Latest / Empower Your Menopause / Episode 63: From Mirror Critic to Confidence Queen with Jackie Crawford

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Episode 63: From Mirror Critic to Confidence Queen with Jackie Crawford · Empower Your Menopause

• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, and welcome back to Hello Your Menopause, the podcast where we talk about all things health, hormones, and happiness for women over 40.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: We're coaches James and Julie from Fabulous Beyond 40, and today we're going to talk about a relationship that defines almost everything.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's the one you have with your body.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we know that menopause changes a lot.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Your hormones, your energy, your reflection in the mirror.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: So how do we stay confident through it all?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: To answer that today, we're joined by someone whose work we absolutely adore.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's Jackie Crawford, image consultant and style queen.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Excuse me.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: We first saw Jackie across the room at a convention earlier this year that Julie and I attended.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: She looked absolutely amazing.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: She was dressed in bold colours, she radiated confidence.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: And although we didn't get to speak to her at the time, we then found out who she was, loved her stuff, found out we had loads in common and decided to get her onto the pod.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Jackie helps women stop fighting their bodies and start expressing who they really are through fashion, mindset, and self-confidence.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, Jackie, welcome to the podcast.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, James and Julie.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's absolutely great to be here on Fabulous Beyond 40.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I was delighted that you actually reached out to me.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, you got that absolutely right.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: I am an independent and accredited image consultant based in Strentel, north of York, and I am absolutely dedicated to helping women in midlife dress with confidence, offering colour analysis and personal styling.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: I am absolutely an advocate that when we wear clothes in colours and styles that fit and flatter, something magical happens.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I've experienced it myself, and I get to witness that with the clients I work with.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: Our confidence can increase, our self-esteem can absolutely soar.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I've seen people walk a little taller, um, and we actually just feel a little bit different about ourselves.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: But how did I get into it?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: That that's an interesting one.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: I I probably go round the houses a little bit.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'll go round the houses a little bit, but I'll get there in the end.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I had enjoyed a corporate life for about 34 years in hospitality, sales, and latterly into HR, uh, where I ultimately spent my final 10 years of full-time employment actually in a senior role.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: But during this time, it was probably in my early 40s, I'd experienced so many of my own wardrobe woes, my own dressing dilemmas.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and my wardrobe was a sea of grey, navy, black.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: It did not give me joy.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I left the house in the morning feeling just a little bit gloomy.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and many of your listeners can probably relate a little bit to that.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it was so gloomy, it it sort of quite depressed me.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought that actually something had to change.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: So a plan began to hatch.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought, you know, what if my clothes could reflect how I feel?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: What if my clothes could influence the success I was going to enjoy on a daily basis?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: And what if my clothes could actually alter perceptions, what people, you know, felt about me.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that was kind of the catalyst for positive change for me.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: It was actually a blue suit that I wore for a friend's wedding.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: It was a terrible choice.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that actually affected my entire day because I felt that I was wearing someone else's clothes.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: So something absolutely had to change.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and change it did because I did enlist the support of an image consultant at the time, and my goodness, it was the springboard to um, well, it was the springboard I needed, and many positives kind of followed as a result.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I had enhanced connection to myself, um, and I got to ride on that self-esteem super highway.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if you like, that was my first experience of that.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: I had a renewed energy in dressing myself, a new energy in shopping for my clothes, and I got the promotion that I was seeking.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so apart from my business credentials, um my experience, my clothes actually altered the way that people were seeing me.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: And in my case, it was that safe pair of hands into a senior management role.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I think beyond that, I seriously wanted to help people avoid all the same dressing dilemmas and the same dressing frustrations that I had done.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: So I was 50 when I left my corporate career.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: Not gonna lie to you, that was a little bit frightening.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I retrained, I took a gap year, I retrained and I launched my business in image consultancy, and and I'm now 60.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so um I've absolutely done the journey.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: I can totally relate to women in midlife, and I can honestly say that I feel the best that I have ever, ever done, and and more confident than I have ever felt in my life.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: Who knew?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Who knew that clothes could make such a difference?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Can we just ask you, because maybe it will explain to listeners a little bit about what the process is of getting an image consultant?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: When you first went to this person, and you said I open my wardrobe door and there's a sea of blues, greys, and blacks in there, and I want to change it up.