How do the colours in our clothes help us to find ourselves, Lisa Pippus?

What do you choose to wear when you have an important meeting coming up and you want to feel and look self-confident? Which outfit do you pick on that day to instantly communicate, who you are to the person you are talking to without using words? Image consultant Lisa Maria Pippus deals with precisely these exciting questions. Her main topic: Which colours help us to purposefully influence our external image and effectively build our brand identity. This is very individual for each person. In order to determine the colour scheme and the desired change in style for her clients, she has developed a method that makes this process possible for every individual. We talked to her about the influence of colours and what she enjoys most about helping people through her work. 
 

You work as an image coach with a very interesting specialization. Could you tell our readers more about, what you help your clients with? 

I would call myself a brand architect, as it is always about leadership. I help young leaders to figure out the language of how they want to show up. I also help them find out where there are on the style globe. There is one beautiful quote by Warren Bennis: 'Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself.' All of this is very connected by color. 

Could you tell us a little about how you got into this field of research?

I did fashion in Canada and Italy and was always kind of stuck with the shallow nature of it. Then I had this client who was very excited about going to Paris, so I asked her: What do you wear in order to look and feel confident? She had no idea. At this moment, a new path was born. I realize that, if I only told her what I thought would be good, she didn't have a system, that she could take with her and repeat. So I decided to create a method. 

As an image coach, what is a typical area that your clients need your help for? 

Most people come to me because they want to be more visible and more confident. And they require help to find their language while building their personal brand. They want to show up as confident and professional but don’t know-how. For example, I had a client who said, that people don’t see and believe that she graduated from an Ivy League college, but she wants them to see that. So I help to find her an answer to it. How do you dress as a woman, who graduated from an Ivy League? So I start out by painting them, to make them see how they are perceived momentarily, and to then decide where they want to go from there.

How exactly do you go about that? 

In order to help my clients, I must gather evaluation criteria from somebodies mind, heart and soul. So I let my clients choose pictures. Of art, food, fashion, furniture - anything, that they feel defines their persona. And through this, I understand their direction and a colour palette and so their style is created. At the end, finding your style is looking at 20.000 pieces and limiting it down. Never before in history, we had such a large amount of clothing to pick from, of course it is tough to define our style. But I facilitated that process for them. 

Could you tell us more about that process? 

I created 12 fashion personas that represent 12 positions on the style globe, which I created from the film. I feel like the film is the place where there must be the most immediate detection of a person's brand, judging by the style and color of their clothing. Characters that you look at, and can immediately tell: she is supposed to be the boss or the nomadic artist. People instinctively know which one of the 12 personas they are drawn to - of course, we can mix them, too. And then we go from there.

Lately, you have been getting into the subject of chromophobia. How did you get into the topic? 

From the work that I've been doing for the past 18 years, I could tell, that there was generally this fear of color. Sometimes my clients are surprised that, when I create their colour palette, they won't find black in there. For many of my clients, specifically from Europe, 50% of their wardrobe is black. I work with 24 basic colour types, some have black and some don’t. But even those who don’t find breadth in their colour palette, that will make them stand out when they go up on stage and be visible. Some colours help you being perceived as more approachable and kind, and some help you being taken more seriously and look confident. For some people, black makes seem more strong and for some people, it makes them disappear.

Do you think the way we understand colours and perceive them on people has changed a lot through the centuries? 

A lot of our understanding of the symbolics of colour comes from philosophy and from the arts. And these are completely relevant to a canvas, but not to a human being on understanding how to use colour to show up. One of the reasons of going back and looking into art is that it still influences us today. For example: Goethe said, that vibrant colours were only worn by savage people. And still, today, vibrant colours have this bold and savage connotation. Even the Tagesspiegel quoted Goethe last week, when he judged lilac to be a colour for old ladies, that want to express sexual interest, but not be bold. So the point is: We are still influenced today by what was said about colour hundreds of years ago.

How do you interpret the stronger presence of colour in the global fashion collections in 2021? 

I think there is a very strong desire for colour in the world right now. Especially during these times. When you take a closer look at people's social media, everyone is fascinated by colour: they get into wearing more vibrant clothing, share pictures of beautiful sunsets or colourful snaps of our meals. There is a very intense desire, that we know is good for our soul right now, and that is colour. But with all this admiration for the outside world, don’t forget that you are a masterpiece too, that, if painted, is filled by colour.