Become Your Own Personal Stylist
Learn How to Improve Your Style Thru Style Books and Image Courses
Learning how to makeover your wardrobe it a simple affair these days. There are many style tips on the internet, in women's magazines, books and image and style courses.
DIY Style Guides
Treat yourself to one of the plethora of self-help stylebooks on the market such as celebrity stylist, Rachel Zoe’s Style A To Zoe or Elle fashion director, Nina Garcia’s, The Little Black Book of Style.
If you are a fan of Ms Beckham, then this pint-size fashionista gives some useful tips in That Extra Half Inch: Hair, heels and everything in between. Says Victoria, “'I've always been a girls' girl. And I know from experience that making the very best of yourself is something any woman can do.”
For those who want to feel fabulous at 40+, then America’s Next Top Model judge and 60s supermodel Twiggy, launches her own fashion book in June 2008 entitled, Those Fabulous Forties, Fifties and Sixties! Considering Twiggy continues to look more and more glamorous as she ages, this must be a recommended read! Another fashion bible for mature women is The Grown-Up Girls Guide to Style (Regan Books Oct 2006), by Christine Schwab, a fifties-something fashion consultant. This book is filled with hard-hitting tips on fashion no-no’s for those who are maturing in years!
A relative newcomer to the list (Perigree Publishing:April 2008) is Style RX: Dressing the body you have to create the body you want by Bridgette Raes. This book hails itself as a prescription for women who have big butts, fat stomachs, large waists, thick ankles or thighs; in other words a fair proportion of western women! The book includes 15 personal, illustrated case studies as well as a ton of fashion advice.
Online Personal Stylists
Whilst personal stylists usually deal with the needs of their clients through face to face meetings, another alternative is to obtain a consultation from an online stylist service. Online site Istylista offers a personal stylist service to its readers at £15 or $30. The site promises to give you your own downloadable style guide, including tips for your body shape, how to best to wear colors, organizing your capsule wardrobe and advice to suit your face shape.
Style & Image Courses
If your interest in fashion and style extends beyond personal, then you may wish to help others by taking it one stage further as a hobby or career. There are a number of Image Consulting training courses available, including the London Image Institute, which has training centers in the UK, USA and Singapore and Hong Kong. The Institute’s courses are authorized by the Association of Image Consultants International, which has its headquarters in DeMoines, USA and which is a professional body representing image consultants worldwide.
If you would like to study from home then the UK’s Style Coaching Institute ™ offers both tutored courses and home study to students all over the globe, including Canada, the USA, UK, Australia and South Africa.. Style Coaching is term coined by the institute which encompasses Personal Styling and Life Coaching. Style Coaching embraces individual clients as a whole, taking a holistic approach and bringing out the best in them. Amongst other things, it takes into account body shape and everyday lifestyle.
These training courses give you the background you need to be able to forge ahead with a new career by working as a personal stylist.
Working as a personal stylist/image consultant can sometimes be stressful but certainly is a rewarding job. You are helping people feel confident and happy about themselves and their image, as looking good also comes from within. In the poignant words of The Style Coaching Institute ™, on their website, “A smile is the most attractive thing anyone can wear, something money can’t buy and shops don’t sell!”
