I have created a 7th  style personality, each personality is equated to a chakra of the body. This gives my client and I a better understanding of the body asset block they are working with and which colours to focus on to really bring out their joy of clothing. This will be covered in my workshop, Woman In The Mirror, the first in the series of Empowering Women Workshops in August and September, click on the links below for further details.

http://www.imagebyjennifer.com.au/ai1ec_event/woman-in-the-mirror/?instance_id=32

http://www.imagebyjennifer.com.au/ai1ec_event/woman-in-the-mirror-2/?instance_id=42

I teach how to start to change this aspect in ourselves with colour as colour has its own unique vibration hence it can lift us i.e. wearing white. If we wear a lot of  black it can have us feeling quite low.

I LOOOOOVE colour and I really enjoy working with it. I have seen firsthand the tremendous effect colour has on clients, I literally see them light up and take charge of their image.

Colour also means different things to different cultures i.e. in Asia a bride may well wear red, in Western Culture the conotations are completely different!!

So for colour fashion advice start exploring  there are so many beautiful shades, hues and tints around with the colour blocking trend. See how it affects your mood for the day, if you can’t do it for yourself remember the colours we wear also affect those around us!

Love, grace and pink,  beautiful, colourful women!

Stylishly Yours

We can feel powerless over our bodies and so reject them.

We believe if only our body was smaller, thinner, younger we would be happy. Ask yourself is this really true? What would have changed inside of you to make this your reality?

If you have stretch marks from babies you EARNED them! EMBRACE them

If you feel you have body marks from  losing weight remember they were hard won! You found COURAGE and DETERMINATION

If you have wrinkles you EARNED the WISDOM

If you have celullite look at your diet! Are you CREATING  it?

If you have frown lines SMILE, you will feel better too

Most of all WATCH YOUR THOUGHTS.

I work with an array of body shapes, the common theme is how they feel, size has nothing to do with it!! I have seen a size 18 rock underwear in front of a crowd with confidence and love for her body, and seen a size 6/8 not want to show her legs by being unable to wear a skirt without leggings. 

PERCEPTION IS THE KEY, YOU OWN IT!! Go find it with love.

In my job I hear many women speak very unkindly about their body, how would we feel if our best friend said those same words to us? Women today  have come to view their bodies as a negative asset, even blocking off looking at certain parts of their body, they may see above the neck and below the knees but ‘blurr’ the part in between. How is it  possible to dress a beautiful body if we can’t truly see it? AND  Less than half of the women I work with have a full length mirror, usually because of the afore mentioned block, they don’t want to see it, perhaps even being too painful to truly look.

As socially responsible people when are we going to start seeing a true reflection of women in media so we are  able to fully embrace our bodies as they truly are? Not some mythical creature from planet zero? If we were able to truly be ourselves in our own bodies, imagine the possibilities? Fun, creativity and play with clothing and colour without the restriction of a perfect body  image which doesn’t really exist. Illusion works in so many ways, ask photo shop.

If we use the word should  in a sentence relating to our body, it is tantamount to getting a whip out and lashing ourselves with it!!! I should lose weight or  I should be a size 10, what messages are you sending yourself? A BIG one, you are never good enough!!! When will you be good enough?

I suggest you get a full size mirror,  truly look at your body in the mirror and embrace it, I challenge you to  look in the mirror and say ”I love you, I truly love you.”  

 Think of the work your body does for you each and every day and how hard it works for you, isn’t it time to love and honour it for it’s hard work  instead of whipping it for what it is not? Be your own best friend, and begin to speak to your body with love and kindness.

Love, grace and compassion  beautiful women

Stylishly Yours

Make Up, Radiance? Professional Photo

No Make Up Inner Radiance Taken By i Phone And Regular House Lights

 “The most beautiful make up of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy”
Yves Saint Laurent

In a perfect world we would not need make up as people would be able to see our true beauty shining out, however our lives are so hectic we lose our spark, our radiance and look to re install it by artificial means……. What this does is to stimulate how we perceive ourselves, ie more attractive which allows us to begin to  radiate our true inner selves.

Have you ever seen a beautiful looking girl on the outside  on a TV reality show only to be completely turned off from any beauty by how they behave? Their true radiance is masked by their behaviour.

As an Image Consultant, I see great changes in women who sometimes didn’t even wear make up before I worked with them, they finally see themselves as beautiful in the mirror and this has a profound affect on them on other levels. It is sometimes the first step to self acceptance a woman has had for herself for years, perhaps since teenage years, having children, getting divorced  if ever, depending on how early the beauty myth shattered her confidence.

