Create A Personal Brand Identity That Works For Your Life

I was remembering back to working with a client on creating a branded, personal capsule wardrobe so that she can communicate her personal brand identity quickly and easily in every video call, photo, meeting, impromptu conversation, etc. She’s an entrepreneur with a small biz – this means her personal brand identity and her personal wardrobe meld together. They influence the business’s brand and feel and, ultimately, bottom line.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what a “branded wardrobe” looks like, what it feels like, and how it’s implemented in our daily lives. Thinking about the fact that it’s easy to create a branded look that communicates your personal brand identity. It’s what every actor and actress does when they get into costume, or going on a press tour. Ultimately, a branded wardrobe is a cohesive wardrobe intended to convey something specific and intentional.

But why is a branded personal wardrobe so hard in reality?

If that’s all a branded wardrobe is, why is it so easy to create a personally branded wardrobe in theory, and so difficult to make it look good in reality?

The trick to pulling off a consistent personal brand look in your day-to-day life is that we have to add a second part to the equation. If we’re going to wear our personal wardrobe day-to-day, it has to be comfortable. 

A branded wardrobe is the easy part. The branded wardrobe, that we are also comfortable in, as ourselves, is more difficult.

Actors are trained to convey something, even if they personally feel uncomfortable. You just need to look at a red carpet and realize that nobody is comfortable in those shoes and those dresses and that many undergarments. It doesn’t matter that they feel uncomfortable. Their job is to look stunning and rock what they’re wearing, so they do.

But most of us don’t have that training. We don’t have the training to override our insecurities and our discomfort with the garments we’re wearing. We aren’t good at ignoring the signals our bodies are sending us to project something else, some other feeling or intention instead. So when we don’t feel comfortable in our clothing, it shows through in our body language because we don’t know how to override that (and we shouldn’t have to).

So when you create your personally branded wardrobe, create a wardrobe that prioritizes both your personal brand image and also your comfort.

To create a personal brand identity for your day-to-day:

If you are someone who is skilled at hiding their physical discomfort with their clothes, go ahead and create the perfect visual branded wardrobe – physical comfort be damned. 

If you’re not skilled at hiding your physical discomfort, use a two filter process when creating your visually branded wardrobe. 

Filter #1: is it physically comfortable to you? If the answer is no, just ditch it. If the answer is yes, move to filter two. 

Filter #2: does it visually fit within your brand? If the answer is no, also ditch it. We are after all creating a branded look for you. 

But if the answer is yes to both these filters… congratulations! You have found a garment for your branded wardrobe. 

And if you want help creating your own branded wardrobe to communicate your personal brand. Let’s work together.