The Style Counsel

J: This is pod number 5, December, 2019, live from Studio Y in São Paulo!

G: In São Paulo.

J: Today we have Carlos. Carlos is specialized in one particular kind of activity. What is that activity, Carlos?

C: I am a personal stylist, um, specialized in personal color analysis.

J: What is a personal stylist?

C: Um, a personal stylist is someone who will evaluate…not evaluate but help you with your overall personal image. Er, and communicating whatever you want to com…you want to communicate through fashion, not only clothes but also your hair, er, make-up.

J: Have you ever refused a client? Like, er, for example, a client came to you and you said, ‘look it…you-you’re just hopeless. I can’t help you!’

C: No, I haven’t!

G: Some-someone like me, for example.

C: No, I haven’t refused anyone. And I…erm…er…not, well I don’t think anyone is hopeless because there is…there is a common theme. Ev-ev…all of us – we do have a personal style.

J: Ok.

C: I get clients coming to me and say (sic) – ‘oh, I don’t have style. I know nothing about fashion.’ But we all do, er, dress up everyday. That’s the common thing. So we do make choices everyday in the morning, or later – just like me cos I wake up in the afternoon! But, you know there is a difference between style and fashion. I don’t follow fashion, I follow my personal style.

G: Have you got any tips on how I can defend my fashion choice to my wife when she tries to throw out all my favorite clothes?

J: Oh, that’s a good one!

C: Um, sorry – you-you need help with?

G: Um, well my wife, she has a habit of throwing away all my favorite clothes, so I’m wondering how I can best justify my, you know, keeping these things to her, from a logical fashion sense.

J: Well, she-she…basically she sees holes in anything, and throws them away. He’s attached to those clothes.

G: Exactly. And she buys new jeans that have already got holes in them, and when my jeans can (sic) get holes in them, they get thrown out!

J: Yeah, that makes no sense.

G: It makes no sense at all.

C: I think…I don’t think I can help you because…if I get, for example, I can tell you…

J: You’re-you’re the first customer he’s refused!

C: Yeah, you can have that title!

G: Thank you. I…I knew I’d get there!

C: No, but like holes…

J: Congratulations!

C: If you do-do have t-shirts with holes on them, that’s not clever to keep them, so don’t.

J: That-that-that’s not fashion, basically.

G: Oh, alright. I’m not going to let my wife hear this pod.

J: So you see? You really are hopeless.

C: Maybe you can tell them…maybe you can tell her that you like that and you promise you’re not going to wear it. So you get to keep them but not to wear them.

G: Hm. Ok. Well, she actually gives away quite a l-lot of the stuff to the people who work at our building too, so…

C: Oh.

G: …occasionally I see them on other people, which is fun.

C: Oh, yeah? You get to visit them.

J: Nice.

G: This sounds an amazing career. Is it common? Are there many personal stylists out there?

C: Um, it’s-it’s relatively new here in Brazil. Um, but I think because I am a personal stylist and I know many people who are studying to become one, for me it looks there are…there are many more than there actually are.

J: Let me ask you something different. Can you actually survive, let’s say, financially from this or do you still have to do other things to supplement your income?

C: No, you can actually survive. You can make an income out of it. Er, you have to target, when you…when you market your whole business you have to target your…a certain audience.

J: Right.

C: So it needs to be really thought out, and really especific (sic).

J: So-so how did you determine what audience you were going to market to? H-how did that process go for you? Was that based on your experience or did you hire a company to do research for you?

C: Well it’s…it’s actually in a process.

J: Oh, ok.

C: It’s in an ongoing process now. But basically I have help from a mentor. So we decide together what the marketing…the market demands are and how am I going to tackle different kind (sic) of people with different kind (sic) of problems and at the beginning of my career I tried to…to get as many different clients as possible so I could tr-test which one I liked the most to work with.

J: Right.

C: And now I have that already, so I like…I prefer working with women.

G: So wha-what would be the typical profile then? Let’s imagine your typical client. What-what would they be looking for and what would they say to you in terms of their objectives?

C:  Ok. My typical profile of clients, right now, are (sic) like, er, women of they-they could be 50 years of age, um…

J: So the old rich ladies?

C: Basically, but…

J: Ah-hah!

