This weekend I’m in Sydney at the AICI Australian conference. On Friday I flew up early in the morning then spent the day doing 2 makeovers with two ”clients” with two other image consultant observers, watching the process and learning about the way I work. There will be blog posts and photos to come!
Today we had a session on business development, one on reading clothes and the origins of clothing styles – according to the reserach of the speaker – did you know that the reason that nuns wear black is that single women were not allowed out alone, so a couple of nuns in France figured out that if they wore ‘widows weeds’ they would be able to move freely about in society. This allowed them greater freedom to do their work.
Tomorrow is a session on fashion trends which will be fantastic.
interesting. i did not know that.
I think that it is great that you attend these conferences. You get to share your knowledge and learn the latest of what´s going on. How on earth do you have the time to keep your blog rolling on at the same time + everything else, is beyond my understanding. And what about the packing ; ) ?
Interested to hear more about 'reading clothes'.
Hope the rest of the conference goes well for you!
I'd really like to see a cite for that.
1) AFAIK there is no time in France's history where single women weren't allowed out by themselves, including the Dark Ages.
2) Nuns themselves would have been the only ones so restricted – hence the term "cloistered".
3) Black has been common for clerics for hundreds of years, usually because black wool was inexpensive.
4) Not all nuns' orders wear black even now, and historical documents frequently refer to clerics of both genders wearing brown/black/grey/white/blue/etc.