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: What is that process like?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: What do you actually do?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: How does it work?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's a very enlightening process because very often I haven't actually met the client that I'm working with.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I so love being with people, so it's all about building relationships.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I suppose the work I do as a transformational stylist allows me to guide my clients through a process of positive change with their appearance.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I build that relationship.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we identify what type of clothes they absolutely love to wear.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: And it may be that we need to go back to, you know, a number of previous years ago where they've they really loved a particular style they were wearing at that time, but then life just got in the way and they've sort of become disconnected.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: So initially, we sort of talk about wardrobe personality and how they choose their clothes.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: We then move on to colour analysis, which is a wonderfully enlightening process that identifies the most flattering colours to wear.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: We then go through a process of identifying body shape, proportions, scale, um, because that really influences how we choose our clothes as well.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: The size of patterns, the size of handbags, you know, we really dig down into quite a lot of detail.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and all the time we focus on body positives.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: I try to steer my clients away from negatives because, of course, we all focus on the negatives first.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: If I say to my clients, um, tell me what you love about your body, um, they will always say, Oh, well, it's probably easier to tell you what I don't love about my body.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but actually we focus on the positives, and that's a really good place to start because during the process we learn how to diminish those areas about which we are a little bit less fond.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um I will then um procure a rail of clothes in that um client's current dress size, and that begins a process of actually eliminating what works for the client and actually, equally importantly, what doesn't work, and then it will avoid um you know them making the same mistakes again because we know what's working and what is not, and that's actually really enlightening for sure.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, there are so many body confidence myths.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: We hear a lot of myths around this phase of life, like you know, we have to lose weight before we can feel good in our clothes, or the size on the tag makes or breaks whether we're happy about them.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what are what are some other sort of myths that you run into or bigger, bigger?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to say negative self-talk, but yeah, I'm sure you hear so many different ideas.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: Oh so many, Julie.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um the one you hit upon is probably the first one um I come across is I need your services, I'll let you know when I've lost my weight.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, what we need to feel good about ourselves now, and do you know what?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: We might not lose the weight.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we may be our weight.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: So it's about celebrating what we have now.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I will always try to encourage my clients to actually certainly join me for colour analysis to begin with, because then we can start making some visual changes, which actually then start to change that um narrative that we have in our head that we're not good enough.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and perhaps another one that I get quite often is that we remember a comment from childhood, and that can stay with us our entire life, you know, being told that we're overweight, you know, in our teens, that will sort of fester um, you know, all of our lives and is is incredibly detrimental to confidence throughout um our life.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a very difficult one to to get over.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: So so what um I want to say when we're talking something else about style, because I I've heard this a lot myself because I'm 61 now, and I've had people say, Well, you're this age now, you should be dressing appropriately.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, even going so far as to tell me I should cut my hair because I'm this age and that's how I it's meant to be.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: What is age appropriate versus doing something that makes you feel really confident and aligned with who you are?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: And and that that's a very good point because my services, uh I mean, fashion, for example, um that there isn't almost a place for for you know midlife women because all the fashion marketing is focused towards you know the smaller body, the younger woman, and we can become a little bit detached from that.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: So we get to midlife and frankly don't know what to wear.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: So my coaching actually encourages us to really embrace what we love, what we how we want to feel in our clothes, really, for us to actually develop that style that feels uniquely us because let's face it, fashion doesn't work for everybody.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there is not um a norm that works for everybody, and of course, sure, we can adopt fashion trends if that works for us, but I say leave fashion behind and focus on what absolutely brings you joy, what you love to wear.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, not following a hairstyle that probably will not flatter your your face shape.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's probably more important than following fashion.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I think um, you know, certainly over the last few years our dressing style has become a lot more casual, hasn't it?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and we've kind of lost our way, we've almost lost our identities because we've been living in you know yoga pants and sweatpants for for a long, long time, and that's that's kind of become the norm.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we've lost a little bit of um identity just through that, because we've kind of forgotten how to dress up and and how to be ourselves.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, totally.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: I know I feel completely different.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: I work from home as do so many people these days, and I feel completely different approaching a work day if I've taken the time to put on some nice clothes and some jewelry and you know, put a little bit of makeup on and just as if I was going to work.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like back in my corporate days, I was a corporate HR person as well, so I can relate to the gray and black and navy blue wardrobe.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, it it really there, I think there's a big difference, isn't there, between fashion and style.