FUR BALL

And remembering my stint as an image consultant...

The yellow bandana would make him look friendly. I was sure of it.

My husband and I stood in the pet store aisle debating what I knew to be fact. He was adamantly against buying clothing for our dog, and I was sure it was the exact thing we needed. You see, our dog is a one-hundred-pound Rottweiler

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When Panzer was a puppy … yes, I am aware … but just in case it didn’t jump out to you right away, our German dog is named after a German tank. Isn’t my husband clever? When Panzer was a puppy, he did endearing puppy things like crouch and hop, inviting other dogs to play when we encountered them on our walks. Now, as a teenager, he has perfected his strut, complete with a side-eye glance that makes other dogs and their humans nervous as we pass!

To get back to fashion, I’m a fan of dressing for success. In the late 1980s, I bought into a company called Beauty Control and got a certificate anointing me as an image consultant. The company was like Tupperware for make-up, offering products similar to Mary Kay and Avon. After a weekend of training in Orlando, I was issued two professional looking cases to hold my tools and I set out, determined to help the women of Daytona Beach become their best selves.

My life as an image consultant was short lived. I was still in college at the time, and although my classmates and some professors listened to my spiel and attended my parties, students back then didn’t have any money to buy my products. They probably attended the party only for the free food. College students in the 1980s lived on a steady diet of ramen noodles and canned tuna fish. Neither of my kids had to sustain themselves on ramen and tuna. By the time they entered college, parents were forced to purchase meal plans. Besides that, you don’t hear about college kids not having money anymore. Maybe we, the parents that is, have overcompensated by giving our kids too much. In an effort to give them more than we had and to set them up for success, we may have created a generation that has lost its survival instincts.

Anyway, the best part about my short tenure as an image consultant was learning to use color drapes and swatches. In just a few minutes, I could tell each party attendee if they were a cool or a warm, a winter, summer, fall, or spring by using skin tone, eye color, and hair color as a guide. It sounds complicated, but basically, the color drapes made it simple to see which colors complemented each person’s natural undertones to make them look their best. And as it turns out, wearing the right colors really does make a difference.

Using the same reasoning as if I were picking a new suit for a job interview or the perfect gown for a special event, I was sure that a yellow bandana would be just the thing to make Panzer look his best! But I’ll have to admit, my results have been a little inconsistent.

The neighbor girls love his new look, but he still hasn’t been invited to attend The Fur Ball.