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.
Before you have the opportunity to explain who you are, what you do or what you are like, people are already taking in visual information about you.
What Is A Personal Image Brand?
Your personal style and image brand is the visual impression you create through your appearance and what you wear. It is not about creating a style you think you should have, but one that feels like you, otherwise it can feel more like a costume than your clothes.
It is not just about work either. Your style can influence how you are perceived professionally, while also helping you feel more confident and at ease when meeting new people, attending events, special occasions or dating. And when people compliment what you are wearing, it is always a good ice breaker.
Why Create A Personal Style Or Image Brand?
As a London-based personal stylist, I am often asked why investing in image matters. We update our skills, technology and ways of working, so why would our visual brand be any different?
Our lives, careers, bodies and circumstances change, yet our wardrobes can remain stuck in a previous version of our lives. Creating a personal style and image brand gives you the opportunity to step back and consider whether the way you present yourself still reflects who you are today.
How Do I Help You Create A Personal Style Brand?
My background was a fashion designer before moving into personal styling. As a designer, I developed an understanding of fit, body shape, proportion, fabric and garment construction, but there is another side to fashion design that is less well known. Before clothes are made or reach the shops, designers look at how people are behaving and how the world around them 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 now take that same perspective and apply it to the individual, looking at you, your life, your environment and how you want to be perceived.
5-Step Personal Image Strategy
Step 1: Ask yourself three questions
Before looking at any clothes 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 will see 5 sometimes 6 body shapes, but the truth is manywomen don’t fit neatly into one shape, they can be 2 or 3. For example a rectangle who leans towards oval if weight goes on the stomach.
Even people who are the same shape will have different proportions. Knowing what suits your shape is about understanding your proportions and recognising how different cuts, lengths, shapes and silhouettes work on your particular frame.
Once you understand proportion, you can start making much more informed choices about fit and styling. This is particularly useful when shopping because it allows you to look beyond the label and concentrate on how a garment actually works on your body.
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 not about restricting you to a set palette. It is about understanding which colours work well, why they work and how to use them in an outfit. Whether that means finding the right shade of red or using a colour you like strategically away from your face.
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Personal colour analysis is included as part of my Wardrobe Edit and can also be added to a Personal Shopping appointment. I do not offer it as a standalone service because I believe colour is best understood through the clothes you actually wear.
Using colour drapes alongside your own wardrobe or shopping, I assess which shades and tones work with your natural colouring, whether you are cool, warm or neutral. We look at your strongest colours, colours that need to be used more strategically and how different shades work together.
We also look at colour combinations within outfits and how wearing the right colours can make you look more vibrant, create a more polished appearance and help you feel more confident.
Step 5: Look at your lifestyle and environments
Finally, your personal image needs to work in the real world. There is no point creating a beautiful wardrobe that doesn't work for your job, your social life, your weekends, travel, events or the places you actually spend your time.
Your clothes need to work for your lifestyle and the environments you move through. That might mean creating a professional wardrobe for a senior career, developing a more considered image for client-facing work, working out what to wear to events, or making your everyday wardrobe easier to use.
Your personal image brand should fit your life, not the other way around. Beautiful images on Pinterest or Instagram need to stay just an image if they don’t resemble your life.
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 or visa corporate styling talks in companies to help you discover what works for you and your lifestyle.
Thank you for reading,
Personal Stylist Lisa O’Shaughnessy in London founder of Always Stylish