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: There is, absolutely.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Our style evolves, um, but fashion just sort of um, you know, it it's very transitional, but style will stay with us, and that helps us to you know develop a very strong personal brand and a very strong connection with ourselves as well.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: You obviously have to help the women that you you work with, not just from a visual point of view, but also from I guess a mindset and a mental point point of view.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of steps do you tend to take with women when you're trying to get them to rebuild that trust with their body and their their self-image?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's um focusing, I think I will always um tend to get women to focus on what we are able to do, um, celebrate what our bodies can do.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I find that practicing daily affirmations is a really good support with that because it starts to become the norm, you know, when we say, actually, actually, I've just noticed my eyes look really good.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: And you then start to focus on the positives a little bit more, you start to be a little bit more grateful about the body that can take you bodyboarding or that can take you up a hill, uh, and then you actually start to really appreciate that you've got powerful, powerful legs.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, the smallest tweak in your you know personal narrative can make a massive, massive difference to you know, rebuilding that trust, um, I think in your in your um self-perception.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: Because we we have to be um you know a little bit self-compassionate, don't we?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: We have to speak more kindly to ourselves.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I always say, you know, treat your yourself as you would treat your best friend.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I like to remind clients that actually think about an outfit that you have in your wardrobe that makes you feel really good, and then on the back of that, have you had any comments on that?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: And then try to replicate that, you know, because those compliments um, you know, they do soon add up.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: So it's about for me, it's about stopping talking about the negatives, always focusing on the positives.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: And Julie touched upon it earlier.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, the clothing size can be um a little bit problematic.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Someone says, Oh, I'm never going to go up a clothing size.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: Take the emotion out of clothing size and actually just appreciate that the clothing sizes vary from brand to brand.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: There is no standard size 16, there is no standard size 10, they're all very, very different.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so believe that the right size is the one that fits you, the one that sort of makes you feel good.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, cut the labels out, cut the sizing label out, and then you'll forget.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Your your Instagram feed, Jackie, it's very, very colourful because you're obviously an incredibly colourful dresser yourself.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I was surprised a couple maybe about a month or so ago, maybe six weeks ago, I was looking through it and I saw that there was lots of pictures of you and other ladies in swimsuits, in uh bikinis, women of all shapes and sizes.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, what was even more surprising, I think, was the fact that you're all going to the North Sea, which anybody who doesn't live in England will know the absolutely freezing cold.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's part of the campaign that you're you're you're part of, it's called Accepting Who We Are, AWWA.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, tell us a little bit about that.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: How you got into it, how did that photo shoot come about?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because it looked, you all look to be having an enormous amount of fun.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I can't.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: But there's a serious message behind it too, right?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: It was a summer campaign.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so glad you've touched on this actually.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: It was a summer campaign that was created by Tina Bowden, who is um a North Yorkshire-based midlife coach, and Rachel Peru, a silver model.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: And initially, I think their goal was to promote self-acceptance, to encourage women in midlife to feel more body positive in swimwear, you know, if not now, you know, it's summer, it's the height of summer, let's not let's not hide away.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I think in doing so, it was wanting to, they were wanting to shine a light on underrepresentation of women in midlife in fashion marketing.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that I sort of touched upon that um earlier on.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: And the campaign has attracted so much um positivity, so much interest around the world, might I say, and that has to encourage more brands perhaps to focus on um focus and feature women in midlife actually in their advertising campaigns.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: But the effect on the women who attended has been phenomenal, and it has actually made them step out of their comfort zone.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: People are posting all over the globe about their um, you know, their summer bodies, and we're all different shapes and different sizes.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: So the launch, um, James, was was on North Bay Beach in Scarborough.
• 20:19
  unknown: Yeah.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: You're right as cold as the sea probably gets anywhere in the world outside of the Arctic regions, I would think.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: You are absolutely right.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: It was freezing, but you know, we were all encouraging each other to you know to step on in.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: People had brought their body boards, people were enjoying um a swim and connecting, and I think that's what that's what was so powerful about it, because you know, there wouldn't have been one woman there who didn't have a hang-up or two um about her body, how she looked in swimwear.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: But there we all were, you know, bearing, bearing almost all um on the uh on the east coast of Yorkshire.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: It was incredibly empowering, and I think that that um that feeling um will will continue.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: There's there's more events planned.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um beyond um beyond September, there are going to be some indoor events as well.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: So connecting ourselves with um you know like-minded um people um is is a game changer, I think, for accepting who we are as well.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I you know, I look at self-acceptance kind of like the starting point for your GPS, right?
