You are your brand. You’re a walking,
talking advertisement for yourself and
what’s on the outside does make an
impression. Whether you are working
on branding yourself as a public relations
pro, business owner, stylist, whatever,
if you want people to believe it, then the outside has to match the inside.
Good news! You totally have the ability to change people’s perception
based on what you wear and how you present yourself. Celebrities
regularly reinvent themselves or freshen up their image. To find out how,
we asked branding pros and fashion stylists to share their expert tips
on how to incorporate your personal brand into your style. After all, we’re
all just trying to make a good, on-brand impression and create the lives we
want, right? So give yourself a style assessment and see if your exterior
matches what you’re selling.
Think of yourself as a brand.
Not sure what you’re selling? It’s yourself. You don’t have to be Oprah or
Rachel Zoe to think of yourself in this way.
“The most successful entrepreneurs and business owners do create and,
in fact, become brands. Their brands are based on the experience they
promise and the values they live by and share,” says branding expert
and
Mavens & Moguls founder & CEO, Paige Arnof-Fenn. Once you
realize this, you can start to tailor your style to fit how you’d like to be
received.
Define what you are trying to say.
Before you can incorporate your personal brand into your style, you
need to first figure out what you want your brand has to say. When
considering what to wear, fashion stylist
Elysha Lenkin suggests we
“think about the words that describe your brand and use those to
define your style.”
Is your brand wild? Serious? Sexy? Current? Chic? Upscale?
Down to Earth? Techy? Now look at your outfit and overall appearance.
What adjectives come to mind?
Dorie Clark, the author of
Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine
Your Future, has an exercise for us to try. "Start by asking five or six
of your friends a simple question: if you only had three words to describe
me, what would they be? This quick exercise can be illuminating because
it cuts through the clutter and helps you determine what other people find
most memorable or compelling about you. It also helps provide a reality
check, because if you really want to be known as 'innovative,' but the
adjectives your friends use are more in line with 'traditional,' you know
you need to shake things up."
Be consistent.
Get your style in line with what you want it to say, no contradictions. If you
work for PETA would you go out in fur? That’s obviously a more extreme
example, but same idea goes for other fashion choices. “Create a brand
manifesto,” recommends stylist and image consultant
Alexandra Suzanne
Greenawalt, to stay on point and in line with your brand. Or
make a
Pinterest board with style inspiration that feels in line with your brand.
Highlight what’s unique.
Don’t go changing too much. You are unique and need to keep that going
for you. There’s only one you so start asking yourself what makes you unique
or special.
“Is it your voice? Height? Eye color? Athletic ability? Fluency in foreign
languages? An invention or patent? Whatever it is, use it to your advantage,”
says Arnof-Fenn. She adds, “Everyone remembers the original, but the
copycats start blending together after a while, so differentiate yourself to
stand out from the pack. Be remarkable and extraordinary to grab attention
and get noticed.”
Try out a signature style.
Signatures don’t work for everyone so don’t feel limited. Celebrities often
have a signature style, only to switch it for the next movie role or album release.
A signature is memorable and can be almost anything —
a red lip, regularly wearing
unique hats,
scarves, whatever. If it’s your signature, then you wear
that style a lot, like a real lot.
DO think it through and what it will say about you. "Crazy socks may read as
'fun and creative' — a great asset at an advertising agency, but maybe not at
an investment bank," say Clark.
CATHERINE, DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE, IMAGE: WENN
Use color to convey a message.
Maybe wearing the same color on the regular comes more naturally. Color
can be quite powerful on the way you’re perceived. Too much color can be
overwhelming while the wrong color won’t do justice.
Lenkin recommends to think about the emotions you want your brand to
convey when choosing a color to wear. Brights and big prints work for a
brand that’s cheerful, while black and white suit a more chic, upscale
style and blue comes across as serene and intuitive. Take a look at logos
and colors, you’ll see that similar businesses use the same colors. That’s
not an accident as color speaks, loudly.
Be true to you.
"Authentic expressions of yourself, the key to embedding personal
branding into your style is to make choices that are in alignment with the
true you," says Lankin. In short, take the great things about you and
highlight them. The brand is you, so own it.
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