Nation | Women’s Weekly

For events and press releases related to Women’s issues contact Lani Rose R Dizon by email at qatar.editor@gmail.com or call (974) 44422077.

05Thursday, August 22, 2013

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORKDOHA

Basics of Body LanguageThe basics of body language,

which are universal, should belearned in order to be perceivedbetter as well as to communicatebetter with others, says MaisaTaha, Qatar’s Ambassador to theAssociation of Image ConsultantsInternational (AICI).

“Delivering the wrong message isnever anyone’s goal. We alwayswant to send the right messageacross to our listeners. And I wouldrecommend a small etiquette train-ing or anything that addresses bodylanguage to any career woman,”she added.

She also said, “When you’rewalking into an office, it’s veryimportant to walk up straight andalways with a smile, not too muchsmile or a giggle. And wheneversomeone talks to you eye contactis crucial, because it shows themthat they’re valuable, respectedand you’re listening to them. Toomany hand movements wheneveryou’re expressing a point need tobe avoided. Avoid crossing hands

whenever someone comes to talkto you as well, for it sends a mes-sage that they’re not welcome tospeak. You need to show a calmand welcoming image. You needto be comfortable in your ownskin. The handshake shouldalways be firm but not too strongor shaky”.

How to achieve your best lookeveryday, even during your‘down days’

There are days that one feelsdown. But according to Taha,having your ‘down days’ doesn’tneed to be obvious to everyone.She said, “You cannot look glam-orous everyday but you can stilllook your best for people who areseeing you. Wearing the rightclothes with the right colourgives you a good feeling. Thereare days when you don’t have thetime to think of what you’regoing to wear, but because youhave the right wardrobe, whatev-er you pull out, will look good onyou. So having the right elementsare still going to make you lookyour best everyday”.

Get a beauty regimenTaha can’t stress enough on the

importance of wearing sun blockcreams. She said, “You have tocare for your skin. That comes

from properly cleaning your skin,moisturising and using sunblocks. Whatever the sun damagesearly on it’s difficult to repair. Butit’s never too late. Start wearing

sun blocks now if you still haven’t.Cleaning the skin at night and giv-ing it the right creams is alsoimportant. We say 27-30 years oldare the very important times tostart using night creams and anti-aging creams because preventionis better than treatment. Fruits arealways good for the skin. Having asystem in place including sleepingright and eating right, goodhygiene, moisturising and protect-ing your skin from the sun, inaddition to living a healthylifestyle are more important thana lot of facials and other fancyproducts that are available outthere”.

Basic fashion do’s and don’ts l Wear the right fit. Don’t wear

something that’s too tight andtoo short that makes you feeluncomfortable when you sitdown.

l Understand a basic corporatewardrobe. It has to be a prop-er blouse, jacket and pants orpencil skirt. Avoid wild printsunless you work in a creativeenvironment. Pencil skirt

should be knee length, or a lit-tle bit above the knee.

l Wear professional colours(black, navy, gray, brown, allthe neutral colours). Add thevery different colours like pinkand blue but in pastel lightshades. Nothing too dramatic.Add strong colours with ablack or gray suit, but not togeometrical shapes and wildprints.

l In very corporate settings,accessories which make noiseswhen you walk around areunprofessional. Closed shoesare a must. And it is preferableto wear stockings when wear-ing a skirt.

l Hair, nails, make-up must beneat and clean. Wear comfort-able looking high heels, butnot too thin.

l Certain amount of conserva-tiveness is required

l Bags are very important.Sloppy casual bags are notright for corporate work set-tings. Work bags have to beprofessional, structured,which gives that look of beingorganised.

LANI ROSE R DIZONDOHA

UNHEARD of till a decadeago, image consulting, hasnever been this popular inQatar. The industry, whichworks on enhancing visual

appearance and verbal and non-verbal communication, is fastbecoming a hit among women herewho believe that image plays a cru-cial role in one’s personal, social,and professional development.

Today, the number of imageconsultants in Doha may be rela-tively few, however, the number ofcertified ‘fashion godmothers’ hasbeen consistently on the rise inthe country. Maisa Taha, a certi-fied image consultant, is thefounder and managing partner ofLa Vedette Fashion and ImageConsulting – Qatar’s first full-service fashion and image consul-tancy, which opened in 2009.Taha is also the QatarAmbassador for the Association ofImage Consultants International(AICI).

Taha describes what she does –image consulting – as somethingwhich empowers women.

Commenting on the trend ofimage-consulting, Taha said thatan increasing number of womenare becoming aware about theimportance of improving one’spersonal image.

According to her, a majority ofher clients are women but hercentre also accepts male clients.While more and more Qatariwomen have been taking up eti-quette classes and availing thecentre’s beauty and personalshopping services, the number offemale expatriates going for imageconsulting has also been increas-ing in the last year and a half.

