Dressing for confidence with Caitlin Taylor
You know that feeling when you put on a certain outfit and you feel like a million dollars? It infuses you with confidence and swag. You feel ready to totally rock your day (or night)…
This is exactly what I’m getting into with today’s guest, Personal Stylist, Caitlin Taylor. We talk about how you can intentionally boost your business confidence through your personal style.
We dive into:
- The power of getting dressed for work, even if you work at home.
- Reflecting your brand voice and personality through your style.
- Creating a brand uniform to boost brand recognition and recall.
- Choosing what to wear for a photo shoot.
- What to consider when choosing a speaker’s outfit.
Connect with me
On Instagram @hayleymaxwellwrites
At www.hayleymaxwell.com/fiercely-you-coaching
Free Resources
Become Wildly Unforgettable at www.hayleymaxwell.com/wildly-unforgettable
People and resources mentioned in this episode
Caitlin Taylor’s website:
Caitlin’s socials:
www.instagram.com/chasingcait_stylecoach/
The Confidence Project
https://chasingcait.com/the-confidence-project/
Free resource
How to declutter your wardrobe eBook: https://www.subscribepage.com/wardrobedeclutter
TRANSCRIPT
Dressing for confidence with Caitlin Taylor
Hayley Maxwell 00:00
Well, howdy, howdy, and welcome to another episode of the Fierce Impact podcast. And I’m super, super excited about today’s episode, I’m chatting with the lovely lovely Caitlin Taylor, who is a personal stylist based in Auckland. And I wanted to get Cait on the podcast because I really wanted to talk about the positive impact that dressing can have on our confidence and how it can impact upon our business confidence as well. So whether you’ve got a speaking gig, whether you are at an event, whether you are just in your own office at home, how it can actually impact your mood, and the way you put yourself out into the world. And so we chatted all about boosting business confidence through your style, creating a brand uniform, getting dressed for work. So even if you work from home, preparing your style for a photo shoot, reflecting your brand voice and personality through your style, creating a speaking uniform, and also creating a ‘break in case of emergency outfit.’
It was just a really great conversation, not only about personal style, but also about body image and body neutrality, which I absolutely loved. I particularly loved the way Cait talked about this. So I hope that you get a lot from today’s episode. And I want to just take a minute to introduce you to Cait. As a personal stylist and style coach with almost 20 years experience in the industry, Cait promises that she will help you to learn to appreciate and love the body you have. And to be confident in making the right style choices that make you feel amazing. Cait promises she will show you the true value of the clothes you already own. And will help you to make smart choices about what you have and what you buy in the future. Now that speaking my kind of language, with degrees in psychology and journalism language is Cait’s superpower. So the way we think and talk about our bodies and our style can have a lasting impact on us. Everything Cait does and says in her business is aimed at making a positive difference in your life.
Her extensive background in the fashion industry includes working with both high end designer brands and mainstream chain stores in all facets of the business. It’s the knowledge and skills she’s learned over the years that allows her to help you, the amazing woman that you are to understand the power that fashion has to make you feel good.
And without further ado, let’s jump into today’s episode. Welcome to the best impact podcast. Cait, how are you doing?
Caitlin Taylor 03:55
Thank you, Haley. I’m so excited to be here. I’m doing really well. Thank you.
Hayley Maxwell 03:59
So I’m really excited to have you on to talk about this topic today. And it’s all around how your personal style can really help to elevate your confidence, whether that’s in life or in business. What I’d really love to do first of all, is for you to just tell us a little bit about yourself.
Caitlin Taylor 04:18
Yeah, sure. My name is Caitlin Taylor. I am a personal stylist here in Auckland. I’m originally from Brisbane. I’ve always worked in fashion, but I actually started off doing a psychology degree. So I have a degree in psychology and I also have a master’s in journalism. So for me, I guess I utilize those skills in helping women elevate their everyday style. So the psychology background for me was super important because I really want to tap into how people feel.
But I basically came straight out of out of my psych degree and got a job in the fashion industry and start off in a really small label and I kind of learnt how the fashion industry worked from the inside out. So I kind of got snippets of every part of the job production design, comms PR, and kind of had quite a long career in fashion PR in Australia. And we’re back to uni I did my masters 10 years after I finished my first degree and then was working in the retail space for this original brand that I started working for. And my mum kind of said to me, you’re really good at putting people at ease and just really making it fun for them to pick out clothes and take them shopping. And I’d always take my girlfriend’s shopping, and mum was like, people should pay you for your services. And I went, Okay.
So about 12 years ago, I kind of started offering personal styling services or personal shopping services. And around the same time, I started a blog called Chasing Cait because I had the journalism degree and I really wanted to write I want to work for magazines, but wasn’t really the right time, right place. So I started writing on my own and eventually kind of combined Chasing Cait into the blog, which is actually still going like I still there is still a blog there on my website. I don’t know when the last time I actually wrote a full blog was, but I do enjoy writing. So I do love the opportunity down on my blog every now and then.