C: I don’t want to tell…I don’t want to call them old rich ladies because I-I see them as, um, business woman-women or doctors sometimes because of their whole career taking part in their lives, and their children, they lost, er, their identity, their whole fashion sense, and their style. And then, er, what I like to do is to give them power back over their image. So I get really fragilized, er women, like, ‘Oh, I, after I was pregnant, or after my divorce, I, kind of, don’t want to take care of my whole, um, hair, make-up and wardrobe in general.’ And I go like, ‘but you can and these are the tools that you have.’ This is why I say that the process is not only fashion, make-up and hair but also lifestyle, because the whole life can change after the process. Because imagine, like, it’s a whole deal of self-esteem, self-knowledge and how much do I know myself and, um, how I want to communicate?

G: Would you say that, um, a lot of the clients are, um – how shall I put this? – single ladies, ladies who are s-divorced, who are later in life, looking to recapture some of their…

C: Not really, no.

J: No?

C: Sometimes they are married and because of, um, their children they might need some help with their style or becau…

J: Mainly because…

C: …maybe because of their career or there’s a big career shift, like ‘Oh I was...I was not a…a boss’ – or a CEO, or something – ‘and now I am, and how do I do that?’ Or – ‘I used to work at somewhere else, now I work for a bank.’ There is a big difference in style right there. So this is how we, er, manage their…

G: So, in the case of the, um, CEO, are we looking to power dress? Is this the idea, or…?

J: Wh-what’s a power dress?

C: I was going to ask that!

G: Power dressing is when you are impressing and not-not exactly dominating a room…

J: You want to intimidate somebody?

G: Yes. It’s a little bit that way. Yes.

C: Well, it really depends on what they are going to tell me their issues concerning their styles are. Sometimes because when we…when we analyze the wardrobe and the style of s-someone else, we have to be…I…I personally am very careful to ask them – ‘what is the message you want to…what’s the impression you want to cause?’ And then if they tell me – ‘I want to be intimidating’ – then I’ll tell them how to do so.

J: Get on some leather boots and a whip and you…then you’re really intimidating those people!

C: Yeah, yeah but that’s…that’s a little over intimidating. But like…

J: I know I’d be intimidated!

C: …for example, broader shoulders would be intimidating. If they wanted to do that, we can do that. But again, I would tell them – ‘Does it make sense? Is it…is it…do you think this is the right approach? As a CEO, maybe being a little less…?’

G: Well women in business in general, it’s always a difficult dynamic to know how masculine to try and appear or how feminine to appear. What’s the general consensus? What do you try and achieve?

C: Well, mainly, for women in business what I present to them is the elegant and classical styles, in terms of the seven styles we have. And then I’ll tell them – ‘If you get these characteristics from these styles that would help you be more ‘bossy’, in a way, like dominant. I don’t want to say dominant but…

G: Did you say that you have seven different styles that you work with?

C: Yeah.

G: Could you…could you tell us a little bit about the different styles? I’m curious to know.

C: Yeah. So there are…there are seven different styles. The classical style, which is very rigid, and all the lines, if you look at the silhouette, they are very straight. And then we have the cre-creative style…

G: Ok.

C: …which tends to mix and match many prints, textures and…then we have the sexy style which is, er…people who have this style would be inclined to wear more, er, tight and skinny.

G: More revealing clothing?

C: Sometimes.

G: Yes, shorter skirts, that sort of thing?

C: Maybe. Er, then we have the urban dramatic style, which is, like, very fashionista – like someone who, like basically Lady Gaga.

G: Ok.

J: Ok.

C: Over-the-top. Then we have the natural, um, sporty style, like… These people would wear jeans and linen-based clothes. Er, wh-which one did I miss? The elegant style, which is the classic style but more ‘nowadays’ and…

J: More sophisticated?

C: … more modern, sophisticated and…

G: So which is the most popular?

C: Well it really varies because each of us have (sic) three of them…

G: Ok.

C: …two main ones and one that we insert.

G: Oh, right.

C: So I can tell you my-my three styles are sport, elegant and dramatic, and I have a bit of creativity. So…

J: So tha-that would explain the pink socks that I’m looking at?

C: Yeah. Yes, see? A bit of creativity. Yeah.

