Diane von Furstenberg on Style and Confidence

So excited to share with you what Diane von Furstenberg thinks about style and confidence, I think you're going to be surprised.

This is an interview with Julia Louis Dreyfus and Diane von Furstenberg. Her first question, “Diane, tell us what are some staples that every woman should have in her wardrobe?”

Julia Louis Dreyfus Podcast

 And the first thing that Diane said was, I believe that you need to be true to who you are.  You need to add pieces to your wardrobe that represent you.

 Don’t think that is what Julia wanted to hear. So, if you've been following me for a while, you know that my personal philosophy is that style begins with the woman. And not the clothes. And that is exactly what Diane, iconic Diane von Furstenberg was sharing.

Julia asked, “does every woman need a great white blouse?".

Diane said, no, I don't even have one. Does every woman need a black turtleneck? She said, not really, but I love a great black turtleneck. It's all about honoring you.

It's about the relationship that you have with yourself and understanding that.

What is it you love? What are your strengths? What are your attributes?

What is it you love about you that you want other people to know?

An excerpt from her book, the Woman I Wanted to Be. I want to transition now into the iconic wrap dress.

The famous wrap dress made her the woman who she is today.

She did not go out to design the most amazing dress and the idea of selling millions. Her thought was, I'm going to design a dress. That has ease and confidence.

It doesn't have any zippers. It doesn't have any buttons. It's a jersey fabric. It moves with the body. It fits different body types, and that's what her thought was, as she was thinking about the woman.

Her brand is all about the relationship she has with women.

“It's about understanding women and understanding their likes and what is it women want in clothes, says Diane von Furstenberg".”

I absolutely resonate with her philosophy 100%.

How do women want to feel in their clothes? What is it women want to express?

And that's exactly how I work with you. My first style lesson when I work with clients, is called The Power of You, and it's helping you to articulate who is that woman you want to project? What is it you want others to know about you?

Is it an edginess? Is it classic and traditional? Is it creative and fun and sparkly? It begins with you.

It's not me telling you what you should wear. And that's exactly what Diane does as she is designing styles.

“The style may speak through the style or color. Patterns or prints, whether it's the fabrication, whether it's the silhouette, that is how you can express you, says Diane.”

Is, is it very quiet? Is it sophisticated? Is it loud? Is it bright? And then the fabrication, the fabric, how the fabric moves and flows on your body and the silhouette makes the sentence.

Through her clothing and it all started for her with the wrap dress. She says the wrap dress made her. The wrap dress debuted in 1974. She was 27 years old. She was just beginning her business. In fact, I want to share this excerpt from her book, and she says, “As I was watching women become more confident and beautiful, thanks to the new dress, the wrap dress, I was personally becoming more, more and more confident and their feeling more beautiful myself.”

Diane was projecting what she was selling. Ease and confidence. She was becoming one with the dress and what they stood for. She didn’t know it then, but I had become a brand.

She said that every woman had a story about the wrap dress.

Five-six years ago, I walked into one of my favorite consignment stores, and what I loved about this consignment store is that she had two racks right in front of the register, and they were designer pieces and that were brand new consignments.

I walked in and I saw this dress. It was my size. It was the perfect color. The price, oh my gosh. I knew it was a $600 dress and it was sitting on the rack for a hundred dollars. It was like brand new, no one had worn it. I knew I had to have it. And so, you know, it's so interesting how a dress can make you feel.

As Julia says, “It's how you feel inside of an outfit, I don't care if I am walking on the red carpet at the Oscars or if I am taking a hike, when everything is working, you know it.”

I agree 100%.

What does she have to say about confidence? They're one and the same. When you have that confidence and ease in your clothes, when you are honoring you and representing you and understanding who you are. That's when personal style is at its best.

That is when you know that you are rocking your look and there is confidence oozing all over when you walk into a room.

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Are You Feeling Invisible?

Have you ever been in a dressing room trying on clothes, ready to buy, but walked away empty-handed?

You leave the store super disappointed because nothing fits? 

If only you were 10 lbs. lighter or didn’t have that darn tummy pooch, everything would have fit great?

Consider this statistic: On any average day, 97% of women say that they dislike their bodies.

And acclaimed Shame Researcher, Brene` Brown, Ph.D. found that the number one source of shame for women was body and weight. 

We’re continuing the conversation on Being Seen with Confidence.

Meet my guest Kip Clarke, Life Coach, who works with women in their “middle years” who struggle with finding quality men to date, symptoms of menopause, and feeling invisible. 

She helps them re-ignite their passions and find beautiful new ways to thrive. 

Kip will be sharing her 3-step system for transforming how to “see yourself” in a brand-new way.

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

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

Essential Ingredients to Elevate Your Confidence, Part 4 of 5 Parts series: Self-Acceptance.

Have you caught your self being critical about your image, maybe more than you should?

Saying things like, “I don’t like my arms, I’m having a bad hair day, I hate my middle section?”

What if you began to focus on what you do like about yourself?

In business we talk say, “what you focus on, expands.”

Let’s chat about self-acceptance, I know it feels like a big emotional word.

In simple terms, it is, accepting you as you are.