When I work with clients in their home, I ask them not to wear make up, I can see a transition in them as we go through the transformation process, I see them better understand their bodies as they learn to embrace what they see, all my work is done reflecting it to a client through a mirror so they can truly see what is going on, learn and understand. I begin to see their inner radiance as we explore colours that best reflect their skin tone and in turn their sparkle. I show them quick steps to applying make up that will take them 5 minuntes, with colours that truly suit them and bring out their inner glow. At the end of our time together they are positively beaming, as they  learn that they are a beautiful individual in their own right, AND we haven’t even bought new clothes yet but they have learnt to appreciate what is there in themselves.

My view is if it takes a dash of make up and some personal styling to help a woman feel fully empowered to be her best, then that is the confidence boost she needs, it is OK for her to give herself the permission to do so. She does not have to reach impossibly high standards of social standing beauty, which doesn’t really exist any way, (photo shop). Just as a man puts on war paint, uniform, camouflage and a gun to wage a war, a woman can take the feminine approach by truly looking, feeling and being her best by representing what she is about in her make up and clothing.

With beauty, style, grace and compassion

Stylishly Yours

Why aren't children afraid to look in the mirror?

Why aren’t children afraid to look in the mirror?As children we are quite fascintated by our reflection, we will talk to ourselves, pull faces, even KISS our reflected image. So what happens that can make it painful for us to love our image back?

I have worked with clients who don’t have a mirror in their home. When I have brought out my mirror (which I always have handy in my car) a client can find it confronting and incredibly hard to look in it, they do not like what they see and are in effect rejecting themselves. Usually our body changes can be hard to accept especially as we move from our teenage years, have children or after menopause.

I would like to share with you the story of one of my clients who did not have any mirrors. It was a huge step for her to have me in her home, and I honour and respect her courage for inviting me to work with her.

There were tears at first as I gently asked her to look in the mirror and asked her what she saw. She was not at all kind to herself as her tears flowed, and the woman she saw was not the one I could see. So what happened? A distorted perception of reality? Lack of self love? Or simple overwhelm of a past confronting life experience? I will leave that as her life story.

What I CAN tell you is by the end of our time together she was able to stand back from the mirror and LOOK in it, albeit a little shyly but I saw a different woman, she stood taller, prouder and her eyes were shining, she was meeting her newer self for the first time. POWERFUL!!! It was a privilage to witness.

Let me say no age is a barrier to losing our own self love for ourself. It can happen to us at any time, our life experiences usually dictate when. There are few blessed beings out there who have truly embraced themselves and have self acceptance of their human form. We think all models do, but do they? We are told they are the ‘perfect image’ of the human form and we should strive to BE like that. Really?? How realistic is that? 0.0001% roughly, NEWS FLASH no one is THAT perfect!!!

If we view our bodies as temples or as bomb shelters that is HOW we will treat it, AND ourselves! At times we can be our own worst enemies.

My job is to help someone discover themselves from the outside in, there is a shift, a new self belief and a letting go of the old. To anyone who has had the courage, I admire you.

TODAY I ask you to go to the mirror and see WHO is there.

Stylishly Yours

Jennifer

Our image reflects our power

Power dressing, love it or hate it it works!!!

We are often confronted by what our image says about us, we may want to deny the reality of that as it means we may well have to review how we are dressing and so it goes into the too hard basket. However, I find when I have this conversation with most people or present it in a workshop it resonates with them somewhere even if it is unacknowledged on a surface level.

An aspect of this is ‘Power dressing’ reserved mainly for the work place, although women can use it to protect their ‘territory’ by dressing in a certain way to warn other women off their man! think of night clubs, it’s alive and kicking, just like the peacock strutting her stuff!! The message is keep away!

For power dressing it conveys a wall of authority, competency and therefore power, I have something you want and I am perfectly capable of doing it.

The two best examples of this is Coco Channel and her tenancity, creativity and willingness to break boundaries by wearing trousers, you have heard the expression ‘you can tell who wears the trousers in that house’ The 80s is another beatiful example of women stepping into their own power. Why you may well ask, well what did it do for womens careers? Look at how women were percieved, they became powerhouses, stepping up the career ladder, commanding their real worth in the dollar sense in their own right, YES they always had the ability and were seizing the opportunity, an important element of this was Power Dressing. The women where driving it but they wanted to arrive as a ferrari rather than a mini, the difference, IMPACT!

What did the power suits women were wearing reflect???