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you're programming your GPS, you have to say where you're starting from.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever your goal is, wherever you want to aspire to, wherever you want to land, you have to be starting from where you are.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so many women we talk to um are stuck in oh, well, when I was in my 20s and 30s, or oh, when I used to be this size, or not wanting to acknowledge where they are right now because there's that there's just so much shame about it in the in the marketplace, in the diet industry.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, even actresses at our age don't have a lot of different roles to play because they're just not written.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Somehow we've uh hung on to this idea that somehow youth is the gold standard for for beauty, but we're none of us is getting out of this alive, right?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: We're all aging every day.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: So so being able to have that self-acceptance, I think, is a really amazing thing.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um I absolutely, I absolutely agree with that, and and and I do see that worry, you know, if I go to edit somebody's wardrobe, I will see a rail of clothes and I will ask them to talk me through this piece.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: Ah, that's a piece I wore in my 30s.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I can't fit into it anymore, but I'm just keeping it there to remind me.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: But but actually, that can be a very demoralizing thing to do.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, we do get attached to the garments that we wear and we do reminisce about, you know, maybe happier times in our lives or times when we were a size eight or a size 10.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but actually let's embrace who we are now.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: And if you can't bear to part with that item straight away, just move it um away from your visual field in your wardrobe, um, and and that will become slightly easier to um you know to work on with in the future.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: The fashion industry, Jackie, it's becoming seemingly I'm no expert, but it seems to be becoming more and more transient in that trends change really quickly, there's a trend towards sort of a quick turnover, yeah.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: Whether you're looking at sort of like smaller, bigger brands or or small copies that you see on Timo and things like that.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it strikes me as though there's a sustainability issue in the industry.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: I know that's something that you're passionate about.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: Just talk us to how that actually works for women at this stage of life and what your thoughts are on that, please.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that and that's a really good point, James, because people imagine initially when they come to me that we're gonna have to start from scratch, we're gonna have to build a wardrobe from scratch, and that is so far from the truth because you know, when I was younger, there were two clothing seasons a year: there was spring and summer and autumn and winter, and as a child I was able to choose a couple of pieces each season.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I could choose four pieces a year.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how fast fashion has become um, as you say, so transient.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we we seem to just want more.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um so my coaching is that we actually, you know, we start small, uh, we slowly replace as we need those new pieces of clothing, whether they be new or whether they be pre-loved, I'm a great fan of pre-loved, but I coach that buying less, but buying better is actually a better strategy.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: Now that doesn't necessarily mean buying a more expensive brand, it just means buying something that actually works for your body shape, it works for your colouring, it works for you know the way you want to, the way you want to dress, not because it's fashion, but it's because you know you feel so good in that.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_02: So um when I talk about sustainability, I mean that when we choose something that works well for us, we are more inclined to wear it for longer than just discard it because actually it was a bad choice um, you know, in the first place.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'm sure that you know many of our listeners today will have pieces in their wardrobe that still have the tags on.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I see that, I see that quite a lot.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: And you think all of that time that they spent seeking out that item, the money they spent um, you know, on that item, and then sometimes the guilt and shame of having something in your wardrobe that you don't actually wear, something unworn, something unloved in your wardrobe, and actually you're not doing anything, you're not doing anything with it.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: So that can be quite um, you know, a negative that can be very demoralizing seeing um those pieces in your wardrobe, and um, you know, particularly on those pieces that we insist on keeping, hoping to fit into them again.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: So the sustainable um aspect is yes, really important because I care about our planet, and you know, clothing and garment manufacture um takes up so much of our natural resource that I'd rather, you know, if I'm going to buy something, it's got to be absolutely spot on, which is why I have a small capsule of clothes that work for me time and time again in a flexible way.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I imagine a lot of those synthetic fibers don't degrade and they stay around for hundreds of years just like plastics, because that's basically what they are, right?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Not to mention what it does to our skin and our body to wear.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and of course, I would always encourage someone who has um you know experiencing um, you know, quite strong menopause symptoms.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: I always try to encourage sort of natural fibres um as well.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um so natural fibres are are great, but they don't work for all of us.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: And and when you were talking, um James, about how do I sort of channel a client to a particular style, is about identifying clothing that really resonates with us.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so I love natural fibres, some of my clothing um is made from natural fibers, but put me in linen which creases, um, I step way out of my comfort zone and my confidence can shrivel.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so um, you know, finding what what works for us is uh is pretty crucial to our dressing success.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: We talked before about um, or you explained before how you started this journey in fashion 10 or so years ago when you were still in the in the corporate world.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: So you would have been in your maybe late 40s, early 50s.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's the age that most women tend to go through menopause as well.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: I just wondered that changing image that you had yourself, how did that affect your own mindset?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: And did that have any effect on your own journey through the menopause transition?
