Exploring Image Consulting as a Career

In the exploration of another career path to explore which entails making your own way instead of being in the employ of someone else who has beaten the path for you, we’re looking at image consulting. What is an image consultant and what does it take to make a success out of this often mystified career?

If you were to perhaps ask someone who possesses just a passing knowledge of the role they’d probably say that an image consultant is someone who merely dresses people, but it goes a lot deeper than that. The independent image consultant and even one working for a firm is more of a businessperson, finding and executing various ways to deliver value around image presentation in ways that you may not know about. For instance, something as seemingly insignificant as their relationship with a particular ribbon manufacturer could make a world of difference to the quality of the work they produce in dressing and styling their clients.

Covering a broader scope – that consideration of key supply-chain relationships seeps into the likes of suppliers of other materials which go into the making of the garments which style the end-client, so an image consultant is indeed somewhat of the ultimate representation of an entrepreneur. Why do you think all the prominent public figures have their very own image consultants or stylists?

It’s about the value they provide between what seem like tasks that anyone could do with their eyes closed, but come the day of the event being attended you can very quickly spot the difference between the work of someone with a public trend-influenced idea of what fashion is and someone who was dressed with the input of a professional image consultant, or fashion connoisseur!

You might view the extensive catalogue of a ribbon supplier as a Lehman and get rather overwhelmed by the variety of choice available in designs, materials and many other properties, whereas someone like an image consultant who has a flair for style and taste would have their eyes lighting up at the prospect of exploring so many different options on offer. They’d look at these ribbons with a clear picture of how they can be deployed in mind, be it matching the colours with your pocket square to those which are used for those ribbons marking the red-carpet sectioning of some prestigious awards event, or in any other setting – a wedding, a memorial service even, whatever…

Now, if you’re thinking of getting into fashion consulting then there’s only really one way of ascertaining whether or not it’s the right career path for you, which is your interest in style and taste. Only you can honestly say whether you’ve harboured an interest that goes beyond that of the average person in the way people present themselves, and if you do then you may very well have a bright future in fashion consulting.

Remember though that you’ll essentially be operating a business, so get to grips with the business side of things, like getting acquainted with top suppliers of raw materials required, like ribbons for example.