But uh, yeah, about 12 years ago, I really kind of started growing the personal styling business, moved to New Zealand 10 years ago, worked for quite a well known brand over here in their marketing team for a little while and just really missed interacting with women. So basically gave that the flick quite quickly and started Chasing Cait, personal styling business here. And it’s just kind of gone great guns from there. So now, I work with mostly women, but some men just really to help them elevate their everyday style.
So for me, I’m definitely an everyday stylist. It’s not about red carpets, magazine shoots, it’s really about how you can, you know, get your confidence through style and really represent who you are doing that every day. Because I think there’s nothing more exciting than getting up and being excited about what you’re going to wear every day rather than I just I hate the fact that people get up and they panic. And you know, it’s one more thing to add to this like wave of anxiety, like, what am I going to wear today? Like, I can take that pain away? Please let me help you.
Hayley Maxwell 07:17
Yeah, that’s awesome. I love that. And so, so you, obviously you kind of you go out with people and you do shopping, you take them on shopping trips, and you help them to sort of define their style. Is that right?
Caitlin Taylor 07:32
Yes. So basically, the full process of working with me is that we come to your house, and we work out what we call your style foundation. So that’s really crucial for me, because every other style decision we then make is based on these three foundations. So you have understanding your color palette, understanding your own best fit. So the parts of your body that you’re the most confident about, and understanding your style personality. So that’s the fundamental part that we do before everything else.
Once we do that with your wardrobe audit, so we literally look at what you’ve got. And we identify the gaps, because I really want you to make the most out of what you’ve already got in your wardrobe. And often there’s pieces sitting in there, that you are not quite sure how to utilize, but you really love them. You know, you’re like I love this skirt, but I don’t know what to wear it with. So I want to help you find those. Find those missing gaps from your wardrobe. So you identify the gaps, then we go shopping, because they want the shopping experience to be you know about being really concise and really succinct in your shopping experience, not just buying stuff for the hell of it.
Once we go shopping, we then go back to your house. And we literally create a lookbook of outfit options. So again, taking some of that decision fatigue away in the mornings, you can basically just refer to your lookbook and go I want to wear that today. Or if you’re really super planned, like some of my clients are, you can pull on your outfit for the whole week, which I really love. So you know, you’ve got this kind of yeah, there’s toolbox that you can just refer back to and you’ve got all your outfits kind of sorted. So that’s the process of working with me, kind of in its biggest form, that people can obviously dip into different parts of that as well if they like.
Hayley Maxwell 09:06
Wow, that sounds awesome. Yeah, I love that. Because I think it’s so so true. I mean, I know I get out of the shower each morning. I’m like, ‘Oh, what am I going to wear today’ and then just pull on my usual uniform of leopard print, and away I go. So, I mean, I’ve made it easy for myself and from that perspective, but I know every single day, it’s like, what am I going to wear.
Caitlin Taylor 09:31
I don’t have time right now. I’m just gonna wear what I always wear. And we ended up wearing about 30% of our wardrobe. You know, so I want to give people the options to wear more of their wardrobe and have fun with it and not have that exactly like you said that anxiety of ‘Oh, what am I going to wear?’ I get dressed every day and I’m like, ‘what do I GET to wear today?’ I get really excited about it.
Hayley Maxwell 09:54
That’s such an amazing feeling to have, isn’t it like ‘Oh, what am I going to wear today? That’s exciting.’ That’s awesome. And so I’d be really keen to back to the bit that you talked about around the color palette, the personality, your best bits. I guess what I really liked to understand and to talk about is really how, how our choice of clothing and how developing our own personal style can support our confidence, I guess.
Caitlin Taylor 10:30
Yeah, definitely. And actually, it’s funny that you say that you want to refer back to that kind of those definitions later. But that’s actually fundamentally what builds your confidence. So being aware of what colors work for you, right. And it’s not so much about the old school draping and whether you’re a summer or an autumn or winter or spring. But if you are confident in the colors that you like, and also, if you understand the colors that do work best on you, they often sit in a palette, right? So I really like clean, bold, cool tones. So what that means is that I am not so much having to question, ‘Can I wear that top with those pants?’ The answer should be yes. Because the colors actually work together naturally, because they’re within the same palette. So if you’re clear on the colors that work for you, adding color into your wardrobe shouldn’t be scary, because those colors are there.
So having that understanding of color means that you’re not kind of second guessing yourself. You’re going yeah, I look really good in this blue. Therefore I’m going to wear it and you know it, then it does boost your confidence, because you’re not second guessing. ‘Is this color. Okay? Is it too bright? For me? Is it too? Was it making my skin look washed out?’ You know, no, this is my color. I’ve got this.
Same thing with understanding you’re best fit. So it’s roughly based on body type. But if you understand the parts of your body that you are the most confident in drawing attention to and therefore dressing to highlight those parts. Again, you’re going to walk out the door with much more confidence because you’re like, yeah, man, my waist is tiny, as opposed to oh my gosh, I hope no one can see my bum. Oh my God, my bum is so big. Oh my god, can I hide it? So we’re dressing to highlight, rather than dressing to hide. It’s a mindset shift. So so much of confidence in style is about shifting your mindset around what you’re doing.
