The changing of the blog

Hey Folks

As you may have noticed, I'm having a blog identity crisis - and a brand crisis in general. I'm in this bizarre abyss between owning a business and being a self-promoting author-type-person. I've never been here before, so I am relying on the experiences and advice of others to figure everything out. I was planning to rebrand my business, but was advised to table that for now and just put it all under the umbrella of my name.

The new blog is called "Unbuttoned" - and no, the BBC did not threaten me with a lawsuit for using "Keeping Up Appearances." Ha! (The URL will also be changing soon for all of you who link to it in your blogs.)

So if my blog (or I, for that matter) seems a little flaky recently and in the near future, that's why. We're exploring what's going to work best for my target audience and platform.

KK

The Joys (?) of Writing a Book

I am asked so often about my book that it almost makes me frantic. Yes, it's coming. No, I don't want to discuss it.

It's the most challenging, exhilarating and will certainly be the most life-altering thing ever for me. And it totally scares me to death.

Once we discovered that my one great idea is actually about 3 or 4 different books, I had to stop, think awhile, and change course midstream.

Rest assured I am working on it.

But please don't ask me about it. If I want to talk about it, I will bring it up.

And please don't tell me you're looking forward to me hitting the morning talk show circuit, as one of my friends recently did.

That's putting the cart waaaaaay before the horse! I cannot even bear to think about that stuff yet.

So much going on!

Hi folks,

I've been pretty absent from my blog recently. Regrettably. Things are moving at such a fast pace lately that I just can't keep up. So much client work coming in. I can barely keep track of it all!

I was in NYC over the weekend. So much great stuff happened there. Got to see a little of Fashion Week, we did some shopping, spent a day at the Met. I was there to take a class from the FABULOUS author and image consultant Brenda Kinsel at FIT. Here's a pic of Brenda and me ~

And this is Brenda's latest book:

It's a must-have for any woman of style - or for one who wants to learn! (I have a feeling my mom will be getting it for her birthday on President's Day which we'll probably celebrate on Sunday, although I haven't heard anything yet. It will be added to her purse and scarf. Her daughter has such fabulous taste!)

I'm quoted this week in Crain's. Nothing related to style or image. In fact, it's all about a scam someone tried to pull on me. But I thwarted that by contacting the FBI, who verified that it was indeed a scam. HA! It wasn't your normal, everyday email scam. I can't post a link for the next couple of weeks, but I'll make it available when I can.

(There was something very Scooby Doo about that whole experience...)

Looks like I'm going to be a teacher! That was once probably my greatest fear - having to go back to school! But now, I am absolutely exhilarated about the possibilities being offered to me. More details to come once I firm everything up in the next week or two. Looks like I will be teaching Fashion Consulting and Accessories at a local fashion college. Amazing!

In addition, my buddies Joelle and Leslie and I (along with several others) are working on an ebook Challenge! We are writing our ebooks in the month of March. It's exciting to me because unlike my conventional book, writing an ebook is a low-stress exercise with a definite beginning and end. My ebook is called The Style Spy: Kristen's Top Secrets for Image, Fashion & Style Success. Totally exciting!!

So even though I've been absent from the blog, life has been crazy and fun! I promise to do a better job of keeping everyone posted!

P.S. I am frightened that Cleveland.com's blog watchers picked up that previous Muppet fur post. Is that newsworthy - or just plain stupid?

KK's Top Secret Book (Slightly) Revealed!

Everytime someone hears that I am writing a book, I am asked the title and what it's about. It's not that I don't want to tell anyone, it's that I am still at the point where it can't be released publicly.

So I have come up with a solution. I say:

"My book is a combination of
'Sex & the City'
and
'Dress for Success'."

So chew on that, people!

Ooh, so many fascinating possibilities there!

Wait a few months and you'll find out the rest of the details!

I will be in full-out hyper-promotion mode soon!!

Random Thoughts on May Day

I just opened the envelope Coach Joelle gave me yesterday, which was supposed to contain a parking permit for Friday's can't-wait-for-it meeting downtown. I was pleasantly surprised at the card and little KK-specific inspirational messages inside. Thanks, Joelle! You made my day! I especially loved:

Lead me not into temptation;
I can find the way myself.

(oh yes, there was also a parking permit in there)

I changed the desktop on my laptop on Saturday from spaz hot pink to Kermit the Frog and a green background. It's amazing how it has changed my mood and intention - already. Whenever my eyes are strained or my book project gets overwhelming, I flip to my desktop, which is all green and in the center is my friend Kermie:This is a subject for a different blog, but it's my opinion that Kermit is the perfect symbol for all that is good and right and optimistic in the world. When I see him (and I suspect this is the same for a lot of people out there, whether they realize it or not), I feel very centered. He's a very pure character.

