BU Conversation: Allison’s Style Discovery
Senior Style Strategist Allison Allie shares how her research, design, and application of the BU Style Six™ has aided her own personal and professional style discovery.
Allison Allie, Senior Style Strategist || Photo Credit: Ambe J. Photography
Allison’s Style Personalities
What are your top-2 current style personalities?
Creative and Polished
What is your goal style personality?
Magnetic, which also comes in as my 3rd-highest current
What style challenges were you experiencing that discovering your style personalities helped you navigate?
For a majority of my career, I wore what aligned with my professional roles and responsibilities rather than my personality. Although my work was innovative, varied, and creative, the workplaces were highly traditional. To blend in with the company culture, I separated professional from personal to the extent that I felt like I was two different persons.
Over time, my wardrobe became who I thought I was expected to be verses who I wanted to be. My appearance was safe, conservative, and appropriate—it was ‘vanilla’ and I wanted ‘rocky road’. My personal style was not my preferred flavor.
Rewind to 2012, when my husband and I packed our Chicago condo to move to Belgium. We were required to count and record every item within our wardrobe. Simply put, I was mortified. The volume of clothing, shoes, and accessories felt overwhelming and excessive. Sure enough, my wardrobe didn’t fit our European closets and my style personalities.
The journey to discovering my personal style started in Belgium while writing the curriculum for a business communication course at United Business Institutes in Brussels. Through the culture shock I was experiencing, I questioned the traditional teachings of impactful communication focusing on two types of channels:
Verbal - the words used and how they are used, and
Nonverbal - body language and mannerisms.
Traditionally, when referring to personal communication, the discussion often stops here. However, as an expatriate not knowing the local language, I heavily relied on nonverbal cues to quickly assess and connect with others.
The communication challenges I experienced while living abroad uncovered the importance of visual appearance. It is the first message sent, yet looking the part is traditionally taught in forms of reacting to situations, like wearing a suit to an interview, rather than defining our messages.
Personal appearance and the attire one chooses send messages to others, but also to one’s self in the form of visual communication: personal appearance, grooming, what is worn and how it’s worn.
There’s more to nonverbal language than what is written in a textbook or dress code about personal appearance—the standard method flavor is indeed, you guessed it . . . vanilla.
In order to approach visual appearance from a new angle, I enrolled in the London Image Institute in 2013 to start my journey as a personal stylist by learning the principles of style. Fast forward to today, with BU Style, I continue to research and teach clients how to discover their style personalities.
How is Creative reflected in your personality and style?
The heart of my style is the third piece: something you wear in addition to a top and bottom. It adds an unexpected element to an outfit. Vintage jackets, statement-making shoes, eclectic jewelry, and second-hand luxury scarves, these are outfit makers and story tellers. Similar to my style, I’m not tied to any fashion ‘rules’ or traditional expectations. Although I identify as highly creative, I don’t view my style and personality as overly eccentric, although for some, it might be.
Allison Allie, Senior Style Strategist || Photo Credit: Mackenzie Wheatley
Self-Discovery Through Style Personalities
What have you learned about yourself through digging deeper into your style personalities?
After living over 7 years abroad, I’m still adjusting to the transition of a move and entering into a new decade. My style personalities have served as a consistent foundation that I can channel when I’m facing a new setting or experience. By showing up as my Creative and Polished self, I communicate a consistent message. Instead of only dressing for my environment and who I’m going to meet, I now share more about myself through what I wear.
How does the BU Style Six help you better understand your clients?
As a Style Strategist, I’m not here to say what you need to be wearing based on the fashion trends. It’s more about asking, “How do you feel?” Then, “how do you want to feel?” I don’t give blanketed advice. We are so unique and special in our own way that it would be short-sighted to give clients a specific list of the “10 must-have items” in your closet because those pieces might not fit your lifestyle, your shape or your tastes. The BU Style Six is a tool that outlines the core pieces with the client’s personality and roles in mind. The assessment allows me to get to to know the client first, then together we set a plan.