Create A Personal Style & Image Brand For Women
7 Seconds To Create A First Impression
According to behavioural researcher Vanessa Van Edwards, audiences in 2015 decided whether they liked and trusted a presenter within the first seven seconds, based entirely on nonverbal cues.
Which is rather a scary thought. We may like to say that appearance doesn’t matter, but we know as women being sized up in a few seconds happens pretty much every day. And while the barista’s opinion of you may not matter, it does when you’re going for an interview, meeting a new team, giving a presentation or going on a date. Those few seconds become rather more important.
So enter the personal style and image brand.
What Is A Personal Image Brand?
First of all, what actually is it? Does it mean you have to dedicate your life to dressing a certain way, or copy a contestant from Housewives or Love Island to gain peer approval?
No. Not in any shape or form.
It is, in fact, about being yourself, but a more considered, intentional and stylish version of yourself. Your style becomes a visual signal that can be subject to slight changes depending on the environment, without losing who you are.
A lot of women are scared to be themselves, but in my experience, so many women dim their lights for fear of standing out. I boost confidence to help personal styling clients stand stylishly apart from the crowd, in a way that feels like them.
A personal style and image brand can be useful at every stage of your life. Whether you are starting your career, an established professional, a C-suite executive, business owner, founder or high profile private client.
Why Create A Brand?
Well, everything evolves, we update our skills, technology, our bodies and circumstances change, yet many women’s wardrobes can remain stuck in a previous version of our lives. Creating a style brand and elevating your wardrobe gives you the opportunity to step back and consider whether the way you present yourself reflects who you are today.
How Do I Help You Create A Personal Style Brand?
Before becoming a personal stylist , I was a fashion designer for well-known brands. As a designer, you develop a deep understanding of fit, body shape, proportion, fabric and garment construction.
A less well-known fact is that every fashion designer is part anthropologist. We look at how the world is evolving, from politics and finance to the environment, social media and wider cultural shifts. We do this to understand what will appeal to potentially millions of people, Zara for example.
I take the same skillset and apply it to each individual styling client, looking at you, your life, your shape, your environment and how you want to be perceived.
Here are some steps to get you thinking about your own personal image brand.
5-Step Personal Image Strategy
Step 1: Ask yourself three questions
Before looking at any clothes or going shopping ask yourself.
Who are you now?
How do you want to be perceived?
Where does your life actually take you?
These questions sound simple, but they can completely change the way you approach your wardrobe and personal style. Your answers give you a starting point for creating a style that reflects the person you are now, rather than automatically carrying on with what you have always worn.
Step 2: Understand your body shape and proportions
Online, you’ll see five, sometimes six, body shapes, but the truth is that many women don’t fit neatly into one shape. They can be a combination of two or three. For example, a rectangle whose weight goes on around the stomach will also dress in a similar way to an oval silhouette. If styling isn’t intuitive, you may need to look at styling guidelines for both shapes.
And just because you are female doesn’t mean you have some innate intuition about style. It really doesn’t work that way. I have a couple of clients who can’t visualise at all, which is known as aphantasia. We are all on a sliding scale of visualisation, so if yours is at the lower end, you may have to lean more heavily on techniques. To find out where you sit, try this well-regarded VVIQ questionnaire.
Understanding what suits you is less about fitting neatly into a category and more about recognising how different cuts, lengths, shapes and silhouettes work on your particular frame. Once you understand your proportions, you can make much more informed choices about fit and styling.
Step 3: Remember that size is not the same as fit
The number on a label tells you very little about whether something actually fits you. Two garments in the same size can fit completely differently, and you may find that going up or down a size gives you a much better result. For example denim shorts almost always look better when you size up.
Good personal styling isn't about squeezing yourself into a particular size. It's about finding clothes that work with your body. Forget the number on the label and look at the garment in front of you.
Step 4: Understand the power of colour
Colour can have a significant effect on how you look and feel. Understanding which shades work with your natural colouring makes getting dressed easier and helps create a more intentional image.
Colour analysis is where drapes are placed under your chin and you can see whether those colours suit you or not and can then be broadly characterised into groups that are cool, warm or both - neutral. This is a really useful colour tool and is not meant to restrict you with a very specific narrow palette. It is about understanding which colours work well for you, why they work and how to use them in an outfit.
Whether that means finding the right shade of red, leaving out red altogether or using a colour you like, but isn’t the most flattering strategically away from your face.
Step 5: Look at your lifestyle and environments
Finally, your personal image brand needs to work in the real world. Beautiful images on Pinterest or Instagram need to stay just that, images. Those high heels you can no longer walk in need to be given away, or at the very least don’t buy any more!
There is no point creating a beautiful wardrobe that doesn’t work for you, your feet, your job, social life, weekends, travel, events or the places you actually spend your time.
That might mean creating a professional wardrobe, developing a more considered image for client-facing work, working out what to wear to events, or simply making your everyday wardrobe easier to use.
The best personal style isn’t about looking like someone else. It’s about looking like you, but more intentionally.
How I Can Work With You
As a London based personal stylist, I work with women individually and through corporate styling talks, helping you understand what works for you, your lifestyle and the image you want to create.
Thank you for reading.
Lisa O’Shaughnessy
Make it stand out
Lisa works with both female and male clients and organisations, helping them to create an elevated personal style.
Written By Lisa O'Shaughnessy
Founder of Always Stylish | Personal Stylist