Maybe I'm crazy. But I've always had an affection for Kermit.

I am - still - just a huge fan of the Muppets. In addition to my green friend, I especially love the grumpy characters (as I always do) Statler and Waldorf - and Oscar, although technically not a Muppet -

he's still a Henson character.

I was eagerly paying attention to the NFL draft on Saturday and to a lesser extent on Sunday. I don't pay as much attention to other sports as I do to football. I was hopefully looking at some future clients! The Browns were the talk of the sports world. They had an unfathomably good draft. How exciting to think about the seasons down the road. That's all we keep hearing about around here (well, that and the darn Fulton Road Bridge still standing - blow up already!) and it's really exciting.

I remember in about 1985 seeing a bumper sticker that cracked me up. It said

GO BROWNS
and take the Indians with you

We have a tragic sports history here in Cleveland. Heartbreaking. But now with the Cavaliers being awesome (sweeping the first round of the playoffs) and the Browns' draft day coup, things are definitely looking up!

I miss LisaMarie. Although, I suspect that if we lived in the same town, neither of us would get anything accomplished because we'd always be hanging out together!! It's better for us to keep a safe distance! Cincy to Cleveland - too far but just far enough!!

Arctic April

I felt really good today. I got up, curled my hair a bit (it's getting pretty long), put on "natural look" makeup, which I rarely do when I won't be seeing anyone. Then I worked on a presentation I'm giving twice in the next couple of weeks as well as on my book. Recently, it's embarrassing the state in which I've been writing my STYLE book - no makeup, hair in a scrunchy, track suit, and fuzzy socks.

It started snowing about a half hour ago. Gotta love April in Cleveland.

Lesson from a Bag Lady

I had coffee today with Chris Brondel at Starbucks on Chagrin. She graciously agreed to give some quotes for my book. Chris is a respected licensed career counselor, so her advice will be useful for my readers.

After hanging out with Chris, I strategically went into my favorite TJ Maxx in Woodmere. Someone told me once that it’s the top grossing TJ Maxx in the country. Why? Because they have the market for designer clothes and they get the best of what TJ Maxx has to offer. Only the big city stores – Manhattan, downtown Chicago, etc get the higher-end goods like this store.

Since I have a self-declared moratorium on buying clothes as my body changes a bit and I have no need for anything new right now – I was just there to look.

I’m not buying anything now so I can invest in a few Armani, Anne Klein and Elie Tahari suits before my book tour next year. No reason for new clothes right now, so I’m not buying any. Needless to say, I am NOT happy about this! After all, I have more than enough clothes in my closet to last me the next year!!

I noticed I was very attracted to bright orange-reds today. Even when I went into the housewares section, it was red that kept catching my eye. Hmmm…..I know color psychology. Red means power and confidence, two of my personal favorite attributes – but I’m usually not that into wearing it. Two of the items I was really interested in were orange-red shirts. Wonder what Coach Joelle would say about that?

Since this month is supposed to be Bag Month for the newsletter, I saw someone who gave me an idea.

This particular lady had a long Navajo-style orange knee-length jacket on. I would guess it was probably quite expensive. It had a big and bold pattern on it and was honestly very overwhelming. One would think that was all the accessories she needed, right? Well she complimented this with a lime green faux-snake rather large bag.

What was wrong with this picture?

For one, it was overkill. Too much wild color for one outfit. My biggest problem with it was that the pattern on the bag was fighting with the coat.

I had this same challenge over the winter when I was carrying a rather unusual Kathy Van Zeeland bag. It was both faux snow leopard fur and brown leather and a bunch of gold hardware. A strong piece to be sure. If I wanted to wear anything with a pattern, I needed to have a plain bag at the ready to switch. I compartmentalized my wallet and my little makeup bag I carry, plus my notebook and pen, so I could just drop them into a plain black or brown bag and I was ready to go. I have a lot of wild shoes, and the same thing applied when I wanted to wear my fun shoes.

Plain outfit, plain bag, wild shoes

Patterned outfit, plain shoes, plain bag

Plain outfit, plain shoes, fun bag

Death Wish

I am serious about hiding out until September and not doing my usual 'networking bimbo' stuff (thanks for the moniker, Mary). This is so tough because underneath everything, I am truly a social butterfly. So therefore, locking myself in my ivory tower to work alone is very annoying!!


