A Moment of Recognition

While visiting the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, I took in an exhibition of the Surrealist painter, René Magritte. There, I encountered a striking painting. It reveals my approach to personal styling and executive presence.

The moment I saw this painting, a rush of energy came over me.

I can compare my lack of understanding Surrealism to the way most people do not understand my work. I have avoided a lot of Surrealism because I couldn’t wrap my head around the work. Whenever I’ve seen works by Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst or Yves Tanguy, I’ve made faces at the art. Most of the time, it hadn’t made any sense to me. Or, in some instances, I thought the art was vulgar or crude.

But that isn’t true of Magritte’s fine work. I needed more experience with Surrealism to finally get it. So, in two hours’ time immersed in the Magritte exhibition at SFMOMA, I finally got it.

Surrealism has a lot to do with expressing the unconscious mind. Similarly, I see that style is also rooted in the unconscious mind. A lifetime of work experience has taught me that people dress without thinking about it. People don’t usually reflect on their thoughts and feelings about how they look or what they wear. Now that I get Surrealism, I see that it reveals my personal styling approach. Both are about expressing the unconscious.

The Surrealist painting, “La place au soleil,” reveals my approach to the Rosenfeld Image Theory, a unique philosophy of personality, psychology, style, and more. The butterfly and the lion represent different archetypes from the animal kingdom. That they are not the same is why each is its own archetype.

Archetypes in Motion

Think of a butterfly. It is small, colorful, and ephemeral in its paper-like thinness and flutters away in the air. A good-sized butterfly is similar in size to the one Magritte painted here. Next, look at the lion, one of the most powerful animals to roam the earth. Magritte made my astrological symbol appear smaller than the butterfly. Plus, he superimposed the lion over the butterfly so that we see the contrast from reality. All at once, we see an obvious yet subconscious set of contrasts. Soft versus strong. Light versus heavy. Happy versus serious. Free versus proud. You get the idea.

This struck me so much and is why I see that Surrealism reveals my personal styling approach. I work with archetypes. They are crucial to my work. And I attribute two or three archetypes to each person. Overlaying varying archetypes honors individualistic and unique qualities of each person. The butterfly with the overlaid lion offers a visual explanation of my approach. By overlaying animals in the painting, Magritte created a new animal. It is if he painted something he dreamt up. He took something from his unconscious mind and found a way to make it real in a painting.

What It Taught Me About People

Likewise, I see unconscious elements of a person, like automatic thoughts and behaviors. Then, I translate them into style. For personal style to tell more complete stories about people, I rely on the interplay between archetypes. In fact, this is one of the most complex and crucial aspects to my approach to styling. Many stylists ask their clients to take on the attributes of, let’s say, famous people. By contrast, I take clients inward. Each ends up like a unique Surrealist painting, expressing the depths of who they are with style. I’m not going to ask another famous or high-profile person to compare themselves to another. Moreover, low-profile people deserve unique identities without comparison to others.

Viewing the Magritte exhibition provided further discovery for me. The variety of service offerings I provide give clients unique points of self-discovery. I wasn’t expecting to get so much from my time at the museum. In a related way, clients almost never expect to get so much from studying themselves. Profiling their colors and styles is an opportunity to express the unconscious mind. The study and analysis allows the true self to show through personal style. So, as Surrealism reveals my approach to styling, it’s how I guide people to reveal more of themselves.

This story became the cornerstone of what is now called the Rosenfeld Image Theory. It is the lens through which I help clients align their self-image with how they lead, live, and show up.

If you’re ready to explore your own archetypes — and what they say about your leadership presence — book a conversation.