J: When you go in and, let’s say, do a total makeover with the…a client, er, for example, this-this woman that wants to go through change, how do you feel afterwards? Personally. Obviously she feels better but how do you feel afterwards?

C:  Well, if I don’t feel better, I don’t end my job. Cos I have to feel better, er, with myself too. I have had clients when I left their house, and I was like in tears, literally, just seeing how much they’ve changed with simple things.

J: But in tears as a good thing or as a bad thing?

C: As a good thing.

J: Oh, ok, ok.

C: As a good thing like no…

J: No, no, leav-leaving like – ‘oh my God this was a disaster! Uh-hoo-hoo.’

C: No, I’ve never had the feeling of a to-total disaster. I’ve had feelings of…

J: But a part – but a partial disaster, yes?

C: Not a partial disaster, but I-I’ve had feelings of ‘I have to come back with this person.’

J: Ok.

C: ‘I have to help her more than I did today.’

J: Right.

C: So then I call them and tell them – ‘ok can we meet again? I want to show you more things.’

J: Right.

G: Do you get people who, er, don’t accept your suggestions and resist some of your ideas?

C: Yeah, I do, and that’s funny because I usually tell them when they come to me the first day, they wanna go, like, I tell them – ‘oh it’s different days. We’re gonna work on different things.’ And then they say, ‘ok, I’m gonna schedule a whole week.’ And then I let them schedule the whole week and then I-I know for myself that on the second day they’re gonna flip. And then on the second day they start resisting my suggestions. And then I tell them – ‘I think this is time for you to digest the changes I suggested and then we…next week we meet again and we continue your process.’  And that’s natural. They-they notice it’s natural after they-they’ve done two meetings with me.

J: Would it be fair to say that, let’s say, the person’s emotional state influences how they’re going to dress?

C: Definitely. Yes, yes. Um…

J: So-so then is it fair to say that everybody that wears black is depressed?

C: No.

J: Oh.

C: Not necessarily, because sometimes people are unaware of the messages they are giving. So if I am wearing black because I’m depressed and I know that, that’s one thing. But if I am wearing black and I don’t know I look depressed, that’s a different thing.

J: I-I was thinking more, maybe the possibility that you’re in a situation where you’re-you’re-you’re feeling…you’re not feeling well and you feel yourself attracted to this black color because that’s…it’s…it’s a moody color. It’s a strong…it has a strong emotion, black itself. And perhaps that-that is something that you feel attracted to a certain color because of your emotional state?

C: It might be. Yeah. Well, it could happen. Colors have…there is…there is a study called Psychology of Colors and we-we know that black means The End, depression and it’s all that, that you said – strong meaning.

J: Ok.

C: So it could happen but not everybody who is wearing black is depressed. You c-wouldn’t say that.

G: Thanks very, very much for coming in today, Carlos. It’s been a lot of fun having you here. Um, before we sign off, would you like to talk about any projects you are working on, or your Instagram or any links that people can find you?

C: Um, yeah, well people can find me on Instagram. That’s @carlosviniciusmarinho um, and get to low…get to know a little bit more about fashion, what personal styling and personal color analysis. That’s the main project I’ve been working on…and yeah, that’s it!

J: Ok, great! So, thank you very much. Thanks for coming to Studio Y, here-here in São Paulo.

C: Thank you.

G: And I’m about to go down to the, er, shopping center straight-away and buy a new pair of shoes.

J: And I’m going to call your wife!

C: I might too.    

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J: Ok, so it’s time to move on to the guru section.

G: The guru.

J: It could be…could be grammar guru, English guru, American guru, Canadian guru – the guru! Gee, what do you have for our guru?

G: Alright this week on guru, I have something for you in terms of the following question: ‘Criteria’ – is it singular or plural?

J: Criteria?

G: Yeah.

J: Er, we have many criteria for this. Criteria is plural.

G: Um, what’s the singular of criteria?

J: Criterion?

G: It’s criterion. It is. Correct answer. Um, what about ‘crisis’? Is it singular or plural?

J: Crisis?

G: Yes.

J: Crisis I would say is also singular.

G: Crisis is singular. What’s the plural or crisis? We say…we say ‘crises’ in the UK.