So dressing to highlight rather than thirsting to hide, but focus on the parts of our bodies we are the most confident about, rather than focusing on the parts that we don’t like, which is just this innate thing that we’re taught to do, particularly as women is just to focus on the negative. And I just, I want I want people to start to think about okay, do you know what I quite like my face, I’ve got nice slim wrists. I like my ankles, so dress to draw attention to those parts.
But the most important one for me, is our style personality. So if we understand our style personality, which is basically a reflection of our own personality, which is something that we had kind of before we were recording and talked about what we want to kind of talk about, if you understand just our personality, it’s basically a reflection of you. So if your what you’re wearing reflects your style personality, you’re going to feel comfortable no matter what because it’s basically who you are. So your style personality, how I kind of do it is that I get my clients to think of three descriptive words that they would use to describe where they want this style to go. So it’s kind of almost aspirational. And you’re kind of then kind of trying to achieve that. So to give your listeners an example, my style personality is feminine, edgy, and elevated. So what I’m making sure I’m doing is that every time I get dressed, I’m making sure I’m ticking all three boxes.
So for instance, I might wear a beautiful floaty dress that’s my feminine, I always wear my hair out she will very rarely see me with my hair up because my hair is what makes me feel feminine as well. The Edgy might be a kind of a chunky boots or a studded sandal or something that just gives it a little bit of grit. And the elevated is something that makes me feel kind of not overdressed. But I like being the most dressed up person in the room. I have no qualms with that. So it might be adding a blazer, it might be adding wedges rather than sandals. It might be adding a heeled boot, rather than trainers. So it’s something that just elevates my outfit.
And what I want people’s style personality to do, which kind of links to working from home as well as they want your style personality to be reflective across your whole wardrobe. So do your jammies reflect your style personality? Does your active wear reflect your style personality? Does your work from home options reflect your style personality, work wear, play, event wear so I want your style personality to be able to cover that whole kind of spectrum from really comfy clothes all the way up to really dressy clothes.
So nailing your style personality, it really because it speaks to who you are. And you know, I’m quite an extrovert I quite like I don’t mind being the center of attention. So I don’t mind wearing bold color and bright print and those kinds of things. Whereas you might be slightly more introverted, your style personality might be clean, classic and minimal. And so therefore your clothing choices should reflect that. And just because you’re wearing a beautiful, you know, pair of jeans, a white t shirt and a white blazer doesn’t mean that you don’t have confidence in what you’re wearing. Because if if that was your style, personality, clean, classic and minimal. And I put you in a maxi dress with a crazy print, and then a sequined jacket, you would feel so out of place. Because it doesn’t reflect you. So your style personality has to reflect you. And then you’ll always feel comfortable in what you’re wearing, regardless of what anybody else is wearing. Does that make sense?
Hayley Maxwell 15:58
Yeah, absolutely. It does. It makes so much sense. I think. And it’s super interesting as well. I’m glad that we you, you made us kind of start off on those three things, because I can see exactly how it. Yeah, how it kind of all fits together. And yeah, so in terms of how do you say going back to that color palette piece? Yeah. How do you figure out what color palette is is right for you then so that you can feel like you are wearing colors that complement your skin tone, your hair color and things like that?
Caitlin Taylor 16:33
Yeah, look, there’s a whole bunch of ways. I mean, you can and a lot of people have had their kind of colors done so to speak by an image consultant. But basically, color palettes work in, you have cool tones, and you have warm tones. So often you can work that out. If you’re a cool tone, you generally look better in white. So clean, crisp, white, if you’re a warm tone, you tend to look better in like off white or cream. So there’s softer warmer tones. So that’s a really easy test to do. And it’s so funny because when I ask clients, they’re like, I have children, I don’t, I’m white or cream. And I’m like, It’s alright, it gets us down a river, it’s fine. But even if you’re walking through the mall, and you go into a shop, and there’s a cream shirt and a white shirt, just hold it up to your face, see what color looks better on you. But the other thing is, you will instinctively know, you’ll put some colors on and you’ll go, ‘Oh, wow, that’s a really great color.’ And you’ll put some colors on me like I don’t know, if I kind of it might make you look a bit tired a bit washed out. And then so color works in this cool tones and warm tones. And then color also works on the flip side on a sliding scale.
So we go from a muted color palette, all the way through to a dominant color palette. And that is to do with the contrast of your coloring. So I have fair skin, I have dark hair and dark eyes and quite dark features. And obviously the listeners can’t see but I’ve got no makeup on today. But I’ve still got quite a dominant coloring contrast, which means I can wear dominant color, because my color palette has got the strength to stand up to strong color. So today I’m wearing a shirt that’s bright pink and red. But it’s not overpowering me, because I’ve got quite strong coloring. So I sit right at one end of that scale. If you think about somebody down the other end, potentially they’ve got fair skin, but they’ve got blond hair and blue eyes. So their coloring does not create as much as a dominant contrast. Therefore, they want to wear slightly more muted versions of those colors.
But I guess the big thing with color for me, it’s just a guide. Like I’m never going to tell somebody don’t wear that color if they love it, which is why I don’t really believe in color swatches because I think it can actually be too restrictive. So the key is to really like take some time to think about it like don’t, you know, it’s not something that you can immediately wake up and don’t go, ‘Oh, I’m a dominant cool,’ like take some time to look at the colors in your wardrobe. Work out what your favorite ones are. And then just by color that kind of all kind of gravitates around that particular color.
