OK, so maybe you’re not quite ready to actually hire an image consultant. What is an image consultant anyway you ask? Good question. It’s a fairly broad one with a wide range of answers. And, there are many different types of image consultants, which can be even more confusing.
First, I’ll tell you a bit about how I came to be one. I was actually in a rut. A big one. Like a big … deep … life one. I didn’t feel depressed necessarily (and there is a big difference people) but I just felt sort of … lost. Call it a mid-life crisis – although I’m not sure if I love that. I mean, a crisis can happen any time in life, no? Call it a tipping point. Whatever it was, I was searching. Life was still good but I had all these questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? And then, on a less serious note, why am I buying 5 of the same sweaters?
That question got me to hire an image consultant for myself. She spent four hours with me in my closet and it was the best purging exercise I’d ever done. You know when you spring clean your house? Ok … you know when you spring clean a drawer? (yes, sometimes we need to start small.) You just feel a little lighter afterwards. The same was true for my wardrobe. I was in a rut and that fact was reflected in the way I dressed, the activities I was doing (or not doing) and when you get right down to it – how I carried myself and behaved. And I felt SO good after my session, I said to myself, "Self … I think I want to do this!". And so, I did.
I had always been good at putting a “look” together. It was not always a ‘hit’, in fact, sometimes it was a ‘miss’. But, I still took the chance and allowed my style personality (creative) to come through. This is where a lot of people get stuck. They often reach for the same jeans, the same top, and the same sweater – over and over again and never try any new items or combinations. And, then they go shopping and they buy another sweater that is exactly the same as the one hanging in their closet. They just get … stuck.
You see that’s where an image consultant – on one level, at least – can help. They help you SEE what it is you are not seeing. Or rather, they can help you NOT see what you ARE seeing! You see?
I recently worked with a client who said to me, “I’m self-conscious about my knees”. She was a double zero in size and had a figure most women I know would pay for if they could. But it was HER body and she lives in it every day. And she saw … bad knees. Once we talked through the why of it and she could see that to the rest of the world, her knees were beautiful, she relaxed a little bit. And then she got a little better at relaxing INTO trying something totally different than what she would normally try on. And, guess what? She liked it AND she walked out of the store a little lighter and happier than before. Awesome.
Did you know that looking great leads to feeling great which leads to carrying yourself better which leads to behaving better which leads to BEING better … see where I’m going with this? You can WILL the results you want in your life and it can start with the simplicity of what you’re wearing when you walk out the door.
People’s motivation for wanting an element of their life to be different, is different for everyone. Maybe it’s preparing to go for that promotion at work. For some, it’s how to dress after a new baby. And for others, it’s just to do something amazing for themselves, which we women are perrr-ritty bad at. Whatever your reason is, it can feel scary. But once you take that plunge you may wonder why you didn't do it sooner.
Till the next pair of shoes … kylie