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TOG Talks: The Style Edition

The ONE Group Season 1 Episode 11

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Welcome to The ONE Group's Podcast! We believe that every professional has a great story to tell, which is why we have set up TOGCast to share successful stories and top tips on how candidates and clients got to where they are today.

On this episode we are joined by Samantha, who has shared her insights on how your style and wardrobe can help you own the room after getting to where you are, developing your skills and investing in your career development or business.

Introducing Samantha Harman:

Samantha helps men and women gain the confidence to live their biggest, boldest, best lives through the power of their wardrobes. Having worked in media for 15+ years and qualifying as a stylist and coach, she is incredibly passionate about helping people go after the opportunities they deserve.

If you would like to be our next guest speaker, host or ask us a question, please email us at marketing@theonegroup.co.uk

Hosted by Leanne Davidson-Town and Producer Bex.

If you would like to be our next guest speaker, host or ask us a question, please email us at hello@theonegroup.co.uk

Hosted by Leanne Davidson-Town and Producer Bex.

You are now tuned in to this week's episode on togcast. It is our mission to bring you guest speakers sharing their latest and greatest tips, skills, stories and know-hows within their Market.

[Music]


Hi and welcome to togcast, today's episode is the style Edition and I'm joined by producer Bex and the amazing Samantha Harmon who is a style coach.So Sam thank you for joining us today, I've got so much to talk about but let's start with you first, so how did you get into being a style coach telling me about your journey. 