Saying that a word on black. Black is a very dominant color. And a lot of us wear black to hide. Black generally only works on people who are that really dominant cool tones and what we would call an old school winter. So if you’re wearing black because you’re hiding behind it. There are other color options you can look at can you look at navy, can you look at dark grey can still wear dark color but black, some really really harsh color, particularly next to our faces and sometimes it can be a real power color and make you feel really strong and really dominant really powerful, but a lot of trans people are using it to hide and it just doesn’t do the best for our colorings. It’s I know the irony of the Queenslander telling the Kiwis not to wear black I get it people I get it but just be careful with like, I think is probably my biggest, my biggest thing.
But yeah, color palette, it’s not like it’s not something that you work out overnight. But if you can be conscious of it and go actually didn’t want to look really good and greens and blues, or I look really good in like the rusty autominal colours and all kinds of colors blue, green rust, those kinds of colors, and start to really curate your wardrobe within that kind of palette that works together. The other thing is google it like once you work out, I like I like a really nice color, what colors go with teal, and that kind of stuff. And it kind of gives you a really good example.
Hayley Maxwell 20:34
Yeah, and I think that’s really good advice. And then I think that you know, the bit that you’re talking about, about choosing three words that you associate with your personality or what it is that you’re wanting to really step into in terms of your, your style, and then making sure that whatever you’re wearing helps you to achieve that kind of sense of feeling. I really love that advice as well.
Caitlin Taylor 21:04
Sorry to interrupt, that’s style personality is my key defining kind of tool, I think it’s way for me, it’s way more important than color palette and body type. Because it’s really unique to you, it’s what you use. And if you’re stuck on working out your personality, just scribble down a whole bunch of words of things that you relate to, and that kind of reflect your personality. And it can be really good words like bright, clean, bold, fresh, strong. On the flip side, it can be like soft, muted, whimsical, romantic, like any kind of descriptive words are really good to get that style personality.
Hayley Maxwell 21:42
It’s a bit like when you are developing your your brand.
Caitlin Taylor 21:48
Exactly like that, Hayley, in fact, I actually have a tool that’s based on a branding deck. That’s a style personality deck. It’s exactly the same. I’ve literally taken a branding tool and made it I mean, and clearly one of your personality words is fierce, right? Because why would it not be?
Hayley Maxwell 22:06
Exactly That’s it? Yeah, no, I love that. And yeah, it’s so true. Because I think that we can feel like we might want to, like follow the trends and things like that. So we, we, we think, Oh, that looks really good on that person, I’d love to be able to wear that. Or we might want to you know, whatever it is. So we go and we get pieces of clothing and try them on. But it might look good on us. But we might not feel comfortable or, or confident in it. Because it’s not necessarily our style. And so or it’s not a true reflection of our personality. And so even though we see other people wearing it and rocking it, it might not have that effect on us if it actually doesn’t align with our personality. And I guess I’ve never really thought about it from personal style from that particular perspective. So that’s really interesting.
Caitlin Taylor 23:01
That’s exactly you’ve nailed it. Like we can appreciate things and other people, but they just don’t work on us. And often we can’t work out why 100% I guarantee you it’s because it’s not a reflection of your unique style personality. And that’s okay. But I think yeah, the quicker we work that out the less kind of random pieces in our wardrobe that we have that we don’t wear.
Hayley Maxwell 23:21
Exactly. I think we’ve all got got a few pieces in the back of the wardrobe. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And so I want to just go back to what you’re talking about, about that mindset shift around that the highlight or hide, because I think that’s a really important discussion, because we do tend to use clothing a lot to hide certain features, that, you know, we really don’t want to sort of share with the world or that we wish were different. But I love that, that mindset shift the way that you flipped it. And I think that’s such an important thing for us to really think about.
Caitlin Taylor 24:03
Yeah, definitely. And I think what’s really blows my mind. Every time I’m dealing with a client, I have these amazing women who are so capable and confident in different areas of their lives. Like they’re amazing businesswoman, and they’re incredible moms and incredible friends and partners, and then they just beat themselves up about how their bodies look. And, you know, it’s the whole ‘I wish I had when I lose five kilos, or I wish I looked like I did 10 years ago, pre babies.’ And I think it’s really important for us as particularly as women is to remember that we’re on a journey and our bodies so it’s such a cliche, but for our bodies, it really hits home for me. Our bodies are constantly changing and they are allowed to change we have to embrace the change.
I think one of the really simple tools to do that is to identify our best bits and it really is as simple as reframing how we look at our body in the mirror. And, and that’s, I use the word Best Bits. But I think sometimes for me, it’s about what are the three parts of your body that you are the most confident in drawing attention to. So it doesn’t have to be ‘oh my god, I love this part. And I love this part.’ Like, I think that sometimes body positivity can go to like, I don’t expect everyone to be like, I love my cellulite, I love my wobbly bits. But having what we call body neutrality is really important.
