How Words Can Affect Your Personal Style

Today, I want to talk about “words” and how they can influence being seen with confidence.

Whether you're stepping into your closet, giving a big presentation, or shopping for a great pair of jeans, the words you use to describe yourself, your personal style, or how your closet feels will affect how you see yourself.

If I took you shopping to Neiman Marcus, styled you in the most AMAZING outfit, and you looked in the mirror and verbalized your annoyance of your “poochy tummy,” you will always be disappointed with the outfit.

Are you aware of the “words” you use to talk about yourself?

Are you guilty of referring to yourself as dowdy or your closet is chaotic?

Does your day miraculously unfold just as you described it?

Or maybe you go out of your way, not to be seen?

When I was a young girl, my mother used to tell me, “Annette if you can’t say anything nice about anyone, don’t say it at all.”

That teaching has never left me. 

What if…you stopped talking to yourself that way?

What if…you began using empowering words to describe your personal style, your closet, how you want to experience your day?

Would you then feel more confident to be seen?

Style Tip #1

• Become aware of your self-talk 

• How is it affecting you emotionally when you refer to yourself as dowdy?

• One-by-one eliminate words that don’t empower you to feel beautiful and seen

Style Tip #2

• Become aware of how you want to be seen, choose a word for the day as you choose your outfit 

• Notice how you feel as you embody your word of the day

• Your word + your outfit = Ready to Be Seen

I can guarantee your confidence will elevate instantly as you become more intentional with the “words” you use to describe yourself. 

Your inner radiance will shine brighter as you embody your words.

Others will notice as you are stepping forward to BE SEEN. 

HERE ARE 3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU DRESS WITH EASE, BE ON-BRAND, & GET NOTICED:

1. Capture my BEST style strategies and image advice that include secrets to honoring your inner beauty, to what style basics are a must, to creating a color wardrobe capsule – Get Your Ultimate Style Guide: 7 Ways to go from feeling ‘off’ to rocking a signature look that is uniquely YOU!

2. Work with me privately to take you from questioning your clothing and style choices to creating a signature wardrobe that is uniquely you. Schedule a 30-minute Get Dressed with Ease Breakthrough session to share a little about your image challenges and what you’re envisioning for yourself, and we’ll devise a strategy, so you are ‘stepping into your excellence’ and showing up as the powerful woman that you are and dressing with ease. https://www.annettebond.com/contact

3. Join other like-minded successful smart women in my Style with Significance Facebook Group! This is a place to share personal styling ideas, get advice from a professional stylist, and meet other powerful professional women who value looking as good as they feel

Being Seen with Confidence

Have you recently noticed that prior to an upcoming event, whether it's in-person or online, speaking, or you're presenting at an important meeting, that you have this not-so-good feeling deep down about showing up fully?

And then you begin to blame it on the last couple of years, weight gain: Covid-20.

Your age is creeping up, and it’s affecting your psyche about being seen? 

Or maybe it’s your outfit – it doesn’t feel professional and put-together?

You're noticing yourself doing a lot of comparison with women in your circle? 

And it's really starting to mess with your mind about being seen.

If this is you, you are not alone. 

If we haven’t met, I’m Annette Bond, certified image consultant. And I work with successful, amazing women, just like you who are not feeling 100% confident in being seen and it’s starting to erode your self-confidence.   

It's holding you back from showing up fully.

I have worked with women for 30 years; it's truly been a lifetime passion. The one common denominator that I find with the clients I work with, “Annette please help me to show up more confidently.”

Welcome to Being Seen with Confidence Series where we are going to discuss what it looks like to show up confidently. 

We’re going to begin by focusing on what you can do today. 

Several small steps. 

They may feel small and trivial, but I guarantee these small steps are going to elevate your confidence when it’s your time to be seen.  

One thing I know for sure as women, you compare yourself to other women.  

She’s prettier. She’s skinnier. She speaks better. 

You’re worried about being judged. 

STOP RIGHT NOW!

You are in a losing battle and not alone.

I remember so clearly, four or five years ago, when I was told, “Annette, you need to go LIVE on Facebook.” 

I was so terrified. I can remember the pit in my stomach thinking EVERYONE was going to be watching me. 

What were they going to think? 

My message was not good enough. 

Who cares about what I have to say. 

Funny thing is….no one was watching me. 

I’ve discovered that life is too short to continue down that path. 

What another person thinks is none of my business. 

Life is too short to continue hiding.

God gave me a gift and I am going to share it and you should too.  

BEING SEEN Style Tips!

#1 What do you LOVE about YOU?

• It might be that you love your eyes. 

• When was the last time you wore make up?

#2 What makes you feel beautiful?

• Is it a beautiful new blouse that brings out your eye color? 

• Or maybe you have a stylish chic blouse anxiously waiting for you in your closet, that you haven’t worn in 2 years?

#3 What makes you feel like having fun?

• Creativity. Curiosity. Femininity. 

• How might you express that in your clothing choices. 

