Finally the fashion consultant program has come to an end. It’s a 6-days program provided by first impressions academy. I was one of the 3 trainees in this program. In this program, we learnt what a fashion consultant does and knows, which includes fashion knowledge, human’s face and body shapes, wardrobe management, clothes terminology, shopping practices and etc. in this program, there were trainees – Eunice who’s a multimedia design fresh graduate, Michelle who’s a MLM active member and freelance beautician, and me of course, who’s a full time psychology major? LOL~ The trainer was the principal trainer of First Impression Image Consultancy and founder of First Impression Academy, Ms. Deborah Leong, who already has 10 years experience in this field.
To be frank, I am not so interested in fashion. Though I may sometimes try to catch up with some latest fashion, I also appreciate fashion, but if I am to explore this field in a professional manner, sorry, that’s not me. By the 2nd day of the training, I declare I am simply not a fashion person. All faces and body shapes look similar to me, I find it hard to discriminate the differences, unless you have a really obvious face shape which belongs to a particular category.
But why did I take part in this program? Great, good question. This program is actually not all about fashion consultant. Fashion consultant is only the first part of this program, when a person has mastered this expertise, then he/she will proceed to the second part of it which is the image consultant, and as it goes, the final destination of this program is being a professional image consultant. Professional image consultant, that’s what I want. Though, not exactly what I want, but similar. So why not give it a try? To add value to myself at this age. This whole thing takes roughly 7-8 years.
The first few days in training was quite a disaster to me. We learnt all sorts of theory which does not really excite me. However, I know this is a stage which I have to and must go through, thus, I was still willing to learn, just that you might not see me being very excited and curious about the new knowledge.
By the 5th and 6th day, we got to go out and do practical trainings. On the 5th day, we went to Parkson in KLCC and we had 3 test models as our clients, so we did shopping and give fashion advice to them. Each trainee had a 1-hour session with a ‘cilent’ to assist the client in shopping for clothes. My test model was Eunice’s cousin, Eunice’s client was one of the trainer from First Impression Image Consultancy, and Michelle’s client was Eunice’s friend. I have to admit that on my first practical training, I wasn’t doing well. Due to inexperience, I did not really know how to handle clients. But no choice, I still had to do it. However, soon Ms Deborah came in and took over. I think it was embarrassing because I was supposed to be the personal shopper of my client, but I did not do much. I did go around and search for clothes, but the interaction with client was what I missed out. Anyway, it was my first time, so it was also good that Ms Deborah demonstrated once for us first, and I just observed and learnt from there.
On the first practical training, we had men as our clients, and on the second one, we had ladies. It was again in Parkson but this time in Pavilion. I got Michelle’s collegue, Michelle got Eunice’s aunt and Eunice got Ms. Deborah’s friend. This time, we got to really serve our clients and Ms. Deborah only helped when it was needed. My client was quite a tough one because she’s in the beauty and sales line, and she already has her own established style of dressing. Also, I thought during the introduction part, I had already gathered enough information on what kind of clothes she’s looking for, I even repeated what she told me. However, after the first round of picking clothes for her, I realized it wasn’t what she wanted as she told me initially. On second time of search, I picked clothes based on my own intuition and of course also her specifications. Then finally she said she likes them. In fact, what she wanted in the end wasn’t the same as what she told me she wanted at the first place. Yet, she said I did not listen to her carefully and she rated my service very low, it’s like a fail! I was a little upset frankly. Though, I still agree with some of her feedbacks like my interaction and communication with clients were not enough, those points I agree. So yea, I am going to improve more on that.
A quick review was done right after our last day of training. Ms Deborah also commented on our performances. She said as a beginner, my taste and choices on clothes are quite good, but besides communication and interaction with clients, there’s another thing I have to be aware of, which is the customer service, eg. don’t forget to smile, don’t show nervousness if I can’t handle the client.
After the last day training, I realized I did learn and gain something. Although fashion is not my field, but the satisfaction of picking the right clothes and what the client likes made me feel very good. I am happy with my own taste on fashion :P Also, I’m a people person, therefore I enjoyed very much dealing with people. So now I gained an insight that I actually do like customer service.
I don't feel the interest until the last day of training. In short, it was great that I attended the training and I wish I could sharpen my skills more in future ^o^