I was a woman in leadership 

and what I realised in doing that role 

was that no one ever talked to me about 

what I should wear and I didn't then 

know how to talk to my team about what 

to wear either I'd always loved 

clothes and fashion but I didn't think 

that that was for me because I grew up 

as most of us do in a society that tells 

us that we aren't good enough and so I 

ended up for many years 

pretty much hating myself like every day 

I would have negative thoughts about 

myself my body and that really impacted 

my confidence and that is something that 

many people will resonate with because 

studies show and this is actually quite 

an old study so I would guess that it's 

more than this now because of social 

media definitely but women have 36 

negative thoughts about themselves every 

single day so if you don't have those 

negative thoughts imagine how much time 

and energy you'd have for other stuff so 

when you're in leadership as well 

and that's really hard to navigate 

because in your mind you're thinking all 

this stuff about yourself but also you 

have to present as a leader 

and as I was navigating that and doing 

that as an editor I had to have a strong 

personal brand other people were asking 

for my help with how to dress they would 

say to me I've got an interview tomorrow 

what should I wear or I've got an 

important meeting 

you know can you help me find an outfit 

for it 

and that was when I realised that there 

was so much mortise and clothes and all 

of my experience of not liking myself 

could actually really help people 

so that's why I became 

right okay so it was like your 

experience with people just not knowing 

what to wear for just anything or 

specifically interviews 

in general work 

I think that it is really hard to 

navigate different dress codes and also 

we have a bit of an issue where 

we get so much training on loads of 

other stuff right like yes I.T systems 

and smart goals and all this stuff but 

the one thing we have to do every day is 

get dressed like we're not no one's 

naked I mean hopefully they're not 

listening to this 

fair play to you yeah but everyone has 

to get dressed and it's an unfortunate 

actually that's a really good point 

because when you're at school you wear a 

uniform so you don't even know then what 

to wear and I remember them when there 

was a mufty day never knowing what to 

wear on mufty day and then I guess when 

you then go into the world of work 

you're so used to wearing uniforms that 

actually they don't they don't tell you 

and even if they give you a dress code 

there might be so many questions around 

that dress codes are very Broad and they 

can mean different things to different 

people especially if you have people in 

your team who are neurodivergent for 

example where they have different needs 

from their clothes and they might hyper 

focus on certain colours or labels and 

it's really hard for them to conform to 

to that dress code and 

the communication just is very much 

lacking and now after the pandemic we 

have a really good opportunity to go and 

assess okay what did we say pre-pandemic 

what are we saying now how can we 

communicate this properly to the people 

who work for us because even though it 

may not actually come into the office 

even though there may not be an open 

conversation in the office about I don't 

know what to wear today guys people are 

thinking this and it is then impacting 

how they show up for work and how 

ultimately they represent your company 

yeah because some people might be coming 

in you know suited and booted and other 

people might be coming in shorts and 

Sliders and there's not really any sort 

of dress code policy that stipulates you 

can't wear this or you can wear that 

because they the ones that I've seen are 

quite you know smart casual well that 

can mean a lot of different things to 

different companies so yeah so do you 

work with a lot of companies on dress 

codes I am starting to work with more 

now yeah I'm getting a lot more more 

interest from HR departments who are 

thinking about this stuff yeah and I'm 

having a lot of conversations with 

managers so I had a conversation with a 

manager recently who was complaining to 

me because they were saying people look 

like they're either going to Royal 

escort or they're in their pyjamas and I 

don't know pyjamas yeah so like they 

look like they've rolled out of bed yeah 

and they come to the office 

and when I said why aren't you why don't 

you feel comfortable addressing that 

with them or having that conversation 

they said I've never been trained in any 

of that I don't know what I can and 

can't say I don't know what the rules 

are I'm struggling with this myself as 

it is so if the manager is confused 

about what to wear to work and what 

people should be wearing of course the 

people that work for them will be yeah 

it's almost like a personal preference 

of what you think is inappropriate or 

not you know like a really short skirt 

you might think is inappropriate but 

other people obviously don't because 

they're wearing it to work so yeah it's 

quite a big issue there I can imagine 

