Don’t judge a book by it’s cover

Our first meeting of the new year was a very entertaining talk by Alison Hoyland, an image consultant. She began her presentation by pointing out how quickly we form a judgement of a person based mostly on what they look like and encouraged us to think about what we would like people to think of ourselves in that first few moments. Alison then went on to explain the seasonal colour categories and the characteristics they usually match. Contrasting hair and complexion usually suit contrasting colours while similar tones suit softer combinations. A willing member was draped in colour selections to demonstrate how good colour choices can lift the complexion.

The talk then moved onto looking at body shapes. A ripple of recognition went through the members as ‘apple,’ ‘pear,’ ‘strawberry’ and ‘rhubarb’ shapes were described and for each Alison gave dressing tips for giving the illusion of the ‘hourglass’ target that we still seem to aspire to! She showed us how careful positioning of hemlines, jacket and jumper hems, belts and necklines made a huge difference to the overall impression, very cleverly adjusting her own attire to demonstrate clearly how her choices had enabled her look her best.

There were plenty of members asking questions during refreshments which were kindly provided by Katharine and Liz. Nita won flower of the month with an early Hellebore and everyone enjoyed the raffle. We took a vote on the proposed resolutions for this year’s National Federation Campaign.