Melody Wilding: I am going to geek out for a second because the show is called Psychology at Work for a reason. And there is a concept I remember being fascinated by when I first heard about it. It’s called Enclothed Cognition. And basically it’s just a fancy term that refers to the fact that our clothes influence not only how others see us, but also how we feel and think about ourselves.

In one study, people who wore a white coat, like a white lab coat, when they were told this was a doctor’s coat, they performed better on tasks than people wearing the same coat, but when it was described as just a painter’s smock. Same garment, different identity, different outcome. So just think about for yourself how you act when you’re in gym clothes, your pajamas. In gym clothes, for example, your body is primed to move. Or how when you put on a blazer before a zoom call, you might suddenly sit up a little bit straighter. You’re a bit more attentive and locked in. That’s enclothed cognition and action, and it matters so much more than you realize because your clothing choices affect everything from your performance, your productivity, your presence, your confidence.

This matters whether you are going into the office every day or you are just working from your kitchen table or your desk. So that is so exactly why I am so thrilled to have Cassandra Sethi with us today. Cassandra is the founder of Next Level Wardrobe, and she is over 25 years of experience in the fashion industry.

She helps leaders, executives, entrepreneurs, build streamlined, intentional wardrobes without so much stress. And her clients include me. We’re going to talk about that. Her signature, NLW style system really teaches people how to shop smarter, how to dress for their goals, and how to feel confident in any setting.

And like I said, I can speak to all of that very personally ’cause I worked with Cassandra multiple times now over a series of years. And I can honestly say that it has totally shifted how I feel about myself as a professional, how I operate day to day. It has totally transformed my personal brand. So Cassandra, welcome.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Cassandra: Yeah. Thank you for having me.

Melody Wilding: So I was mentioning, you and I have worked together several times now and when we first started working together, it was a couple of years ago. So I would love to hear from your perspective, actually a little bit of the story behind from where you sit, where I started in my style journey, and how you see that it’s evolved.

Cassandra: Yeah. So, uh, last week I was looking through our emails. We started together in 2022, so we are going on three years now. And the word that came to mind as I was reflecting on your style journey is blossom. And you have really blossomed in your style because when we first talked. You were frustrated ’cause you couldn’t find the right fit of pants, specifically. You had gone through body changes. You felt overwhelmed and disappointed with the shopping experiences that you had attempted and it just, your closet did not feel like you and where you were professionally and personally. And since our time together in various engagements and you know, going through your wardrobe and editing and adding things in intentionally and stuff, you have really blossomed in your style journey because now you are more open to trying things on. Uh, you are open to new silhouettes and new brands and new outfit combinations as well. And one thing you had shared with me was just how much easier it is for you day to day to get dressed for whatever is on your calendar.

So blossom, you’re like a butterfly, A style butterfly in my mind.

Melody Wilding: Oh my gosh, there, there’s so much I wanna add to this, and I know I’ve told you this story. I had been thinking about working with you for a while. I had followed you for a long time. And the final straw was when I had a speaking engagement and the organizers told me that the dress code was business casual.

And I took that very literally. And the, the why it was the final straw is because I was the worst dressed person at that speaking engagement. And I was the one on the stage and I felt so embarrassed. I was like, this is, this is it. I can’t, I can’t do this anymore. And it was. It was not for a, some of it was a lack, lack of knowledge, but a lot of it was, um, I just, I didn’t have the right pieces in my closet.

And being someone, I’m someone who, I guess I, I pride myself on being pretty efficient, but I try to limit decision fatigue as much as possible. I eat the same thing every day. I’m very regimented and disciplined. Like I’m one of those people that believes discipline is freedom. And, just looking at my closet, the level of overwhelm and drain I just felt where trying to put an outfit together or figure out how do I, how do I, what even is dress code casual?

I just didn’t have the right pieces and then I would try to shop online. Of course, we were still kind of in the pandemic at that point, so we weren’t really going back to stores and just trying to look online. You don’t know what fits you and what quality things are. It just felt so overwhelming that I would just put it aside and think this is something for me to worry about another day and another day and another day.

Became months, became years until it finally caught up with me. And working with you, like you said, I feel like now I walk into my closet and I’m excited by the things I have. I don’t think about what I wanna wear, which is a huge energy savings. I know to some people they may be like, why are we talking about clothing and your wardrobe?