that some companies are struggling with 

ever since like you said the pandemic 

because everyone was used to dressing a 

certain way and then for I don't know a 

year or so they were dressing in their 

joggers I know I definitely was and then 

coming back to the work environment I 

was like oh I don't know where all my 

work clothes have gone they don't fit me 

or you know whatever so yeah then it is 

a big struggle isn't it to just know 

what to wear and graduates as well who 

have graduated during that time they've 

some of them you know they've finished 

their a levels during that time they've 

gone to UNI in a pandemic where they 

aren't really getting out and doing 

in-person work experience so they don't 

know what they're supposed to wear to an 

office and then they turn up to 

interviews and they're not necessarily 

dressed how we'd want them to be dressed 

but where is the communication yeah 

we're not communicating with people and 

we're not talking about this because we 

think that you know talking about dress 

is superficial 

we're not helping people do the best at 

their jobs 

so there was a term quite an old term 

power dressing that sometimes gets 

thrown about a bit do you know the 

history of of where that comes from I do 

indeed yeah and settle in for a history 

lesson yes please 

so there was a man named John T Malloy 

and in the 1970s he wrote a book that 

was called something along the lines of 

Dress for Success women in business and 

this was used to address the fact that 

more women were coming into 

what were historically male-dominated 

spaces offices Etc and the term power 

dressing basically meant you should have 

broad shoulders because then you know 

you will be able to stand shoulder to 

shoulder with the men 

hence shoulder pads oh okay but also you 

need to remain feminine because 

ultimately your goal as a woman is you 

know to be attractive to men and this 

whole work thing is just sort of 

something silly you gals are up to 

obviously obviously so the 

the person who was 

what we think of really as the first 

Power dresser is Margaret Thatcher so if 

you think of Margaret Thatcher that is 

power dressing and it's been 50 years 

since that book was written we've lived 

through so much change we've lived 

through a pandemic 

so it probably is time for us to update 

the rules as it were if we if we need 

rules yeah so what do you think power 

dressing means like now 

I think it means 

whatever makes you feel so good that 

you're going to do the best at your job 

yeah because if you are 

in the morning if you know that you have 

an important meeting to go to you 

haven't taken the time to look at your 

wardrobe you're standing there you know 

you've got 10 minutes to go you're 

feeling stressed already about this 

meeting you put on something that 

doesn't make you feel very good you go 

to that meeting and whilst you're in the 

room you're actually in your head 

because you're thinking I don't feel 

right these trousers are too tight 

people are looking at me you're not 

actually doing the best that you can 

sure that's such a thing isn't it like I 

don't know I just assume everyone does 

this but in the morning when you're 

getting ready you don't have a 

pre-planned outfit for that day so 

you're then rushing and trying on loads 

of clothes especially if you've got an 

event or something coming up and you 

know you just don't know what to wear 

and I've been in that situation so many 

times when I've there's something 

happening I think I know what I want to 

wear I put it on I don't feel good it 

doesn't look right whatever and then a 

half an hour goes by and I still don't 

know what I'm wearing I'm sure I'm not 

alone in that 

yeah you are not alone 

yeah it's just it must be like a really 

horrible sort of place to be it is and 

that is why it's important 

to align your wardrobe with your goals 

ultimately okay because if you plan your 

wardrobe as part of what I want to 

achieve this year I want to get a 

promotion this year or I want to you 

know get a pay rise whatever it is that 

you want 

how can I use my clothes to support me 

in that they're actually a tool that you 

can use in business 

yeah so do you have any I don't know 

stories about someone that you've like 

helped in in that kind of situation 

where you know maybe they've 

wanted that promotion and they've used 

their clothes as a tool to support them 

to get that I got loads 

of stories 

hair flick 

yeah I do I have clients who will 

come to me and they'll say I want a 

promotion by this day or this is what 

I'm working towards okay and actually 

that is this is why I feel that I am a 

little bit different to what people 

perceive as a stylist because I'm all 

about helping people reach their goals 

so the first thing that I do with people 

is talk about what it is that they want 

what is their big dream and what I find 

often with clients 

particularly women do this is they will 

dilute their dreams and they'll say well 

I kind of want to put you know I kind of 

want a promotion but I don't know maybe 

in five years or whatever I want to know 

what their big dream is because I 

