Tie One On!

Scarves are a huge fashion accessory right now, and why not? They are wonderfully versatile and can add pizazz to any outfit by adding a splash of color, a beautiful pattern, or a different texture. Since scarves are available in a variety of price ranges, there’s no reason for anyone not to be able to enjoy this trend. The other wonderful thing about scarves is that while they do experience a fluctuation in popularity, they never truly go out of style. Especially as the economy is heading down, why not get the most out of every dollar by buying items (and recommending them to clients) that will be able to transition through multiple seasons, and even years?

Scarves may be a little intimidating, especially for someone who has never worn them before. The good news is that it is hard to mess up tying a scarf, because there are probably as many ways to beautifully tie and arrange them, as there are scarves! Here are a few variations on a few of the more common ways to wear a scarf.

• Hanging on the inside of a jacket creating a vertical line.
• Hanging on the outside of a jacket, under the lapels.
• Wrapped around the neck loosely (this a great one for casual days with just a simple shirt or sweater underneath)
• Tied behind the neck with the tails trailing down your back.
• Tied in a slipknot and then adjust the knot to the length you like best.
• Fold the scarf in half and pull the ends through the loop to make a hacking knot (this one is better with thinner scarves because it can get bulky).

This month we also have a few dates to announce for chapter meetings and events! The first is January 21 in Salt Lake City. Come join your fellow chapter members and guests at “An Evening of Fashion History.” You should have received an invitation by email, but one is also posted below. The second meeting scheduled is a teleconference on March 11. There is also an April event in Salt Lake that is in the midst of being planned. More information will be announced and posted here as it becomes available.

Sincerely,
AICI SLC Chapter Board

January Event Announcement!

Steppin' Out

It’s that time of year that produces an abundance of parties and get-togethers. Both guests and hosts have many roles when attending a party and below are a few do’s and don’ts to take into consideration.

• Do mail out invitations early and be precise about the time, place, and purpose.

• Do RSVP to invitations you receive promptly.

• Do remember that the invitation is only meant for whom it is addressed, unless it states “and guest.” If it is a dinner invitation, call and give the host the name of your guest.

• Do make a point to chat with every guest if you are the host.

• Do work the room initially without your spouse or guest at a social get together. This gives you a chance to greet others you wish to speak with and allows another guest to share information with you that they may not wish to say in front of who you came with. After you have both greeted and chatted with everyone you wish to separately, you may stay together and rejoin any group.

• Don’t cluster with only people you already know. Make a point to introduce yourself to strangers.

• Don’t drink too much.

• Don’t be late. If something unexpected pops up call and let your host know. Otherwise, plan ahead to arrive on time.

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,
AICI SLC Chapter Board

Out With The Old, It's Time To Organize!

Autumn’s cooler weather may encourage you to stay inside and accomplish a few tasks like cleaning out and re-organizing your closet. While clothes may be at the forefront of your (or your clients) mind when doing a closet audit, now is also a great time to organize other areas that relate to image. The accessory drawer can easily become an entangled mess. Silver jewelry can tarnish and earrings may lose their partner. Taking a few minutes now can give you a shopping list of trendier items you’d like to buy and can make getting dressed in the morning faster and easier. Because jewelry may be worn across seasons or years, take stock of pieces that look out of date and remove them from your collection. It helps to hang necklaces or lay them flat to keep them from entangling. Organization stores sell many neat and cute divided boxes that stack or sit out to help keep pieces with their partners and handy to grab the perfect touch in a hurry.

Throw out old cosmetics or colors you don’t like or don’t wear. Think about storing similar items together, rather then mixing everything in a single bag. This will help keep stock of the lipstick, eye shadow, or nail polish colors that you have so that you don’t buy duplicate colors. Organize your cosmetics in a drawer or a basket with compartments to keep them neat and easily accessible. You may even decide to store them in the order you use them, to make getting dressed in the morning that much faster and easier. And don’t forget to swap out old sponges and clean brushes! If you have any organizing tips you’d like to share, then please do! Make a comment to this entry or login and create your own post (the login info is listed in the first post) and start sharing. Happy organizing!

Sincerely,
AICI SLC Chapter Board

Getting The Word Out!

