… and don’t let anyone tell you anything different.
There are no rights or wrongs when it comes to human beings and their emotions.
For instance, if the Brightest Spring on the planet walks in and she insists on wearing the most Soft-muted Summer colours known to man, then I need to get out of the way!
Now before you go getting all steamed up, insisting that professional image consultants ought to know better than their clients, just because you ARE the consultant does NOT necessarily mean you are right.
The only person who can ever tell you if you’re right or wrong is your client.
Of course, in my role as consultant, I will most definitely show this lady what I think she looks fabulous in but…
For the Brightest Spring who feels more comfortable in Soft-muted colours right now, there’s obviously some deep, psychological reason why she’s not ready to wear her Bright colours:
- She may be dressing to please a man, or her mother, or her boss, or her Great Aunt Ethel’s neighbour’s budgie…
- She may have broken up with her partner
- She could have lost her job
- She may just be feeling totally and utterly unworthy
- Or there may just be an ‘r’ in the month…
We are not dressing a lump of meat
If you’re following some moronic colour analysis script that says, for instance, that all clients with dark hair and dark eyes are Deep, then you are way off course.
Because that is utter nonsense.
You cannot simply diagnose solely using the physical body (unless you’re a fashion stylist, and this article was never meant for you…)
There are no daft rules like this, especially when it comes to human beings.
Every single client deserves to be treated like an unique individual – because they ARE!
You must take into account your client’s physical colouring AND how your client feels – her psychological colouring.
You have no flippin’ idea why anyone chooses to wear anything
until you talk to your client and find out why from the horse’s mouth.
Anything else is pure assumption, and that’s a particularly stupid way to approach working with any human being.
So your job is to discover:
- where she is now (and why)
- where she’d like to be (and why)
so that you can help her through the transition process or maybe even create the process of transition itself.
After all, the world of colour, style, and image consulting is about people – living, breathing human beings with emotions – and how they FEEL.
It is never, ever about the ruddy drapes and certainly not about the dratted swatch wallets.
We are consultants, not regurgitators of stupid scripts that make it easy to diagnose seasonal and/or tonal.
We are consultants, who have to take time to get to know our customers, to work out where they are in their own journey of life, and help them move towards what they really, really want.
But only when THEY are good and ready.