absolutely am obsessed with helping them 

get to it and so we work from that place 

and then we look at okay how does your 

wardrobe currently make you feel and how 

you feel every day now is that the 

energy that you need to get you to where 

you want to go okay so is that where you 

start them with your like sessions you 

go into someone's wardrobe and actually 

assess what they've got and how that 

makes them feel 

so their wardrobe or your wardrobe 

anyone's wardrobe whilst we think it is 

a collection of clothes it's actually 

evidence as to 

how you feel about yourself your goals 

your dreams your hopes your fears it can 

be full of shame it can be full of guilt 

it can be full of regret if you have a 

Wardrobe full of stuff that you don't 

wear that has the tags on it that makes 

you feel guilty I'm guilty of that 

myself that energy is 

holding you back I had a client last 

week who told me that she wear her 

wardrobe and she has to walk past it to 

go from her bedroom out for the day and 

she said she will kind of scuttle past 

it because it makes her feel really 

disempowered and that is not 

an accident right the whole fashion 

industry is set up to make us feel that 

way so that we'll continue to buy stuff 

that we don't need to fix problems that 

we don't have so that's not an accident 

that that's how our wardrobes make us 

feel and to that point we think that the 

fixes then I'll go out and buy something 

new I've got nothing here to wear 

yeah because I think you 

um said on LinkedIn that people spend 

500 pounds a year on clothes and they 

only wear 10 of those clothes I mean I'm 

definitely guilty of that I tend to buy 

something for an occasion but not a 

specific occasion because it's nice and 

it looks pretty so it'll just sit in my 

wardrobe and then the occasion will 

never come so I'll just never wear it 

and then eventually I'll either then 

give it to a charity shop or 

it still just sits in my wardrobe 

waiting for the day that it gets worn

that is very interesting why isn't today 

the day that you could wear it well yeah 

I suppose you're just waiting for that 

what are you what are you waiting for 

yeah I love that I don't know tell me 

what I what is it that you feel that you 

need to wait for until you can wear that 

and what would be different about your 

day if you put it on 

because you would have a different day 

because you would feel like the woman 

who wears that outfit already what we do 

is we have these clothes as a goal and 

we think when I am that person one day 

then I'll wear that thing actually what 

we need to do is be that person today 

the sooner you identify with who you 

want to be the sooner that you'll become 

it yeah

oh my God I love that I mean I actually 

put this dress on for the first time 

today because I knew you were coming 

do many people do that they do it all 

the time yes yeah I was an event 

recently 

a lot of people there said to me I knew 

you were going to be here so I dressed 

up and that's fine but it's also a 

little frustrating for me because what's 

important is what they're wearing every 

day for themselves yeah if you only 

dress 

for outside when you're going out what 

you're actually saying is 

my opinion on myself isn't that 

important what I think about what I wear 

doesn't really matter so actually I'm 

not really I obviously I love clothes I 

love to see what people are wearing and 

I am interested in what they wear when I 

meet them but what I'm really interested 

in is what they wear 

when no one sees that's where the work 

is so let's talk officeware we've 

obviously had the pandemic with people 

wearing pyjamas if they want and now 

they're back in the office most offices 

are probably hybrids with three to two 

days in the office and the rest at home 

people are really struggling now with 

actually what to wear what is 

appropriate what's not appropriate so 

what's your advice Sam for pretty much 

everyone out there that have no idea 

what to wear 

first of all from a company level we 

need to make sure that the communication 

is there what do we want from our people 

how can we support them through this 

transition because if we're being honest 

pre-pandemic stuff does not necessarily 

feel appropriate now a lot of people 

have stuff in their wardrobe that 

they've got no connection with anymore 

life's moved on they've changed and it 

just doesn't feel right it feels like 

kind of stuffing themselves into 

somebody else's suit right so that is 

that level the communication needs to be 

there and then on an individual level 

what I would suggest first of all is to 

think about your goals think about what 

you need to be feeling every day to get 

there so if for example your goal is I 

want to get a payroll into the year and 

I know that I need to feel like an 8 out 

of 10 every day to do that to have the 

confidence to do it but on average I 

feel like a three out of ten 

stop wearing stuff that makes you feel 

like a three out of ten right I know 

that sounds a lot of people are like 

what I could I can wear stuff that makes 

me feel good and nice I mean where do 

you actually say it it does sound like a 

