It’s not what you wear, it’s HOW you wear it. It’s not what you SAY it’s how you say it…
A person of true style has an innate sense of this – they know that etiquette has little to do with how you hold your knife and fork and more to do with how you make others feel in your presence. Today, I met a number of people with “true style” as I presented a workshop to a room full of well-known TV Presenters. In my eyes, all “Beautiful People” from the inside out!
- Did I feel comfortable as a “Presenter” presenting to people who do this very thing for a living? YES, thank goodness!
- Did I feel at any time that they would rather be somewhere else? NOT ONCE (and if they did endure have any moments of boredom, not once did any of them make that visible to me).
- Did they chuckle at my sick jokes? YES (thanks guys!)
- Did I feel that they appreciated my efforts? YOU BET! In fact many of them came up personally even with limited time to do so, to thank me personally – again, VERY stylish!
- Did they appear to be “open” to what I was there to teach? VERY – and even if simply being polite – again, another big TICK from me in the Style-Stakes!
There was one gentlemam in the group – the other “Big Al” as I quickly found out! He handled my claim of being the “only” Big Al with great style and grace. I politely declined his offer to settle our positioning with an arm wrestle (I really don’t have much physical strength to speak of) but he still let me save-face and granted me my “Big Al” status on the podium – for the ensuing two hours of the workshop, at least! “Thanks “Big Al #2. You are clearly a man of great taste (in names), great style & good humour. Your benevolence will always be duly noted and appreciated!
Even when I pulled a few out of the audience as “examples/guinea-pigs” for a little re-styling, and even though occasionally my hands would make their way down their pants (literally) as I tucked/untucked shirts etc – all handled my groping (aaah, ofcourse I mean “styling”) with patience and good humour. This always makes my job a pleasure…and I mean that in the cleanest possible way, ofcourse!
I have to say, on this occasion my first impressions of this group of fine professionals was indeed all positive – and as anyone who’s ever been a “Style Counsel student” in the past will attest, that’s a pretty important component of True Style. Because there really are only two first impressions – Positive or Negative – and all of today’s group definitely belonged in the former category!
Big Al – #1!
