What do the colours in your wardrobe say about you?
Our guest blogger is Angelique du Toit, who offers a coaching service on personal styling. She trained and worked as a fashion designer many moons ago and is now integrating her love of fashion and colour with her experience as a coach. She works mainly with women 'of a particular age', supporting them through coaching and personal styling to embrace various periods of transition and identity issues.
As we slowly emerge from our period of hibernation, it is time to take stock of our wardrobe. This is particularly true if you’ve spent the lockdown in leggings and tracksuit bottoms!
It is time to assess or reassess your wardrobe and ask whether the garments therein will provide you with the confidence to once again face the world. This applies whether you are in employment, running your own business or managing the affairs of your family and family home.
So many of us may have given up on colour and co-ordinating garments that made up our slouch at home uniform. Yet, we underestimate the power of colour in influencing our moods and contributing to our overall sense of wellbeing and personal confidence. We may also not be aware of the power of colour as a communication tool.
Despite popular belief, colour is even more important as we age than when we were younger with fresh youthful complexions. As we get older as our skin loses some of its colour and pigmentation and, of course, so does our hair. We therefore need all the help we can get whether it is with makeup, clothes, accessories or a combination of all three.
At some stage we may very well have a crisis of confidence and trade in our bright and cheerful colours for subdued and muted tones. What colours greet you when you open your wardrobe door? Is it dominated by black or beige, with a glaring absence of colour? I am waging a one-woman crusade against the collusion of the invisible older woman and colour is a powerful weapon in our armoury.
It is not true that we become invisible as we get older and neither should we behave as if it is. A role model to inspire us all is our very own Queen Elizabeth. She has never been averse to embracing colour and this is particularly apparent in recent years with eye-catching blocks of bright colours. She is not the only one and there are a number of brave women post 50 refusing to fade into oblivion.
It should not really surprise us as we were the generation of hippies who embraced flower power and punk hairstyles. The rebel is therefore not far from the surface. Maybe it is time to invite her back into your life and reintroduce a splash of colour to your wardrobe. As a trained fashion designer and personal stylist, I have first-hand experience of the joy colours bring to my clients.
I am delighted to offer a free online colour analysis to the first person who expresses her interest and contacts Helen with her details. I look forward to working with the lucky winner.
Some advice for everyone to consider. Just one accessory, whether it is a piece of jewellery, a scarf or a lovely colour lipstick that blends with your skin tone, will go a long way in boosting your confidence and how you feel about yourself. This is not frivolous indulgence but a wonderful source of personal expression!
Angélique du Toit
hagswithattitude.com
Angelique has written a book, H.A.G.S with Attitude: A Philosophy for Aging. Why not take a look?