really simple thing to do but I'm 

totally guilty of just putting on my 

jeans with a top because that's just 

what I wear every day but if I was to 

rank myself out of 10 yeah it would 

probably be like three or four rather 

than actually feeling like an eight and 

it's just so weird like listening to you 

saying these things it seems so simple 

but I have all these clothes in my 

wardrobe that I never wear that might 

actually make me feel like an eight out 

of ten exactly and if you feel like an 

eight out of ten as opposed to a three 

out of 10 

have a little think about the difference 

that would make to your day because when 

you are you know I used to have it at 

work being in the role that I was in and 

it was a very male-dominated industry 

and a lot of people would assume that I 

was a man and I would walk into a room 

and you know they would 

assume that I was there to take their 

drinks order or that because of your 

name because of my well being a being a 

young woman in that industry as an 

editor at the time there were very few 

women editors and even now I looked at 

some statistics yesterday and it said 

something like 21 of editor roles 

now are taken by women which is you know 

amazing a problem that that well it's a 

problem in the industry because yeah we 

should have more diversity and inclusion 

right but um yeah because my name is Sam 

people just assume obviously that I was 

a man but I then used my clothes as a 

way to be like hello I've arrived and as 

a personal brand and it is unfortunate 

but it's true that we do judge people on 

what they wear 

and this is something that we just can't 

help because we have parts of our brains 

that are prehistoric and what those are 

doing is constantly assessing is someone 

in my community do they get me or are 

they potentially a threat and obviously 

they're not a threat but our brains 

don't know that so people have been 

dressing in uniforms you know in even in 

Scotland with the tartans for the 

various Clans to say that I am part of 

this community so that is why actually 

what we wear does matter because 

unfortunately people are making a 

judgement as to our credibility 

so if you stepped it up a bit at work 

what what potentially could happen so 

you could maybe like start gradually can 

you so if you think you'll be three in 

an outfit maybe go to an outfit that's 

like a four or five don't go straight in 

for that eight because although you 

might feel great you also might be a 

little bit uncomfortable at work with 

the fact that they're used to seeing you 

in a certain way and then all of a 

sudden you're in an amazing dress they 

might be like oh where are you going 

after work you're like actually I'm 

going home 

and what wasn't there a stat or 

something that you had that was like one 

in two women don't feel confident 

enough at work yeah that was a survey 

that Dove have done because obviously 

does do stuff on women and yeah 

confidence and it showed that one in two 

women aren't confident at work at the 

moment and unfortunately because of the 

economy things like the Reykjavik index 

show that trust in women leaders is 

going down as people go back to more 

traditional gender roles 

and you know your clothes can actually 

help you can make you feel more 

confident this is scientific there is 

scientific information to back 

this up yeah so like a psychological 

link between feeling good in what you 

wear and Performing well or performing 

better when you feel good exactly it's 

called enclosed cognition 

and it essentially means that when you 

put on certain clothes you embody the 

identity of the person that you believe 

would wear them so they did a study with 

lab coats and actually they've done this 

study a lot of times with various 

different groups from graduates to 

inmates at prison and they told one 

group that the coat is a labcoat a Doctor's 

lab coat and the other group that is a 

painter's smock and they found that the 

group who thought they were wearing a 

Doctor's lab coat performed better in 

tests and were more productive and you 

know even honest and confident and all 

of those things than the group that 

thought they were wearing a painted 

smock do you know what actually you've 

reminded me of a time when I was at Uni 

and I had to do a presentation and I was 

really really nervous about doing this 

presentation so I bought myself a Blazer 

and I only I just wore the blazer with 

like jeans and a top but the fact that 

I had this Blazer on which obviously I 

associated with someone that knew what 

they were doing I actually smashed that 

presentation and I remember thinking how 

good that I felt when I was doing it and 

I wonder now whether it was just the 

Blazer exactly yeah obviously you did a 

good job of the presentation because 

you're fantastic right well maybe but 

the blazer probably helped you  

know that yeah that's what it does when 

we put on those clothes and that is the 

problem now with working from home and 

hybrid working is that at first it felt 

like a real novelty not having to get 

dressed in the morning but our brains 

can't understand what we're doing 

