Personal Branding - Dressing For Self-Expression

Having trouble finding your personal style?
If you had to describe yourself and your personal style in six to ten words, could you do it? Would you possibly say you are ‘elegant, fun-loving, serious, practical, ambitious, sensual, calm’ or a ‘gypsy’? This fascinating exercise is the basis for getting to know yourself so that you can begin to put your unique personal look together and I always do it with clients and group workshops before I go into anything else. The reason is that before we can know how we want to dress or how we want to look, we have to know who we are.

How good are you at self-reflection?
I provide a long list of attributes and qualities to choose from which gives us somewhere to start. This makes things a whole lot easier but it is still interesting to see how differently people respond. Some people have lots of fun and make long lists which they then struggle to cut down to ‘only ten!’ while others find it difficult to find more than one or two. Self-reflection is not something that most of us are trained to do so this exercise is not always easy but it can be exciting as women start to see themselves more clearly.

What impression are you making?
Imagine for a moment that someone is seeing you for the first time. What impressions do you think they would form about you? Would they see someone who is refined, classic, confident, subtle and stylish? Or would they decide that you are dynamic, professional, independent yet relaxed and approachable? Or, heaven forbid, would they take you to be slapdash, lazy, untidy and out of date? (And, sadly, when we look out of date people assume that our knowledge and approach to life is also out of date).

‘Personal Branding’ made easy
Remember that when people first meet us they only have our outward appearance to go on and the old saying that “You get only one chance to make a first impression” still applies. Clothes are one of the most important non-verbal tools we have to communicate with the world so the good news is that if we can manage this wisely, we can influence how people respond to us. ‘Personal Branding’ is the fancy name used at the moment but all it really means is knowing ourselves and then ‘packaging’ ourselves accordingly. By dressing with awareness we are able to attract the right people and the right opportunities into our lives.

Look like your true self
Once we understand this, we can focus and refine our wardrobes and pull together our ‘look’ from top to toe. For example: I was working with a client recently and all the words she chose to describe herself were ‘Dramatic, Creative, Ethnic, Diva, Goddess, Eclectic’ which made sense as she was outgoing and confident with a wonderfully infectious laugh and huge fun to be with. But once we started on her wardrobe and she began trying on her clothes, there was a gaping discrepancy between the words she had chosen for herself and what was in her wardrobe. She had lots of very smart jackets and skirts and lots of formal corporate wear which simply did not match with ‘Creative’ and ‘Diva’. The reason was that her life had moved on since she had worn those clothes and she was at a whole new stage where she was ready to relax more, to paint and to express different aspects of herself. The clothes from her former life were expensive and beautiful but they no longer did her justice and people meeting her for the first time would not have got an accurate picture of her.

Keep growing and evolving
This exercise is very helpful to do from time to time as we are all (ideally!) constantly growing and evolving – otherwise what would be the point of life? Updating how we dress helps us and others in our life to know where we are and to keep track of our development.

Look ‘current’ not like a ‘fashion victim’
While we certainly don’t want to look like ‘fashion victims’, dressed in all the latest ‘must-have’ trends, it is still good to look current. We can all sometimes get stuck in a time warp where we become so used to the comfortable old hair style, make-up and clothes that we have been wearing forever that we don’t even see them any more. How long have you had your current hairstyle? When last did you look objectively at your clothes or make-up colours? Everything in life is moving on all the time and it is important that we don’t become the ‘creature that time forgot’! Our children graduate to beds when they outgrow their cots and we update our computers and how we eat and shop but often we keep the same ‘look’ from the time we got married or from the 80s or 90s or whenever we were in our heyday.

Self-confidence, self-awareness and personal growth
Our clothes need to support us and carry us through each new stage of our lives. If we are starting a new business or wanting a promotion or looking to attract new friends or ready to be more vibrant or assertive, then our clothes can give us the confidence to do this. While we are in transition or making new adjustments, our clothes support us by giving us the ‘look’ and they remind us of what we want to achieve or express. If we are dressing with more authority and confidence or with more creativity and flair, then others automatically respond accordingly without even realising what they are doing. This, in turn, helps us to be that way. This is ‘Fake it till you make it’ in the best possible way as it is about self-awareness, self-confidence and personal growth.

Use your clothes consciously
Never underestimate the power of getting dressed. Your clothes can awaken inner depths of confidence or creativity, power or gentleness. Change your clothes and change your life!
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Source of article ~ Glynis Mackenzie
Glynis Mackenzie of 'Living on Purpose' is a Transformation Consultant who specialises in supporting women and men to make the most of themselves inside and out. In order to fulfill our potential and to live in accordance with our unique personal design, we need to know who we are, what we are here to achieve and then how best to do this. Glynis offers individual sessions, group workshops and corporate seminars which are all designed to increase overall performance and well-being.

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w: www.livingonpurpose.co.za

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