Sites To Know : Inside Out Style Blog by Imogen Lamport

January 20, 2010

Imogen Lamport is an Australian Colour Analyst and Image Consultant. Her work is quite terrific.

Imogen’s blog is at Inside Out Style. Her webpage is at Bespokeimage, linked from View My Complete Profile under her picture.

I don’t buy into North America’s adulation with the winners of the fame and fortune lottery, so I particularly enjoy sites and blogs written by non-North-Americans. We hero worship celebrities and in trying to look like them, we don’t like our own looks. But it’s THEM that look crazy. We’re the ones who look normal.

You know I think the whole “anti-aging” gig is a marketing assignment to sell you more stuff. I’m all for health, but beyond that, I don’t agree that younger is worth admiring as much as we do. Which one of us was our best self at 25? or 35?

Colour Analysis and Style go hand in hand, but I find few sites showing clothing styles I could see myself in. This one, I relate to. There is advice here I really would use. Her posts of Jan. 7 and 8 discuss women’s sizes and body image concepts. Everyone of us has a position on these topics.

Imogen discusses many of the same colour theory topics that I do. Sometimes, reading another explanation of the same topic can help clarify it for you. If you have an interest in colour theory, the posts filed under Colour Guide are great.

As an Image and Style Consultant, you’ll find many categories addressing clothing specifics for various body types and concerns, all described under Labels in the right side column.

Here’s a great video about why black is NOT slimming on light people, a point that can’t be made strongly enough.

She has wonderful taste, real-world, sensible taste, but she’ll still tell you to ignore the rules (and how to do so) and find ways to wear what makes you feel good. We tell others who we are with our dress, and it never feels quite right when our message isn’t truthful. We can’t settle in and feel fully confident in what we’re projecting.

The shoe section is a favorite. It’s the style choice that is most often forgotten or wrong, with little good advice out there. You’ll find so many good articles here. Seeing women hobbling around in heels that are too high, just to look sexy to some man, makes me feel humiliated. Heels are terrific, you feel long and look better and stronger, but within reason. If it hurts, you feel weak. If you’re unsteady, you look weak. You will not be taken seriously by anyone in either situation. Why do we do it to ourselves?

What Colour Shoes To Choose is great, illustrating the concept that shoes should connect with hair colour to present a unified (read “in control”, “organized”, and “strong”) appearance.

You might find a few places where our policies diverge. I don’t pretend to be an Image Consultant. When I talk about clothes and makeup, it’s only what I think looks good according to the principles for that Season. We use different Personal Colour Analysis systems. Imogen devised her own system and I look forward to reading about it.

With links to articles regarding the 100% meaningless truth behind most cosmetic and skin care marketing claims, encouraging the consumer to get herself informed, and her love of chocolate, Imogen seems a woman like us – intelligent, empowered, style conscious but not at the expense of sense, spending, and time.

I completely enjoyed wandering about her blog for when Sally introduced me to it. From an organization viewpoint, the Blog Archive is a treat. Just click on the arrow beside each month and the list of article titles opens. I visit frequently. It’s realistic, refreshing, and not about celebrity culture.

Posted by Christine Scaman | Filed Under Color Analysis, Sites To Know

Comments

2 Responses to “Sites To Know : Inside Out Style Blog by Imogen Lamport”

Imogen Lamport on January 20th, 2010 4:11 pm

Thanks for the lovely post! I think the joy of the blogworld is that there is practical every day advice out there, unlike fashion magazines which are all about the latest, greatest, no matter if that is not what you need.
Christine Scaman on January 23rd, 2010 9:00 am

My pleasure entirely, Imogen,

Not only “if that is not what you need”, but often makes one look downright silly. We take an idea like “diagonal lines in footwear elongate the leg” and push the pendulum way over till we’re wearing shoes that look like costumes. We’re now shooting down the slippery slope of “nobody in the world can take you seriously”. It’s hard enough for women to be taken seriously and look tastefully decorated without moving over to the theatrical (which is why many women won’t even attempt it, who can blame them). The marketers would gladly have us vandalize our own credibility to sell more magazines and clothes. Why is it so hard to tell the difference between what’s elegant and when they’ve played us for suckers? As the French say, there’s no discussing tastes and colours.
I appreciate advice like yours that offers women choices that do not undermine their strength and plausibility. Options for using trends attractively are badly needed out there.