J: Crises.

G: It may be different in the US.

J: Cris – Christ on a bike!

G: Christ on a bike, yes. But crises. C-R-I-S-E-S is the plural. Um, what about ‘dice’? Is that singular or plural?

J: Dice?

G: Yes. So what’s the singular of dice?

J: Die.

G: Yes. It’s a die. Like ‘to die’, which we were talking about earlier. Erm, so one more last, just to finish. ‘Antenna’, is it singular or plural?

J:  Antenna?

G: Yes.

J: I’ll go with singular.

G: Yes, antenna is singular. What is the plural of antenna?

J: Antennas.

G: Yeah, these days it’s actually antennas, so that’s the correct answer, um, but in the old days they used to say antennae, like the Latin.

J: Oh I don’t think anybody says that though.

G: Well, maybe it’s a quirky British thing that us antiquated Brits, we use.  

J: What’s the difference? My G.G. – er, Grammar Guru – is short and simple but it’s difficult. It’s…because it’s very technical. What is the difference between ‘tree’ and ‘three’?

G: In terms of pronunciation?

J: In terms of pronunciation.

G: Ok, um, you got to put your tongue in there, basically.

J: You gotta put your tongue in where?

G: In behind your front two teeth.

J: Behind your front two teeth?

G: Yes. And then you gotta drag your tongue over those front two teeth – upper…upper two teeth, I should say.

J: But which one are you making? Are you making the ‘tr’ or the ‘thr’?

G: Ah, the ‘th’. To make a ‘th’, you need to get the tongue behind those upper two front teeth.

J: Behind your upper two front teeth? Th-thing-thing-th.

G: If we were on TV, I would demonstrate but, um, as we are on pod, I can’t really.

J: You see, because I’d say that a little bit differently. I’d say you actually need to put your tongue between your teeth and then blow past it.

G: Alright.

J: Three.

G: Yeah, you definitely need to blow because you’ve got a ‘th’ you aspirate and a ‘th’ that you don’t aspirate.

J: So, let’s say, er, thirty-three thumping thrones! Game of Thrones, or something like this. But you need to have yer-i-if you don’t have the correct mechanics for that, it’s not going to come out properly. Then it’s going to sound like ‘tr’…like ‘tr’, which is incorrect.

G: Yes. Tree and three is a very difficult…

J: My-my daughter, she used to say that she was ‘tree years old’.

G: Yes.

J: And I said that makes no sense, but ok.

G: My-my wife has the same problem. She refuses. She says – ‘I’m not gonna go thuh-thuh-thuh-thuh-thuh!’ So she will fight instead of…no, she fought instead of thought, basically.

J: Ok. So that’s basically the difference. It’s in the mechanics of where you place your tongue…either as-as Gee said, you, you rub your tongue over your back of your teeth or as-as I say, you put your tongue between your teeth and blow past it. You have to get the ‘th’.

G: We’ll a…we’ll do a video on that one!

J: We’ll…we’ll yes, that’s definitely video material.

G: Yes.

J: Alright?

G: Alright. Next.

J: So that’s it with our grammar guru for this week.

G: It does. It’s been a lot of fun talking to Carlos.

J: Well we’ve got to ask him about his family. I think it’s probably a long-lost uncle – José Mourinho.

G: Yes.

J: Anyway.

G: Anyway, I guess we will be back soon, but probably not next week because next week’s Christmas but we will certainly be back in the new year, if not before.

J: Correct. So we’ll probably be back in the first or second week of January, have a little bit of a break, and then we’ll get back to you. So please visit the website.

G: Indeed.

J:  www.thesambabuzz – that is ‘the’ and not ‘t’ samba buzz – dot com. And if you would like to write to us, please send it to our mailbox@thesambabuzz.com.

G: Also. And, um, if you want to just send a message, there’s a form on the site you can do that. And we-we’d like to hear from anybody, if you’ve got any questions about, er, grammar, or pronunciation or…

J: Or comments regarding our, er, expressions.

G: Or feedback as well.

J: Yes.

G: We’ll see you very soon.

J: See you next…see you soon. Have a great new year’s and happy…hoppy…Happy Christmas!

G: Hoppy Christmas everybody!

J: Ho ho ho!

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