Should You Make an Authentic Impression?

I’m wondering what you think about this question because I’m doing a workshop on Saturday, November 21st that’s dedicated to “Mastering the Art of First Impressions.”  This seems to be a very important topic for anyone undergoing a personal reinvention and many of my blog readers and clients are working toward transformation.

While in Paris on my recent vacation I wondered about this issue.  It seems like such a global concern that, as if the local news media were reading my mind, TV news channel France 24 ran a feature piece about whether natural-looking people had an actual place in fashion.

To make the point, they ran a commercial spot created by the Dove soap company’s Campaign For Real Beauty made for the Canadian media market that showed a model out of makeup and who underwent her own sped-up step-by-step transformation for a billboard piece.  But what was truly alarming, beyond the countless steps, was that her visual image was digitally enhanced to retouch her eyebrows and elongate her neck.  She could never have had those physical features otherwise.

This begs the question for both men and women: in a quest to look one’s best, how much should one do to achieve that “best” looking appearance?  And is putting all that effort into one’s appearance being authentic?

My professional sense is that many people would love to get away with doing as little as possible to maintain a good appearance because it does take some effort.  However, the reality is that people with good self-esteem are willing to put an effort into grooming and dressing themselves.  Even people fighting depression or illness will push themselves to overcome their obstacles by making themselves look as good as they can.  This example shows how crucial one’s appearance can be and how its origins come from within.

Personal authenticity is defined as your individual genuineness or truth.  The piece I caught on France 24 really grabbed my attention because it’s important to look your best but not to go so far that you buy into unrealistic expectations as set forth by the media or by fashion designers.

We never hear about the men’s body image issues that we hear about in women.  But they do exist.  As the roles of men in society continue to shift the expectations of what women seem to want in their men are shifting, too.  Not so many women will readily admit to this, but among the younger generation, the desire for thin, feminized male bodies is in.  All you have to do is flip through the latest editions of men’s magazines to see what the models look like to know how the expectations are shifting.

My point is that these expectations aren’t any more realistic than the expectation that all women are size 4s.  We know the size of the average American woman is a size 12.  I believe authenticity is about making yourself look your best with what you’ve got to work with.  What’s unauthentic is going to extreme measures to achieve some new look.

So if you’re someone who’s concerned with making a positive and authentic impression, why not consider attending the workshop I’m doing with Nina Price on November 21st.  At the very least, you’ll learn about how to “Master the Art of First Impressions.”

Designing and managing your image is the secret science of your success.

Joseph Rosenfeld helps professional men and corporate workgroups create effective visual brands. Visit JosephRosenfeld.com for details.

Purple Reign

The last two weeks Kevin and I have been in Paris, one of the most noticeable trends we’ve remarked on is how purple Paris is.  Store windows, and many Parisians themselves, have been showcasing a passionate concern with the higher things in life.  As the color purple connotes a message of spirituality, in one of the world’s great fashion capitals, perhaps the concern with the “higher things in life” is nothing more than getting on with the business of living a good life.

If purple is a favorite color of yours, chances are you feel secure and self-confident when you wear the color.  Purple is a particularly intuitive color, channeling messages to others that you are trusting and are a good listener.  People who respond positively to purple are sensitive types who draw upon their strengths by believing their inner voice.  Purple-loving people would also like the idea of putting on purple as a protective coating, if you will, as a way of protecting themselves from others’ rules and regulations.

We could all stand to have a good listener in our lives, and to put our trust in someone.  It may as well be our own individual selves.  This feeling can be achieved by bringing purple into your environment, either on your body, or into your physical space in some way.  Based on what we’ve seen in Paris, there are no limits to how the color purple can be put to good use to enhance your emotional security.

If you read last week’s blog post, then you know the two weeks’ time here in Paris has been a time of great awakening for me.  It’s totally appropriate the city was painted purple, and no doubt psychologically tinted the experience.  I wonder what would have happened if all the retailers got together and created windows in green instead…

What’s your favorite color, and how does your favorite color make you feel?

Designing and managing your image is the secret science of your success.

Joseph Rosenfeld helps professional men and corporate workgroups create effective visual brands. Visit JosephRosenfeld.com for details.

Parisian Epiphany

Anyone who knows me to some small degree knows that if I could declare a love affair with a place it would be Paris.  Consider that opener a declarative admission because it’s entirely true.  Once settled into our accommodations, walking around the city with my partner, tears of joy stream down my face in appreciation for the ability to travel to a place where it feels as though I am traveling back in time to a past life where the familiarity of Paris keeps calling me back home.

We’re here for two weeks on this trip, and the first week is nearly complete.  This post is a rather personal one, and it’s intended to be because I want to share an epiphany of sorts about how coming to Paris pushes my life forward into the future by persuading me to come to terms with the past and to fuse together all parts into one.  Heady stuff for a vacation, but it’s Paris, a place of heady stuff: culture, cuisine, commerce, and couture.

The epiphany relates to design, another key element to what makes me tick.  Largely self-taught, I’m a steady student, looking for any opportunity to keep learning.  You’d think that when I come to Paris, Coco Chanel, Jeanne Lanvin, Madeleine Vionnet, Jean Paul Gautier, and other luminary Parisian fashion designers would be my main influencers.  On most days it would be true.

