![Jody Watley [ca. 2006] singer/songwriter of Makeover Superstar, and also inspired this post.](http://www.josephrosenfeld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/jody-watley-the-makeover.jpg)
Jody Watley [ca. 2006]
It is my honor and focus to help each client realize and fulfill their personal image goals. And while each client has her or his reasons and desires for making changes and improvements, a true measure of success can be assessed when I see that each one of them becomes a makeover superstar.
Coiffed, yet rugged, the new uniform style for men seems to have taken hold in cities like New York and San Francisco. But is it a look for all men?
If you believe everything you read about men’s fashion, you might have been falsely led to believe that there is a new uniform style for men. You can spot this trend on a guy with a coiffed hairstyle, juxtaposed by scruffy facial hair, and granddad styled clothes made to look youthful, outdoorsy, and deep in thought.
As you might expect, I do a lot of reading about men’s style. As well, I do a lot of observing and evaluating people on the street, in stores, and at events. Some would also argue that I am instrumental in helping to create a cultural shift in how men conceive of their style in Silicon Valley. And because I’m an independent thinker, I’m skeptical about this new ‘uniform style’ for men.
At Prato’s Museo del Tessuto, piles of old clothes are arranged to simulate the atmosphere inside a textile factory where ‘pickers’ sort old clothes into categories so that the fabrics may be reused in current fashion.
One of the most common adages we all like to use at this time of year is “Out with the old, and in with the new.” But what’s wrong with being in with the old?
I was entirely consumed with this thought while in Florence over the holidays because, as the birthplace of the Renaissance, it’s a place that continually looks back to the past and makes it fresh again. In fact, Florentine scholars, artists, and scientists during the Renaissance have been famously credited with giving new life and meaning to ideas from antiquity.
Don’t just think about improving your personal image. Take action that pays off.
Have you read about the latest craze? If not, you haven’t watched any TV in the last week. The media is abuzz about women who are covering their mirrors so that they can avoid seeing their reflections, a practice I’m not in favor of. Covering your mirrors also covers the real truth about you.
This week’s “Mad Men” episode reminded me how people covet beauty in objects, and in others, often instead of truly owning one’s own beauty. “At last, something beautiful you can truly own” was the slogan the fictitious advertising firm, SCDP, pitched to win the Jaguar account. It was a great slogan for the episode. and one we can apply to ourselves and strive to live up to.
As a long time image consultant, who mostly works with Silicon Valley based entrepreneurs and executives, I’ve pondered the brouhaha that erupted this past week everywhere in the media, even in Paris where I’ve been visiting, when Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg showed up wearing a hoodie to meet with Wall Street investment brokers.
Hoodieism is a new term I’ve coined to define a person who has prejudice or animosity against people who wear hoodies. Have you ever heard of or know anyone who is guilty of hoodieism?
Behold, those company sweatshirts, those logoed tops that your company issues to you at the annual picnic or outing that seem to somehow multiply in your closet over the years.
Gwyneth Paltrow | Tom Ford
This week, I present you with head to toe tips from the best of the Oscar red carpet. I’m not going to sugarcoat this: much of what was worn on the red carpet bored me to tears. Outside of the Fashion Week runway shows in New York, Paris, and Milan, the Oscars are like the Super Bowl of fashion. This is the moment when the stars show up in their [borrowed!] finest, and turn it out. This year, it seemed like the stars and their stylists, who not so discreetly help direct the stars’ looks, weren’t too into the spirit of the season. Has it all become too blasé for them?
A young Whitney Houston sung the lyric, “Learning to love yourself, it is the greatest love of all,” on her debut album back in 1985, released a few months after my dad passed away. Could she have known that loving herself would be the challenge of her life?
That song – and the entire album – helped me through a very rough time in my young life. Even more importantly, the sound of that musical compilation – and that voice – inspired a generation.