That’s about going this is my body right now, this is where it’s at, I’m going to accept it right now as it’s as it is, and I’m going to focus on the good bits. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t, you know, strive to eat better or to exercise to feel better. But it’s not about going, when I’ve got my body back, that front was like your body is where you are now. So really is about and I get my clients to write down their three best bits and stick them on the mirror. So every time they’re tempted to kind of go, they’re going actually no, I’m going to reshift my mind, I’m going to focus on these three bits. And dressing.
Again, it’s that whole point then about when we dress getting dressed, it might be something as simple as like tucking a tarp in to define your waist, rather than wearing it out to hide your hips. Right? Because actually, what you’re doing is you’re actually generally you’re drawing attention to your hips, because if you’re wearing something to cover your hips, it’s going to finish just below your hips. And people are going to see that because it’s where we’re creating a point of high contrast. And actually, often people dress to hide parts, but really highlighting them anyway.
So if we can actually shift our mindset and go, and it might be something as simple as and again, the listeners can’t see. I have a I have a button through shirt with long sleeves. But I’ve rolled the sleeves up to expose my wrists because the rest of this one was part of my arms. I’m going yeah, look how little my wrists are. Don’t look in the ass. It’s all about Siegfried and Roy just know what they’re doing. It’s about misdirection and distraction. Look at this, look at this. Don’t look over here. Yeah, it’s all about distracting from the parts that we personally don’t like. But drawing attention to the parts that we’re confident about. Because we’re then going to walk around in what we’re wearing, with that different mindset around how we look rather than feeling like we need to hide everything. But like, Yeah, I’m confident in showing off these bits.
Hayley Maxwell 27:19
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And so when it comes to, I guess, once we’ve kind of nailed down our own sort of personal style, how can we then use our, personal style to sort of boost that confidence in particularly, obviously, in this case, for this podcast from a business perspective, as well?
Caitlin Taylor 27:44
Yeah, I think, look, a lot of people probably listening to your podcast, who Haley like, like myself, we’re business owners. And I think that we’re our own personal brand. So I think that personal style is so intrinsically linked, and I love it, because I feel like you and I are both wearing our personal brand today. So we had to leopard prints on and pretty bold pink and red kind of shirt on. But I think you just feel much more like yourself in business, in life. And I think it’s about again, think about your style personality, how can you reflect that in your clothing choices.
And then, because what I want you to do, it’s kind of sounds almost kind of ironic that I want you to get up, get dressed, focus on what you’re wearing for that split second, and then not focus on it for the rest of the day. Because I think if you’re not fussing and fiddling and second guessing yourself, you’re gonna get on with your day, and actually be very excellent at doing what you’re very excellent at. Whereas if you’re wearing something that doesn’t feel like you, you’re going to spend the whole day kind of in the back of your mind going, This skirt is too short. This top is too tight. I don’t like this color. This neckline is annoying me. You know. So I think part of it is actually having that confidence comes from going, ‘Oh, great. I feel like me,’ let’s now get stuff done, basically for the day. I think also as well. Don’t be scared, particularly in business scenarios.
So I used to love I was part of a network and women’s networking group. And I loved because I did work from home. If I’m not with a client, I’m working from home. I loved the networking group because it was a great opportunity to get dressed up. So I think it’s using those elements in your business that you might have out external meetings, Zoom calls, networking events. Use those opportunities to really test and grow your personal style and get dressed up. Don’t be scared to be the person in the room that feels the most dressed up.
I don’t think you can ever be overdressed and I think that your confidence is going to be a lot higher being slightly overdressed and slightly underdressed it’s almost like you’re shooting too high. Right so what’s that saying? Shoot for the moon and even if you miss you’re still out at land among the stars. Yeah, I kind of feel like shoot for being overdressed and you’ll probably feel might feel a little bit like, Oh, it’s just too much.
Once you get there, you’ll be great. Whereas if you walk into a room and you feel underdressed, your confidence is already low, and it’s a lot harder to build it up than it is to kind of be like calm down. Yeah. Does that make sense? No personality First, use that to kind of push yourself a little bit, but just get dressed to reflect you. And then actually, your confidence will be there. Because you’ve kind of, you’ve got your armor on you like, go, let’s do this.
Hayley Maxwell 30:37
Yeah, absolutely. And I think I mean, I’ve been working from home would be about 11 years now. And I am very much of the view that I could never come to my desk and sit in my pyjamas during the work week, or track your pants or whatever else. I don’t do that. Because I still feel like in the morning, I want to this and this is me personally get up, get dressed, put my makeup on, or whatever, and feel like I am going to work. And I definitely think that dressing in a way in the day that actually makes me feel good. has a really positive impact on on my mood.
Caitlin Taylor 31:23
Yep, that’s exactly what I was about to use because they’re creating segregation. So we’re actually going okay, Mom Juty has done. It’s now time for Hayley to become work Hayley. And I think part of that process is getting dressed to go to work. And I think again, it is it’s no putting your brand on it’s, it’s it’s stepping out of mom’s zone, because Mom, your mom’s own clothes can still reflect your style personality. But I think your work clothes reflect it in a slightly different way. And so it very much is a mindset shift. It’s exactly right. It’s okay, like almost a game face on.
