Sue Donnelly will be presenting her Art of Authentic Dressing full day workshop in Melbourne.
As an authorized CEU Provider, AICI has approved this program/course for 0.6 CEUs.*
Early bird price ends: Feb 10th 2013 -SPECIAL – for 7 days PRICE REDUCED
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As image consultants we know more than most people about style, but sometimes, flattering the physical body just isn’t enough. This interactive workshop enables you to gain clarity on who you are and how to reflect your personal qualities in the way you choose to dress, working from the inside out. It’s lots of fun, insightful, thought provoking, warm and driven by sharing experiences with like minded people.
Workshop Topics:
This is important to understand because many of our clients think dressing should be really easy. They think they are a ‘failure’ because they are not able to do it successfully. Dressing authentically needs to successfully portray many different aspects of each person and fit in with their lifestyles, objectives and desires as well as being flatteringly pleasing. As image professionals, we too need to be aware of the complexity involved. Life does not stand still and neither does someone’s style. It evolves and is never static. We sometimes forget that it also includes our own style.
We are all aware of the importance of First Impressions and how our clothes act as a type of visual shorthand, communicating our message to the outside world. However, have you ever thought about talking to your own clothes and establishing what they want to say to their owner? This exercise gives us the chance to have an intimate conversation with our own wardrobes. What do your clothes want to say to you? Is it what you’d like to hear or is something missing? This can be a very powerful and life changing exercise.
Are you the only person that lives in your wardrobe in terms of your selection of clothing? Many times we buy our clothes with someone else in mind. They may or may not be aware of this but it has a massive impact on how we dress and ‘show’ ourselves to the world. It’s one thing to be appropriately dressed for specific audiences or occasions but authentic dressing always needs to reflect who we are at our core.
Whether or not we are aware of it, we tend to select a certain type of ‘outfit’ that fits in with our style personality. Over time, it can become a ‘uniform’. While there is nothing wrong with that, it makes sense to check that this is still valid and represents the current ‘you’. The simple chart is a great aid to use with clients too.
None of us like people saying nasty things without our knowledge but we don’t get the chance to ask them for positive statements. This is a fun exercise that enables others to catalogue what they see in us (and us in them). The strength of this work is that others often see qualities in us that we have forgotten about or have taken for granted. Alternatively, they uncover a hidden element that can now come to the fore and be celebrated. From this, the individual can choose which adjectives they would like to be known for – in their style as well as their character.
We advise clients to only buy what they love and not to take second best. It makes sense, therefore, to look at what we value in more depth and capture the ‘why’. Once established, these can form the basis of style adjectives which are more unique than the usual style preference or personality.
Many times clothing hangs in the wardrobe, unworn, yet we would receive compliments if we were to actually wear it. Although it looks good, it doesn’t feel good and that’s why it remains untouched. It is important to understand what we ‘honour’ whether it’s ethical, emotional or just plain comfort. Expensive mistakes are made when we ignore it or aren’t aware of its existence.
This is putting it altogether and coming up with new styling ideas using colours, fabrics, designs etc. This forms the basis of an action plan for the future and something on which to build/extend/reaffirm the current wardrobe.
Once you’ve seen how powerful these exercises can be you’ll want to start using them with your clients too.
Why is this important:
The purpose of all the exercises in the workshop are 2 fold:
The Art of Authentic Style workshop
*Participants must attend the whole workshop and fully participate in all activities in order to earn CEUs
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“A good sermon should be like a woman’s skirt:
short enough to arouse interest
but long enough to cover the essentials.”
~Ronald Knox~
Classic garments are simple, clean, understated styles that flatter most women’s body shape and as a result become timeless and versatile items in your wardrobe. Each season they are subtly reinvented to reflect current fashion themes.
Classic skirt styles become the mainstays of a successful wardrobe especially when made of high quality fabrics and classic colours such as navy, black, gray and chocolate.
Skirt Shapes fall into two main categories:
Straight and A-Line
These two basic shapes suit most women provided they fit well, are in a flattering length and have been well constructed.
While these two basic shapes form the origin of most skirts it is the variation of the shapes into different styles that alter their appearance when worn by individual women.
Comfortable and highly practical, pants are worn by almost all women.
Within most corporate environments tailored pants are now accepted business wear for women and we owe it all to Amelia Bloomer. In 1850 this outspoken and brave feminist encouraged women to follow her lead and abandon their horsehair crinolines and voluminous skirts in favour of more practical knee-length trousers. As expected she was savagely criticised but by 1890 women had taken up her suggestion with gusto thanks to the advent of bicycle riding becoming an acceptable leisure activity for women.
However, pants can be one of the most difficult garments for women to finding a flattering fit and style in. The female form is more complicated than a male’s having many variations in curve, bottom and hip position, causing finding the right style often a matter of trial and error if you are not aimed with knowledge of what will suit your shape.
“I miss New York. I still love how people talk to you on the street – just assault you and tell you what they think of your jacket.”
~ Madonna~
Adopted by women from traditional men’s apparel, the structured jacket is now a significant foundation piece in almost every woman’s wardrobe.
Jackets can work visual miracles by camouflaging mid body figure challenges and they can add a touch of formality and strength to your total look.
Jackets have the power to unite separates into business wear without elevating the look to the formality of a matched suit. When worn over a tailored dress for business, a jacket instantly endows the wearer with a level of credibility and influence that a dress on its own can never achieve.
Classic garments are timeless styles that stand aside from the turbulence of high fashion. They have a permanent place in fashion because their shape cannot be bettered.
In your wardrobe a classic garment in a neutral colour will last for years and can be easily made to look current by the addition of seasonal accessories or by the way they are worn.
What makes a garment a ‘classic’ is pure design and perfect proportions, free from any moods and extremes. Their neutral qualities will not impose on your character and their clean simple lines will flatter almost any female body providing the garment fits well.
Blue jeans are among the list of modern classics. They have gone from working apparel to high fashion to a classic pant. A plain white T-shirt, polo shirt and leather motorbike jacket are all modern classics. Some older but no less effective classics are kilts, twin sets, straight skirts and blazers.
Knowing the reasons behind even hurried choices will lead to interesting discoveries about your personality.
Clothes signal all kinds of information about your role in life, how you see yourself and your personality. Do you cover yourself up, or show yourself off? You may think you simply put on the first thing that comes to hand in the morning but is that really true?
How you dress and how you act are closely linked; you wouldn’t do the gardening in a suit or attend an important business meeting in gym wear.
Each of us unconsciously follow subtle mental patterns that influence:
I have always found body language absolutely fascinating. No matter how much we try to control our bodies they inevitably leak tiny bits of information that if picked up read correctly by others will give us away every time.Body language consists of our communication through the use of facial expressions, eye behaviour, gestures, posture, positioning, orientation, touch and the use of space. There are times we choose to express our emotions, feelings, and attitudes through our body language and at other times our true feelings leak out accidentally, even sometimes contradicting the words we have spoken.We also use body language to enhance our words with added emotional content. In fact often most people find it easier to express how they are truly feeling by using their body language rather than their words.Over the centuries many sayings have arisen from what we have instinctively learned from watching others.
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