Spring is here and that means it’s probably time to renew those strands of yours. First step: it’s time for a trim! The best bet for this is to visit a top notch hairstylist, or one you trust and have had good luck with previously. Because there’s nothing worse than going to a hair salon and coming out looking worse than when you went in. I can’t tell you how many times that has happened.
Once your stylist has cut off the last off what winter left behind, it’s necessary to deal with dead ends, and I have the perfect hair recipe for you. Friends share lots of things, including hair secrets! A friend of mine told me about a hair mask she had great success with, and stylist Emily Thomas of Cutler South Beach agrees that it’s great for deep conditioning! The process is simple:
1) Grab olive oil and honey and mix an even amount of both in a bowl.
2) Apply the mixture to your scalp and then cover your hair with a shower cap.
You may avoid the roots if your hair is naturally oily, but Emily let me know that applying on to your roots can actually be beneficial. She says, “Olive oil acts as a dandruff controller in addition to a deep conditioner so the scalp will definitely benefit from the treatment,” just make sure to throughly rinse out after! If needed, Emily advises to warm the mixture in a microwave for 10-15 seconds before applying.
My friend left the mixture on for two hours, but with my hair I needed extra treatment! So I kept it on for five hours and then used my amazing new Shu Uemura Moisture Velvet nourishing shampoo and conditioner. (You may use any, just make sure it fits your hair texture.) And watch your dry, dead ends become transformed into soft, healthy strands . . . Now my hair is ready to face the upcoming warm months!
Power Suit
How to update your wardrobe, indeed! Is it even necessary, you ask. The answer depends on what you wish to accomplish and what you have in your closet right now.
There are three things to keep in mind when deciding to update your wardrobe. First, do you need to be more effective at work and play? Second, do you have items that are appropriate? And third, do you know what will help you achieve your goals?
Probably the easiest question to answer is the first. Most people would agree that they’d like to be more effective at work. Wardrobe choices can certainly help here. Our research demonstrates that the color of your raincoat, the cut of your hair, and the style of your shoes are all important factors that can help or hurt your image.
Knowing whether you have the right items in your closet, and understanding which suits, hairstyles, and accessories are best really are questions that only research can help you decide. We’ve been conducting this kind of wardrobe research for professionals and it clearly shows that some items are more appropriate and effective than others. For instance, a black raincoat is less effective than beige. Cap-toe shoes are more effective than slip ons for men. Pumps are better for women than flats.
When you decide to update your wardrobe you might want to contact a professional who has access to research about what is effective. Forget the latest trends and colors. Forget designer names. Forget your beauty magazines. For a moment ask yourself, “What evidence do I have that this or that item will enhance my image in relation to others, make people trust me, and make them predisposed to like me?” When you begin to think like this you are on the right track and updating your wardrobe will be much easier than you can imagine.
Suzanne Somers
How you feel about yourself will be reflected in your image. This is why at Manhattan Makeovers we help clients not only with their wardrobe and accessories but also with their approach to life. In order to enhance your image it may be necessary to take into consideration how much sleep you’re getting, your diet, and your general level of physical fitness. Improving these factors will usually improve your image.
Nutrition can also enhance your image. Fish oil, for instance, has been linked with smoother skin and fewer wrinkles. People should generally take 2-4 grams or more of fish oil a day. They should also aim to eat a pound of fish per week. This is the recommendation of Dr. Paul Jaminet, Ph.D., in his book Perfect Diet, which we recommend. Jaminet also talks about the value of cutting toxins from the diet. The chief toxins he lists are wheat, soy, lentils, and peanuts.
Wardrobe can have a synergistic effect on your feelings of confidence. In other words, if you look good on the outside you may find that you have more confidence and feel better psychologically. This is why Sigmund Freud, we believe, missed a golden opportunity since he never wrote a book on image consulting. Many of his patients could have been helped not with the talking cure (psychotherapy) but with a simple outfit change. Elsewhere we have written about how Rimbaud could have probably lived a longer life and could have probably been more productive if he had changed his wardrobe and hair style.