because our brains associate certain 

clothes of work and productive time and 

certain clothes with going to sleep so 

if you wear your pyjamas all day your 

brain is like I don't know what I'm 

doing what do you you're telling me that 

how to do loads of work but I'm wearing 

the thing from you know when I was a 

child not even old enough to remember my 

parents changing me out of day clothes 

and putting me into pyjamas that signals 

to your brain pyjamas are for sleeping 

ah okay so it is going to have an impact 

on your productivity 

sometimes Sunday's idea actually wear my 

pyjamas all day 

that's what I work from home obviously 

not in the office 

but I feel like I still have 

productive days so maybe it's also like 

where you sit in your house as well 

because I have like a little Office 

Space 

so talking about something that you 

mentioned earlier about how we 

automatically judge people 

so when you go for a job interview then 

do you have any tips for anyone in that 

situation where they don't know what to 

wear they know they're going to be 

judged not intentionally judged but you 

know it's 

it's written in our minds 

obviously look at the place that you're 

going to work because as much as it 

needs to be a culture fit that you need 

to fit in with them they need to fit 

with you right and you want to work 

somewhere that allows you to have enough 

of yourself in the role that you can do 

a good job because if we bring our whole 

selves to work 

we're gonna get more out of it and our 

clients are going to get more out of it 

and everyone's going to get more out of 

it so what is the culture there is there 

anyone that you see there and what are 

they wearing and also what makes you 

feel really good and colour is a really 

good thing to use in those situations 

colours like blue for example can make 

you feel more confident as can orange 

orange is a really good colourful 

confidence green is a really good colour 

if you want to feel healthy and pink is 

a really good colour if you want to feel 

supported 

so think of colour because a lot of 

people when they think of corporate 

business wear think of a suit fine but 

they'll think 

black right they're just saying I need 

to wear a black suit yeah what about if 

you wore a green suit 

um like what difference would that be 

mind blown you would stand out also 

because they remember you more if 

they've got 50 interviews yeah and 

they're really busy 

they will remember you for they may not 

necessarily understand that it's because 

of what you're wearing but they will I 

promise they will remember you I have 

people come up to me sometimes now who 

will say to me I've never spoken to you 

before but I saw you at this event 

a year ago and you were wearing this 

thing and I you know I remember it they 

don't remember everyone else there who 

was wearing a grey 

suit no offence but we do 

remember People based on how they made 

us feel and a big part of that is what 

they're wearing yeah so yeah my stepdad 

Eric actually hi Eric 

he used to always wear black shirts 

he doesn't know why but he just always 

used to wear black shirts all the time 

and then one day I think he was just a 

bit like I don't want to wear black I 

want to wear something colourful so he 

actually started wearing Hawaiian shirts 

and he now wears a Hawaiian shirt every 

single day and it makes him feel good 

about himself at peace it's a 

conversation starter as well and people 

will now recognize him because of his 

Hawaiian shirts and it's just like and I 

love him for that and it's even started 

rubbing off on other members as family 

they've got a little collection of 

Hawaiian shirts now so whenever we meet 

up they all wear them together and it's 

just really nice I love that isn't it 

that's really interesting on two levels 

one how old clothes can become such a 

trademark for someone and if you think 

about famous people or you know people 

who are memorable through history there 

is usually something in their clothing 

that you remember them from and it's 

really nice on the level of it obviously 

makes him feel good and like you said 

people remember him yeah he's memorable 

and in a world where everything is so 

fast moving social media is you know 

um so much stuff on there how do you 

become memorable how do you make people 

remember you when they are taking in 

literally millions of bits of 

information every second of every day 

yeah okay and to that point I had a 

client recently who was unfortunately 

passed over for promotion because 

in informal feedback that she had 

she was told that the people who were 

interviewing her were kind of up the 

chain a bit in the company that she 

worked in didn't really know her that 

well personally or worked with her on a 

one-to-one level and the role required 

someone who was going to be more of a 

face of the company there are statistics 

that show that personal Brands get 24 

more 

engagement that company brand so they're 

wanting someone in that role who was 

going to you know go out and be a 

memorable face of the company and they 

didn't think that she was that person so 

