The new age has redefined the scope of business and business ideas. With the hastening pace of commercial growth, and rise in women honchos and executives, it is only natural that image building, consulting, and grooming, to hit the front row.
Jainee Gandhi, a young image consultant, understood the need and importance of an image much before the rest of us did, and she took the initiative to begin her own Image building enterprise, Image Redefine.
Let’s learn more about this lucrative, new age business stream from Jainee, as she talks to Paroma Sen-Basu.
Your company, Image Redefine, is primarily focused on dressing and grooming tips and advice. Does this appeal to clients from all age groups and both genders?
Image Redefine is about crafting enhanced impressions. These impressions are what my clients would like to portray to the world. My aim is to coach my clients on optimum use of available clothing resources, relevant etiquettes, body language, and communication skills to derive the maximum impact he/she wants to make on others.
To this end, I work with people from all age groups, from teenagers, to people right into their retirement. I have worked with young adults just finishing studies, middle level corporate personnel wanting to break the glass ceiling, as well as senior level executives who want to reinforce their stature. My services are sought for social reasons, as well as by people looking to get married, and people from less privileged backgrounds trying to get a foothold in the mainstream world.
My clients are equally spread between both genders; this comes as a surprise to everyone. But it’s true.
That is because image management service is misconstrued to be about looking fashionable. It is much more than that. It’s about depicting the image you want to portray through the above mentioned means. And trust me, everyone, irrespective of age and sex, wants to do that.
What is the differentiating factor between what you do and what a professional stylist does?
As an Image Consultant, my objective is to assist in building the image my client wants to represent. Once a client learns how to do that, they are on their own. A stylist never teaches a client to style themselves.
My focus is to start with understanding a client’s needs, his/her social, personal and professional lifestyle, personal choices, body and face shape, colour, etc. and then recommend changes that are appropriate, authentic, consistent, and that cover all aspects of the client’s environment.
Hence the area of work is wider for me as an image consultant, while that of a professional stylist would be much more limited.
Styling, clothes, fashion are the modes (just like body language, etiquettes, communication, etc) which serve the purpose of image management; they are not the end or primary objective in itself.
Lastly, styling services are mostly event driven requirements of a client, rather than covering their day to day requirements, as in the case of image management.
So in short, go to a professional stylist to look good for an event, and come to me to change how you want people perceive you every day!
