.
At the end of the day, the whole ‘analysis’ was centred around nothing more than what the consultant could actually see – my physical shape, my silhouette – and no-one would have noticed if I had been dead or alive! I was nothing more than an object to be de-coded.
I tried again and again…
Over the years I consulted several different people about my ‘style’. In the main, I received much of the same inane and utterly useless advice. Most came to the conclusion that I had a straight body shape (were they blind?) and so should wear straight lines, straight lapels, straight jackets (I know what you’re thinking and you can stop it right now!), all with no shaping.
I know now that this was all rubbish as I have a very curvy body shape (and always have had, before you start casting aspersions about how much I eat).
It took 16 years to discover who I really am
But it was in 1999 when I re-trained in ‘everything image’ that I finally discovered who I really am.
My most excellent mentor was astonished that I was wearing ‘straight’ shapes.. but he didn’t dwell on who had got it wrong. He just set out to put it right.
Bill didn’t measure me.
He didn’t get me to fill in a questionnaire about my height, weight, measurements, etc.
He just looked me up and down and spent time listening to what I had to say – what was important to me, what I was hoping for, what I needed clothes for
Then he talked about me being a drama queen (how right he was) and to “stop trying to fade into the background. It’s not your style.”
He told me to tuck my top in and add a belt “to show off your curves.”
He told me to get some slightly-rounded glasses frames instead of the square horrors that I was wearing. And he added, “When you give your presentations on stage, you’re also going to need non-reflective lenses or your audience isn’t going to be able to see whether the expression in your eyes matches what’s coming out of your mouth!”
I have never forgotten his words.
Because they showed me exactly who I am and, more excitingly, what I could become.
Bill took us on a shopping trip to one of the big department stores and he told me, “Try this on. It’s perfect for your shape.” It was a short, black bolero-shaped cardigan in the softest lambswool I had ever felt. The minute I put it on, I felt like I had found the real me. I couldn’t stop staring at myself in the mirror and Bill had to shout at me to keep up as the rest of the group were moving on to another department.
By the way, I’ve still got that brilliant cardigan. Even if I never wear it again, I will always keep it to remind me of the day I found myself.
Another ‘by the way’
Not once did Bill give me a style personality title. He told other people on the course that they were a Dramatic or a Classic or whatever, but not me. Why? I asked him this years later and he told me that my particular personality couldn’t give a monkey’s uncle about titles so there was no point! All I needed was the actual ‘do this and you’ll discover yourself’ approach. Now isn’t that interesting?
Strategy vs. Tactics
You see, this isn’t about what shape jacket to wear, or whether bootleg trousers are better than wide legs, or whether you’re short waisted or long waisted. These are just the details – they’re the tactics we use in our overall strategy of helping a lady to express who she really is and / or who she’d like to be.
No, the key to your overall strategy is your client’s personality
You could have two women who are exactly the same age, height, weight, shape, colouring, etc. but I guarantee that they will have completely different personalities – and that’s the bit that separates image consultants from fashion stylists.
And before you start overheating and sending me an indignant email, please note that I did not say ‘different from personal stylists’.
- Fashion stylists are called in to ‘style’ a product (perfume, hair colour, clothes, jewellery) and the model who is wearing that product is just a prop. After all, the ‘model’ could quite easily be a shop display dummy made of fibreglass!
- Image consultants and personal stylists deal with real, living, breathing clients who have a mind, thoughts, opinions, dreams, goals and aspirations – in short (as Mr. Micawber would say) a personality – which cannot and should never be ignored
If you treat just the physical body and forget to include that body’s personality, you may as well give up now.
That’s what happened to me.
For 16 years I wandered around wearing totally the wrong shapes and felt like a bag lady. I never felt like me. I didn’t understand myself so I had no confidence that I could ever advise anyone else properly.
But the moment Bill started telling me what would work for me, I blossomed personally and then my business and how I could make a difference in the lives of my clients started to make real sense to me.
When you understand your own style, you’ll have the confidence to help your client find her own style
Helping your client to understand her personality is the key to her future
You have no idea how life-changing this can be. Look at what happened to me, and I’m sure you have – or will have – your own story to tell.
And your own story is what potential clients want to hear. They will want to know why it is that you look so darned fantastic and how you changed the way you look and feel about yourself.
And then they’ll book with you to change their own life too.
That’s exactly what changed my business in 1999.
Let Ladies’ Style change YOUR life and YOUR business THIS YEAR.
September 16th & 17th
Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK
This will be the final Ladies’ Style training course of 2010
My Personal Invitation To You – 2 places only
This is my personal invitation to you to register for the two-day Ladies’ Style training course which will run on Thursday and Friday 16th / 17th September at the Ringwood Hall Hotel in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK
Read about
- course content
- my one-time offer
- fees and an easy payment plan
- dates, times, venue, etc.
- and book now – 2 places only left
Are you trying to decide if Ladies’ Style is for you?
“Those who reach decisions promptly and definitely, know what they want, and generally get it.”
Napoleon Hill
What do YOU want?
More of the same? Or more clients, more money and more success?
Just decide.
Book now
I am really looking forward to spending two days with you in September helping you to discover your own style (and body shape, etc. of course), so that you can then start ‘sorting out’ your own clients. You will be changing people’s lives forever and earning money – I can’t think of a better way to put bread on the table, can you?