But when you think about how much time you spend, trying to think about what am I gonna wear today? And, oh, but I’ve, I haven’t worn that in a while. It’s in the back of my closet and now I feel wasteful that it’s just sitting there and I spend so much money on this. Just the mental rigamarole of all of that is so draining.

But now I walk into my closet. I know everything goes with everything else, and even though I work from home full time, I feel polished just walking around my house. And that gets back to this enclothed cognition idea. That, when I was working all day in just yoga pants and t-shirts, I didn’t feel like the, like the confident, empowered business owner that I wanted to be.

I felt like kind of schlubby, so to speak. And so that affected how I was running my business, how I was showing up. So I’ll pause there, see if you have any reactions to any of that.

Cassandra: Yeah, and everything you shared is so common among the clients we work with. So you are not alone. Definitely, uh, because, you know, I always say the fashion industry wants to keep it confusing and so you continue to buy more stuff and hopefully it will solve your style challenges, whatever they are.

Usually it does not. 99% of the time it does not. And so now I feel like you see your style journey from a new lens, right? You have these glasses on and you’re like, oh my gosh, everything fits, everything goes together. I feel polished and professional. And so that as the founder of Next Level Wardrobe, that makes me so happy to hear because it’s been years later since our first, first engagement.

And so to hear that the style system is still working for you is incredible. It makes me so happy.

Melody Wilding: Yeah, and and I haven’t bought much more than what we bought. You work the way you and your team work are in, well, at least at the time we were working together was in seasonal shops, and so we did a few seasonal shops to kind of really overhaul my entire wardrobe. And I really have not bought many other things on top of that because we invested in quality pieces, like I said, that all work together.

So I haven’t had a need to do a lot of that, which has been great too. It’s actually more sustainable and more cost effective because I’m getting a longer wear out of everything than just, you know, something I bought at Ann Taylor or Old Navy that I wear once and then, oh yes. And my husband has been like, hasn’t Cassandra banned you from Ann Taylor when you know you might, you might need something in a pinch.

And I’m like, yes, you’re right. No, no more Ann Taylor. Um, but for the person listening you, something we did also as part of my initial engagement was you did a personal brand. Assessment and you put together really a personal brand strategy for me. So can you talk about how the person listening, maybe they do own their own business like I do, maybe they are a corporate professional.

How do you define personal brand and how should they be thinking about it?

Cassandra: Yeah, so personal brand is very important, especially nowadays because we live in such a visual society. I don’t care if you use social media or not. Everyone is online most of the time, and so I think of each one of us as your personal brand is your visual business card. Point blank. That’s what it is.

And I don’t care if you work for a company and you have layers of management above you, or if you are your own boss, CEO, entrepreneur, you are your personal brand. And each one of us is selling something to the world, whether we like it or not. So whether it’s our services, whether it’s, oh, you can trust me, so sign up for this contract, which is multi thousands of dollars or millions of dollars, too.

And so a good personal brand to me. Is number one cohesive. So that means if I Google you or if I go to your social, or if I interact with you online, you’re saying the same message. I’m getting the same visual cues from you as well.

Uh, number two is it touches all the senses. So most of your audience has what to say down. They have their professional achievements down, working towards more. So that’s great. So what you say is important, but also what you wear. Obviously is important, and I even include how you smell because smell is such a strong sense and it’s a very memorable sense as well that we all use. And so what you wear, what you say, how you smell, how you put things together, you know, how do you engage with people when you walk into a room? All of that is so, so important.

And the reason why I am really big on diving into personal brands and being very intentional about that is because it is, it’s so important nowadays and it communicates, um, that you have respect for yourself. You have respect for your colleagues, for whoever you are meeting with, and that it also shows that you are very intentional because a lot of people forget all the small details, right?

Of, oh, the lipstick color looks great on you, or your hair, or your smell, or whatever it is. But when you encounter someone, for example, who smells good, you are like, oh, wow, you remember that, right? You remember that person where you’re like. That person smells really good the next time you engage with them and maybe you’re more apt to go up to them and talk to them as well.

