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Color is one of the most effective ways to say to
the world, "Hey, look at me." While it would be gauche indeed
to walk into a room and command attention in such an obvious way, you
can accomplish the same results more subtlety when you wear colors that
reflect your personal coloring. Just as great artists have a favored palette
of colors they work with repeatedly, each person has a unique combination
of skin, hair, and eye colors that make up their personal color palette.
Building your wardrobe around these colors will literally make
you more visible.
Image coach Nicole Mertes describes color as a "tool
of attraction". The following exercise will help illustrate this
point. Relax for a moment and imagine you are driving along a country
road. As you are driving along the road you meet a shiny red sports car.
Notice your response when you see the car. Next, imagine that a little
further on you round a corner and see before you a field of blue lupine
in full bloom. What is your response to the field of lupine? Even if you
haven't been dreaming about buying a red sports car and even if lupine
isn't your favorite flower, your attention would surely have been captured
by the unexpected encounter with this vivid color. Both of these examples
illustrate how bold, vivid, or unexpected color attracts our attention.
Color also attracts our attention through repetition. In
the same way that repeating a thought or phrase adds rhetorical emphasis,
repeating colors from your personal palette in the clothing you wear,
adds visual emphasis. It is the easy, effective, and most powerful way
to literally make yourself more visible.
Once color has gotten our attention it continues to influence
our perceptions. Color can actually help sharpen the focus of our attention.
In much the same way adjusting the lens of a camera brings a photograph
into focus, adjusting the colors you wear can bring your image into clearer
focus. When you wear colors that are in harmony with your personal palette
you become more memorable. People have an easier time seeing you and an
easier time hearing what you have to say. Your ability to bring your gifts
and talents into the world is heightened.
Ideally, we recommend that anyone who wants to polish their
image work one-on-one with an image consultant. Consultants are experts
at helping you discover the color palette that reflects your personal
coloring. When you work with a consultant they can quickly identify your
best colors. This is the surest, easiest way to heighten your visibility.
But if that’s not a practical solution for you, here are some guidelines
you can follow that will help ensure you are making good choices on your
own.
First, identify your high visibility colors
by taking a close look at your skin, hair, and eyes.
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| Create a Personal Palette |
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We're in the habit of thinking in simplistic terms. We
say to ourselves, "I have blue eyes" or we say "I have
brown hair." But our coloring is so much more complex than that!
In order to discover your deeper levels of complexity, take a mirror and
go either outside or to a large window where you can see your reflection
under strong indirect sunlight conditions. Beginning with your eyes, identify
all of the colors you see. Our eyes are never a single
color but are made up of a mosaic of different hues and shades. Write
down all of the color variations you see. Next, look at your hair and
repeat this process. Look for the very lightest tones, the mid-tones and
the darkest tones. Hair is almost always darker toward the nape of the
neck and lighter at the crown and around the face. Make a list of all
of the colors you find in your hair. Finally, repeat this process a third
time but this time, look closely at your skin tones. Look for the range
of shades from light to dark and also look for the underlying blush
tones. Make a list of all the colors you see. Be as descriptive and specific
as you can.
When you have completed this exercise you will have identified
your high visibility colors. These are the colors that
reflect your personal color palette. These are colors you can use to form
the backbone of your wardrobe and these are colors that will help make
you stand out from the crowd. The next time you go shopping take this
list of colors with you and use it to guide your purchases. You will be
delighted to discover that when your wardrobe repeats the colors of your
personal palette you instantly become more visible.
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