It’s like putting a uniform on to go and play sport, right? You’re like, Okay, I’m part of the team now, because I want my team uniform on. I mean, the football team could rock up in their regular uniform clothes, not uniform clothes, and still play football. As soon as they put their kit on their like part of the team ready to go in the mindset. It’s exactly the same. It’s about getting up and kind of stepping into your brand, I think is really important. And you kind of also touched on a point about how you feel.
And I think that it is, for me, there’s a term called dopamine dressing, which is kind of like a little bit of a thing on the internet right now. But it’s been around for years. And dopamine dressing basically as dressing to boost your mood. So it’s twofold. It’s about and it doesn’t I think sometimes people take the term dopamine dressing to mean just bring bright color. But it’s about wearing clothes that you love or wearing something that actually because it’s so Dopamine is a reward neurotransmitter. So what happens is we go, you wear something bright, and someone goes, Oh, you look good. And you go, Oh, I feel good. And your brain goes, well, like me some of that do it again. And so you have it’s almost like this, fake it till you make it and your dopamine dressing tool might but your animal print, you know, it’s it doesn’t have to be bright color. It can be it can be sequins, it can be soft textures, it can be something that just makes you go, ‘Oh, I really like this, I feel really good. I love this.’ It’s it’s that kind of happy hormone inducing piece of clothing.
So I think doubling down on getting dressed for work or wearing clothes that you know, pants that aren’t stretchy shoes, potentially, a bra, even if you want to, you know, get out there. All those kinds of things that make you feel dressed, but also wearing things that make you feel happy and kind of getting into that mindset, but it’s also about going okay, now I am, you know, as a stylist, I’m like, ‘Okay, I need to dress like a stylist.’ Even if I’m sitting at home writing a blog, or doing some, you know, doing my GST I’m like, Well, I’m still a stylist. So I need to kind of walk the walk and talk the talk. So I think that’s part of it as well is just representing your brand and your business by getting dressed.
Hayley Maxwell 34:01
Yeah, that’s it and I wrote an Instagram post recently around you know, one of the things that I do love about, you know, clothes and styling and brand is the fact that actually we can draw elements of our brand into you know, what we are what we’re wearing, and almost create that, that uniform for ourselves for for work. So obviously I’ve done that with, you know, with my my leopard print. The reason that I believe it’s important or it’s a useful mechanism for sort of making yourself more memorable is that it really helps with brand recognition and recall. So if you’ve got your brand colors, and you know that when you’re going to work you’re showing up and set your brand colors, or you’re showing up with a certain print whatever it might be or accessories that those colors or that printing. So if I’m wearing a plain top I’ll always be white. I rang leopard print earrings or leopard print shoes. So I think it is about also thinking about how we can actually use that that style clothes accessories to increase that brand recognition as well.
Caitlin Taylor 35:14
Yeah, definitely. And I think you mean, you’re awesome at that exactly. Like you said, Dilip in France like it’s such a distinct visual because as you know, it’s the old cliche about a picture speaks 1000 words, it’s just immediately our brains process imagery faster than they process words. So if we can see an Instagram post, and you see someone wearing a certain color, or a certain print as an accessory, our brains pick that up quicker than they read the caption. Yeah, you know, so exactly what you said if you can work out.
And obviously, you’ve picked your brand colors because you like them, and you relate to them. Like, generally, you’re not going to pick brand colors that you don’t like, if you have maybe you should rebrand. But you know, and I think often instinctually, we will pick colors that suit us, even if it’s for our branding, or for our home.
So I often find when I go to people’s homes, I can tell what color palette they are, because of how they decorated their home as much as how what they’re wearing. So often you’ll you warm or cool. And literally even your office, whatever that example like you can see from your coloring that you’re a cool tone. But and you’ve got you know, I’ve got the beautiful sea green chair and the blue wall and the white, the freshness of the white, you can pick up that cool toned ness of that quite easily. And so I think that, you know, you’ve picked your brand colors for a reason.
So like you said, reflecting them in your clothing is a really good tool to feel, again, game face on brand uniform on, but being distinct and recognizable in imagery and stuff like that. And it was so funny, because I recently did a branding shoot. And I don’t wear black, so I don’t like at all. And we took one shot and I’m in full black, but I’ve got pink shoes. And when I showed everybody they were like the pink still there. Because pink is very much my kind of you know, distinct color palette and even sometimes the the daycare moms if I do drop offs, and I wore a black dress once and someone was like, ‘Are you Are you okay? I’ve never seen you in black before.’ Because color is my vibe. And that’s the Queenslander in me but that’s my style and and that kind of thing as well. So definitely you have such a he has such a power to reflect your personal brand and your business brand through your clothing without even kind of realizing it, I think is really quite cool.
Hayley Maxwell 37:31
So I’m just touching on photo shoots. Can we talk about that for a second then because obviously, when it comes to photo shoots, a lot of people get really worried about what they are going to wear and you know, it can be it can be quite stressful, I think for a lot of planning. Yeah, intimidating? Definitely. That’s it. I think planning what they’re going to wear how many outfits you know what’s going to make them feel good. So what tips would you give for you know, preparing your style for a photo shoot.