But this trip to Paris, we’ve been studying the architecture of Paris, and the result of this intensive approach has lead to a sudden intuitive leap of personal understanding.

Let me share it with you. Two architects in particular have done more to advance modern architecture and used Paris as their sandbox.  Hector Guimard and Le Corbusier completely transformed the way buildings were constructed in the 20th century and what I learned about their approaches to design has so much in common with my approach to design – only they designed structures, and I help to improve people’s personal structures, you might say.

Guimard is known as the man who brought the Art Nouveau style to architecture in France, particularly in Paris’ upscale 16th arrondissement starting before World War I.   What was so wonderful about his design work was that he designed not just the exterior of the buildings, but every detail of the interiors as well.  In fact, because he wanted apartment buildings to be unique, he would ensure each unit had it’s own special layout so no two in one building were exactly alike.  Even post World War I, when prosperity and resources had diminished, Guimard stayed true to his concept redefining how Art Nouveau architecture would be created.  The net effect on the city of Paris is that when you see curved facades on 20th century built, Haussmann styled architecture, a nod is owed to Guimard for having brought about this changed aesthetic.

The Swiss born Le Courbusier [a name he adopted] took the same approach as Guimard, but with the result of very different looking structures.  Le Corbusier was a minimalist, only incorporating into a structure what it needed to function.  Interestingly enough, Le Corbusier was very concerned with his interior spaces as well.  Of course, his eponymous home furnishings are legendary.  But he also collaborated with a certain cabinetmaker to create bookshelves that would accommodate books of varying sizes.  He always ensured ways of bringing natural light into every space, had metal and glass cut to exacting specifications, and even worked on creating exacting color palettes to maximize the effects of the spaces he designed.

It hit me like a ton of bricks [no pun intended] that Guimard’s and Le Corbusier’s designs – accounting for a structure’s interior and exterior – is just like how I bring balance to my clients’ interiors and exteriors.  Just as a home’s interior is its soul, I must be true to my clients’ interiors to be true to their facades.  By respecting this client trust, my design integrity is maintained.  Now I’m not running through Paris fancying myself a Guimard or a Le Corbusier.  But studying their challenges and successes inspire me to keep working at this level of thinking, feeling, and sensing.  It all worked for Guimard and Le Courbusier to the benefit of their clients, and it seems to be working for mine.

Designing and managing your image is the secret science of your success.

Joseph Rosenfeld helps professional men and corporate workgroups create effective visual brands. Visit JosephRosenfeld.com for details.

Hair Apparent

Have you seen the preview trailers for Chris Rock’s new documentary “Good Hair” yet?  The ‘hair-sterical’ look at how black women feel about their hair – and the lengths they go to treat it – left me gasping for breath.  Last week Oprah “threw the Rock” through the TV when she hosted the comedian to promote the funny film.  I was trying to get over a case of the flu and by the end of the show, I had completely forgotten about being sick because Chris had laughed it right out of me.  Good Hair equals good laughs equals good medicine.

But behind the laughter, Chris Rock uncovers a veil of truth about how black women will go to virtually any length, as it were, to straighten their hair.  They use relaxers like some people use drugs, as is referenced in the movie.  Others acquire human hair that comes from the heads of young women in India.  It’s shocking to find out how many working and middle-income African American households sock away literally thousands of dollars annually on their hair regimens.  Some of the salons selling hair weaves that were featured in the film boasted about their lay-away plans, proving that people will plunk down big bucks and be committed for the long term to get a hair style they can live with.

All of this was totally fascinating to me as an image consultant.  Learning about an entire portion of the population dedicated to changing their appearance by altering their hair was an eye opener.

In my work with clients, hair is central to the process of helping most of them shift into a new look.  “New ‘do,’ new you,” I always say.  But the whole point is to do it naturally and authentically, working with what you have.  That’s always been the strategy.

Everyone’s got a personal style.  So I concentrate on the messages behind what each client’s personal style suggests, including each client’s goals.  Hair most certainly connects the onlooker to a perception about the wearer’s image.  Hair has to be styled to make sense for a person’s attitude.  But it also has to be cut so that it works with one’s facial shape, body type, length of neck, and so on.  Even one’s follicle thickness has to be taken into account because one kind of hairstyle may, in theory, work for someone in many ways.  But when the hair is cut the hair itself may not support the style.  So it’s really important to take all things into account before deciding on a new hairstyle.

So that’s why “Good Hair” is so fascinating.  There are so many considerations required in order to have good hair.  Is it better to have natural hair? Highly stylized hair?  Should a person have to put their hair on the lay away plan?  How much is enough?  How much is too much?  I try not to put blanket judgments out there.  Rather, I’m in favor of seeking the appropriate solution for each client because everyone’s needs are different.  How do you define your hair?  Do you have “Good Hair?”

Designing and managing your image is the secret science of your success.

Joseph Rosenfeld helps professional men and corporate workgroups create effective visual brands. Visit JosephRosenfeld.com for details.