What you have begun to do is; focus on your inner beauty and what makes you feel beautiful on the outside. 

Next step, how might you express that in your clothing choices?

In business we all know, what you FOCUS ON…EXPANDS. 

I want you to begin focusing on what makes YOU feel amazing and watch it expand. 

Feel Beautiful, Dress Up, Be Seen.

HERE ARE 3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU DRESS WITH EASE, BE ON-BRAND, & GET NOTICED:

1. Capture my BEST style strategies and image advice that include secrets to honoring your inner beauty, to what style basics are a must, to creating a color wardrobe capsule – Get Your Ultimate Style Guide: 7 Ways to go from feeling ‘off’ to rocking a signature look that is uniquely YOU!

2. Work with me privately to take you from questioning your clothing and style choices to creating a signature wardrobe that is uniquely you. Schedule a 30-minute Get Dressed with Ease Breakthrough session to share a little about your image challenges and what you’re envisioning for yourself, and we’ll devise a strategy, so you are ‘stepping into your excellence’ and showing up as the powerful woman that you are and dressing with ease. https://www.annettebond.com/contact

3. Join other like-minded successful smart women in my Style with Significance Facebook Group! This is a place to share personal styling ideas, get advice from a professional stylist, and meet other powerful professional women who value looking as good as they feel

10 Perfect Pieces to Creating a Dressy-Casual Wardrobe

Are you really good at what you do whether you're a corporate professional or an entrepreneur, but when it comes to your dressy- casual wardrobe, you question, how do you create a perfect dressy-casual wardrobe?

What are the pieces you need?

Where do you go shopping?

Welcome to the dressy casual wardrobe series, part 4 as we bring it all together with pants, shoes, and jacket options for creating your perfect dressy-casual wardrobe.  

Life has changed over the last 24 months; it’s gone more casual. 

Adding the 10 Perfect Pieces to your wardrobe will allow you to dress with ease, be on-brand, and confidently ready to be noticed. 

Step ONE / 2-3 Pants

• 2-3 pants that fit your lifestyle

• Make sure your pants fit your body type

• Can you wear each pant style with 2-3 other pieces in your wardrobe

Step TWO / 2-3 Jackets

• Think of your jackets as a layering piece

• Choose 1-2 neutral colors

• Find a signature jacket that presents a polished put-together look

Step THREE / Shoes

• Think 3 levels of shoes – casual, dressy casual, sophisticated/fashion forward casual

• Focus on your lifestyle and how you want to feel when you show up

• What shoes are missing in your current wardrobe?

As you are shopping and creating your dressy casual wardrobe, think about your lifestyle. By incorporating the ‘right 10 pieces’, it allows you to show up confidently put-together, feeling polished, and ready to be seen and noticed. 

Stop fussing with your clothes. Edit them out or alter them. 

If you are ready to take the next step and know you can’t do this on your own, let’s chat. 

Book your ‘Get Dressed with Ease’ call

Click here to learn more about my head-to-toe transformation, 90-day Reveal Your Radiance program.

HERE ARE 3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU DRESS WITH EASE, BE ON-BRAND, & GET NOTICED:

1. Capture my BEST style strategies and image advice that include secrets to honoring your inner beauty, to what style basics are a must, to creating a color wardrobe capsule – Get Your Ultimate Style Guide: 7 Ways to go from feeling ‘off’ to rocking a signature look that is uniquely YOU!

2. Work with me privately to take you from questioning your clothing and style choices to creating a signature wardrobe that is uniquely you. Schedule a 30-minute Get Dressed with Ease Breakthrough session to share a little about your image challenges and what you’re envisioning for yourself, and we’ll devise a strategy, so you are ‘stepping into your excellence’ and showing up as the powerful woman that you are and dressing with ease. https://www.annettebond.com/contact

3. Join other like-minded successful smart women in my Style with Significance Facebook Group! This is a place to share personal styling ideas, get advice from a professional stylist, and meet other powerful professional women who value looking as good as they feel

 

Comfortable shoes are such a hot topic for women over 50

I hear all the time, “I can’t find cute comfortable shoes”, and so I wear ugly shoes. I’m an image consultant and that statement makes me cringe (sorry girls). I have to admit that stylish shoes has always been important even though they are a little uncomfortable. Suck it up girls, I used to think.

Not until recently have I given in a bit.  With all the personal shopping I do for clients, the feet get grouchy to the point where they can make me tired. So, I have been on a mission over the last 4-6 months to search out what’s available in shoes that are cute, comfortable and NOT UGLY.

I have to admit the first time I walked into the Walking Company in Bellevue Square, I walked right back out and thought I can’t wear these shoes. I’m a stylish girl and I don’t care how comfortable they are I’m not wearing them. Well, as I said my values have changed over the last several months.

I came to the conclusion, I MUST have a comfortable shoe that I can walk in for hours while shopping for clients.