So people always ask me, well, how do I know what my personal brand is? How do I decide what I want it to be? And I always say, study the best. Like for me, I love looking at well-known successful executive women like Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey are two great examples that I personally look up to because they have personal brands, like right when I say their names, your audience probably thinks of adjectives that describe them.

And also, I really admire their personal brands because they have pivoted A lot and pivots are so natural professionally and personally, and they have done it really well from a personal brand perspective that still meets their audience and also makes ’em very likable and relatable too.

Melody Wilding: Yes, and I so many great reminders that personal brand is a total package and so many of us we leave. It’s even things like how do you look and project yourself in your LinkedIn photo? What are you wearing there? Is it consistent with your workplace and, and what’s in your banner? And um.

What you’re saying also reminds me, we talked about that idea of enclothed cognition, that what you wear affects how other people see you and how you feel about yourself.

But there’s also the halo effect, which is where if someone has one positive attribute, we tend to naturally think of other positive attributes that go along with them. And yes. There is bias that can come into this. This is for example, why we think tall people are smarter. We, we’ve just over time built this association.

But to your point, how can we make this work in our advantage when we appear polished, when we are comfortable in our clothes, then we send all these other status and competence and confidence signals to other people.

And so, okay, one, one thing I know I was guilty of when I came to work with you is that I was hiding in certain clothing, and I know you also have a big pet peeve, and I was definitely guilty of this, where people will buy the same thing.

So a classic New Yorker move, having a lot of black pants or black shirts and you’re like, you don’t need three of this same, not, not literally the same black shirt, but you just tend to buy the same type of thing over and over.

But what are some signs that someone might be subconsciously holding themselves back and that their style is beginning to hold themselves back, especially when it comes to their personal brand, their career, how they’re projecting themselves to others?

Cassandra: Yes. So I have been working with clients one-on-one in a style capacity, stylist capacity for, uh, over seven years now. So I’ve seen a lot of stuff. And right when, um, you sent me this question, I was like, oh, there are three things that I could share like immediately.

So number one. Is you wear all black from head to toe. And I find this specifically with people who have gone through body changes.

So either they have gained weight most, most of the time gained weight, lost weight, they’re in some sort of transition, and they’re just very confused on what to wear. Or maybe they feel embarrassed about the body transition and so they feel like the black is going to hide them when it actually looks like they want themselves to disappear.

Like they have something to hide, like something is going on here. It also black, um, in my opinion, reads very serious. When a lot of the clients that I work with are fun and vibrant and have personality, so it doesn’t really match who they are. So the all black outfit is number one. I would say.

Uh, one step down from that is all black pants.

So, uh, I think you may have been guilty of that too.

Melody Wilding: Mm-hmm.

Cassandra: And the all black pants are all dark. Usually it’s all black pants. But they signal, okay, I have had body changes and I’m a new size, but I don’t know what that size is and I don’t have time to figure out what new pants fit me. So I’m gonna go to Banana Republic or Ann Taylor and just buy the same black pant, literally the black pan, same black pant, and maybe a new fabric season over season over season.

Melody Wilding: It’s literally what I did. 

Cassandra: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I get why people do that because it is overwhelming to figure all of that out. So the all black outfit, all black pants. So that’s kind of one and two.

Um, the next is really interesting because it is the amount of time that spend getting ready every morning.

So the average American woman spends 17 minutes per morning deciding what to wear, and all that said. 17 minutes, that is, it’s almost 30 minutes. You know what you could do in that amount of time. And so when I calculated that out, that’s almost five full days in a year of deciding what to wear. I think that is the definition of insanity doing things over and over and over, especially that. So if you are spending even, I would say double digits, so 10 minutes and over, that should be like a red flag. Like, something is going wrong in your closet. You aren’t happy with your style, like it needs to be fixed. So that is, um, the third thing, and I’m also going to share a bonus because this one is very niche, but something that I discovered over the past few years and it all, a lot of clients that I work with have gone through body changes.

Super, super common. And if I am in their closet and I see a lot of bags, shoes, or jewelry. Basically, items that are not sized extra small through whatever size. That means that they like to shop, they like new things, but they are very overwhelmed, confused, or have given up with shopping for clothing. And so instead they redirect their money towards those items because they aren’t sized.