Caitlin Taylor 38:06
Yep. So I know really good stylist that can help you with that to start with. But do not it’s so funny, because with my shoot I just did, I was joking that I needed to get a stylist to help me because I felt the pressure. So I so I empathize. So tip number one would be understanding all your style foundation. So really buckling down on the colors that you like, and if you’re comfortable in focusing on your best bit. And I think also with photoshoots, you want to exaggerate lines, so you want to wear things that might feel over the top for real life. But actually, like the dramatic lines, like a really broad shouldered blazer with like shoulder pads creates a really sharp angle.
I really like high heels like I don’t wear high heels in real life, I can hardly walk after my photoshoot, but I wore heels the whole time because it just creates that kind of power stance, we stand differently that dominance, that kind of thing.
Choosing block colors often can be quite useful or strong patterns because they want to create that kind of that kind of high contrast. But ultimately it comes down to working out what your brand values are working out what your brand voice is working out what your brand color palette is, and then reflecting that in your outfits.
So again, my instinct in my brain is to go for bold, striking strong prints and shapes. But if your brand is really soft and feminine and muted, then you might choose clothes that reflect that a little bit more as well. But I’ve definitely worked with some amazing photographers who are great at when you tend to choose a photographer where the photography reflects what you like, as well. So photographers can often be a really good help in terms of like the lighting and the location, which can then lead on to what you might wear. But the most important thing to wear when doing a photo shoot is something that you feel comfortable and confident in. And that links right on back to understanding your style foundation. So we’re always, always going to feel look our best when we feel our best.
Hayley Maxwell 40:12
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And I think you’re totally right about. It’s also finding that that photographer that reflects the kind of aesthetic style that you, you know, want to achieve with your photos and so that that obviously aligns back to what you’re your brand style, your brand personality and your own personality in terms of your your clothing, it’s all got to align, because there’s no point in choosing a photographer that has a really edgy editorial style, if actually, you are more of a whimsical, magical. Exactly with golden golden light, you know, So I think that’s super interesting.
And then, again, from a power dressing perspective, you obviously just talking about the shoulder pads and that kind of thing. But for a lot of people who are maybe getting into things like speaking and events and things like that, how can we use our style in order to you know, really give us that confidence boost? I mean, I know it’s about obviously, choosing things that we’re feeling comfortable in. But from a maybe speaking perspective, you’ve been up on stage, is there anything else we should be thinking about from a, you know, style perspective?
Caitlin Taylor 41:32
Yeah, I think definitely things that we are mentally comfortable in, but also things that we’re physically comfortable in. Because if you’re standing up in front of people, you want to stand strong, stand tall, not be fiddling with the clothes and fussing. People can see that on stage. So I would definitely say things that you are physically comfortable in. I often joke when I do talks, like I you know, will drive there and walk in and flats but I’ll put my my speaking heels on. So I stand differently when I got to heel on. So it’s finding those things that you do feel personally comfortable in, but physically comfortable, but again, I would try and wear on the side of slightly elevated.
So take your own personal style and elevate it a little bit because you want to be seen as the expert you want to be seen like you’ve got your shit together. And often we do that by just elevating our style slightly.
But really practical tip, if you can find a blazer that you love, a blazer is always a great place to dress anything up. So if you’re wearing jeans and a T shirt, and a blazer, if you’re wearing a floaty dress, add a blazer, my favorite look to speak in the moment is like a colorful suit. Like I love a colored suit. The colorful NOD is to my feminine and this suit element is that elevated kind of edgy vibe. So I kind of almost have a speaking uniform. And I feel like if you can, so I give clients what I call breaking in Case of Emergency outfits. So it’s outfits that you know, and this is like the everyday life.
If like the mornings gone and up and you have three minutes to get ready. Do you have an outfit you can just grab and chuck on and you know, it works, you know, it feels good. And you can run out the door. So we’ve got a couple of those for everyday life. If you are a speaker, or you know presenting a workshop, have you got one or two of those that you can pull out. And it doesn’t matter if people have seen it before, because it almost does become like your uniform.
But for me, it really is about just taking your personal style and elevating it just that that little bit the practical tips work like find a blazer, clean lines often work quite well on stage. Because again, it’s about what the eye sees, and the eye quite likes, you know, kind of structured clean lines. But on the flip side, if your personal style is whimsical and romantic, then a big flirty dress would be amazing too. So but maybe it’s something that’s really dramatic. So you actually go really big and floaty, if that’s your personal style. So just elevate what your everyday style is a smidge.
Hayley Maxwell 44:03
I think that that’s amazing. And I think that this is an awesome place to kind of start wrapping up the the chat but I always ask my guests three questions. And the first of those questions is what does being fierce in business mean to you?
Caitlin Taylor 44:19
Great question. Being fierce in business, to me means not worrying about what anybody else is doing and just really staying in your own lane. And I think that applies to how you present yourself what you’re wearing, what you’re doing, what kind of content you’re putting out there. It’s really easy to sit there and scroll and I think that I’ve been guilty of that. And so for me this year, particularly and I’ve been working with a lovely Nat Tolhopf, who you know very well as well. And the big thing for me that’s come out of working with Nat is to just focus on what I’m doing and focus on the things I’ve already got in front of me so I feel the most For years in business, when I’m like, I know what I’m doing, this is the path I’m going on and I’m not gonna get distracted. So it’s having those almost having those blinkers on and just owning my space is really important for me. Also, wearing pink makes me feel really fierce in business.