Thanks to my internship at Women’s Health Magazine, I had the privilege to go backstage at the Cynthia Rowley and Richard Chai fashion shows for some hair and makeup inspiration. Surely, I was inspired!
Here are some backstage pictures from the Richard Chai and Cynthia Rowley NYC 2012 FASHION SHOWS:
For Richard Chai, there are half men/ half women models with the same looks. Both have the same inspiration where it’s a finished look almost like Chet Baker and Matt Dillon in Drugstore Cowboys.
The hairstyle starts off very clean and slick back, but then as more product gets incorporated, the finished look becomes tousled, like you took a sweater and pulled it over your head. The makeup was sponsored by MAC cosmetics and nails were by Essie, the creator of the nail polish brand who personally told me about her inspiration for her nail collection for Spring 2012: “The colors are just happy. I really felt that the collection was all about the woman and how really empowered we all are, we can find our way out of anything. So she’s navigate her and she’s tour de finance, and she has a crewed interest and she’s obvious. I mean they’re all really about a woman being savvy enough to figure it all out. You know we can conquer the world!”
The inspiration for the Cynthia Rowley fashion show was the collaboration of the designer and hairstylist. One makeup artist named Lottie from the Make Up Forever team let me know that they were aiming for very clean, very simple makeup. “Very fresh skin and a structured eyebrow, a very good balance between the hair and the clothes.” The nails were sponsored by Zoya, and the hair team (led by Duffy for Amika) let me know that the hair was all about creating different textures, using specifically three that Cynthia wanted: “Each girl will be different with a different silhouette to the hair.”
So glad I got to experience the style, creativity and inspiration firsthand. Oh, how exciting the fashion world is!
(Photos by Paulina Glozman)
David Bailey
There is nothing which says YOU as much as your image recorded in a photograph. Why, many of us only know Hitler, JFK, Obama, and other luminaries by their photos. The photo is thus the cornerstone of your image. Care for your photos and you will craft a better image.
This is the message of photographer David Bailey. And the message of Manhattan Makeovers. To us his work represents the ultimate in image making. Our hats are off to him and to his work.
(Photo: David Bailey)
Fashion Week NY
As an image consultant at Manhattan Makeovers, I want to say that my internship at Women’s Health Magazine is going great, really enjoying my time here. During Fashion Week I went backstage at the Cynthia Rowley and Richard Chai shows. It was a great experience. I took snapshots of the hair and makeup and interviewed some of the makeup artists, hairstylists, designers, and Essie, the creator of the nailpolish brand! I got her to tell me her favorite color. Definitely got some good footage and inspiration to write a blog.
In my opinion the fashion industry is terribly exciting and I look forward to posting more stories when I get a chance to interview additional people working in this field. I will also put up some photos later so you can see what I saw during New York Fashion Week. Of course, Manhattan Makeovers will take into consideration what the latest trends are, even though they base their recommendations on research into what works in terms of wardrobe and accessories.
Image consultant help for how and when to wear a cape will make you know that you are right when you wear a cape to work or play.
There are three times when a man should wear a cape today. The first is when he is going to a formal event and is the star of the show and wants to have the eyes of the house on him at all times. If you are a film star, an opera star, an attorney who has just won a major case, a diplomat, a politician who has a radical new platform, a chemist who has just discovered the way to turn on tumor suppressor genes, a radio talk show host who has signed a multi-million dollar deal, or just an average man who likes to have the full house focus its attention on you, then wear a cape to that event and turn heads all night.
The second time to wear a cape is when you want to star in a show for which a cape is a costume. This is right for a man who plays the role of Superman, Dracula, or any one of a myriad different superheroes.
The third time it is right to wear a cape is to a party which requires dress up, such as a costume party or a vicars and tarts party.
An image consultant at Manhattan Makeovers can help you with extreme costumes like the use of a cape just as easily as we can help you with the right wardrobe for success in the office.
One thing we’re often asked is, “What is the proper attire for a female during a job interview?”
