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Wednesday, May 31, 2006
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How to.. change your image
LOOKING GOOD: Duncan Hall tries on a swatch with Sue Donnelly at Accentuate. (6DL011024) Picture: DAVID LOWNDES
MY girlfriend once described my fashion sense being limited to what band was on the front of my T-shirt.
But that is all set to change having met image coach Sue Donnelly – as now logos are banned, leaving me pretty much T-shirt-less.
When I visited Sue, who runs her own image consultancy business called Accentuate, I have to confess I was expecting a kind of Trinny and Susannah-type dressing down.
When I spoke to her she told me to dress casually in the sort of clothes I would wear to go out. Normally this would be whatever looked cleanest and was closest to the top of the ever-growing pile of clothes at the bottom of the bed.
But I have to confess, before our meeting, I took my time looking for something suitable – eventually plumping for a recently washed pair of jeans, plain grey T-shirt and brand-new chocolate brown jumper.
I need not have worried. For one, Sue seemed quite impressed with my choices – particularly the brown jumper which, I have to admit, was something I was quite proud of.
What advice she did give was presented very gently, with none of the finger-pointing dictats that the unfortunate victims receive from Trinny and Susannah – who I often think are ones to talk in any case, with some of the clobber they sport!
As the author of two style books The 80/20 Makeover and Does My Belly Look Big In This? and someone who has not only worked in business as an expert on personal style, but also appeared on television talking about image, Sue is eminently qualified to talk about what not to wear.
And she said it had become more and more important in recent years – as the sexing-up of politicians such as Tony Blair and David Cameron was a testament to.
She said: “Twenty years ago a man over 40 would be married, have a job for life and didn’t care that much about how they looked. Now they could be made redundant, divorced or widowed, so might have to start dating again or be looking for a new job. They have often lost confidence.
“About 85 per cent of the women I have here have come because they are at a cross-roads, they have an ‘-0’ year coming up, they don’t know what to do at work, some aren’t married, some are, often people want to know what they should look like when they are 50.”
Image was an important part of giving someone confidence in what they were doing.
Sue said: “It is not just about your body shape, it is about your personality, the values you have and how you want to come across.
“If you know you look good people respond to you more readily because you have a glow and confidence about you.”
I was given a shortened version of what would normally be a full day session working from a personal style file.
Sue talked me through each section, explaining that she usually tailored the session to the needs of the subject and the time they wanted to spend doing it.
As well as looking at what I wanted to improve – which was mainly getting some of the blue out of my wardrobe – we talked about my body shape (a soft rectangle since you ask – and not perfectly round as some family members have stated), the types of fabrics which I should wear with it (generally fairly flowing and draping rather than tailored) and my proportions (I have a long body and short legs. Ho-hum).
We also examined some of the colours that would look good with my generally pale skin using swatches of material – which you can see in the picture.
It was amazing to see the differences some colours made, with multitudes of spots appearing with some colours, and an unhealthy glow coming from others. I’m quite proud to say that there is no way I will be wearing lime green any time soon.
It turns out that I am an autumn man, most suited to muted, earthy and warm colours – certainly something I will be looking for next time I am dragged around the shops.
Whether it changes my general style I don’t know, although after being told logo T-shirts accentuate the size of the stomach I’m afraid the nation’s band merchandise stalls are likely to lose a valued customer.