Melody Wilding: Hmm. That’s a good one. That’s, that’s a very good one. Yeah. And even just hearing you say that again, going back to 17 minutes, it may not sound like a lot of time, but, like you were saying, imagine what you could accomplish. You could get a pretty dis decent HIIT workout in that time. You could have a whole morning routine with journaling and all of these things you dream about if you reclaim that time.

And also I mentioned that idea of decision fatigue before that we start the day with a certain amount of mental energy. Every decision you make depletes that. So do you wanna use it on what am I wearing today? And do these pants match with this top, or do you wanna spend it on decisions that are much more valuable?

That’s a trade off we all have to be asking ourselves and why this conversation is so important.

Now, one of the, the most important thing I learned from you is your NLW style system. I have imparted it to so many people in my life. I think I mentioned to you now when my mom packs for a trip, she says, look, I have all my, my core colors in my bag, which makes me very proud of her.

Um, but talk to us about the NLW style system. ’cause I think that is, for me, it was kind of this like, aha, about why I didn’t, a main roadblock I was facing about why I was so frustrated with all the things I had in my closet and felt like I had a lot of stuff but didn’t have a lot of things to wear.

Cassandra: Yes. Yeah. And that is one of the reasons why I created the NLW style system is because there’s so many options. People, like I said, usually buy to solve their style challenges, and it just results in overwhelm. So. More is not better here. And in fact, the NLW style system, the principle is when you have less stuff, you can actually create more outfits.

So the system really concentrates on three key areas of a wardrobe. And the first area is to identify your essential pieces. So what are those clothing garments that you need in your wardrobe year round? And this is completely. Personalized to you. So because you live on the East coast, you’re gonna have different essentials than what I need on the West Coast.

And so some, um, some essentials that I commonly see missing in wardrobes could be high quality T-shirts. So not gym T-shirts. Actual T-shirts you could wear out into work and into the world. Uh, trousers for women. So not, not dark trousers, but like tans and taupes and lighter colors, stuff like that, that is going to lighten up the wardrobe.

And then the third are layering pieces. So that third layer that you are going to put over a blouse or a t-shirt or a lightweight knit, those are usually missing. So that is essential step number one. Step number two is to get the right balance of color. Now, as a personal stylist, I have seen a lot of different closets, thousands of closets, in fact, and most of them fall into one of two categories.

So it’s either too dark and too black and too heavy feeling, or there’s too many print, patterns, and colors. And visually for anyone, it’s just hard to put outfits together with that. So we wanna bring the wardrobe back to the middle of the two. So you have some dark pieces, you have some lighter pieces, you have some color if you want that. And so visually, when you walk into your closet, you can easily put outfits together.

And then the third uh, step is fit. Now fit is very important because it can make you look frumpy or put together instantly with the right fit. And so fit really concentrates on where your body is today, what is going on with it, how do you wanna feel, what do you wanna communicate?

And then of course, bringing in a very talented tailor, to help you execute that fit. So those three steps really work hand in hand to dig into the layers of the closet, understand your lifestyle, your preferences as well, using the system and keeping that in mind to get you to your style goals.

Melody Wilding: Yes, and this is why this was such a game changer for me is because I, I was one of those people that was very heavily weighted in dark items. And if I tried to dress myself for something, I would feel like I look so drab ’cause all I have is dark items. Uh, and I didn’t have good basics. I, I barely had any t-shirts.

I had no, uh, options for pants besides like formal dressy slacks or jeans. Nothing in between. And so I know we bought so many pair, I was like, I never imagined in my life I’d have so many pairs of pants. But it’s great because, um, you know, a gap we filled for me is as someone who works from home and who does go through body changes.

And I like to be comfortable. We, we focused on a lot of what I would call non hard pants, which are like not jeans or not kind of, um, rigid kind of tight pants, but a lot of things with like draw strings and a little bit of give, but they still look polished. So I still feel put together and dressed for my day, but I’m so comfortable.

And even now when I go to speaking engagements now, I wear a lot of jumpsuits. That’s kind of become like my signature thing and people will always say, you look like a million bucks. And I’m like, you know what? Most importantly, I am comfortable. I’m not pulling at the neck because it’s falling off of my shoulder, whatever it is.