This last fall, I gave in. I went back to the Walking Company and came out with a pair of Raffini bootie shoes. OMG, these shoes changed my life, they had an arch support.  I soon found out that I could walk the mall for hours and tromp in downtown Seattle and my feet were feeling blissful.  I’m finding that every season they continue to come out with more styles and options for us girls over 50.

Unless I’m participating in a 2-hour special event or doing a speaking engagement I now refuse to wear uncomfortable shoes while I work.

I just bought my new spring sandals – Abeo, featuring a built in orthotic system.  They are wonderful! I tried on nearly every pair in the store until I found the right style and fit. Yes, I’m picky. But I use my philosophy that I share with all my clients, “don’t buy it unless you love it”!

What I’ve learned is there are brands that have built in arch support and then there are shoes that have a comfortable shoe bed. Many companies are offering “off the shelf orthotics” that you can slip into your shoes. A lot of stores carry them, find the right fit for you. I have a client that has customized orthotics and she puts them in all her Munro shoes – perfect for her.

I’ve also learned that if you find a brand that fits you well, go online to see other styles. Sometimes your only option is to order the shoes online, try them on a home and then return to your local store. Of course, Zappos is another option.

For the woman who is on her feet, is tired of the ugly shoe syndrome or distressed tootsies, you now have a stylish solution. I hope I given you a place to begin your journey in finding Cute, Comfortable Shoes!

(the above shoe options are from the Walking Company)

---

Annette Bond is a Personal Image Consultant

She works with professional men and women over 50 who feel ordinary, old or overweight. Annette helps them to reveal their radiance so they can become more of who they are and walk into the world with more confidence and success.

Are you the kind of person who wants to position themselves for success but are lacking confidence in the style department?

And, without a doubt, know you look impeccably "put together" and standout as a leader with confidence in your field?

If you're ready to have that kind of confidence I just described above, let's schedule a time to chat.  Life is too short to keep feeling frustrated every time you have to decide what looks good on you.

annette@annettebond.com or 425-868-1816

For all of you over 50 women, does this sound like a laughable statement but know maybe you’re one of them. Of course you would never admit it or would you?  The subject of comfortable shoes comes up quite frequently with my clients. How do you find cute comfortable shoes? They usually tell me they’ve succumb to the “ugly shoes” because comfort is more important.

My husband told me recently that granny panties, ugly shoes and mom jeans all go under the frame work of how you see yourself or how you think the world sees you. It got me thinking.  As baby boomers continue to age you have to decide how do you want to show up in the world? Old and ordinary or fierce and fabulous?

I have personally witnessed that there are the women who want to continue their youthfulness and vitality in their 50’s and 60’s in whatever they do. Then there is the camp who has given up and decided they are “old” and their mindset and actions follow.

I hope you have figured it out by now, I am talking about mindset not comfortable shoes, granny panties or mom jeans. Because I think when we decide to go down the road of, “I am old now” our taste in style goes down the drain also.

Instead, how do you want to feel? How do you want to be perceived? There is an energy that follows depending on the answer you chose.

You may need to decide you’re going to step up to the plate and let go of the perceived, I am ordinary, old and over-weight and it doesn’t matter anymore.

I ask myself,

“Why are certain women over 50 afraid to what I refer to as, reveal their radiance”? Have they not come to the point of accepting their bodies? Are they still in the 20 year old mindset of no-style confidence? Did their mothers scar them for life? Did a man in their life not tell them they were sexy? Or did they just give up and say, “Oh I’m fifty now so it doesn’t matter”?

Ladies, ladies you are so smart, full of wisdom, courageous, sexy, amazing and you don’t even know it. One of the subjects I teach on is what is that “made up perceived image” that you have been telling yourself for years?  It’s time to identify it, acknowledge it and replace it with a NEW perceived image of yourself.  It’s time to wear the cute comfortable shoes, vanishing lace panties and hot jeans for women over 50.

Own Your Style Confidence Style Guide (Download Here)

My financial planner tells me I am going to be around until I’m 93 years old so that means I still have 40 years to live, that means these are the good ole days, the days when I have my health, my energy, my 50 year old body that gets me around quite well and lots of choices in life.

It’s time to let go of the 50 years of made-up perceived body image and move into your “ideal image” and live life with vitality. Stop waiting for when the “time is right” or “someday”. That someday is TODAY! Today is the present, a gift for you.

I’m one of you, I’m 55 and loving life to its fullest. Wearing cute comfortable shoes, hot jeans that hug my hips that I forever hated back in my 20’s.  And wearing vanishing no-line panties that flatter every pant I wear.  Life is good.

Are you frustrated each morning when you have to get dressed because your clothes are tired and lack pizzazz?  Do you feel overwhelmed when trying to decide what to keep and what to get rid of in your closet? Do you have some great pieces but need help with mixing and matching the clothes you already have in your closet?

Own Your Style with Confidence - Style Guide - Download Here

If you’re ready to get your style figured out - let’s have a casual conversation so I can get to know you and learn more about what’s keeping you stuck.

Schedule a time https://www.annettebond.com/contact