Hayley Maxwell 45:13
That’s the thing. I think that’s, you know, what we’ve been essentially saying today is choosing those clothes that do make you feel really confident, really powerful and really fierce, you know.
Caitlin Taylor 45:28
Not worrying about what anybody else thinks. I think that’s what stops people a lot of the time is going, Oh, I can’t wear that. Because so and so will think this well, who cares? Ultimately, the only person whose opinion matters about what you wear is yours.
Hayley Maxwell 45:43
Yeah, that’s so true. Because we do when it comes to clothing, I think we do get caught up in I can’t wear that, because what will people think of me?
Caitlin Taylor 45:51
But also, how do we know? Because we don’t know people thinking, we know making it up the story, we’re telling ourselves as people might think something, but actually the only person whose opinion matters as yours.
Hayley Maxwell 46:04
And if it makes us feel good, and happy and joyful, then you know, put it on wherever. And so what is the impact that you’re trying to make with your business?
Caitlin Taylor 46:16
I think what we literally just said, if you can get up and get dressed every day, and feel really confident and comfortable in what you are wearing, then that’s my job is done. So I really want to help people elevate their everyday style. Like I said, I’m not about red carpets or magazine shoots, but I want women to understand that their bodies are amazing and unique and incredible as they are they don’t need to change a thing. And that you can have an amazing style, no matter what your size, shape, age, body type. Everybody has the right to look and feel amazing. And every single body is uniquely wonderful and beautiful as it is. And so if I can get that message across to as many people as I can, then I’m doing a good thing.
Hayley Maxwell 47:02
Yeah, absolutely. And what’s one bit of advice that you’ve been given during your your business journey that’s really had an impact on the way that you do things?
Caitlin Taylor 47:13
Again, I think throwing back to Nat, really, this in the past couple of months, focusing on what I already have in front of me, was actually a game changer. Like what I went on an amazing retreat that Nat ran for her business coaching clients. And that’s what came out of it. For me, it was that focusing on what I already offer, and not trying to look for the new shiny thing. And really knuckling down on what I’ve got, because what I’ve actually got on offer is enough. And as a business person, and as a woman, what I already have is enough, and that was such a game changer. In fact, watch this space 2023 Because there is some big changes coming for Chasing Cait as a result of that. So my big piece of advice that I’ve been given, that’s definitely been the most impactful was Yeah, focus on what’s already in front of you, I’m already doing a good thing. I know what I’m doing. I’m good at what I’m doing. I don’t need to always chase the new shiny object, I can really just knuckle down and focus on what I’ve already got and make those offerings better.
Hayley Maxwell 48:16
Yeah, absolutely. Then I know you’ve got the confidence project as well. So do you want to just share a little bit about what the confidence project is?
Caitlin Taylor 48:25
Yeah, sure. So you know, we’ve been chatting a lot about mindset on the podcast today. And I think what’s become really apparent to me, I recently ran a whole bunch of freestyling events through one of the malls up here in Auckland, and I saw 64 Women in three weeks. And what I find is, when I do these events, a theme often comes out of it. The theme that came out of this was that confidence in style is 90%, your mindset and 10% the clothes you have. So I feel like a lot of my business focuses on the clothes that you have. But I really want to kind of you know, bring in that psych background and really focus on giving people some tools to shift their mindset. So I’ve created a program called the comnfidence project. And it is what it says on the tin. It’s basically a project that you can join and become a part of and you get weekly tools to work on your body confidence and work on your mind set. And you can take the tools at every week, you get a think piece and then you can action piece. So I give you something to think about and ponder like a particular topic, and then they give you an action. And it really is that constant touch point. So for me, it’s really important that people get that constant reminder because I think just having like one big program or one big essay on body confidence, you might read it at the time and go yeah, I’ve got this and then next week you’re like, Oh, crap again. So having that kind of weekly touch point for me through the confidence project is super important. So that’s, that’s kind of yes, it’s kind of started but but what you and I Hayley, you’re going to get in there and mix it up a little bit and and grew up some goodness for the competence.
Hayley Maxwell 50:02
And so where can people come and find you if they’re keen to come and check you out which I’m sure they will do.
Caitlin Taylor 50:08
So all the socials, I am on Instagram and Cahsingcait_stylecoach, Facebook, I think I’m Chasing Cait style coach, or you can just find me at chasingcait.com Or you can just Google Caitlin Taylor stylist and I think all my, all my bits come up as well and the confidence project or how you know, I’m all about my bits. And the competence project is on chasingcait.com. So there’s a little link to it there as well.
Hayley Maxwell 50:42
I’ll make sure I put all of those links into the show notes as well. But thank you so, so much for taking the time to come and chat with me today. I think it’s been such a such an empowering discussion around how we can use our personal style. So yeah, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom.
Caitlin Taylor 50:58
Well, thank you for having me. It’s been fun.
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