Foundations for Colour

Last week I wrote about wearing black and came to the resounding conclusion that YES, everyone can wear it   …but why would you want to if it doesn’t flatter you!

A world without colour is unthinkable for most of us, and yet, walking down the high street, there is always an abundance of black, a heavy spattering of beige and usually a reasonable quantity of white available.  This is because they’re neutral colours which ideally form the backdrop to a wardrobe – the trick is to choose from the selection of neutrals that sit harmoniously in your colour palette to provide a supportive backdrop.

Back in the 1940s when colour film emerged on the scene the significance and impact of colour came to the fore.  The previously elegant and sophisticated actors/actresses somehow didn’t have the same effect – colour was recognised as the difference and the world of image consulting was born. 

In a previous blog  I’ve shown the screen test images of Julia Roberts as they made their colour choices for the 1990 Film, Pretty Woman.  I regularly cite this film as an excellent example of how we can change the way people perceive us simply by looking at the way we present ourselves. 

Choosing colours and styles that flatter you and honour your personality is an incredibly powerful way to help people to ‘get’ you –  giving them an idea of who you are, what you stand for, your values and ideals – not directly from what you wear but because what you’re wearing and how you construct your outfit will support and reinforce your verbal messages or undermine and conflict with them.  I’ve also talked about how, when you honour who you are with what you wear, you make it easy for your listener to hear you.

Liz Jones’ summary in The Daily Mail last week gives a few amusing takes on using colour: ‘You can wear any colour next summer as long as it’s white’ reminding me of the announcement I heard many years ago about ‘the Thursday club meeting on Tuesday to discuss what colour they were going to whitewash the walls of the village hall!’

While travelling in Asia a few years ago it was clear that white was a status symbol because it demonstrated that you could afford to keep up with the cleaning and maintenance.   As Liz astutely points out: ‘White hair to match is not compulsory… but expect your cleaning bills to soar’.  I love the white jacket I bought last year but don’t wear it as often as I might had I the time, money and staff to cover my cleaning requirements, including a Nanny to keep the children and their sticky fingers away!

I don’t however, agree with Liz’s statement that ‘You will not be able to avoid sheer next Spring…’  a confirmed classic that will be no hardship for me!  As for purchasing big pants, well, that’s entirely up to you but visible underwear is a faddy look and never for anyone serious about their image.  In this world of Personal Branding to gain competitive advantage, every little helps – or hinders!  

One of the most famous sheer looks on the planet (right) will clearly never be repeated  for that very reason – a far classier way to employ sheer is with the use of lace in a wedding dress (left).

 

See-through clothing reminds me of the Emperor’s New Clothes. It's interesting how some images protect his modesty with underwear whilst other interpretations have assumed the outfit to include the underwear.  Coming back to 2014/15, for me it’s another good excuse for the fashion industry to produce poor quality and justify it.  One golden rule to follow, the lighter the colour of your clothes, the higher the quality needs to be. 

All wardrobes, regardless of your season, need a foundation of neutrals which form the backdrop to a variety of outfits.  Adding colours to neutrals enables the full impact of the colours to be seen, excluding neutrals can provide an onslaught of colours which at best distracts your audience, at worst, causes them to look in the other direction.

With the release of our latest colour report, highlighting the colour trends for the Autumn/Winter Season, I thought it would make an interesting journey to explore how colour affects our lives over the next few weeks – including neutrals. 

Personal Branding in a domestic world

‘Brand’, a term used to distinguish a product, service or concept in terms of a ‘personality’, is assumed to refer to business, so what place does this have for me if I’m a homemaker? I can hear it now….

 

‘I clean the house, manage schedules, play ‘taxi’ driver, make sure the ‘machine’ of ‘home’ works to support everyone’  but too often people lose their sense of self in serving others in this way. 
 

Enter stage left the ‘young person’ who honestly believes and declares that 'it doesn’t matter what you wear these days, people don’t judge you on  appearance.  It begs the question, do you dress for yourself or dress for others?  Maybe in the past we dressed more for others but the younger people of today dress more for themselves. 

 

 

The heightened focus on the Duchess of Cambridge’s attire, in her many roles, tells us that it’s still important to dress for your audience but more leeway’s given to dressing for comfort and style.  Ultimately, when you dress to flatter yourself, people notice YOU, the person. 

 

 

We need labels and categories to help us make sense of the world but, as individuals, we frequently resist labels (boxes, categories, structure) in favour of the ‘freedom of self expression’ -  it’s the conflict between belonging and needing to express our uniqueness.

  

Early in my career, I distinguished 2 main motivators for people searching out my services:

- Emotional: recognising the connection between how we look and how we feel enables us to take control of the ‘looking’ element to empower and strengthen the ‘feeling’ element, thereby enabling us to improve and enhance our feelings, increasing inner confidence  and self-belief, leading to a sense of inner peace and frequently, greater success in work, social and business life.

 

- Practical/Financial: the dawn of realisation in this group of clients was making the connection between how they look and money.  Whether it was sales attracted through being self-employed or in a sales role, promotions, pay rises or additional sales and, in the case of the self-employed or management, an increase in confidence.  As a result of ‘looking the part’, business increases.

 

Often client gender could predict the motivator but not always.  As a graduate, it was important to make the most of my limited budget so that clothes I bought for work were going to work hard and earn their keep in my wardrobe.   A very practical reason which led to me experiencing an increase in confidence and self-belief.  Within a year I’d experienced a pay rise, new job role, improved training opportunities - one thing led to another in a positive way.

 

 

 

A trigger at the ‘emotional’ stage, caused by a life change, relationship, job, status, moving from full- time employee to full-time mother is a culture shock for many and with plenty to keep yourself occupied, appearance is often the last thing on people’s minds!  Reverse that shift, as the children grow older, and try to return to the workplace with a different figure, body shape, lifestyle, budget and time constraints plus a need to reclaim your sense of identity, the offer of a consultation with House of Colour appears at the right time.

Personal Brand may not appear to sit in this ‘domestic’ world in the same way, but our need to have a clear sense of identity, who we are, our values, strengths and weaknesses, balanced against the need to be unique and that of fitting in, enables us to confidently negotiate the path between dressing how we are ‘supposed’ to look and dressing for ‘ourselves’.