The two rules for dressing for an interview are:
- de-emphasize sexuality
- emphasize trustworthiness, morality, and conformity
Your wardrobe conveys subliminal messages about your moral character. To emphasize the right message, the message employers want to hear, do the following to the extent you can:
- Wear a jacket.
- Don’t wear pants.
- If you must wear pants, wear a jacket too.
- Do not show your bare arms.
- If you wear pants, they must not show your legs: No Capri pants.
- The best outfit is a skirt suit.
- Do not wear sneakers. Flats or pumps are better.
THE POWER LOOK
The skirt suit is also known as the power look. Aim for the power look. It is traditional, conservative, and boring. But it is also the look that will please employers. They are more likely to hire you if you match this look. (See images below.)
As a modern woman you may not wish to be boring and traditional. But remember this is the look that succeeds in business. The image of Hillary Clinton (below) also illustrates the power suit. But her color choice is poor. Fashion designer Donatella Versace agreed, suggesting that her skirt suits should be black or navy blue. (The one pictured here is cobalt blue and is too bright.)
One final note, try to wear a navy blue or dark gray suit for your first interview. Notice that in the third photo below Sarah Palin is wearing a dark gray skirt with a white jacket, a power suit (which is good) but a high contrast look (which is not especially good for her). If your hair and skin are not high contrast (that is, if you have light skin tone and light hair, like Palin) then a more monochromatic look is better.
Political image consultants rate this as an outfit with too much contrast.
Figure 1. Wrong Eyeglasses
An image consultant can tell you that the key to selecting eyeglasses is to choose frames that contrast with your facial features. For example William S. Burroughs had a narrow face and angular features. In the first photo he is wearing the wrong kind of frames, namely boxy rectangular frames (see Figure 1).
If you wear boxy rectangular frames and have a boxy rectangular face you will make matters worse. The hard lines of his face are picked up and mirrored by the hard angular lines of his frames. This makes him look like a geometric nightmare.
No one is going to arrest you for wearing the wrong frames. But why not give yourself the luxury of wearing frames that will enhance your look? To do so is easy. Simply analyze your features. Are they angular or are they roundish and oval? Then select frames that are the opposite of your facial features. In this way you will enhance your overall image and your appearance will be more aesthetically pleasing.
Figure 2. Right glasses
In the second photo, Burroughs is wearing more oval shaped frames (Figure 2). You can see that they are more like aviator glasses. He looks better in these frames since they contrast with his angular face and they soften his harsh look. In selecting these more oval frames he made a major advance in enhancing his image.
Your image consultant can help you select frames that will enhance your image. If you have difficulty figuring out whether you have an oval or an angular face, ask one of the image consultants at Manhattan Makeovers. We will be glad to give you feedback on your image and help you select the right eyeglasses to enhance your look.
Ronnie Spector
You want to be a fashion editor some day so you decide to start as an intern at a fashion magazine. But how do you get the job? Lots of people in the fashion world will recommend that you send your resume to the human resources departments of magazines. After all, the function of the HR department, as it is known in the industry, is to place people in jobs, right?
Wrong.
The purpose of the HR department is to provide legal protection to magazines against claims of unfair discrimination. They are the worst place to send a resume. They have no knowledge of what jobs need to be filled. More importantly, they have no authority to hire you! That’s right. They’re so far removed from the day-to-day business of the magazine that they’re not allowed to hire anyone. It’s a joke when you think about it.
So how do you get that intern job? Or any job at a magazine for that matter?
The answer is you contact the editors. It is the editor who knows when she needs help. It is the editor who has the authority to hire interns. And so it is the editor you should contact. Through email. Never by phone.
What about looking for job ads? Wouldn’t that be a good way to get a fashion job?
No. Job ads are the worst way to get a job. Any time you read a job ad you can be sure that hundreds of other girls are reading it at the same time. So the chances of your getting the job are small to zero. Often they just put those ads out to fulfill the legal requirements of nondiscrimination anyway. They already have someone for the job.
So the best way to get the job is to send emails to editors who have not advertised. You are sure to come across one or two who are looking for help. Everyone’s looking for help these days, especially if it’s free.
