When your image doesn’t reflect who you are
- Daniela Mansur
- há 1 dia
- 2 min de leitura
Ademir Apparício’s before and after
Before the change, Ademir wasn’t badly dressed.
He was invisible.
His old look didn’t create rejection — but it didn’t create memory either. It was the kind of image that blends into the background: skinny jeans, trainers, a checked shirt layered on top. Just another “normal guy” walking down the street. A look that could belong to anyone, anywhere.
And that was the problem.
That image didn’t represent who Ademir really is — not even close.
Ademir has a very clear personal brand: fun.He is witty, humorous, expansive. Someone who transforms any environment he walks into. After you meet him, you don’t forget him. He leaves a mark — always connected to joy, good humour, lightness and presence. He fills the room. He stands out. He is unique.
That is his strength. That is where his authority lives.
But his previous image communicated none of that. On the contrary, it created noise. When he “arrived making an entrance”, there was a disconnect between expectation and reality — because that’s not what people expect from a “normal guy” dressed like everyone else.
And image is about expectation.
When your image doesn’t prepare the ground for who you are, it works against you.
The turning point
The goal was never to shock for the sake of it or to create an eccentric character. Characters don’t last. The intention was alignment — allowing his image to work with his essence, not against it.
With the new visual strategy, we were able to communicate his authority as a child and adolescent therapist without relying on outdated consultancy stereotypes: shirts, formal shoes, suits. Because that authority already exists. It didn’t need to be “borrowed” from clothes that didn’t reflect his personality.
The new image communicates:
Eccentricity with intention
Presence
Creativity
Lightness
Confidence
And, above all, belonging to oneself
He is still a therapist.
But now, that message arrives before he even speaks.
Authority isn’t about conformity. It’s about coherence.
There is more than one way to build authority through image. The classic route is not always the right one. Sometimes, insisting on the standard is exactly what weakens communication.
In Ademir’s case, authority comes from being unique. From showing up fully as himself. From being remembered. From transforming spaces.
Today, his image doesn’t try to explain who he is.It shows it.
And that is always the goal of meaningful image work: when clothing stops competing with the person — and starts amplifying who they already are.
I’m grateful he chose me to guide this transformation. Because image isn’t about clothes. It’s about identity, coherence and belonging.
To finish, the testimonials show what happens when the image stops competing with the person:
