How to dress MIIEN for your brand image
Image via Miien.co
By: Mikara Reid
Let’s face it, it’s 2023 and we often judge each other based off social media cover art, networking parties, b-roll or a video podcast interview. A lot of us women blend our professional and personal brand image together because we’re shaping our world around a career/profession we love with modern day technology. Since our world is forever changing and technology is at our fingertips, how should one dress in this current age? Is it worth it to put in so much effort into dressing up? And the most common question that gets asked: ‘Are well dressed people more successful?’.
In this article, I will get you into the mindset of how to set your brand image for a strong and stable message that harmonizes with who you are so you can stand out in your industry. This will include what you should take into consideration when it comes to ‘How to dress MIIEN for your brand image’. Some women focus more on their personal brand while others focus more on professional brand, whichever you are looking to improve, these tips will help you start your journey on using your image as a stepping stone for more opportunities and the advancements you’ve been desiring.
Being Solid in Your Mission:
How do you know where you’re going if you don’t know what you want out of life or stand for? When I talk about mission, it’s what influences your aspiration, your persona and how you want to be perceived by the rest of the world. If you’re thinking of a personal mission statement - that’s what I’m referring to here. Identifying your core value and purpose is the first step to dressing MIIEN for your brand image. Laying this out and identifying the intangible things in your life is important because you will be exuding this outwardly as you get more in-depth with your branding.
If you miss this step, things will never come together and stick, simply because you didn’t identify your core values, wants or needs. Businesses and corporations state their mission in their business plan or websites, so why would you feel this isn’t necessary for you, especially when you’re the walking billboard and business card of yourself.
Practicing Inner-MIIENing (aka self-confidence):
When I talk about inner-MIIENing, it’s what affects your life performance, identity, decision-making and how you want your image portrayed. Even in the corporate world: an in-depth understanding of your trust or belief within yourself and how it plays a part in bringing life into your style. Confidence is the pulse of fashion. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking high fashion, personal style or work wear. Think about it, if two ladies wore the same blazer or outfit, one woman will look better than the other, what is the reason ?
Besides the trend, body shape, color palette etc, it’s the confidence that a woman exudes when wearing something she knows works for her. She not only knows she looks good but she also performs at a top tier level on her job and this energy shows right through clothes. No matter what bag you rock from an independent fashion brand, it could be a Hermes blouse you have on, confidence brings a different type of life into your personal appearance when you wear that well, first.
Personalized improvements made them want to show up to meetings and events even more because they wore their Inner-MIIENing (confidence) first. According to Gitnux, 93% of people believe that self-confidence is critical to professional success. When you look good, you feel good and you do better for yourself. Confidence is something you have to constantly practice. No one can give you confidence but they can provide you with tools and its up to you to practice building self-confidence over time.
Image Intentionality is the Goal:
Intentionality gets thrown around but let's lay out what I’m referring to when it comes to your physical attributes. It is what affects your personalized style and how you want to define yourself in the world, reflecting on your thoughts and mission to align with your image. As a businesswoman myself who is a go-getter, I resonate with a lot of my new primary target audience post-pandemic. Although I can resonate with you on a business dealing aspect, you know your core values and mission better. Is your personal appearance portraying those elements about you? It is important to do the first step because your clothes and body language are non-verbal communicators that send out unconscious signals and messaging.
Between 70 to 93 percent of all communication is nonverbal. Whether you notice it or not, your appearance will always strike a non-verbal response from people who see you. Outside of your posture, what does your appearance say of you? Sloppy? Newbie? CEO? People wear certain colors for a reason, they know what silhouettes fit their body shape and if you’re advanced, you’d have a career uniform (explained in my book What’s Your MIIEN! ?). Think about how the renowned Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton dress - notice the consistency in their wardrobe image? That’s called Image Intentionality, which is a part of your brand image.
Seeing your Style Evolution (& appreciating it):
Style evolution is one of the key factors that influence personal appearance and everyone evolves in their style even if the change might seem very slight. This is how to take advantage of your evolving style;
Track or self-study the before and after of the your style journey
Embrace your image development with a new pair of eyes for your unique style.
As you begin a new understanding of your brand and style direction, you can start the walk in your journey, securely and confidently, this is your moneymaker here. Taking the time to self-study the changes you’ve made in your brand image and wardrobe is crucial because if you were tracking your progress, you will know what went wrong and why it went wrong.
Nourishing Your Uniqueness
This is what I tell my clients, think of this part as the maintenance of everything you’ve done with your brand image thus far. Nourishing your uniqueness is what affects the work, knowledge, and investment you put into your personal style and how you want to continue defining it based on your terms and beyond, It includes:
maintaining support for a healthy fashion system;
celebrating a new milestone;
making an effort to enrich your relationship with your personal style and life.
In closing, having a MIIEN (Mission, Inner-miiening, Intentionality, Evolution & Nourish) brand image will catapult your lifestyle personally and professionally. Strategizing will allow you that free time nd attention for you to do what matters to you which is growing your brand recognition. I find that when you continue feeding your personal or brand image it gets stronger and undeniably attractive to others and many people skip this part of developing a stronger bond with their image. Like real relationships, you have to maintain it if you want it to work for you.
Enjoyed this article?
you may be interested in treating yourself with the self-help fashion book, What’s Your MIIEN! ? Discover Your Fashion Identity and receive a 10% discount using the code: NONCORP
You’ll learn wardrobe management, confidence building, clothes selection process and much more in this revolutionary style book
Get Yours Today!
Want to start off small with your wardrobe branding? The Style Evolution Journal will be your fashion observation companion as it helps you learn and observe your image daily (with my motivational quotes and pointers inside).
P.S We are also welcoming guests to be a part of our new series ‘The Dressing Experience’, if you’re interested click here.
Stay in Touch w/ MIIEN:
Blog: The MIIEN Blog | LinkedIn: MIIEN Consultancy | Instagram: @MiienConsultancy | Podcast: MIIEN Notes Podcast
On the flipside of business, you can unwind and check out my passion project ‘Aye Gurl!’, where I have conversations with various co-hosts about navigating womanhood & female friendships.