she came to work with me 

to align her goals with her wardrobe 

essentially so that she would be seen 

with credibility going for that role in 

the future 

so you know your clothes do 

as I said whether we like it or not they 

do make us more memorable they do make 

us stick in people's brains and they can 

actually really help us I don't I mean I 

like to think that I I'm a good editor a 

really good journalist I work really 

hard to get to that role 

but 

if I'm being honest I did 100 use my 

clothes as personal brand and people 

knew of me 

because of who I was and what I was 

wearing 

and I think if I hadn't been so colourful 

and expressive in my clothes I probably 

wouldn't have got as many of the 

opportunities towards the end of my time 

as a newspaper editor as I did 

because I did stand out okay so once you 

worked with this lady then did she what 

was the outcome did she finally get 

she's got a new job at a different 

company now which is you know it is 

higher up which is really good but I 

will often say to clients we'll have a 

goal for them you know if I work with 

them on a one day 

on a one day session they'll have 

their goal I'll help them with that I'll 

give them some accountability as they go 

towards it but if I'm working with 

someone longer term I will work with 

them until we get to the point where 

that is happening and so she now is in a 

better role I have other clients who've 

got promotions one of them had 20K wow 

promotion 

they've done stuff like if they've run 

their own business gets their first 100K 

year yearly Revenue book deals speaking 

events all that kind of stuff because 

what we're doing isn't really about 

clothes like yeah it is what you're 

wearing but it's all the stuff you're 

wearing underneath it's like the mind 

yeah that you don't even consider is 

actually 

pulling the strings yeah 

so you work with a lot of females 

have you worked with males I have yes 

yes I have slightly easier 

I can imagine because you just you're 

like well okay I'll wear that no and 

actually I will say that men do have a 

lot of the same issues that women have 

with their clothes even more so now 

because of social media you know women 

were targeted for many years through 

marketing that was you're not good 

enough you're not pretty enough your 

body's not good enough all this stuff 

but men also are getting targeted in 

that same way so there are 

similar 

issues that they face when it comes to 

their wardrobes 

but generally men 

shop less where they spend more so they 

are happier to spend more money on a 

quality item and women will tend to talk 

themselves out of having that item that 

would make them feel really good and 

instead they'll buy fives like knock off 

versions of the yeah the actual item 

they wanted I definitely do that yeah 

there was a Blazer that I saw the other 

day it was over 100 pounds and I was 

like I can't really afford that Blazer so 

I would I went to another shop and 

bought five different blazes cheaper 

options to see which one looked good and 

I'm sending them all back because they 

don't look as good as the one that was 

more expensive than I wanted to pay yeah 

so it's your time obviously that's 

taking you time now 

and if you'd have just got it and you 

feel really good in it what difference 

would it make 

to 

your day it would make it it would make 

a difference right but women generally 

tend to talk themselves out of stuff 

because they are conditioned to always 

think about you know what this means for 

other people and to feel guilty 

spending money on themselves so then 

ironically they end up spending more 

money because they're always less yeah 

exactly less more often yeah okay and 

nothing ever seems to work does it right 

we go on these shopping sprees we spend 

I don't know however much money on 

things we don't wear them we then open 

our wardrobe there's loads of stuff in 

it and we're like I don't have anything 

to wear yeah welcome to my wow yeah I 

have loads of clothes what is happening 

yeah 

so what about those that may be going 

through a transition do you work with 

them 

I do yes I have clients who are 

transitioning from male to female 

um sometimes right at the beginning of 

the journey and sometimes towards the 

end of the transition journey and 

I've loved being a part of their 

Journeys I think it is incredible when 

someone is able to finally be themselves 

yeah and I think it is lovely also when 

they work in places that support that 

transition also 

so yeah that's been 

really interesting and also really 

nice because 

they you know they there are issues that 

everyone has with their beliefs about 

themselves their bodies and everything 

but what is so lovely about that is the 

joy that they can find in clothes 

because it's like they are discovering 

all this new stuff that was kept away 

from them for so long it's like they you 

know they've been kept in this cage 

almost hidden from the world and now 

they get to come out and fully Express 

themselves as who they actually always 

were inside 

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lovely journey to be a part of it is 

