Frontstage Style - How To Be An Icon

* * * * *

Frontstage Style

How To Be An Icon

PAIGE MCCLINTE

Rags to Riches Entertainment Group

An imprint of Aauvi House Publishing Group

* * * * *

Published by Aauvi House Publishing Group at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Paige McClinte

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

E-ISBN: Smashwords Edition

Aauvi House Publishing Group, the portrayal of double-A’s formed in a broken circle, and the Aauvi name are registered trademarks of Aauvi Group, Inc.

Aauvi House books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available. For more information, contact us at CustomerService@AauviHouse.com.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

* * * * *

Titles by Paige McClinte

Backstage Grooming – A Sign of Sophistication

Backstage Makeup– For Women Who Love All Things Upscale

Frontstage Style – How To Be An Icon

* * * * *

Contents

Book Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

1 – Art of Image Making

2 – Appearance…State of Mind

3 – Clothes Matter

4 – Accessories, Jewelry, Bags, Hats

5 – Pleasure Given By Shoes

6 – Summer Protection

7 – Shop Your Closet

8 – Personal Shoppers

9 – Personal Tailors

10 – Dry Cleaning and Repair Services

Closing Remarks

End of Book

About the Author

About the Publisher

Books of Aauvi House

Excerpts by Aauvi House

Credits

* * * * *

* * * * *

Introduction

In its brief history, Aauvi House Publishing Group has become the new it marketers of information-based lifestyle solutions in the self-help and how-to markets for all age groups. Reinforcing a belief that living a planned extraordinarily fulfilled lifestyle is of paramount importance to its readers.

The Insiders’ Lifestyle Guides series is a first, of a twenty-one book series, that will be revised and re-launched periodically with all new material. These books feature famous themed cities represented by the book covers and include an introduction comprising a short story about its featured city. Annually, the series guides will be rolled up as chapter inserts into a single book and sold during the holiday season.

Anyone who desires the secrets to A-list living, values their appearance, is concerned about lifestyle or just needs more information can benefit from reading and continually referring back to the Insiders’ Lifestyle Guides series. Each book – practical in its approach – is full of facts that teach you how to make the most of your life, how to achieve peak performance, and how to maintain general health. In short, the Aauvi House Publishing Group, Rags to Riches Entertainment imprint’s ability to offer its readers a more complete and concise migration path to an extraordinary red carpet lifestyle, just got better.

Information Is Timeless

Everyone holds a secret desire to be part of the A-list seeking a confident, fashionable, and extraordinary life. These series guides make transformation routine to which all men and women will relate.

Actionable Strategies

The Insiders’ Lifestyle Guides series contains specific strategies in each book and edition that can transform lives. It details social skills of boosting confidence, replacing bad habits, and re-inventing one’s self. These books will appeal to professionals, parents, and generations of young adults.

About the Authors

The Insiders’ Lifestyle Guides series are written by a team of contributing authors, all of whom have a witty, quirky, slapstick appeal.

About Our Cover Story – Monte Carlo

Since jet setting is part of such a grand lifestyle, the Insiders’ Lifestyle Guides series theme includes a cultural or travel experience with every book. That is, between promotional junkets, film festivals and red carpet appearances, celebrities can rack up as many frequent-flyer miles as they do trips to rehab. And so can you, once you have an insider bird’s eye view of the possibilities.

Whether traveling by plane or virtually by way of these pages, our cover story, Monte Carlo Monaco is highlighted by its stunning landscape. At the city’s spiritual heart is Monaco-Ville where the Place du Palais houses the grand palace that the legendary Grimaldi family still hold so dear. Their turbulent history, awash with glamour, tragedy and drama, colors Monte Carlo and only helps add to its mystique. Below the palace the skyline is more Manhattan than Mediterranean as Europe’s movers and shakers scramble to snatch a precious piece of real estate and yachts cram the marinas.

Steeped in 700 years of Grimaldi royal history, the Riviera city of Monte Carlo crackles with glamour. With its stunning location between French medieval villages and the Alps, it’s easy to picture actress Grace Kelly getting caught up in her fairytale romance with Prince Rainer III. To experience the luxe life, visit the Monte Carlo Casino and its elaborate gardens, take in a world-class opera or ballet, bask in the sun on Larvotto Beach or get tickets for May’s Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Monte Carlo officially refers to an administra-tive area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/ Spelagues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally the name also refers to a larger district, the Monte Carlo Quarter, which besides Monte Carlo/Spelagues also includes the wards of La Rousse/Saint Roman, Larvotto/Bas Moulins, and Saint Michel. The permanent population of the ward of Monte Carlo is about 3,500, while that of the quarter is about 15,000. Monaco has four traditional quarters. From west to east they are: Fontvieille (the newest), Monaco-Ville (the oldest), La Condamine, and Monte Carlo.

