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Empowerment
through Image Management
By Judith Rasband
Women have long recognized the value
of time management, money management, business management, home
and family management, and maybe meal management. Another “branch”
of management generally overlooked is image management — including
wardrobe management.
To some, the word “image”
means superficial gloss, frivolity, and vanity. Nonsense. Image
is an essential part of the human experience, a visible, key factor
in daily life.
We all practice image management every
day of our lives — to varying degrees and often without thought.
In effect, image sets the boundaries for personal interaction
or involvement — in the home, the school, church, and community,
as well as in the workplace. Our image can work for us or against
us — diminish our capability or empower us to greater ability
and credibility.
Image management is the ongoing process
of evaluating and controlling the impact of your appearance on yourself,
on others, and the achievement of your goals. Positively, it is
creating an authentic, appropriate, attractive, and affordable personal/professional
appearance that increases your confidence, capability, credibility,
and productivity. In the long run, image management simplifies your
life and contributes to your continuing success.
Make no mistake about it. Image
— the way you look or appear — directly affects:
1) the way you think,
2) the way you feel,
3) the way you speak,
4) the way you act or behave, and then
5) the way others react or respond to you.
Following are six image management
tips relating to the Conselle Institute’s Personal/Professional
Style Scale? — tips that work to empower you.
- Do not give into a casual-sloppy,
sexy, or cutsey appearance
for the sake of fashion trends or peer pressure. Visual cues of
this sort are distracting and reduce your effectiveness in leadership
or professional roles — including the parent in the home.
- Do wear moderately-sized
shoulder pads under tees, shirts, sweaters, vests, or jackets
to add width to your shoulders to better balance your bust, tummy,
and/or hips below. For those who think they hate shoulder pads,
don’t think of shoulder pads as fashion trends, but fitting
tools!
- Do change from a round-neck
top to a V-neck top or tee to increase your visual authority.
A V-neck top or tee draws attention upward and frames your face
with straight lines on an angle, communicating more stability,
strength, and action. Rounded necklines cause you to appear softer,
malleable, more submissive.
- Do change from a collarless
top to a shirt with a collar to increase visual authority.
A collar lifts attention and frames your face with an extra layer,
increasing body image boundaries and therefore attention and apparent
authority. A straight-point collar works like the V-neckline to
communicate more stability, strength and action. Collarless tops
put more attention on the body and cause you to appear more casual
and less capable.
- Do select refined or firm
fabrics to increase visual authority. Utilitarian
fabrics like denim, and casual knit fabrics cause you to appear
sporty, playful, soft, and laid-back, easily influenced —
not serious. Firmer woven fabrics, not meaning stiff or heavy,
communicate greater stability and dependability.
- Do wear an outfit that includes
a jacket or a shirt-jac, even a sweater or vest whenever
you want to increase your visual presence or influence. This third
layer garment can increase dark-light contrast to draw attention
up to your face, and increases body image boundaries for more
visual authority. You will get attention faster, hold attention
longer, and remain more memorable. This works in the home, the
school, church, community, as well as in the workplace. You can
always remove a jacket to dress down and appear more approachable,
but if you don’t have a jacket, you can’t dress up
and appear more capable and credible. Mr. Rogers knew exactly
what he was doing!
© 2007
Conselle Institute of Image Management
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© 2007 Meridian
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