Today I arranged a special shopping trip for a few special friends, the three women who have supported, advised, and otherwise helped me as I get my image consulting business off the ground. (One more thank-you, J., L., and A.) For our outing we went to the just-opened Anthropologie in Friendship Heights, DC.

Envisioning a New You

It was a really fun time. But possibly the most interesting thing happened when one saleswoman came out of an employee-only room and I spotted a bunch of pictures pinned to the wall in artful patterns. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find out much about what they were, but I did learn that the store managers create collages to inform and inspire the other employees about the current season’s trends.

I’ve thought a lot about collages recently and I love creating them, possibly because although I’m a very visual person, for much of my life I’ve been mostly a word person. I adore a pair of scissor and a bunch of magazines. (The collage shown here is one I did to show at a recent workshop, and it’s a peek into what I love about the Spring 2010 trends.)

In my work with clients, I encourage them to locate images (and words, too, for that matter) that speak to them. The idea is to rip them out of magazines or newspapers without giving the matter much thought — this has to be an instinctual thing. The resulting collection of images represent our unconscious speaking to us about who we are and how we want to perceived, and we have to look and listen.

Start by ripping images from magazines or any other source of visual images. (And don’t limit yourself to fashion magazines; you can find inspiration in garden or home design or car magazines — pretty much anything! Because you’re looking for color, line, and other visual signifiers of your own personal style.)

(Note: I have recently seen some collages on stiff black paper, and although there’s not a thing wrong with the white board I used here, the black looks nicer. Any art supply or craft store will have it.)