Their masculine side! The shoulders were broad, think of the oversized shoulder pads, emulating mens, and their waists were no longer defined, giving them a boxy more square look like a man! We were saying we are equal!!

My job as an image consultant is to emulate our bodies into their best versions of hour glasses for women and T shapes for men. Why you may well ask. Since cave times the sway off a womans hips, her shoulders, decollatage and breasts displayed her feminity and her fertility, and for the guys, well we saw their broad shoulders as representimg their strength and ability to go and get that bison to feed us! (just like the animal kingdom have their versions we are no different). The sexual messages have not changed, it is in us, even if our world is unreconisagble to our ancestors.

Flicking into the 80s women were matching the men, however this was from the waist up, from the waist down skirts were shorter and shoes were high and pointed so displaying an aspect of their feminity too. Ying and Yang.

Next time you think what you are wearing doesn’t matter, observe how people treat you dressed as you are, after all we ar the biggest teachers of showing people how to treat us, what are you teaching? Mini or Ferrari?

Stylishly yours,

Jennifer

Now most of you probably have a LBD, (little black dress for those who aren’t awake yet), however how many have LBB, little black boots?

So there they were as smart, fun and funky as the day I first set eyes on them, I was hypnotised by the two tone suede/ leather, the golden interior and the handy side zip that made them a cinch to put them on I was Dorothy with my new red shoes, two clicks and I was off to nirvana!!!

However, madame had to do an evaluation, yes a maths and credit card one (never was good at maths) and decided that as much as I wanted to ‘just go home’ (or was that to Kansas?) with these quirky boots I must be disciplined, alas, disapointed I left empty handed, no shiny shopping bag reflecting my delectable smile of contrition.

As these things do, the boots played on my mind, I pictured the outfits I would wear with them, and how delicious they would look with jeans, and that absolutely gorgeous dress I bought the other week, the justification process got more and more JUSTIFIED!! Eventually after two weeks of resisting I thought I would plain BURST!, and that was the day I found myself back in the city in the Mimco store handing over my credit card (not so shiny) YES with a beaming, self statisfied smile as not only had I aquired my illustrious boots BUT they were now on sale for $92!!! How happy does that make a girl? oh let me tell you, VERY, VERY happy!!!

So in my blissful state I would urge you to ………. get in quick as they only have a few pairs left!!!!

Divine Nirvana for a true shopaholic!

And yes I did put them proudly in my wardrobe next to the other 4 pairs of black boots I have ewhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Stylishly Yours

Jennifer

The picture shows  a woman who is very much using her creativity and love of colours, it may or may not be your prefered style. In my many years of experience it’s probably not your taste as we have become afraid of colours and long flowy dresses ever since we left the era of Lord Of The Rings! I absolutely applaude her confidence and sense of unique style, she is expressing herself for herself.

I say  embrace colour!! One of my main talents in working with clients is to inject colour into their wardrobe, clients will often tell me they can’t find many colours out there or afraid to wear them. WELL  I say it is Spring, so get your handbag, your bottle of water and ballet flats and go a hunting, the stores are loaded with popping colours, delishes textures and oozing style!! Makes my palate water!

My ab fab favourites at the moment are Karen Millen and Coast’s fresh and creative designs all the way from the UK.

BE BRAVE and GO FOR IT!!

Stylishly Yours

Jennifer

I have shopped with clients who hated shopping with a passion! Especially guys, but at the end of the personal  shopping actually said they enjoyed it, this says it all to me, a quick, targeted, no nonense approach, kind of like an armys’ plan of attack.

Of course, my  job is always made easier by the helpful, friendly and excited shop assistants and of course a strong coffee along the way helps.  I  always  take  bottles of water for my clients as it can be quite hot work and they need to feel comfortable and relaxed.

TIP Always take the size you think you are and another size you think you maybe, are you with me???  I have found there are usually two trains of thought going on for people, the ‘ I think I can squeeze in to that size because it’s ‘my size” and the size that will actually fit but ‘I can’t bear to go up a  size!!’  DON’T worry about what size the label says, it’s how it fits that matters. I was shoppingwith a lovely lady who agreed with my theory and knew the larger size was better for her, so what did we do? Got the scissors out and cut out the sizing labels!!! Problem solved MIND over MATTER!!!

I am to going to  pop down to Claremont  Quarter   for a reconnaissance mission for my clients, ( it’s all part of the style plan of attack). ! I will leave the credit card at home though in the freezer( a la shopholic movie style)…… however will make sure I have an ice pick  for emergencies though!!

Stylishly Yours

Jennifer