Being an Image Consultant is so much more than you could ever imagine. People perceive my job to be just about the clothes. It is actually a great deal more than just shopping for a living!
Successful styling is all about the power of clothes and the influence they have over our mind. People are at their happiest when they have high levels of self-esteem. Wearing the right clothes and looking good naturally stimulates our self-confidence and enhances the impression we offer to others.
Image surrounds us everywhere in the media, with TV shows such as ’10 years younger’, ‘how to look good naked’ and ‘what not to wear’. As well as the impact of the internet, books and magazines presenting us with an array of lifestyle images we may aspire to achieve. Just look at the children of today. They are so much more visually aware than previous generations. They are stimulated heavily by how something or someone looks, even their dolls have to look trendy…..god help my barbies! The image market is definitely here to stay more than ever, whether we like it or not, and when people ask me if I am worried about my job in the current climate? No way, image rules!
Image is about the beliefs we have about someone or something based upon the impressions we form when either meeting them, exposure to them, or their reputation over time. Appearance strongly influences people’s perceptions in a large variety of ways. 55% of a person’s initial observation of someone is based upon what they look like alone, before a word has even been spoken (Mehrabin, A. 1981). That is how important first impressions are so you need to make sure your making the right one, especially in today’s social and competitive work environment.
The skill of my job is to grasp who my client really is, sometimes they don’t even know. A mother, a wife, a business woman? I cannot form my own opinions from her current styling, or lack of it! After all, that is why she has asked for my help. My priority is to get inside her soul, to find the real person lost in there. My purpose is to discover her personality, her likes and dislikes and what she ultimately wants to achieve. By seeing the journey and the transformation a client can go through is why I truly appreciate and understand why image matters. This is the best reward of all and one of the main reasons I started my own business, being able to make positive changes to women’s lives by making them look and feel fantastic is what I do best…. well that and shopping! :o)