Recognizing your strengths.

Self-acceptance is one of the most essential ingredients to elevating your confidence and letting your radiance be revealed.  

Love to invite you to be part of my private Facebook Group: Style with Significance where we can continue our conversation.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/stylewithsignificance

Do you ever question the fit or quality of your clothing style?

Wondering if you’re truly stepping into your excellence?

When looking at the way a garment fits, quality is an attribute you need to take into consideration.

Most times, the higher the quality the better the fit.

Have you ever bought a pair of workout leggings at Ross or Target and thought they were, OK?

Then you purchased a pair of workout leggings at Lululemon and thought OMG these are the best fitting leggings I’ve ever had.

I have. You don’t think there is going to be a difference even though the style looks exactly the same, but there is.

The quality of the fabric can reflect how your clothing fits, how it hangs on your body, and the way it feels.

If you’re like me, I love my clothing to feel like it was custom made for me.

Many times, there are two camps of women; the camp that says, it is good enough. And the second camp who values quality, luxury, and refinement in her clothing.

I believe, those who say this is good enough have never given themselves the permission to experience the kind of quality I’m talking about.

Let’s look at a pair of pants.

You purchase a $79 pair of pants and after a few machine washings they don’t fit as well, they lose their shape, they are baggy in the butt, and now the fit and quality is compromised.

The pant hangs in your closet. And you’re not sure why you don’t wear them.

What if you decided to raise your standards and invested in better quality clothing?

Let’s talk RIO.

For example, you purchase a $300 pair of pants, wear them 1X a week, 48X a year…turns out that every time you wear the higher quality, better fitting pant, you invested $6.25 every time you wore them.

Is it worth it?

Heck yes, the pants made you feel like a million bucks.

That is priceless in my opinion.

The next time you’re thinking about confidence or style confidence, think about the quality of the pieces you’re investing in.

If you’re new to this, begin by investing in ONE piece that allows you to feel like a million bucks.

This is about fit, how the fabric feels against your body, and the way the style adapts to your body type.

Something that may have never occurred to you; your non-verbal confidence oozes when you walk into a room.

You are experiencing your clothing supporting you to step into your excellence.

You are invited to my upcoming Style Strategy and Confidence Masterclass on Thursday, August 19th @ 1pm PST

Register at: https://www.annettebond.com/masterclass

Have you wondered if you could pull off a specific look?

But you stopped yourself because you were afraid of what others were going to think?

In Part 2 of the 5 Part series, we’re going to talk about Courage.

You may be thinking what does courage have to do with style and image?

More than you think.

The dictionary defines Courage as bravery, which is also the opposite of fear.

Thirty years ago, I learned a concept from the book, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyways.

The ‘bullseye’ of a target was a metaphor of staying inside your comfort zone.

When I learned that, it was a picture I wanted to change.

Are you someone who tends to wear the same styles and same few colors all the time?

If you knew that you would not be judged, what would you love to wear? What image would you like to project?

If you never go outside the ‘bullseye’ circle because you are afraid of what others are going to think, how long will you stay in your bullseye style comfort zone?

What if you took one small step towards a style that made you feel like a million bucks?

One small step to the next circle.

Observe your comfort zone of style growing as well as your Courage and Confidence.

You may be thinking, it’s time to be more visible online or when you enter a zoom room.

Try one NEW accessory piece. Maybe a statement necklace. How does it feel?

One baby step leads to the next big step of courage.

Instead of a head-to-toe red dress, maybe it’s a red shoe. A red necklace.

One step of courage leads to increased confidence which then leads to elevating your Style Confidence.

It’s time to look as good as you feel!

If you are feeling stuck in your style comfort zone and not sure how to get out of it or where to begin, I’m here to help.

Let’s Chat, https://www.annettebond.com/contact

Strong Women Advice from My Mother

How to be confident can sometimes be a very abstract thought or concept.

You can read books.

Seek advice from other confident women.

Step outside your comfort zone to try new things.

Or maybe you are seeking competence in a particular area of life, and confidence is a natural aftereffect.

If you’re like me, confidence in whatever area of life is something we’re all looking to embody and improve.

With Mother’s Day upon us, I wanted to honor my mother who I only had for 48 years of my life.

My most memorable years were in my teens. She was trying to teach me things that I wasn’t always 100% on board with.

But I listened anyways.

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I appreciated the “strong woman advice” she was teaching me.

Honestly, I’m not really sure that elevating my confidence was the goal she set out to accomplish, but in the journey of her motherly love to help me be the best version of me, confidence was achieved.  

In my vlog, I share the three memorable virtues that I lovingly refer to as, “strong women advice.”

My mother’s strong women guidance is not just helpful advice, but is a gateway to healthy self-esteem, self-love, and being the BEST version of you.

1.       The Golden Rule, treat others the way you would like to be treated.

2.       Believe in Yourself, you can do anything you set your mind to.

3.       Show up as the BEST version of you. Mentally and physically.

As a personal image consultant who helps women with their personal styling and creating confident looks, one thing I know for sure….

Confidence is Attractive

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Style with Significance Private Facebook Group

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