And to think I have committed to following this up with at least 3 more books!

Am I crazy??

Wait - don't answer that!

Or maybe I just have a death wish....

Either way, I will be blogging and complaining about it to everyone I know!!!

Confidential to LML:
Keep that flash drive close to your heart, doll!! I believe in you!!!!

My Inspiration

What is inspiring me as I write my book? The movie Down with Love is!

It’s one of my favorite guilty pleasures. It’s also about a woman who writes a book – in 1962, of course. But I just love it and hopefully my experience will be just as fun and exciting. Writing a book is such a fabulous adventure that most people never get to experience – having your greatest thoughts and ideas published for the world to read.

How funny is it that I mentioned this to Coach Joelle and she said she uses one of the lessons in Down with Love in her relationship coaching. I thought everyone but the Oxygen channel had forgotten about it.

I simply can’t wait to get this book written and meet a cute astronaut who really isn't an astronaut but writes for a national men's magazine! Whoo hoo!!

(ha ha)

My Book

Haven’t talked about my book for awhile, but rest assured it is currently in the works. I can’t give too much info on it to the general public (including the title) for obvious reasons. Only about a handful of my closest friends know the details.

General thoughts on writing my book:

In my industry, there have really been two truly groundbreaking books from the standpoint of being highly regarded, widely successful, and having staying power. One was John Molloy’s Dress for Success (and its sequels) and the other was Carole Jackson’s Color Me Beautiful, now in its 55^th printing.

There have been countless books on personal style written over the years. Some memorable, some mundane, and many have been rehashings of the same material that has been written over and over again.

I'm writing a book that is the best of both worlds – a compilation of the tried and true from over the years, but with a fresh and contemporary spin for the younger generations.

So I’ve had to think about:

- What sells to my target market?

- What will they think is hip and sexy?

- What will best accomplish my ultimate goals?

I will give away the title of the first chapter and you can draw your own conclusions.

Chapter 1: GET STIMULATED

Bloggers and Books

First of all, let me mention my buddy Henry Gomez from the Plain Dealer who wanted to see his name in lights (aka the Keeping Up Appearances blog) for sending me a link from the Wall Street Journal about the legitimacy of bloggers in the fashion world. They’re now being invited to fashion week. How cool is that? Thanks, HG! Bloggers Get Under the Tent

I’ve decided to take a break from some of the non-essential hectic stuff I’m doing (i.e., networking, all the groups I belong to….anything that isn’t revenue-generating) and write my book. Enough talk already. I have to write the book to get to where I want to be – on the national stage. No one has focused on the subject I am writing about. I know this book will be a big seller. I can’t begin to say how many complaints I hear about the topic I’m writing about. There is already a built-in market for it, and probably markets I haven’t even thought about. And I am certainly the foremost expert on the topic. Definitely in North America….maybe even the world. Oh, I flatter myself. Fortunately, no one has ever stepped up to the plate and written the ultimate book about it, so that’s my job.

It’s just everything else that goes along with working with an agent and publisher that is daunting. The business side of things. I guess tens of thousands of people who are a lot less business-savvy than me have written and been published. I just need to get up the resolve to get it done and not quit. Even though writing is a lonely endeavor, and I’m not big on being by myself for long periods of time. I am energized by people, not solitude and introspection. And I know that a lot of people who don’t enjoy writing more than me have been published – some numerous times.

So I just have to bite the bullet and write. Not in my blog. I have to get to work on my first two books so I can get to the book I really want to write.

Wanna guess what it’s about?

Shoes, of course!

Book Girl

I’ve been working on my book concept for at least the past three years. My internal clock is telling me that now is the right time to work on getting it published. I’m attending the Book Expo in DC next month to get the ball rolling.

I think it’s about time for this book. Doing what I do, I hear so many complaints about how young people dress. Whether it’s the parents or recruiters or career center staff, no one seems to have an answer about how to teach young women how to dress. Through my studies and training, I have the answers. And I’m putting them in my book.

In addition to teaching young women about first impressions, grooming and sensible wardrobe development, my book will help them avoid the traps that can sabotage their credibility in the workplace – showing too much skin, very long hair, dressing too trendy, and the myriad other things that can spell career doom.

After the first book, I’m hoping to write a follow-up about dressing for young men. But the women’s is more desperately needed right now. Men are lucky because they have rules. Women don’t and that’s why the result is what we see in the workplace today.