And that’s, that was a big thing I learned from you too. If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no. And it goes back. Do not settle, keep looking. And also, now that we’ve worked together many times, I have certain brands that I can go back to and I know, oh, this brand does dresses very well, or this one does blazers very well, and it’s a shortcut for my shopping. I don’t have to just spend.

Hours online looking for things. I can go to the stores that I know have items that, to your point about fit, fit me well, or, even with pants sometimes I’ve have to get my jeans hemmed because I’m shorter. I’m not as tall as I am wide. And so I may need to get, my jeans hemmed and then they fit perfectly.

And I don’t, I have not needed to buy another pair of jeans for three, four years. So all of these are so important to work together. Now another thing that we did, and I know you really are an advocate for, as a starting point for people that are on their style journey, is the closet clean out. I was really resistant and scared of this and.

Cassandra: As most.

Melody Wilding: Yes. And I just, I remember as we went through it, um, I was living in an apartment at the time and so I had a much smaller space and my entire room was just piles, piles of clothing that was going out for donation. It was scary, but it was also the best feeling when we were done. So talk to me about closet cleanouts.

Why do they matter? How do you approach it? And then we’ll go from there.

Cassandra: Yeah, so closet clean outs are actually really. important Because we can’t fix what is broken until we understand what is going on in your closet. And so the analogy that I like to use is the kitchen analogy. And I think of each of my clients as a chef and their closet is their kitchen. And so I wanna make sure that the chef has salt and pepper and onions and garlic, and all of those basic ingredients that is needed in a kitchen so they can be whoever or create whatever they wanna create when they wanna create that dish.

And so the closet is no different. And so when I go into a closet, edit. Yes, I have a system that I’m using and we literally go through every single piece. There’s nothing that is hidden. There is nothing off the table you try stuff on, but that is what is needed in order to really rebuild it correctly for the long term.

And so one of my favorite things with closet edits is the psychology aspect of it. Because usually, you know, I interview every single client that we work with to make sure it’s a good fit and they’ll say, yeah, I’ve done a closet edit before and stuff. And then we get to the closet edit. I’m like, you’ve never done a real closet edit before.

And everything that they were maybe too scared to share initially comes out in the closet. It’s kind of like a therapist office, honestly. Because the body insecurities come out, the hopes come out, the dreams come out. All of the things, maybe what their mom said to them when they were five years old. So it’s a very, very personal experience and one that we do not take lightly.

We’re very honored to guide our clients through the closet edit. So yeah, we go through every single piece. We have clients try stuff on. We at the same time are making a shopping list. So this is where things start to build on each other because one of our secret talents at Next Level Wardrobe is we can spot gaps in a wardrobe based off of the client.

And so we are writing our shopping list at the same time. And the system that we start to implement in the closet edit really gives our clients freedom. In the long haul because it’s a framework that they can go back to the closet edit, uh, the closet edit process that we walk them through anytime, use it themselves or use it with us in the future.

And yeah, it really gives ’em the freedom to kind of be whoever they wanna be and explore whatever they wanna explore.

Melody Wilding: Are there any rules of thumb for someone that may wanna try a closet edit on their own. For example, I’ve heard, you know, if you haven’t worn something in six months or a year, then it’s time to donate.

But where would people start if they wanna give this a shot on their own?

Cassandra: Yes. I would say, especially for your audience, because I am like your audience, I’m Type A, I’m driven, like let’s get this done, is to put it in your calendar. So two times a year. At the turn of the seasons is a really good time to do a closet edit because naturally you are taking out clothes from the past season, putting in new clothes.

It’s a good time to kind of reflect on each item, try it on, see if it’s something you want to hold onto. You have to put it in your calendar though because I find a lot of people will get busy. Life will happen, things will happen. It will get pushed to the side, and that rolls up into months. Years, decades sometimes.

So putting it in your calendar is super, super important. And the second thing I will share is that with a closet edit to be gentle with yourself, I find a lot of people are very hard on themselves. Like, I don’t wanna be wasteful, or I spent x amount of money on this top and I never wore it. It has a tag on it.

And so one mindset that I like to share with people to repeat to themselves as they go through the closet edit is, I’ve made this mistake, I forgive myself and I’m gonna move forward on a new path. And that alone, if you say that to yourself enough times, you’re gonna start to believe it about your style.

