Dr. Patrick Lo's testimonial - My Very First ‘One-Stop’ Personal Styling Experience with William Lee

I am an Asian male from Hong Kong in my mid-40s, and currently serving as Associate Professor at one of the top universities in Asia.

I have always been rather confident with my looks and youthful appearance, as well as my taste for outfits, particularly with a preference on the sporty and casual side. For this reason, I never thought I would be needing any image and styling advice from anyone -- until earlier this year [2014], I received a very flattering invitation to serve as the Co-Chair for LibrAsia 2015, a very prestigious international conference on literature and librarianship in Osaka, Japan.

The Conference Committee had asked me to send them a high-quality professional photo of myself – so that they could put my face photo on their Homepage, as part of the conference publicity. It was then I decided to ask my very good friend William for his image and styling service – to create 3 different new images for the following:

(1) Professional Image – for the international conference [mentioned above], and other formal business functions, e.g., keynote speeches, guest lectures, book launches, newsletters of different professional organizations, etc. I wanted to look professional, intellectual, sophisticated, as well as tasteful; at the same time friendly and approachable amongst the students.

(2) Smart Causal Image – for other less formal occasions and self-promotion under different causal social settings, e.g., online dating, university alumni newsletters, semi-professional associations, self-introduction for different cultural events, online social media platforms or meet-up groups, etc.

(3) Sporty Image (Combat Mode) – on top of my full-time job as an academic, I am also a very keen amateur martial arts practitioner. In addition to the traditional Chinese martial arts (praying mantis style), I am also trained in a variety of modern, foreign martial arts, e.g., Aikido, Japanese-style kickboxing, Muay Thai, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), and Brazilian Jujitsu, etc. Hence, I wanted to stay away from those boring Chinese Kungfu suits, and create a more refreshing and modern-looking combat image – to show off my athletic / ‘action’ side. This new image (photos) will be used for self-introduction or newsletters of different martial arts / sports associations and clubs, which I am associated with.

Actual Rundown

2 weeks before the actual photo shoot – William and I had a face-to-face meeting, to discuss my needs, my personal preferences, his ideas, and most importantly, what kind of end results (new images) we both wanted to achieve. Soon after reaching an agreement, William began going around different large and small stores in HK to shop for stores in HK to shop for the right items for creating my new images. The good thing I like about William’s shopping style is that he always opts for quality at low prices, instead of going ‘blindly’ for expensive designer labels. William also took the initiatives to select all the right outfits for me in advance, so that I could save time and efforts from my busy schedule for doing my own shopping. I just needed to go the rendezvous point to pick up the clothes after William was done with the shopping. It was indeed very nice to have my own personal shopper.

One week before the photo shoot – William asked me to show him the existing jackets, suits and dress shirts in my wardrobe – so that he could find the ties and handkerchiefs of the right colours to complement my existing outfits, as well as to match with my skin-tone. William also selected 2 colour schemes of ties for me, and sent me photos of the pre-selected ties in advance for me to choose from.

The day of the actual photo shoot – William brought over 25 ties and handkerchiefs to the studio – experimenting with different colour schemes and patterns -- just to create the ‘right look’. I was so overwhelmed, as well as impressed by William’s sheer ‘professionalism’, and his attentiveness to every single detail – from the uneven shading around the corners of my lips to the dipping corners of my eyes. In order to achieve the ideal effects for the photo shoot, William selected the perfect colour for the [makeup] foundation to match with my Asian skin-tone.

With reference to my ‘combat’ image – I was kind of out of shape around my waist due to the fact that I went through a small surgery in my foot about 2.5 months prior to the photo shoot; and I had to stop all forms of sports and martial arts training just to recover from my surgery. Following William’s advice, I chose a blue Nike skin-tight tanktop with black strips on both sides around my waist – to create a more slender ‘illustration’ (in other words to hide my excessive fat), and at the same time, to show off my muscular shoulders and arms.

William’s working style and attitude reflected every credit of this sheer professionalism. Interestingly, William somehow reminded me of Batman or the title character from the popular Japanese TV drama, “家政婦三田”/I am Mita, Your Housekeeper – because he was so well prepared and literally had everything and anything you could think of in his utility belt [bag]… portable steamer [in case the outfits got wrinkled], suit bag, eyebrow brushes, lipsticks, etc.

William is a total perfectionist; and simply would not stop until he was completely happy with the end results.

I was very pleased to be in the care of such capable and knowledgeable hands. And I trusted William’s taste, advices and ability completely.

I think my photos (images) already speak for themselves.

Luck and opportunities only favour the well-prepared ones. I am confident that my new images created by William will not doubt help me push both my career and personal life to the next new level.