Marketing is central to any business, and is especially important when just starting out. Though referrals are the heart of any service business, what do you do while building your clientele to get those referrals? The following are some ideas for you to brainstorm about while you create your marketing plan.
1. Understand your target market to keep your message consistent. While it’s tempting to try to be everything to everyone, it’s better to outline who you want to reach and find out as much about them as possible. This allows you to convey a message that will resonate with them and be consistent. If your message changes too often, you may end up causing more confusion then recognition. Who is your target audience and what do they want that you can offer?
2. A potential client will probably need to see or hear your message more than once. E-newsletters, mailings, no-fee speeches, volunteer work, the list is endless for you to reach potential clients. What are the ways that you can reach prospective clients repeatedly for them to begin to feel comfortable about hiring you?
3. Strategic Partnerships can be a great way to allow two (or more) businesses to promote themselves and reach new clientele. Examples could be doing a trends presentation at a local boutique, joining with a salon to do a makeover package, or anything that allows both partners to advertise together to reach each other’s markets. This is most productive if both partners have similar target markets. Who do you know that you could partner with for a one-time event?

Hopefully, this gave you a little food for thought. Enjoy these last few days of summer!

Sincerely,
AICI SLC Chapter Board

Fall Make-up Trends

While we all peruse the new fall collections that have been coming out, let’s not forget that cosmetics can be an easy, and inexpensive, way to update a look. This fall nude faces are popular and great news for those who dislike or don’t want to spend a long time doing their face in the morning. To transition to night, a swipe of eyeliner, extra mascara, and a little lipstick is all you need. Shades of pink are popular for the lips this fall. Gold is another option and is being seen on the eyes or on the lips. Use a dry brush with eye shadow for less intensity during the day, and use a wet brush to apply a more intense color for night. This is another great option for someone who wants to look polished, but doesn’t want a lot of color. For the more adventurous, bold color is also popular, think purples and greens to create a smoky eye. A colored liner can be another way to experiment with this trend.

The education day in Salt Lake City has been postponed indefinitely. If anything changes, we’ll let you know via the blog.

Sincerely,
AICI SLC Chapter Board

Stay Tuned. . .More Info To Come!

We hope that you are having an enjoyable summer and finding the time to take a break and enjoy the warm weather! It’s hard to believe we will soon be discussing fall trends and pulling out our winter clothes. Time flies and soon it will be time for SLC Chapter’s Education Day this fall in Salt Lake. Be sure to check this blog for the most current information and we’ll keep you updated on this event as we figure out more of the details. Right now we are still looking for two chapter members who would like to present at this event. If there is a topic you feel passionate about, please share your expertise! You can volunteer by emailing aicislcchapter@gmail.com. Also, if you have a topic suggestion you’d like to hear more about, email and let us know your ideas!

Also, we’d love to hear more about what everyone is up to. Please feel free to contribute your thoughts, successes, ask questions of your fellow chapter members, and make this blog your own. This is a great forum to voice opinions and help each other succeed!

Have a great rest of the month!



Sincerely,
AICI SLC Chapter Board

New Event!

Hello everyone! There are so many great things to tell you, I hardly know where to start! First of all we want to welcome Stacie Brower to the board as VP communications. Stacie will be taking over this blog and we are confident she will do a fantastic job.

Also we are planning an educational day for this fall! During our chapter meeting this month, we talked about hosting an educational event which would include presenters from our chapter and also a professional from a related field. We want to invite any of you to participate in this event as a presenter. We are looking for 2 chapter members to present. We haven't determined the theme for the day, but perhaps you could let us know what aspect of our field you would like to learn more about. This will be a great opportunity for all of us to get together and enjoy the benefits of hearing from other image professionals.

We also thought it would be great to have an educational day twice a year, once in the Salt Lake area and once in the Denver area! How does that sound Colorado members? :) We want to give opportunities for all our members to enjoy these kind of occasions and what a great excuse for us Utah members to go on a road trip!

Another idea presented at our chapter meeting was to hold 2 telemeetings a year. This way, we can all participate in the chapter meetings no matter where we are. We could perhaps even hold a few webinars. With technology the way it is today, there are lots of ways we can conduct the meetings to include everyone. If there are any of you who have experience in these types of media, we would love to hear from you!

We will keep you posted on the details of all these great ideas, but be sure to reserve a weekend in the fall to travel to Salt Lake for the AICI SLC Chapter Education Day! Again, we invite any of you to present and would love to hear your ideas for themes. You can email us at aicislcchapter@gmail.com. Thank you and have a great day!


Sincerely,
AICI SLC Chapter Board

Chapter Meeting in June!

