How Your Wardrobe Can Affect Your Career

 

How Your Wardrobe Can Affect Your Career – In the fashion pages of the Levo League, I have been lucky to enough to add my expert advice about your style and your career and how the two are interrelated. You’re always searching for how to look stylish at the office, but I’m here to show you how it can affect your career. Interested? Read on…..

“Being a woman is so empowering, isn’t it? We’re strong, fearless, intelligent, creative, sensitive, and decisive: Now if we only saw ourselves that way! I always find this to be a fascinating contradiction, and as a personal stylist for professional women I’ve seen this first hand. For so many of us, we still lack that confidence in ourselves and forget that we’re empowered, professional role models. But I’ve also seen that lightbulb go off in women that finally realize how special they really are.

So how do we do this? How do we embody the women that we are by using our wardrobe?”  When I work with my professional clients, it’s always my goal to have that “mirror moment” as I like to call it. It’s that moment when I turn my client to the mirror, wearing an outfit that flatters her, highlights her best features, represents the woman she is, and shows that she is truly powerful.  And then she turns to me and says, “I can’t believe this was in my closet? I look amazing!” It’s that moment where she sees the possibility and power of wardrobe.

This is something I call Stylepowerment™. It’s the idea that our wardrobe choices and our feelings of self worth go hand in hand. When we feel empowered in our style, that energy and feeling carries over into all aspects of our lives and career.

So let’s make some first steps for finding your own empowerment though style. These are my three secrets to becoming that strong, stylish leader:

1. Don’t skirt the issue.

It’s time to start wearing more skirts and dresses. Yes, the one thing men can’t wear that we can in a professional setting. It’s what can do to set us apart. But here’s the trick: Fit Fit Fit. Finding pieces that are tailored and flatter your figure is a must. To look powerful and feel confident in your skirt, I recommend shift dresses, structured/ tailored fit and flare dresses, and pencil skirts. While the skirt reminds everyone that you’re a woman, the structure and tailoring shows power. Certain silhouettes actually do project strength: think clean lines, sharp edges, and taut fabrics. Strong, powerful and empowered. And just think of how you will FEEL when you wear it Just the same.

2. Stride with pride. 

You know that favorite heel, that perfect dress, or that killer blazer you save for a “special occasion”? Whether it be for a meeting, an interview, or a networking event, it’s the piece that makes you feel confident, in charge, and noticeable all at the same time. Isn’t it funny that we only save those pieces for a particular moment in time? As a motivational stylist, I say:  Wear that piece more often! Wear it on a Tuesday, just because. You don’t need a meeting to rock your power suit. The reason? You deserve to feel that way everyday.

3. When in doubt, belt it out.

This is one of my most famous “Laurieisms.”  It’s a styling tool and trick that can transform any look you own. When you wear a belt at your high waist (that’s right around the lowest part of your rib cage) there are some major effects that happen. First, you look taller and slimmer because you’re raising the eye-line of your waist and showing the slimmest part of your frame. Second, the restriction of the belt forces you to hold your core in and stand up straight, another sign of a confident person. By my favorite part? When you see that you have a waist, it reminds you that you’re a WOMAN. And that helps us feel sexy, feminine, and commanding.

Take these tools and try them at home. If you need more guidance, contact me!  Stylepowerment™ is yours for the taking. You just have to unlock that potential from your wardrobe, own it, and share it with the world. I can’t wait to see you shine.