About Frontstage Style

There is something great about A-list living and Frontstage Style, the eleventh book of a twenty-one book series, is another step toward a red carpet life. Save up and buy the real thing. Splurging on quality, even if it’s pure luxury, isn’t a bad investment. You should always be aware of where you are, how you act, and how you look at all times.

* * * * *

Art of Image Making

If imagery is as much a part of the fabric of fashion as silk, satin and thread, the image-makers of the fashion business bring something immaterial to the cloth itself. Call it what you want; like all creativity, it’s hard to define. We can feel it as an aura of allure or fantasy, the mysterious fever of the cool, the new, the now.

Unlike the work of the red-carpet paparazzi or the cleaver pests who surprise celebrities in supermarkets, the images that animate the fashion business are works of the imagination. Even when they are designed to look like moments plucked from the flux of the street, they’re highly wrought visions crafted by a raft of photographers, stylists, creative directors and re-touchers – people whose main goal, apart from satisfying their aesthetic impulses, is to lure your credit card out of your wallet.

The art of these dream merchants is ultimately graded against the bottom line, and the high cost of their productions reflects the extravagant returns at stake. One 30-second spot of Missy Elliott and Madonna for the Gap required 400 hands (including those of a Kabbalah teacher). A 20-page fashion story for Vogue can demand five days of scouting, four models, three assistants, 200 rolls of film and a six-figure budget. Several million dollars goes into the development of a $50 bottle of perfume, including the ad campaign and the photographer’s fees.

It’s a lot of money for a photograph. But the right picture of the right perfume in the right bottle by the right designer can significantly flatten L’Oreal’s bottom line. One Lanvin suit in a Russian department-store window or on Kate Moss on the cover of a fashion magazine can inspire thousands of sales and raise the profile of the designer, the store and the photographer who shot the photograph.

But such is the nature of fashion that its ecology is tremendously unstable. Every six months or so, the cast of image-makers can change. One season the leading lights may be photographers like Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, rich and famous for their airbrushed Vargas-style pinups. Another season influence falls to teen marketers like the FARM Team, college kids who spread the word about cool products on campuses. There are creative directors who elicit emotion from the familiar combination of a favorite song and the golden autumn glow of a tungsten movie lamp. There are designers like Reed Krakoff, who trusts that his intuition will enable him to tool leather handbags and accessories in a way that will appeal to millions of consumers. There are rock-n-roll stylists who know just how to rip a Tee shirt to transform a garage-band punk into a pop-culture It band.

Once it’s in the can, as they say, the image isn’t yet perfect. In search of the right one, art directors and photographers will click through thousands of digital versions. Re-touchers like Pascal Dangin will artfully erase, pixel by pixel, the circles under the eyes of a cover model who has just traveled to London and back in 48 hours. The camera exacts its price.

The Persuasive Power of Image

Today’s culture places an enormous value on image. As a result, images have become a powerful persuasive form of communication. For many, our understanding of the world is conveyed not through words, but by reading images. We are continually influenced by the images presented in media and by the images projected by people who surround us.

Image and Ego

There is a strong link between image and ego. We all want to present ourselves in the best possible light and our defense mechanisms kick into high gear when our image of ourselves is threatened. The ancient wisdom, know thyself, remains sound advice today. It takes a lifetime of effort to distinguish about ourselves what others are able to detect at a glance.

Image-Makers

Sprinkled among every walk of life are a handful of people that represent who or what we would like to become. Image-makers are people – or things – that are masterful at creating a persuasive message, from a celebrity shown in a magazine to be using a particular product to a jar of night cream that promises to be the fountain of youth.

People often have a stereotype of what a particular individual in a specific profession should look like. An image-maker would use the persuasive power of image to appeal to their ego. For example, if approaching an FBI agent; if the agent was influenced by success and prestige, an image-maker might use undercover agents who posed as polished and sophisticated business people to approach them.

But if the image-maker’s wit and personality wasn’t enough to persuade such a person to cooperate with them, the image-maker might ask their advice. Most people love giving advice – it places them in the role of an expert. When you ask people for advice, you give them an image of themselves as an authority.

We are taught to respect authority – go back to the Bible and the very first book, Genesis, tells how Adam and Eve’s failure to obey authority drove them from the Garden of Eden. Authority is a strong persuasive image that few of us can deny.

Trendsetters

Trendsetters are a select group of people who are experts at spreading the message. We’re influenced by people, either face-to-face or through the media, who share similar interests and activities to our own. For instance, when people are uncertain about a course of action, they tend to look outside of themselves and to other people around them to guide their decisions and actions.

