The importance of Models.

So, seeing this is a fashion/style/beauty type blog I reckon that you think that I am going to talk about people like Elle McPherson or Cara Delevingne, yes? They are fashion models (as well as actors etc).

And to a certain degree I will, but I am talking about the importance of having models, or things that we copy in our own lives. Sometimes we will have a formal relationship with the people we are copying, or learning from, they may be a coach or a mentor or such, but I have benefitted enormously in my life from copying, or modelling off many people who may never have known that I was watching and copying them.

For example, I have copied other people’s parenting skills a lot over the years. I will see someone handle something with grace and humour and love and I just want to do it like that too. Over the next few days I will deliberately remember and copy that behaviour and over the years I have learned a lot from these models.

My kids' impressions of Daddy Pig

Probably one of the funniest models I have had over the years is Daddy Pig from Peppa pig. He is always so happy and easy going, even when he looses his glasses! After my third child was born, when I needed a nap I would put ABC iview on for the kids and they always wanted Peppa. It was a highlight of our lives when in 2018 they brought out some new episodes. Peppa Pig saved one of our children’s teeth. She WOULD NOT let us brush unless she could watch Peppa on the phone. So I know many episodes off by heart. And I absolutely model behaviour on Daddy Pig.

But what has this got to do with fashion/style and beauty, I hear you ask? The honest answer is, Daddy Pig has very little to do with the above, but I have used the same strategy to perfect (!) my own personal style. I have always loved fashion and looking good, but I was pretty easily swayed a few years ago. I started studying with Colour me Beautiful and I had already got a few style blogs that I read regularly as my style fix, and I started trying all different looks and clothes, and quite a few of them I like in theory or on other people but they felt wrong on me and if I had bought such an item it became a waste. So, I stoped copying these bloggers whose taste was actually different to mine, and found some people whose outfits I realised I liked and would wear and began to copy them. It helped me when I was shopping to consider what they might think of such and such an item. I use different models for different areas of my life

For example
Day time work, or work wear when I am feeling colourful – Amal Clooney.

Just so stylish and does such great mixes of colour. She has inspired me to wear red and pink together in work wear outfits. Not a good thing you are saying? Well, you should try it! It is fun and packs a punch.
Evening work wear or a more moody monochromatic work look – Olivia Palermo. She is so chic. Great looks with black and white.

Day time messing around with the kids - One of my kid's friend’s mothers. So no name or photo here, but she is funky, uses lots of colour and always looks put together but not over the top. Cool messy buns, great lipstick, big earrings, sneakers, funky bomber jacket and friendly smile. But she looks real too, she really likes what she is wearing. It is an extension of her personality.

Day time formal – things like church, day time weddings etc. I use a little mantra I heard applied to light springs (my colouring) years ago – light and bright. I wear colour combinations that fit that kind of bill. No exact model here, but I have a clear idea in my head.

Work casual wear – say I am going shopping with a client and am going to be in town etc. A bloger named Laura Fantacci. She is Italian living in London. Her blog was called www.wearingittoday.com and she no longers runs it, but it still inspires me. Great knit skirts and jumpers with a killer shoe in winter and lots of white (offwhite) brodierie anglaise in summer.

If you have a look at these women they share some similarities with each other and also with me. They are, with the exception of Amal, shortish, like me. With the exception of Laura they have hair that behaves fairly similarly to mine and the same kind of cuts that flatter them flatter me. So it is easy for me to copy their styling.

And using them as my models has helped me to highlight things I like – well cut coats, jeans, great but fairly natural looking make up, a good shoe, a well tailored work skirt. Tucking shirts into bottoms. Sneakers, lace, an almost Victoriana vibe as in lace, pin tucked shirts, cambric etc.

But how does this affect you? Well, one of the things that I suggest to my clients who do not already have a distinct way that they like to dress, is that they think of some people whose clothes they would like to wear right now. In the body that they have today. If you were curvier than me then I would suggest that you look for curvy role models and see how they are doing it! If you were taller than me then likewise. And pay attention to what you like when you see it or try it on. Try not to just get swept up in the good marketing looks that are fired at you, media stylists are adept at making things look great and there is someone for every item of clothes, and that’s fine, but not every item of clothes is for you, they simply will not fit in your closet. But find yourself some one that you admire and then copy them in some way, even if it is just in feel. If you admire 50s rockabilliy or 70s tailoring, see if you can find a way to wear what you already own while being true to that aesthetic, and more importantly, shop carefully in the future. Try to buy things that fit with YOUR look.

For me, I found the trying on stage of clothing to be essential in working out what I like, and then I found famous role models who I could use as short hand references and reminders. So if you are feeling lost, head into a big department store, I used Myers, and grab a whole lot of stuff that looks like it will fit. Don't be put off if you have to size up to get a good fit. I own clothes ranging from xs to xl, to get the fit that I want. And then pay attention to how the different clothes feel, which you prefer and so on. I find it helpful to go one category at a time, sometimes, as with dresses, I get people to try on dress after dress in different styles and we get a good feel for what is working and what they like fairly quickly. With tops and bottoms it can be important to try whole outfits at once, as a certain cut of pant often looks best with a certain cut of top and you aren't necessarily going to like the pant if you just try it on with what you wore into the store.

Some of us already have a very strong individual style and if that is you, then you may not need this article. But for those of us who need to whittle down our options in the vast sea of clothing that is out there, it can really help. And as a side note and a funny famous example of some one using this modelling technique, it is said that Johnny Depp based Captain Jack Sparrow upon Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones!

Yep. I'm seeing a certain homage in the way Capt Jack is put together! Image courtesy of www.thefamouspeople.com.