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: I I think because I'd felt so much more confident in my clothes, and I had gone from wearing black-grey, um, you know, navy in my sort of 20s, 30s, and and 40s, I was absolutely ready to embrace some kind of positive change.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I I think starting to wear colour, starting to express who I was through my clothes really helped me transition that because I thought nothing is static.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, our symptoms change, our symptoms um alter, our symptoms lessen.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, let's just embrace.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think I just thought that I'm gonna embrace who I am now and I'm not actually gonna look back anymore.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I think if I look back at pictures of myself, you know, when I was younger, hell, I look a whole lot better now than I did then because I look terrible in black.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, so what tips would you give a woman just as a starting point?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: So she's looking at her wardrobe now, she's maybe through menopause.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: She says, nothing fits or feels right anymore.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, where do you start?
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh, that's a really good um question, Julie.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: Sort of how to start exploring your style.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: I would say to anyone, open up your wardrobe to start with and look for patterns.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um I don't mean, you know, patterns, I mean um, is there a lot of linen in the wardrobe?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: Are there a lot of clothes that are very elegant with very clean lines?
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, is there lots of clothing in there from you know sustainable brands?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there will be sort of some um you know clues, I think, into your wardrobe.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: And and ask yourself, you know, what you love to wear.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: Is there anything in there that you actually don't love to wear that every time you put it on, you oh I know, don't know why.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: I just don't, I just don't love that.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: So identifying what makes you feel joyful um is is a really good message, and joyful to me is colour, joyful is um you know a nice fitting jacket, a beautifully pair of tailored trousers, a ruffle, um which you won't see me far from, um, to be honest, but everyone will have that joyful aspect.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, it's worth noting that even the smallest of changes could have, you know, the biggest of impacts to the way we feel.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and of course, I will be sharing a little bit more about my guidance in the Facebook Live for Fabulous Beyond 40 this evening.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us a little bit, Jackie, then people who've been convinced by you, they like the cut of your jib while you've been speaking, where can they get in touch with you?
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Where can they find you?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Where can they find out more about what you what you do?
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm on all the social channels.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: If you wanted to have a look at my website, um, there is more support and more guidance in the there.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: I write a monthly blog, so you can find me on www.jackiecrawford.co.uk.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I'm on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn as Jackie Crawford Image Consultant.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thanks every so much for that.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: We'll put all the notes in the show notes below.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, to round off, from our point of view, as Fabulous Beyond 40, if this episode had hit home, you've been struggling with your own body image lately, don't do it alone.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: We offer a menopause impact assessment that can help you unpack what's going on.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's a 45-minute coaching call designed to help women over 40 get unstuck and start making some real progress with their health, their happiness, and their hormones.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: So we start off with a validated symptom questionnaire so you can get a clear picture of where you are right now, and then we shift the focus onto your goals, your priorities, what feeling better actually looks like for you.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to jump on one of those, we'll also put the link to that in the session, uh, to those sessions below in the show notes.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Julie, anything to add before we head off?
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um we we usually round off with one last question for our guests.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I would like, Jackie, your uh just whatever comes to mind, one clothing item that every woman over 40 should own.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think for me, I'm actually wearing it.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um for me, it's a kimono, can be a short kimono, a long kimono.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's a flexible piece of clothing that every time I wear it, I just feel fabulous.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that's that's the great thing about finding our style because um it's flexible, it can go with so many different, so many different pieces, and that just gives us that wonderful level of confidence whenever we put it on.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: I love it, love it.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: All right, well, thank you very much.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's it for this week.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: We have been coaches James and Julie from Fabulous Beyond 40.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today, and thank you again to our amazing guest, Jackie Crawford.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we will see you back here next week, and in the meantime, let's remember to stay strong and stay fabulous.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_02: Are you still there?
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: We are, yeah, yeah.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: Good, well done.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: That was great.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_02: Thank thank you very much indeed.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: Hopefully, not much editing to uh take you away from your job, James.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'll just take a couple of the sometimes when there are three people on, um knowing which one of Julie and I is gonna speak next just causes a slight pregnant pause.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got some software that can just rip those out.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: So aside from that, it's all good.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect, perfect.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I I hope that's gonna be really useful for your listeners.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um absolutely.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_02: It just gives them um a few little tips and tricks, doesn't it?
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I've got more to share this evening.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm just a bit worried about the connection to the case.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, did it?
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was a little bit pixelated at the start, but within a minute or two, I don't know whether it was my internet or yours, something caught up and it's um it's the the picture's been great after that.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: So oh that's perfect, that's excellent.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: So so don't worry about it, yeah.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I will be ready sort of a bit before seven.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: Will you send me the link again to to join?
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a zoom link for tonight.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you come on five minutes beforehand, something like that.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that'd be great.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe five to seven, yeah.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, lovely.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we'll do.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks again for the opportunity, you two and uh see you later on.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: Take care.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: All right, thank you for now.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: Bye.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_02: Bye.