Trends are how we see ourselves fitting in with those around us. The truth is, most of us do follow the leader and are willing to go along with an idea if we believe that others are already doing it.

To take a famous example from history: the Salem witch trials created an environment in which it became the responsibility of God-fearing people to root out evil in their communities. The fear of witchcraft spread like an epidemic, and soon many ordinary, well-meaning people found themselves copying their leaders – who were leveling accusations of witchcraft against friends, family, and neighbors. Following the leader was an efficient thing to do, at least at that moment; but it was hugely damaging to the community.

Image-makers and trendsetters are co-dependent. Together, they are powerful persuasion tools. We can learn more about ourselves, and others, if we understand how image plays such an important part in the way we communicate with others.

Ask yourself:

What image do you have of yourself?

How does that affect the choices you make?

What trends have made life easier for you?

Which ones, in retrospect, would have been better left alone?

* * * * *

Appearance…State of Mind

When it comes to style these days, everybody’s a know-it-all. But do their opinions really matter when everyone’s a fashion critic? No; however our outward appearance does reflect our state of mind.

If you Google fashion blog, you will get approximately 1.6 million hits – an awful lot of people not only have an opinion about fashion, they also believe those opinions are worth broadcasting. The rise of the fashion blogger was inevitable. Fashion has evolved from a dictatorial business dominated by all-powerful designers into an independent one in which everyone has access to stylish clothes, anyone can start a trend, and the definition of designer – Donald Trump! – has become astonishingly impressionable.

In the beginning, there was haute couture for the financially well endowed. Then along came ready-to-wear – we could buy lovely pieces inspired by the couture geniuses. In time, ready-to-wear gave birth to fast fashion, which begat disposable fashion. Now it’s possible to go into Target and buy a $29.99 designer frock along with toiletries.

Designers still dictate trends, but they just as regularly come from the rough-and-tumble streets, Hollywood, and flea markets. Pop stars have become designers; designers have become TV stars. If people can go online and view an entire runway show only hours after the event, why should they wait for some expert to tell them whether it was good? If fashion is available to everyone, why shouldn’t everyone have an opinion?

Fashion has become like sports, with its own version of the Monday-morning quarterback. Mostly, all the chatter is good for the industry. The average person, too often estranged from fashion, is taking ownership of it. The Project Runway blogs are filled with reviews of the contestant’s work and intense parsing of every botched seam. Call it unsolicited, fast, and dirty market research. Even bloggers are now welcomed at exclusive catwalk shows. About 40 were credentialed in New York last fall.

Find Your Style

How do some people manage to get it so right? There are folks whose clothes diminish them, and there are others who dress well but don’t necessarily arouse a sense of mystery. But rare indeed is that person whose garments transform him or her into an exotic creature somehow more exciting than the rest of us. Can anyone become that kind of person?

Get Inspired

It doesn’t matter if it’s Audrey Hepburn or Kate Moss: Having a style icon will help you focus on what you like. When you shop, look for things you could imagine on her.

Do Some Research

Once you identify a woman with great style, look into her: Where does she shop? What colors does she like? Maybe you don’t lift her entire look – just the outfits that work on you.

Interrogate Your Closet

When you look at your closet, what does it tell you about yourself? Who are you, based on your clothes? If you can’t answer that, make a rule that you will only buy things that you really love, and then get rid of things you don’t wear anymore – that way your style will start to take shape.

The Secrets of Effortless Style

There’s a flock of fashionable women who always turn up looking effortlessly chic, confident, and enviably cool and collected. No matter where these women fall on the fashion spectrum, in the end they have the guts and conviction to make dressing well look easy. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t put serious thought into their wardrobes. There are a few guidelines that seem to dictate their fashion decisions.

Chic women never shop to fill a void; they buy only pieces they love. Pick up only the pieces that you can’t stop thinking about.

There is no such thing as out with the old, in with the new chicly speaking. When you buy something, you want to be able to wear it for years, like a Chanel jacket – pieces that are not so much trendy as they are iconic of the designer, thus guaranteeing their timelessness.

Chic women consider themselves more of a collector than a shopper. They collect great pieces, which they treasure and wear for years, but every season they look for a special hint of newness.

Chic women feel empowered when they look different from everybody else. They don’t show up in their uniform every day. There clothes say, they’re together; they have more important things to do than deal with fussy clothes; and they like clothes that say I’m an independent woman in control. For centuries, kings, queens, and generals have dressed up to conquer the world. Why shouldn’t a Burberry military coat make you feel just as invincible?

Personal Stylist

A personal stylist is a person who typically advises individuals on, for example, new fashion trends, clothing styles, colors and make-up. A personal stylist is a recognized profession not to