Growing up in a large family as the fourth child among seven siblings, Ms Jill Lowe always felt that she never fit in.
Unlike the well-groomed and polished image consultant who is the founder of one of Singapore's more established image consultancy companies today, she shares that she was dark-skinned throughout her teenage years who was more athletic in bearing and participated in five track and field events every year.
She recalled: “My mum was a laundress. When I wore the pleats – my uniform was the RGS (Raffles Girls’ School) uniform – none of the pleats sat straight.
“I got a scolding everyday – ‘why can’t you wear your uniform properly?’ – it just didn’t reflect well on my mum’s laundry services."
On the contrary, her sister was fair, and her posture so straight that her uniform looked good on her.
So Jill worked hard to look neat as she did not want to let her mother down, and that led to her becoming the school's head prefect during her time there.
Her stint at an English-medium school also made her feel different from the rest of her siblings, who all went to schools which used Chinese as the first language. It made her feel that her “whole family could not get along with her because she was strange”.
Jill added: “I always questioned, why is everyone so different from me?”
At 22, she learned the answers to this question after she joined an UK-based image-consultancy. Her business also began to take off.
She said: "I learnt how one’s colouring, skin tone, face, hair, eyes and overall look have to be presented in a specific manner to obtain optimum beauty. I also learnt that everyone has unique identities and dressing in a certain way can make one feel good about oneself.
Jill continued to be curious about other aspects of grooming, such as how a tie can look good on one person, but look ugly on someone else.
Business eventually began to take off. She added: "From there, I started teaching women, men and children on dressing intelligently to present themselves as distinguished individuals. The business grew inevitably after my friends and family kept recommending their friends to me."
Image more than skin deep
Today, her image consultancy company conducts makeover and grooming courses for schools to corporations.
And the woman who is the driving force behind her company still lives by her philosophy to dress according to the occasion as a first impression counts for a lot. To her, dressing well is not being superficial, as she believes how you look is key to determining your career choice, as your dressing can dictate how people treat you.
Giving an example, she said: "If you're tanned, people may see you as a tomboy, when you don't mean to be. So you start to attract people who treat in you a straightforward manner, compared to someone who wears dresses, talks sweetly and walks slowly.
"When you choose your clothes, you're delivering a certain 'accent'."
But she is also quick to point out that dressing well doesn’t mean buying expensive clothes and following trends, as different styles suit different personalities, and even a child as young as 10 is at an appropriate age to undergo an image makeover.
Which led to her book launch last Friday, where she unveiled two new books providing practical advice on dressing well and managing one's image. and is targeted at 10 to 18 year olds.
Jill, who is also a mother, believes that children begin to form their personalities and worry about how they look when they are around 10 years old, and that was a critical age to influence them. She believes that her children are influenced by the way she and her husband lead their daily lives. She has a 19-year-old daughter who is an SMU undergraduate, and a 15-year-old son who is studying in Anglo-Chinese School.
She said: "My husband and I have explained the benefits of deportment, grooming and having refined manners to our children and they have been intrigued since young. Over time, they realise that it is more rewarding to be well-groomed and courteous when interacting with others."
Which is why she began taking on projects such as deportment classes for students when her company started in 1985. And Jill believes that such classes strike a chord with students. She quipped: “Some of the kids we taught were involved in gangs, and yet we could hold their attention for four hours at at time."
She thinks this is because the students found the knowledge relevant to their lives.
Launches new books to address image questions of the young
In her newly-launched books, Dressing S.M.A.R.T for Boys and Dressing S.M.A.R.T for girls, you can take a quiz to find out what sort of “fashion personality” you have.
For example, someone who prefers “fuss-free clothes that will help her to complete her tasks and work in an efficient manner” (called Ms or Mr Casual in her book) is more likely to find success in industries where they don’t need to “look glamourous”.
In contrast, a Ms or Mr Elegant looks “expensive” and has a polished and classy look, but may come across as snobbish and aloof in an industry that does not care for highly stylish dressers.
Neither is better or worse than the other, but they should play up their strengths and know where their weaknesses lie.
While the advice proffered by the books sound a tad simplistic, the message is a little more serious – you don’t have to dress a movie star or copy what your friends are doing to be accepted.
