“Be your best self. Don’t wear black on stage”

PassionForColors® talks to women in different countries and in different roles in society, regarding the way we dress, why we dress the way we do and what role it plays for us.

Time has come to talk to moderator Anna Bellman. Anna has worked successfully as a moderator for many years, and she has extensive experience from being on stage, moderating complex discussions regarding various topics. 

Four useful pieces of advice from Anna Bellman regarding,” how to dress for a successful performance on stage”.    

1. Be Prepared

The way I dress is incredibly important to me. It helps to put me in the right mood for what I am going to deliver during a particular event as a moderator, or as a lecturer. I always prepare thoroughly for my assignments. When it comes to preparing for the way I dress, I usually start my planning thinking about what the message is I am delivering today, and who/what do I represent. Clothes are important symbols that clearly show who I am, or who I aim to be. I want to be personal in the way I dress, but I also think about how I want to be perceived and who I meet.

2. Do not be afraid of taking some advice or get an expert opinion

Early on in my career I took help from a stylist who went through my wardrobe and helped me find a uniform style when it comes to garments and colors. She chose the colors that work the best for me, and that enhance my own colors in the best way. It came as a surprise to me that black was not my color, so of my original wardrobe there was not a lot left…and it became quite expensive to replace it. But now, several years later, it feels both good and right for me.

 3. Be your best self

I always try to choose clothes which highlight my qualities relating to the context I engage in. The truth of the matter is, to get engagement and to create a connection and build trust with an audience starts with our appearance. That is also where it starts, to successfully deliver a performance on stage.  

If for example I meet lawyers, I wear a jacket, but a feminine jacket, or a shirt like dress, that allow me to feel like myself. On the other hand, when I am on stage in front of a team working in a sports store, I wear trendy sneakers with gold details, even if I normally always wear high heels on stage. To me it is about emphasizing the best in me, while adapting to the context I am in. 

4. Don’t wear black on stage. The risk is that you disappear in the decor.

I love colors and I love wearing red. But I adapt my choice of colors on stage to that actual stage I am on. I look at the colors of the stage context, customer logo etc and then I aim to adapt my choice of colors and clothes. Then it looks professional and well thought through. It has also occurred that I have dressed in black on stage, and it can work sometimes but usually not. Usually I disappear completely in the decor.

Do you have any awkward memories when you have dressed for an event, has it ever gone wrong?

When I was going to moderate a gala evening for God El, I noticed one minute before going on stage that the hem on my dress had gotten loose and it really did not look professional. Thanks to a creative technician by my side, we solved it temporarily with a piece of scotch and I do not think that anyone noticed. We fixed it in a minute, so it is good to have scotch and creative colleagues around… 

Who inspires you when it comes to the way she dresses?

I have a good example of someone who really gave me a wow experience. That was when I met the business woman Eva Swartz Grimaldi. We met at a conference at the Stockholm university. I was moderating and Eva Swartz Grimaldi came directly from Milan. What struck me the most was my immediate impression of her. She wore a red leather dress which was definitely not apologetic. She wore high heels and big earrings and she did for sure not blend in with the crowd. During the lecture she said that she had gotten the advice concerning clothes. “It can never be too much”… 

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PassionForColors is a fashion brand that offers classic female styles in unique, colorful implementations. For professional use, as well as leisure time.