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Style during COVID-19

This past month while tracking the virus, the essential workers, the quarantined, the laid off, the shuddering economy, and growing class disparities, we’ve found ourselves wondering, “What’s style got to do with all this?” Now more than ever, are style, appearance, fashion, make-up, hair-cuts turning out to be non-essentials in our new reality? Concerns that fly out the window when intense survival-level and socio-political issues are in play? Perhaps.

Be that as it may, we have also realized that there are a few universally significant style-related phenomena that we’re all facing together in one way or another right now.

Chanmuny transformed an old square cotton scarf into a face mask.

First, the face mask gives us much pause for thought. In a span of weeks, face masks have gone from surgery wear to street wear for all. Community groups, individuals (even our founder, Chanmuny has been feverishly making masks to donate!), designers  and fashion houses have poured resources into mask production to address shortages as quickly as possible. Human spirit bursts through in the colors, patterns, designs, contours and creative interpretations of all manner of face coverings showing up. There are special and heartwarming Matzah masks for Passover, artistically hand-painted masks, flower-child home-made tie-dye masks, and even designer masks popping up on the Paris ‘virtual’ runways.

However, couture masks in logo prints stand in sharp contrast to repeated use masks of many essential workers, or no masks at all among many vulnerable populations. The sudden presence of face masks on our collective radar has also thrust disparity issues in class, race, ethnicity, gender and the like to the surface. As with all powerful style items, the face mask is both a wearable item and a disrupter. There is no doubt about it, this itty-bitty face covering has become relevant to each of us in some way, shape or form.

In case you need to make your own CDC-approved face covering, or want to make some for others, please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29wnIpPmpAQ

Second, for those with access to technology, the rise of zoom/video conferencing as a primary way to connect with one another has forced us to think about personal appearance in new ways. The screen view that others see of us is an intimate into window into the rooms we live in and an up-close view of our face. There is plenty one can do to try to enhance the video image, for example, lighting, make-up, clothing, accessories. But in a time of crisis and stress, there may not be time or energy for this, and so we are showing up as our most regular, basic selves. (Not to mention the state of our homes, the size of our living spaces, the ambient sounds of our families, roommates, pets, garbage trucks, etc.).

It used to be that being on camera meant being in a studio with tightly controlled lighting, background, strategic wardrobe, make-up and hair. Now being on camera means everything about how we really are shows up. As a seminar student recently pointed out, this lack of image control is incredibly humanizing, and yet it’s also quite a departure from traditional style standards and norm, particularly when it comes to work and professional interactions.

We at The Stylery think both are great – the humanizing real aspects of our appearance coming through on camera for more authentic connection AND the opportunity to curate appearance to fit the situation if one has time, energy and resources. Dating in the age of Covid-19 is also prime territory for “getting ready” for virtual dates. For those interested in how to put your best foot forward on video, see Tom Ford’s Tips courtesy of NYT (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/style/tom-ford-video-chat-tips.html).

Third, and finally, we have been thinking about dressing and grooming as essential self-care in times of crisis. For those of us quarantined and experiencing loss of routine and structure, it is vitally important to stick to a daily regimen of personal care and hygiene. This idea is borrowed with gratitude from Viktor Frankl’s deeply moving book, Man’s Search for Meaning, in which Frankl shares how his personal daily routine became a lifeline when surviving life in a concentration camp. He explains that during times of terrible crisis and uncertainty, action, discipline and regularity in routine created purpose and helped him be able to control what he could – even in the midst of the uncontrollable and unimaginable. And while the quarantine is not at all akin to circumstances Frankl endured while imprisoned, we can certainly apply his deep wisdom to our current situation.

It is also well noted in the clinical depression literature that personal care, especially grooming and appearance, tends to fall away when people are struggling with significant emotional pressure. A small but powerful way to keep upright is to set up and stick to a routine of getting ready for the day ahead, including dressing and grooming. This means even if you are not planning to see anyone all day, in person or on screen, you should get out of yours PJs, shower, dress and groom for the day ahead. We are not suggesting you rock a suit or stilettos—although if this will lift your spirit, more power to you! Just get yourself cleaned up and ready to face your day ahead. (BTW, we also strongly advocate exercise and/or stretching daily if possible, as this helps metabolize stress and gets us out of our heads and rebalanced into our bodies.)

