Recently, I invited seven clients to be part of a special makeover photo shoot. The before and after results were remarkable (if I do say so myself!). Over the next few months I will introduce you to each of the delightful women and share their photos and experience.
Let’s start with Sue.
Sue has a joy for life and every day she wants to look good and feel good about how she looks. That’s really not very different from all of us, right?
Sue was excited about being part of the photo shoot and I was thrilled to have her there. The goal was to capture her inner essence so she shines!
Here is what Sue has to say:
“Ginger has helped me find beautiful clothes that are uniquely me, that make me feel so good — all provided with wonderful, caring, encouraging advice and council. Ginger has an amazing ability to bring out not only the beauty in her clients, but each person’s uniqueness as well. As a result, I look forward everyday to wearing clothes I love.“
Sue’s inner beauty words (*Read more about ‘inner beauty’ words below) are:
- A Pearl (meaning she has a classic beauty and sense of refinement)
- Sunny
- Warm
- Responsibly Feisty
Let’s look at Sue’s ‘before’ picture.
Sue has very delicate coloring and when you combine that with the fact that she has an essence of refinement about her, the outfit she is wearing here does not work.
- The colors overpower her—both her coloring and her personality
- The green in the top is the wrong shade for Sue and contrasts too strongly and sharply with the pink. Sue’s natural coloring is low-medium contrast so the high contrast of the top overpowers her.
- The shade of pink, in general, is too bold for her.
- The print is too static—there is no softness to it.
- Because the bottom is white we don’t really see it and there is nothing to ground her so the vibrancy of the top is all we see.
- Her sneakers are not refined enough for the outfit.
- The top is also the wrong length on Sue – it needs to be either longer or shorter, but even if she shortened it the colors and print would still not be her best choice.
- This is not to say that this top does not have some sense of being sunny and feisty. On someone with less delicate coloring who also had sunny and feisty as her inner beauty words, this top might have been perfect.
What does work better on Sue?
Let’s look at three different looks:
#1 — Floral Top
Remember her before top that had a floral print with sharper images? We chose another floral design, but this one is softer, more watercolory. The pinks are also softer and even the little bit of brighter pink is not pronounced enough to overpower her. But, the print still has enough ‘feistiness’ to it to reflect her ‘responsibly feisty’ side. Plus, some of the colors are slightly ‘warmer’ which also works with her warm and sunny nature.
The softness of the fabric and the little tie at the neck (it is hard to see in the picture, but it does tie and there is a slight keyhole opening below it) has a softness that is flattering on Sue.
She could also wear this with white pants in the summer to give it a lighter feel and still pair them with the metallic flats (you can’t see them in the photo here) to balance with her hair and ground her.
#2 — Soft Pink Top
This soft pink top has a lovely drape to it and screams ‘pearl’ (refinement and elegance).
We paired it with the delicate necklace that reflects light to feel sunny and warm and generally has a delicate beauty.
The moss green pants are perfect for Sue. They ground her and yet the contrast with the soft top is not too strong.
Again, the shoes are similar to her hair tone and work perfectly to balance everything and not draw too much attention to her feet (not that there’s anything wrong with her feet ☺)
#3 — Soft Pink Top with Scarf & Jacket
Sue can change up the previous outfit by adding a faux leather jacket in a soft color with a scarf that pulls the two pink tones together. Plus it has a beautiful sheen to it that speaks to her sunny, warm, ‘pearl’ personality. And, the interesting (albeit subtle) combination is a perfect way of expressing her ‘responsibly feisty’ side (Sue is not outrageously feisty – she has a more engaging spunkiness that needs to be expressed from time to time.) All in all, a very refined casual look.
Here are a couple of pictures from Sue behind the scenes:
As you can see, Sue has a soft and sometimes light/bright color palette that works for her. And, she does really well in fabrics and textures that have some shine or subtle sparkle to them. This allows others to see her clearly because she is supported, not overpowered, by her clothes.
Many thanks to my amazing ‘before and after’ team:
Josie Baker Procopio (www.jbakerstyles.com) — Hair
Theresa Johnson (www.johnsonphotography.com) — Photographer
Annie McGonagle – you’ve seen Annie in many of my videos and she assists me in the ‘Your Style, Your Way’ workshop. She added her amazing ‘joyously unrestrained’ essence to the experience for everyone! Annie has a great eBay business so check out her finds here: http://stores.ebay.com/AnniesFabulousBoutique
*Inner Beauty Words: Each of my clients gets 4 personal inner beauty words. I have worked with hundreds and hundreds of women and no two have had the same 4 words. This is no surprise since each woman has an inner essence that is unique to her which is part of what makes it so exciting to help each of my clients find the wardrobe that makes them feel amazing.
All of Sue’s after outfits are vegan/cruelty-free including the shoes, accessories and even the makeup.