And then a whole new world opens up.

Melody Wilding: And something I did maybe, I’m not sure if you’ll approve of this, but, uh, I’ll, I’ll, I have like a definite donate pile. It’s stuff that is definitely going out. And then I have the one I’m kind of like struggling with. And that one I’ll put in a totally separate closet and area I can’t see. And if I miss the item, if I’m like, oh, where, where’s that scarf? Like that’s the perfect thing I need right now, then at least I kind of have that safety valve that I can go grab it. But usually I totally forget about it and I don’t want that item. But it just is kind of this middle ground. For me in letting go where I put it away, it’s out of sight and I’m planning to go donate it or bring it to, you know, a resale shop or whatever. And it just, it helps me straddle that kind of all or nothing.

Cassandra: Yeah, and that’s a good, it’s kind of like baby steps because it can be a lot for some people just to go full dive in head first into a real closet edit and donate a bunch of stuff. So that is a good middle step for a lot of people to do.

And one that I encourage people to do is, let’s just break down a closet edit. So maybe you do one section at a time, maybe you do, um, just for an hour. You don’t have to do five hours. And so really breaking it down and maybe keeping some of the items that you are considering donating and doing your exercise is a good way to get that momentum because the momentum is actually really important because most people have had a lot of disappointing experiences when it comes to their style.

Like if you think about it, you hardly ever hear people say, I love my style. I love what I bought, and like be excited about it. And so the momentum of a successful closet edit will put you on the right path and then you’re gonna want more. You’re gonna be like, oh my God, I totally did that. That was easier than I thought.

What’s next? And then the NLW style system will be there for you.

Melody Wilding: Yes. Yeah, and like you were saying, rebuilding from those foundations. And, um, it also, I found just having the breathing room in my closet, like visual, going back to the visual before. Just not feeling like everything was crammed and on top of each other. I could see what I had. It felt a bit more elevated and elegant ’cause everything had a little more space to breathe.

And that’s something I’ve learned from you about the psychology of higher end shopping as well, is that higher end stores, tend to have fewer items and I never, I don’t know why I never put that together. But, um, yeah, it also just changes how you feel walking into your closet doesn’t feel so emotionally overwhelming anymore.

Cassandra: Exactly. And yeah, the closets are such a powerful place for so many, they hold a lot of power and people don’t give it the respect that it deserves. And so, you know, usually when I work with clients, they’re, some clients are nervous because they have big, beautiful closets and they see space for the first time. And they’re like, well, I have to fill.

I’m like, why? Why do you feel the need to fill your closet? And so just visually getting used to seeing space or like spaces in between your hangers, stuff like that can be a really, really big positive shift.

Melody Wilding: Hmm. The other thing I’ve been doing, and I, I do this partially because I know, I know I’ll continue working with you, so I wanna be ready for whenever my next shop is, but I will if I feel like I’m missing something. So a couple months ago I felt like I was missing earrings. Like there I was. This is, maybe this is a female thing, but I was feeling like there, there was a gap in my earrings where I wanted something that was smaller that I could wear more casually.

And it wasn’t until I felt like I wanted to reach for that several times and, that was when I was like, okay, I’m adding this officially to kind of my shopping list versus that kind of impulse buy of, oh, well this will be really handy. I wanna top for this, or I need a pair of pants for that. I would kind of let myself look for patterns in what I needed, and I think maybe that can also, help people start identifying for themselves? Where are the gaps? Like maybe you feel like, oh, it would be really useful to have a black belt. Um, and that could actually be a gap of maybe you need pants that fit better, or maybe you do actually need the black belt. But not immediately like giving into the anxious buying.

That was also something I, I’ve learned from you as well, is to be more like intentional and measured and planful not falling victim, maybe that’s a strong word, but not falling for all the sales every time. So if I know, like when I needed this, this pair of earrings, I went into the Black Friday sale and I was like, oh, these are exactly what I need.

And they’re 60% off. Perfect. And I felt very good about that purchase ’cause I had a plan.

Cassandra: Yeah.

Yeah, and the plan is so important, and it’s funny because, you know, I work with a lot of successful professionals of all different professional backgrounds, all ages, all sizes, all the things. So many of them are so driven professionally, right? That’s how they got to where they are. They had a plan, they were intentional.