For additional self-care recommendations during times of stress, please see: https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/self-care-tips-during-the-covid-19-pandemic

Finally, we would love to hear your thoughts, ideas and insights on any of these topics or others related to appearance and style as we go through this time. In the meantime, we send all best wishes to you and yours during this time. Our hearts go out to everyone. Please take good care.

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Branding Yourself Through Personal Style

This year the stars aligned for Washington DC Start-Up Week and New York Fashion Week to converge on the same stretch of September. While we enthusiastically attended the former and obsessively followed the latter, a sort of love-child insight took form:

What if we started thinking of our lives as start-ups and our style as our personal brand?

 

One of the most heavily discussed topics at this year’s DC Start-Up Week was branding. According to Ally Fouts , Creative Director at Viget, “Your brand is how you communicate: who you are, what you do and why you do it.” It’s a cohesive collection of elements including logos, taglines, images, symbols, colors and words that serve as a clear calling card to the public. Brands with worldwide recognition are Coke, FedEx, Starbucks, Louis Vuitton. A brand that does particularly well in communicating values we cherish is Patagonia. Excellent branding allows a company to be instantly identifiable, distinctive, aesthetically pleasing and consistent over time. Branding is absolutely crucial to a company’s success.

Now here’s where things get interesting. If you imagine your life as a start-up that would make YOU the face of the brand. No matter what you are trying to do—land a job, secure a promotion, succeed in school, make a speech at your community center, run for office, impress your in laws—how you speak, relate, present, engage and, yes, how you look is how you are branding yourself. Moreover, every single time you step out of your house and interact with people, how you are branding yourself impacts your achievements that day, big and small.

At the conference we asked (on the record!) two esteemed presenters for DC Start-Up week if they each consider personal appearance as representing their personal brands. They both agreed. Panelist Moderator Kim Cayce, CEO of Vitamin E, believes it is important to present with a consistent image and noted that this takes some discipline. She also emphasized that personal image needs to be authentic and should reflect one’s “true self” for it to be successful. Panelist Aurelia Flores, Managing Member of Athena Digital Group, agreed in the value and necessity of “putting thought into creating how you want to be seen.” She noted that no detail is too small to consider, “eyeglasses, jewelry, body language, voice, all of these influence brand.”

There seems to be consensus that how we come across to others impacts how they hear what we have to say. That is why personal branding in the form of appearance is so important to your success. You may be a spectacular human being bursting with potential but if you are not presenting in a way the world wants to engage with, you will not receive the attention you deserve.

Of course, this does not mean there is a cookie cutter approach to personal styling, or that you need to put on a three piece suit when you hop out of bed each morning. Remember creativity and authenticity are vital here. But it is worth thinking through your goals and responsibilities for each day and what look would best support you in accomplishing these.

Really branding yourself, however, involves more than daily consideration of how you are presenting yourself. Branding asks you to develop a master plan or a vision about how you want to be perceived and why. How can you begin to develop said master plan? We learned from DC Start-Up Week presenter Kelly Miller, Director of Banner Public Affairs, that excellent branding is:

1) Specific (not vague, or mixed messaging)

2) Unique (is it differentiated?)

3) Simple (not too much, not overly complex)

4) Data Supported (you’ve tested it out and know it really works)

5) Interesting/Memorable (this is where authenticity and creativity come in to play)

6) Consistent (doesn’t mean you wear the same thing every day, but that there is a recognizable signature to your look across time)

An excellent example is Marla Beck, co-founder and CEO of Bluemercury, who has successfully (and stylishly!) mastered branding. She wears her signature blue at nearly every single pubic appearance she attends, a creative and distinctive way to use her personal styling to feed back into her company’s branding.

Marla, hosts Halcyon Fast Forward talks with visionary women leaders, such as Sallie Krawcheck of Ellevest
Marla is on the panel of judges at a Vinetta Project Venture Challenge
Marla, as CEO of Bluemercury at one of her stores.   Image source: bluemercury.com

So, if you like the idea of your life as a start-up and your style as your brand, begin to think through these six principles. This will lead you to begin developing a brand for yourself and guide you to make personal styling choices that authentically reflect what you want to communicate to the world. Personal branding is a process over time, and it evolves as you grow and change and learn what works (and what doesn’t).

Building upon our Style Knowledge is Power thought, the core idea here is to be smart about it, to be intentional, even visionary in your personal branding, and of course to deeply enjoy the success that comes from it – because make no mistake, it will work for you if you put in the work!