yeah it is lovely so we ran a poll on 

LinkedIn 

this week asking people what they 

wear in the office 

and the results were quite 

interesting actually so 73 said they go 

for casual Comfort 

23 said smart casual and then four 

percent said suits 

however the poll itself did spark a 

little controversy we had one lady 

commented on the poll and she said that 

it was disappointing that for women 

there was still a focus on what they 

wear and how they look 

and yeah I think one of the words she 

said was superficial as well so over to 

you Sam I agree with her that is 

disappointing and actually I do 

understand where that 

assumption comes from because when we 

hear the word stylist that's what we 

hear we think judgement and I have been a 

victim of that judgement myself for many 

years you know I've been like crying in 

a changing room when I was a bit younger 

I was a size 18 20 and I was trying to 

find an outfit for a wedding I had to go 

to I couldn't find anything I was crying 

in a change room and the shop assistants 

were laughing like that happened to me 

so and you know it's happened to me that 

I've been 

I've had all this all this stuff of 

buying stuff to try and fix something 

about myself which really could never be 

fixed through buying things I I get it 

totally and I think that's where the 

Assumption comes wrong because when we 

hear stylist that's what we hear because 

so much of the fashion industry is that 

so that is the fashion industry The 

Styling industry I'm over here doing 

something I hope something completely 

different which is is not about the 

clothes it's about you and it's about 

what those clothes represent 

about your hopes dreams fears all of 

that stuff 

so I do totally understand 

where that came from 

I hope that people listen and understand 

also that that ain't me like I have 

dealt with all this stuff 

I am the opposite of that stuff because 

I do not believe that what you look like 

should be the most important thing about 

you but I do believe that how you feel 

has a massive difference in what you end 

up achieving in your life in your 

business and in your career and the 

things that you will and won't put up 

with and ultimately the Legacy that you 

leave 

for the planet because we're buying way 

too much stuff we're massively over 

consuming fashion and fast fashion to 

fix 

something that's inside of ourselves so 

that is my job my job isn't put this 

outfit on you should wear this don't 

wear that you don't look good in those 

colours or whatever else my job is does 

this make you feel good if the answer is 

yes 

wear it yeah and your motto as you save 

people time and you make them money so 

they're saving time because they know 

what to wear they know what they feel 

good in and they're making money because 

they feel more confident so I think one 

of your stats was 60 of women have never 

asked for a pay rise well maybe that's 

because they're in an outfit that's 

ranked three whereas if they're an eight 

they'd feel more confident so they could 

ask that paywise and then hopefully get 

it so they're making more money or 

getting the promotions or the new jobs 

and one of my clients Works in finance 

and she said to me that she had spent 

thousands of pounds over the years on 

these black suits and skirt suits and 

stuff that did not make her feel good 

and she said I wish that back then I'd 

have worn the green suit the blue suit 

that I actually really wanted to wear 

because I probably would have faced the 

same issues but I would have had the 

confidence to say no like let me just 

cut you off there 

I won't be you know mansplained to or 

talk down to I'm an expert in what I do 

whereas what we women specifically tend 

to do is edit themselves all the time so 

they'll write an email and then they'll 

go back and be like oh could you just 

I'm so sorry could you just do do your 

job you know so it's stopping all of 

that stuff yeah and just showing up as a 

leader because also that's important for 

other people 

to know that you are you have to have 

clear communication with people and that 

is a way of communicating with them 

about who you are and what you're here 

for we currently buy five times more 

clothes than we did in the 1980s we wear 

as we said 10 of my clothes but we have 

enough clothes on the planet right now 

to clothe the next six Generations wow 

yeah that's a lot of place yes it's a 

lot of clothes and actually if you look 

in your wardrobe likely you have enough 

clothes to last you the next five years 

so we've talked about so much today it's 

been absolutely great to have you on Sam 

that to end every episode we do do the 

one word 

which is to give our listeners 

something extra to think about 

so my word is going to be confidence 

what's your way my word is bold bold 

amazing producer Bex do you have a 

word 

Colour

amazing well thank you so much 

it's been an absolute pleasure to 

have you on and to learn everything 

about what you do and all the women that 

you've helped with all their Journeys 

and it sounds amazing and I'm definitely 

going to be looking in my wardrobe for 

those 8 out of 10 outfits I'm wearing a 

bit more good 

so yeah thank you all if you've 

enjoyed the episode don't forget to 

subscribe 

to Togcast so you never miss another 

episode and if you need any help with 

your styling reach out to Sam you can 

find her on LinkedIn thanks everyone 

[Music] 

that's a wrap for this week's episode if 

you want to be our next guest speaker on 

top class then get in touch with the one 

group and don't forget to subscribe we 

would hate for you to miss the next one 

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