It is widely accepted that it takes seven seconds to form a first impression, although local image consultant and former business teacher Shirley Borrelli, of Looking Your Best Image Consulting, would disagree. “I’m sorry, you don’t have that long,” she says bluntly. “It only takes an instant, and that is why appearance makes a difference.”
Our image is essentially how we communicate our personal identity, long before we speak a single word. Borrelli calls it the ABCs of image: appearance (hair, grooming, makeup, clothes and accessories), behaviour (etiquette, dos and don’ts and appropriateness) and communication (verbal and non-verbal). One of her most recent clients, Carol Gervais, a 44-year-old local accountant, said the experience “made my outside feel like it matched my inside, and it increased my confidence more than losing 10 or 20 pounds ever did. I got tired of looking like a stereotypical accountant, and now, not a day goes by that I don’t get some compliment on how I look.”
The process of image consultation is more than just a trip to the mall. It can activate a clearer style — a personal expression — that you never knew you had in you. “Fashion and style are two different things,” explains image consultant Tamara Hamilton of Hamilton Image Consulting. “Style is very timeless, whereas fashion is about what is current and what the trend is.” Hamilton, who recently returned to Edmonton after an eight-year acting stint in Vancouver, says her stage costumes would allow her to gain insight into the character, just as clothes affect the way a person is perceived. “Clothes can even affect the way people carry themselves,” she said. “If you love what you’re wearing, it radiates, and you end up attracting the energy right back.”
Local image consultant Miranda Wulf of LoullouDi Image & Style says the general public may think you look fine, but there is a “good, better, best mentality” and why not strive for the latter? The best, she says, is the one that makes an impact.
Wulf says there is no harm in staying on the up and up trends, as long as it works for the look you’ve set out to achieve.
While sifting through a mound of discarded clothes belonging to client Rick Purdy — unofficially labelled the “pitch pile” — Wulf grabs a stack of the discards and says, “This could have been a quality cashmere sweater!” Purdy, 33, who lives in a trendy downtown loft he calls a “humble bachelor pad,” willingly exhibits his wardrobe, pitching and preserving accordingly. The fashion-befuddled, world-travelling real estate developer and investor had no reservations when it came to ridding his closet of clutter. “I think we always need help,” he said. “I like clothes, but that’s not my gift.”
The process of putting together an outfit, playing with colour, finding and tailoring the fit and discovering your style is a skill that must be learned. Sometimes it comes after years of hiding under the frumpy smock or sporting that bomber jacket that you thought would never go out of style, or perhaps after getting down with your bad self, flaunting the low-rise jeans with no back pockets, even though your body begged you to reconsider. “It’s about accentuating, balancing and camouflaging certain parts of the body,” Wulf explains of the other ABCs. “I’m not there to fix or change them, I’m trying to help enhance what they already know and have.” The process, which is daunting for some, can be as in-depth as the client wants it to be. Depending on the consultant and service, the Association of Image Consultants International says fees usually cost $75 to $350 per hour.
Start to finish, the ultimate goal of an image consultant is to help you discover your personal identity. Clothes, as Borrelli puts it, can be the catalyst for self-discovery.
