Purple (or violet) is a colour with many connotations and meanings. In the past it was associated with royalty as it was such a hard colour to create from natural materials to dye fabric thus was only worn but the very rich and powerful. It’s symbolic for wealth and status in Japan. These days, as…
Orange – a colour that few list as their favourite colour, but one that radiates warmth, joy and happiness. Orange is fun, it’s playful and will encourage conversation if used in decorating an environment. Not only does it encourage communication, it also stimulates appetite. It’s not a colour that works well in business, it’s message…
A fabulous documentary on style and fashion – showing it’s not just for the young! It’s now available for viewing here.
Red has a physiological effect on us. It stimulates and raises blood pressure. It’s warm overtone makes it the most noticeable colour which is why it’s used to alert us – stop signs and traffic lights are two such examples. Because of its stimulating effect it makes time to appear to go faster. It’s the…
I would be interested in your advice on the opposite of looking more mature- how to avoid look ‘mature” i.e. matronly or frumpy when you are a larger size (i.e. 16+) woman….Thanks. Love reading your posts To avoid looking frumpy: Ensure that you don’t wear too much volume at the same time. Only one…
Blue is the world’s favourite colour. It surrounds us, from the sea to the sky but it is rarely found in food. A blue sky says “trust me as I will not rain on you”. A blue sky is calm, peaceful and non-threatening. It promotes relaxation (don’t we all love to look at pictures of…
I’m so excited to let you know that as of today, you can purchase a copy of Jill Chivers and my new ebook Svelte in Style: How to Look and Feel Great While Losing Weight. It’s a fabulous resource for the many women who are currently on a weight loss journey or who are about…
Reader’s question: “Hi Imogen, I was on Yelp today and reading up on reviews for clothing places to shop in NYC. I saw a number of reviewers talk about how difficult it is for the 30 or 40 something to find clothes that still make them look young but aren’t so young looking that make…
Saw this and had to share
Last week I spent time in Queensland and was lucky enough to catch up with the lovely Jill Chivers who is an expert in the field of over shopping. Jill is a recovered shopaholic, so we made this video on becoming a more conscious shopper and some of the warning signs of over shopping as…
People don’t notice your flaws until you point them out. I learned this from a friend, many years ago at University. She had heaps of friends and appeared very attractive. One day I asked her what her secret was and she told me that she never ever points out what she perceives to be a…
I was just reading an article on Mamamia by Anna Spargo-Ryan about whether or not having a breast reduction is superficial in the way that having breast enlargement is seen as superficial and it got me thinking about my own breasts and how I feel about them. I’ve got a rather large bust (34G) and am…
Many clients tell me that they’re worried about looking like mutton dressed as lamb (ie, too young for their age). But just as much I have clients who don’t want to look or feel frumpy and old, they want to be modern and youthful, but still appropriate – so how do you achieve this? Jill…
Maybe she’s born looking this amazing? Or maybe not … just love this video – watch it through to the end.
I’d love a blog post about appropriate dressing for those of us over 50…what looks good, what doesn’t… There are no hard and fast rules for the over 50s and I think that in many ways age is a state of mind. Trying to look 20 at 50 comes across as rather sad and desperate,…
Hi Imogen, I was wondering if you could give me some advice, as my problem is the opposite of one you have dealt with several times regarding “mutton dressed as lamb”. I’m 38 but look a lot younger (people generally guess my age at 25-28). Should I dress my age or the age I look?…
This week I spent most of my time awake moving my blog from blogger to wordpress and reconfiguring it all… so much technical stuff for a non-techie is making my head explode. I really hope you like the new improved site and I’m in the process of installing a forum so you can communicate here,…
Following up from my post on Loving Your Stomach – Materfamilias writes about grappling with the issue. What colour should you paint your closet space? Maria at Colour Me Happy has some inspiration (if only I had a wardrobe that looked anything like the ones in her pictures.) LPC from Privilege writes about her style…
Time and time again when I ask clients about what they’d like to highlight and camouflage on their body stomachs come up as a place that they dislike and want to make disappear. Most of the time these are normal stomachs. I see a lot of stomachs in my job as an image consultant and…
.. Hello from Orlando, Florida. I’m here and sharing a hotel room with the lovely Jan Fisher (who you will know from these posts on Certain Age dressing). I thought I’d share a couple of outfits with you that we’ve worn yesterday and today. The first two outfits are what we wore to the opening…
Sunset over Wellington NZ harbour Having just spent the past 5 days running a Personal Colour Analysis training course I’ve been thinking lots about colour. Part of the course covers psychology of colour and I like to think about what colours mean to me, or to you and why. An experience with a client one…
