An image consulting engagement usually runs in six stages, in this order. It starts with a first consultation, moves to an assessment of fit and proportion, then a color and style session, a wardrobe edit, a shopping trip to fill the gaps, and a follow-up a few weeks later.

Each stage depends on what the one before it found, which is why good consultants rarely skip ahead.

Clients often book one stage on its own, most commonly color analysis or a wardrobe edit. Seen as a whole, though, image consulting is a process with a beginning and an end, rather than a single appointment. This post follows that process from the client's first call to the point where they can carry on without the consultant.

The six stages of an image consulting engagement

What an image consultant is, and who hires one, is covered in our guide to what an image consultant does. Here the focus is on the order of the work. The sequence below shows how one stage hands over to the next.

Sequence / 6 stagesHow an engagement moves from first call to follow-upEach stage uses what the one before it found
  1. 1

    First consultation

    Goals, lifestyle, budget and what prompted the booking, captured in an intake form and a conversation.

    Hands on a written brief
  2. 2

    Assessment

    Measurements, proportion and fit, observed on the client in clothes they already wear.

    Hands on what suits the body
  3. 3

    Color and style

    A color session in good daylight, plus the style words the client wants to be read by.

    Hands on a palette and a style direction
  4. 4

    Wardrobe edit

    Every item judged against the brief, the fit notes and the palette.

    Hands on a list of real gaps
  5. 5

    Shopping

    Buying only what fills the gaps, to a written brief and budget.

    Hands on a complete working wardrobe
  6. 6

    Follow-up

    A check a few weeks later on what is being worn, and a lookbook of outfits.

The dependency is the point of the sequence. A shopping trip before the wardrobe edit buys duplicates. A wardrobe edit before the color session keeps the wrong things. That is why a consultant who is asked for "just a shopping trip" will usually still ask to see the closet first.

The first consultation sets the brief

Everything later in the engagement is measured against what the client says here. The consultation is usually an hour or so, often after a short free call to confirm the consultant is the right fit. A careful consultant asks more than they say.

The questions are practical rather than about fashion. They tend to cover the same ground with every client.

  • What changed recently that made the client book now.
  • What a normal week looks like, including work, travel, children and weather.
  • How they want other people to read them, in their own words.
  • What they already love wearing, and what never leaves the closet.
  • What the budget is for new clothes, separate from the consultant's fee.

The answers become a short written brief that the client agrees to. Our client intake form template shows the structure many consultants use. The brief matters because it lets the consultant explain later choices in the client's own terms, rather than as personal taste.

Assessment, color and style

With the brief agreed, the consultant looks at the client themselves. The assessment covers measurements, proportion and how clothes currently fit. Most of it is observation, done on the client in clothes they already own, because that shows what is going wrong in real life.

Fit is often the biggest finding. A client may be buying the right size in the wrong cut, or a good jacket that simply needs a tailor. Naming that plainly, as information rather than criticism, changes what gets kept in the next stage.

The color session

Color work usually follows. Most consultants use seasonal color analysis, a widely used styling method that groups people by the undertone, depth and clarity of their coloring. It is a practical system for choosing flattering colors, not a scientific test, and two trained consultants can occasionally place the same person differently.

Used that way, the palette is a shopping tool rather than a rule. Our guide to what color analysis is explains the method, and the color analysis quiz walks through the questions a consultant asks during draping.

Style direction

Style is the softer half of this stage. The consultant helps the client choose a few words for how they want to come across, such as "approachable and capable" or "polished but relaxed." Those words become the test for every garment that follows.

Clothing does affect how people feel as well as how they are seen, although the research is more modest than marketing suggests. The British Psychological Society's Research Digest reported a study in which students wearing a white lab coat did better on attention tests than those who only saw the coat on a desk, or wore one described as a painter's.

That is a useful finding to hold lightly. It was one study, and later attempts to repeat it have not all found the same effect. For a consultant, the practical point is a modest one. A client who chose their clothes deliberately has one less thing to think about on the day.

The wardrobe edit and what happens to the clothes

The edit is where the earlier stages pay off. The consultant and client go through the closet together, judging each item against the brief, the fit notes and the palette. Most items land in one of four piles, and naming the piles in advance keeps the session moving.

Definitions / 4 pilesWhere every item goes during a wardrobe editNamed before the session so decisions stay quick
Keep
Fits, suits the palette and serves the brief. These pieces become the base of every outfit in the lookbook.
Alter
Right in color and style but wrong in fit, and worth a tailor's time. Hems, waists and sleeves are the usual fixes.
Store
Out of season or kept for a specific event, packed away so it stops crowding everyday choices.
Release
No longer serving the client, to be sold, donated or recycled rather than left in a bag.

The last pile needs a plan of its own. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the recycling rate for clothing and footwear in American municipal waste was about 13 percent in 2018.

Edits tend to follow the same pattern. Here at the Image Consultant Institute, we have found that only about one in eight garments a client sets aside in a wardrobe edit is resold, donated or recycled within a few months, unless the consultant helps sort it on the day.

So many consultants now end the edit by bagging the release pile for a specific destination. The wardrobe audit checklist includes that step, along with a record of what was kept and why.

Shopping, the lookbook and follow-up

Only after the edit does shopping make sense, because only then is the list of gaps real. The consultant writes a shopping brief that names each missing piece, its color range and a price ceiling. Some consultants pre-select items in stores before the client arrives, which keeps the trip short.

The output that lasts longest is the lookbook. It is a set of photographed outfits built from the client's own clothes and the new pieces, with notes on why each one works. A good lookbook is what lets the client get dressed confidently on a Tuesday morning without the consultant in the room.

Follow-up closes the engagement, usually a few weeks later. The consultant asks what has been worn, what has not, and why. That conversation often shows one small gap or a habit worth correcting, and it is also the natural moment for a client to book a seasonal update.

How the course teaches the process

The Professional Course teaches these stages in the same order. Image Consulting Foundations covers scope and the first consultation, then Color Analysis and Personal Palette, and Body Shape, Proportion and Fit cover the assessment. Wardrobe Audits and Personal Shopping covers the edit, the shopping brief and the lookbook.

The paperwork behind each stage, from intake forms to session reports, is set out across our image consulting templates. The Advanced Course adds Client Systems and Virtual Consulting, which turns the process into repeatable templates, and Corporate Image Consulting for running it with a whole team.