All the things you would envision that, that type of person to do. But then segue to their closet and I’m like, okay, they just don’t have a system. They don’t have a framework yet. But once they do, you hit the ground running and you don’t even look back. And just the savings of, time and money and mental energy is so, it’s priceless in my opinion because then like we were talking about at the beginning, you can pivot that into going for that promotion or spending time with your family or friends or something that’s like really a priority to you.

Melody Wilding: Hmm. Okay. I think this will be my last question, but as you were saying, the people that listen to this show are very driven. We have a lot of people that are on the leadership, maybe even executive path. What are some tricks of the trade or subtle signs to look more executive ready without looking stodgy or outdated?

Cassandra: Mm-hmm. So, two come to mind. Number one, tailoring. If your listener does not have a tailor, that is the first thing that they should do. Because, you might have stuff in your wardrobe that could be given a second life with a tailor. So that means you don’t need to spend time shopping, buying things, trying things, returning. Use what you have.

We’re big, big fans of that at Next Level Wardrobe. So finding a very talented tailor is so important, because when you study the people with successful personal brands, you will notice that most of the time the fit of their garments is on point. Always, it’s never a distraction point from what they’re saying or the messages that they’re conveying.

Never. So, and the, the beautiful thing is tailoring is a hundred percent in your control. All of this is, so let’s use it to our advantage. And the number two is to lighten up the color palette. I find, again, going back to the all black outfit, the black pants, that that is the default for a lot of people.

Because they usually have that in the stores. It’s usually comfortable. You kind of know what to match with it. It’s a little bit more intuitive than say, a light gray pant, but that can convey a level of seriousness that maybe you don’t want. Maybe you do wanna be seen as approachable and trustworthy and fre and friendly and a good partner, someone you know that is a good teammate.

Well, if you are wearing all black. All the time, especially in warmer seasons when people naturally wear more color and lighter colors, you could be conveying the wrong message non-verbally to your audience. So this is where I like to use color in a strategic way. I am not a fan of color coaches and analysis.

You don’t need to go that far. That’s a story for another day. But just lighten up the color palette. So instead of a all black pant, maybe you do a navy pant, or maybe it’s a light blue pant, or maybe it’s a light gray pant. In the warmer seasons, you know, the lighter taupes and tans and or tones are popular, so you can find those in the store.

But lighten up the color palette too.

Melody Wilding: Yes, and one thing we didn’t touch on, but you were mentioning kind of the pops of color or sometimes we’ll do like pops of a pattern or an interesting texture. And what I have found is those can also be really great talking points or things that make you memorable. If you have a really great pair of shoes or if you’re, you know, a guy and you have a really cool like tie that compliments your outfit, that becomes something people remember you for and they ask you about.

And sometimes those are the things that help personalize and make you more approachable to people. So like you’re saying, yes, we want our. Our core colors down, so everything goes with everything else, but we don’t have to totally eliminate that fun. Yep.

Cassandra: Right. And that’s the beautiful thing about the NLW style system is it is flexible. So just because I say you need all core colors and these styles and all this stuff, okay, but do you even like to wear that stuff? You know? So there’s an element of what do you like? ’cause you have to wear it, not. me And they want you to wear all your clothes and so it can be flexible to you, every single day of the week. So me, myself, for example, sometimes I like to dress really fashion forward and sometimes I’m more classic and sometimes I do wanna wear like an All Navy outfit.

And the beautiful thing about the system is that it is flexible. To me as a CEO, whether I am working from home, interacting with people, doing videos, working with clients, whatever it may be, and I think that is a really, really special part of the system because not only will you learn it and implement it for the long run, but as body changes happen, as new jobs and promotions happen, it will be there for you.

Melody Wilding: Cassandra, this is so fascinating and I’ve loved chatting with you about this. Where is the best place that people can connect with you and work with the NLW team?

Cassandra: Yes, so they can visit my Instagram. It is @NextLevelWardrobe, all one word. And if anyone in your audience is very confused about where to start with their style, but they know they are ready to elevate it, go ahead and visit my website nextlevelwardrobe.com. I have a five question style quiz that they can take, and it will give them some insight into what path they should go down on their style journey.

Melody Wilding: Amazing. Thank you.