   Well the annual AICI conference has come and gone.  We hope that those who attended had a wonderful time making new friends and finding new ways to excel professionally.  If you were one of the lucky ones who went, please share with us and post what you feel was the most valuable thing you learned.  The instructions for posting on this blog are outlined below in the first post.

   We want to invite everyone to our next AICI SLC Chapter meeting, June 3rd @ 1:00 at Thanksgiving Point.  We will be hearing from select board members who will share with us what they felt was the most valuable information gleaned from conference and how we can improve our chapter with this new learning.  Please let us know if you will be able to attend this meeting by emailing us at aicislcchapter@gmail.com.  If you cannot attend, please check back here to find out what went on.  

   We also want to welcome a new member to our chapter! Cheryl Obermiller has joined us from Missouri.  We are thrilled to have Cheryl as part of our chapter as she is a true professional with a great motivation to bring energy and integrity to our field.  Also please note the latest member highlight.

   Have a wonderful month!

Sincerely,

AICI SLC Chapter Board

  

  

  

Spring Trend Alert!

  Hello AICI SLC Chapter Members!  We hope you are all enjoying the beginnings of this beautiful spring season.  With this burst of warm weather also comes a burst of new looks from the runways to the department stores.  Bold color is everywhere and can be seen in both bright primary hues and rich jewel tones.   You'll see this blast of color in everything from swing jackets, trapeze tops, and A line skirts to accessories such as handbags, head bands, and belts.   Look for large abstract prints as well as blocks of solid color.   

  The fantasy trend this season is definitely tribal.   Ethnic prints and safari styles are making an appearance in both traditional and modern variations.  Classic safari jackets, dramatic headwraps, and jungle print sun dresses in deep earthy colors are all the rage for months ahead. Jewelry is a great way to incorporate this theme with wooden bangles and beads popping up in boutiques and chain stores alike. 

  

  Besides notifying you of the latest and greatest in trends and styles, we also want to welcome Tina Gill and Carol Steinbrecher as the newest members of AICI SLC Chapter!  We are thrilled to have these women join us and look forward to working with them in the future.  Also please let us know which of you are planning to attend conference next month.  We would love to have as many members of our chapter there as possible.  As always please feel free to post anything you like here on our blog.  The instructions for posting are found below.  Have a wonderful month making the world a more beautiful place!

Sincerely,

AICI SLC Chapter Board

Welcome Everyone!

Dear AICI SLC Chapter Members,

   Welcome to our new official chapter blog!  This will be a great way for us to connect with one another through posting chapter news, events, member accomplishments, questions, and resources.   This blog is meant for our members to use as a forum for chapter and image related discussions.  As you will notice all of our members are listed down on the right, with their company name (hyperlinked to a site where applicable) and an email address.  If you do not want your contact info listed on the site, please let us know by emailing aicislcchapter@gmail.com.  This blog is meant for AICI SLC Chapter members only and not for the general public.  However, the public is able to view the site.   This blog will also include a member highlight every month and a summary of our chapter meetings for those who are unable to attend in person. 

   Speaking of meetings, we had a wonderful chapter meeting this week at Thanksgiving Point.  We welcomed 3 new members to the chapter and had 2 guests.  We also added two new board members; Lisa Richards (American Fork, UT) is our new secretary/treasurer and Milena Joy (Denver, CO) is our new VP membership.  We are thrilled to have these dedicated women serving on our board.   During the meeting we introduced the chapter blog and discussed ways in which it can help us feel more united as a chapter.  We also answered questions from our 2 guests whom we hope to see again soon.  

   Our next chapter meeting will be held on June 3rd at the Harvest Restaurant at Thanksgiving Point where we will be hearing from those who are attending the AICI Conference in May.  If you plan to attend conference, please let us know.  We would love to have you pass on what you've learned to those who are unable to attend.  

   We also want to extend an invitation for someone to join the board as VP communication.  The main responsibility of this position will be to manage this blog!  It is not a time consuming or difficult position and will be a great way for you to gain leadership experience in AICI and be more actively involved in our chapter.  We welcome anyone who is willing to commit 1-2 hours a month.

  Please feel free to post anything you like.  The instructions for posting are listed below.   We look forward to hearing from you.  

Sincerely,

AICI SLC Chapter Board

  

   

   

Blog Instructions

To view the blog:

• www.aicisaltlakecity.blogspot.com