Speaking about developingone’s personal image, Taha said,“When we say improving yourimage, it doesn’t just mean mak-ing you look prettier. It’s aboutimproving how you present your-self and how you brand yourself infront of others. A lot of womenmiss the importance. You’ll find alot of them who are very hard-working, but they don’t presentthemselves properly at the workplace. You can be a very goodemployee who dresses sloppily.Yes, you work very hard, and youwork on time. But you present animage of being sloppy. You cometo work and probably your hair isall messy. You’re wearing thoseripped jeans and you walk to workin your denim shirt.

“If your industry is not creativelike fashion design or a creativeagency but it’s a more professionaland corporate field you wouldn’t be

taken seriously. You won’t even getgood first impressions. And weknow that first impressions count.So maybe you got the job becauseyour CV is very good. But you’renot going to progress as much asyour colleague, who works as hardas you but presents herself, herimage and her role in the companyproperly. And representing a com-pany means knowing your job welland looking professional”.

If presenting a proper image isthat important, in addition to hardwork and perseverance, how thencan a career woman develop herown ‘personal fashion brand’?

Taha said, “For professionalwomen, dressing appropriately

means that you show how seriousyou are in the field. And you’re notthere just to play around. Dressingprovocatively is something which isvery inappropriate. But dressingright is another thing. You mightdress conservatively but if you’rewearing something which was notironed or was ripped off, it onlyportrays an image that you don’thave time to pay attention to littledetails or to personal hygiene. Andthis implies that you’re notfocused, you’re not organised andare unprofessional at work. If youwant to develop in your career pro-fessionally, improving your imageadds to your value in the business.But it doesn’t mean that if you

dress properly today, you’re goingto be promoted tomorrow. Youhave to first of all present yourselfas a professional employee andrepresent your company better.

“I don’t want to say that peopleshould be judged by their outwardappearance. But it is a known fact,whether in the Arab or global stan-dards, that if you’re a professionalyou have to present yourself well inorder to be perceived exactly theway you want to be perceived. Andit takes maturity for you to discov-er your personal brand becausediscovering your own style or yourown sense of individuality takes alevel of maturity. At age 17, youmight create your own look that’svery unique but it might not be theright one for you”.

According to Taha, every womanhas something that is very uniquein their looks. It could be specialeyes, or any special part of the bodywhich is especially beautiful. Andone can focus on enhancing orhighlighting these.

On whether wearing make-up isnecessary for a woman to lookmore presentable and professionalat work, Taha said, “In my person-al opinion, I think basic make-up isa must. It doesn’t have to be an all-over make-up with eye liners, foun-dation, and all that. You just needto know what’s important for you.Women think it’s a lot of work. Butjust a very basic mascara or gloss,putting your hair up, just look neat,tidy, clean and proper and you’regood to go. At least wear somethingthat shows you’re a woman. Awoman needs to appear as awoman who has the ability to carefor herself”.

Describing her own journey, shesaid, “From when I was young, Ihave always wondered why awoman looks so beautiful but shedoesn’t really show it because she’swearing something wrong and shedresses like that. I always looked atsomeone and I was like ‘I wouldlove to fix her hair’ or ‘I’d like to fixher make-up’. I just like to seewomen presenting their true selvesin the best possible way they can.And then I realised that certainuniversities started offering diplo-ma courses in image consulting. Itwas the perfect time for me.

“Fashion is a beautiful big world.But I wanted something more. Iwanted something to empowerwomen, to help them trust and lovetheir looks regardless of age,weight, and all that. It’s aboutbeing confident in your own skinand wearing the right thing thatmakes you look and feel beautiful.And nothing feels more rewardingthan a message from a client saying‘everybody told me that I lookedgood today’,” added Taha.

Practical tips from Doha’s professional image consultant

“If you want todevelop in yourcareer profession-ally, improving your image adds to your value in the business.” — MAISA TAHA

LA VEDETTE FASHION AND IMAGE CONSULTING SERVICES

n Image consulting (basic body and face analysis, basic colour analysis, do’s and don’ts, right shoes, bags, sunglasses, and accessories).

n Beauty consulting session (face feature analysis, personalised make-up tips, advice on hair styles and colours, eyebrows shape consulting and assistance on selecting theright accessories for face shape).

n Colour analysis session (analyses all colour shades that goes with the skin tone and hair colour).

n Fashion consulting session (body shape analysis, what are the right outfits, jeans, and dresses for you. Advice on the right bags, shoes, earrings, ring, etc.).

n Corporate image consulting (wardrobe and attitude are linked together/Dress-code/Personal brand).

Maisa Taha

Consultants from LA VEDETTE working with clients in Doha.

IMAGE CONSULTING – MAKING YOUR LOOKS AND CV MATCH