Lately, I have been working with many men who tell me: “I need help. I don’t know what to wear or where to start.” This means many things to me. Blog readers, for the next couple of blogs I am going to explore this topic and attempt to answer these questions, based on my experience as a men’s Personal Image Consultant.
Outfit Advice from Your Personal Image Consultant
First, do clients really not have any wardrobe at all to start with. Yes, they may not! For some clients, it means that they are in a transition. For example, they may be coming out of college or high school when it was okay to live in athleisure clothing, sweats, and maybe a pair of jeans. Or, they are going out to an office for the first time. They maybe never really needed to look dressed up beyond casual.
It could be a weight change or a change in status such as retirement. People who retire suddenly do not want to look “buttoned-up” anymore and want to purge their closet of the 9 to 5 look. Whatever the reason someone says or thinks this, the answer is really not one-dimensional. Perception is often reality; so if you think it, it’s often true!
When I work with a fellow like this, as your Personal Image Consultant, I always like to do a color analysis. I think it plays a bigger role than we imagine. Many times when someone walks in wearing the very worst color he can wear, I think that person probably has too much of that color and other colors. Often I find people don’t like the colors they don’t look good in. Yet they don’t know why they don’t look good in them.
That is why the color consult is so key. It instantly shows someone what colors flatter them. A hint on finding your best colors is this: Your natural hair color, eye color, and lip color are all your best colors. For me, that means as warm beige (hair); deep blue (eye); and mauve (lip) are all some of my best colors. They are in my Spring color book. When we look in the mirror and are wearing the wrong color/colors, we instantly don’t like what we see. When we realize what color flatters us, that problem is no longer present.
The second major hindrance to finding a wardrobe that flatters you and works for you is the right fit. Of course, as your Personal Image Consultant, I spend much time measuring clients, figuring out-build and much more. I find whether legs are long and torso is short, or legs are short and torso is long, or all is balanced. These are the issues that affect fit. Knowing height, build, and coloring is key as well as scale. What is scale? It tells me how small or large prints should be; what type of stripes to use if any.
Another part of finding a wardrobe that speaks to you is your style personality. While I like to discover this with the person, to me it is just part of the equation of what clothes work for someone. Lifestyle, budget, and personal preferences are also key to finding a wardrobe you love.
Keep it sassy, Indy.
Beth Divine, MA, AICI-CIC
Personal Image Consultant
