Women and men are presented with glamour at every turn, on billboards, in magazines, television, movies, fashion events, simply walking into a clothing store, whereby for both men and women products, numerous skin and make-up counters are passed by. Dress for men and women, make-up applications for women that are correctly applied, that suit the style of a person, or work with the persons environment are a very important factor not to be missed or taken for granted.
Whichever environment, you are entering, either going into the office daily, doing fashion and modelling work, applying banking office wear, all personal applications count in the power of visual presentation and counts for a lot in terms of ‘the first impression counts’, whereby core values are driven and the brand of an organisation is upheld through the most important asset, ‘the people’ themselves.
We live in a media driven society and it is to our advantage to create a look that is styled, acceptable to our personalities and any environment that we may enter into, an image that portrays strength and self confidence at all times, one that depicts knowledge that we are aware of ourselves, our visual presentation and how we conduct ourselves and how we are accepted by others due to our outer appearance, right through to our body language and body posture.
Image, for both men and women, it is a highly complex issue, but it is an imperative one and should be seen as a positive advantage. Information on how one looks and wears the right corporate clothing can be learnt and must be simple and easy to follow to achieve guaranteed results, that are a practically driven good experience.
The right tools and knowledge given are important because these applications do need a form of creativity, image needs effort and conscious thinking for optimum results, and with not everyone in the know how or creative field, like to be taught to achieve the same results as the creative person, especially when it comes to dressing well and applying their personal image to ‘be the best that they can be’.
Whilst cosmetic houses promote products to enhance our skin or colour products to apply to an eyelid for women, they don’t educate on the ‘know how’ tools on how to achieve this. In most instances, people are left to their own devices and not taught the correct way to use certain products, which can result in lack of confidence and the person giving up trying all together. Dressing correctly for both men and women, and applying make-up correctly for women are sensitive topics and delicate issues and through correct guidance, many embarrassing issues could be avoided in the first place, which can make or can break building self confidence as one climbs the corporate ladder.
Take for example colours, colours give us a sense of well-being. Those colours you choose to surround yourself with will have a direct affect on your health, moods and emotions and therefore directly affect you success in all spheres of life. Try not to select a colour simply on your emotional response to it; think objectively about the appropriateness of the situation you are going into. Over use of colour can seem flamboyant or pushy or a loud, bright colour may draw attention to you, when you should be quiet and observing for a certain business event.
Colours and their meanings – a few for your interest:
Beige – Accepting, open strong
Light green – Light (mood), loving, kind, knowing
Brown – Balanced, safe, secure
Orange – Humorous, makes a statement, emotional, dramatic
Blue – loyal, calm, tranquil
Managers need to address these soft skill topics through qualified consultants, to drive motivation in presentation and image, as well as correct etiquette and business conduct, which affects the outcomes – better customer service and positive client experiences, as well as building self confidence of employees, to prevent a decrease in productivity.
