If you’ve ever:
– Struggled to put outfits together easily
– Felt overwhelmed by shopping (and just avoid it all together)
– Spent so much time figuring out what to buy but don’t love anything you end up with
It’s time to consider working with one. This is when an experienced men’s image consultant can really change your life.
What’s the difference between a personal stylist and an image consultant?
Here’s how a personal stylist and image consultant differ:
- An image consultant focuses on tactics AND creating big visions for your style and image. They will coach you how to ‘zoom out’ and create your style goals, identify what you want to communicate with your clothing, and more. An Image consultant will ensure that your image is aligned with YOUR story, ambitions, and personality.
- They’ll do an analysis of you and your online profiles to create a style and image strategy that is in line with who you are, your professional goals, and preferences. They’ll take the time to get to know you and not force a style upon you.
- An image consultant not only focuses on clothing but on accessories, makeup, hairstyles, photoshoots — smaller but just as important details when taking your image to the next level.
If you wish someone would just pick clothes for you that fit perfectly, are flattering to your figure, and would be considered stylish or on-trend, you may simply need a personal stylist.
These professionals survey your lifestyle and body type to make the best selections for those who really hate to shop, or aren’t quite sure what brands and styles to buy.
If you are considering working with a personal stylist, you should ask them a series of questions to gauge their process, style, philosophy, and any affiliations they have with brands with whom they may make a commission.
There’s nothing wrong with choosing this option if you are looking for specific items to add to your closet to ensure you always have something flattering and stylish to wear.
If you’re looking for a more comprehensive approach to your image and style, and are getting a lot of visibility with peers in your professional life– you should consider an image consultant.
One expert can be both a personal stylist AND image consultant for their clients.
How does image consulting work?
My work with my professional clients who are looking to elevate their wardrobe involves a systematic, tried and true approach that has produced life-changing results for their image.
The first step as an image consultant is to spend time truly getting to know my client by helping them figure out their personal brand:
– Who are they as a person
– What do they want to communicate with their image
– And how do they want to FEEL in their clothing
Clients leave this process with a style and image strategy presentation, which is an in-depth deep dive into their personal brand– what is it, how to describe it, how it ties into their story, and what it will look like.
Once we establish their bigger style goals and go through the strategy for their image, the next steps focus on the tactics.
We then move into a virtual closet cleanout in which we do a top to bottom edit of what’s currently in their closet. We keep only what aligns with the personal brand guidelines we’ve created, and I educate my client through the cleanout process on why certain pieces don’t work for them to help inform their future choices.
A client’s closet pre- the wardrobe edit
Typically clients can’t believe how much they’ve acquired that isn’t their size, isn’t flattering to their specific body type, or simply doesn’t align with their personal brand. We get rid of everything that has been weighing them down and start with a clean phase as we head into the shopping experience.
Next, I’ll shop for my client– keeping their body type, lifestyle, image and preferences in mind. I like to explore my favorite minimalist brands to look for the best pieces that they’ll love to wear.
Not only am I looking for items that they can wear for work, but weekends and everything in between. Typically the first shopping trip within image consulting creates the right foundation of their wardrobe- ensuring that they have all the right essential pieces, in the right color and fit.
The last step within my image consulting services is fit.
We meet virtually so my client can try on every piece that’s been ordered. A big part of this process is to advise clients whether to keep or return each item.
I also educate clients through this process on different formulas to create simple and classic outfits with little effort, from monochromatic looks to mixing and matching core colors and prints.
Not only will they have a long lasting style system that they’ll use for years to come, but the outfit possibilities will be endless.
