Flora Douville is a hybrid of an intuitive, a personal coach, and a professional consultant. She helps her clients understand their core personality and to dress accordingly. She created a process called La Méta®—a unique and revolutionary anti-image consulting method you can learn about here.
1. Can you tell us how you became an anti-image consultant and the ways in which you use fabric to help people express their interior selves through their exterior appearance?
It didn’t start with a decision. I am an introvert and spent my childhood in a remote place with lots of time and space in front of me, which allowed me to develop my perceptions of the world around me: things, people, nature… Then at 16, I discovered the world of colors and their meanings—I attended a workshop and learned that some colors suit me and some others don’t, and that these colors actually mean something about who I am. It took me a few years to accept these facts, digest them and start wearing my colors.
In 2005, I asked the woman who had led the workshop then to have me as her assistant. While learning how to feel the colors, understand their meaning and reveal their gifts to our clients, I realized that we had to explore further than color—some textures and shapes seems right on some people, off on others. We then joined forces and in 2007, came up with our own method, which I have since refined.
I find that we often overlook our talents and gifts: they are so obvious to us that we disregard them. And then we spend years looking for who we are deeply. My tool helps people reconnect with their true nature, their gifts and talents. It is based on perceptions—I developed an ability to “read” people’s energy, and especially to sense/see the different types of energies they naturally carry. To help them feel this too, I use large pieces of fabrics (1m x 2m) of different colors and type which work like embodied energy. We can see, touch and feel them easily. I use them as a practical entrance into the energetic world of a person which is often very subtle for them.
Finding the fabrics that suit their body best is a practical way to define their energy. Then I have a very precise and in-depth grill that explains what it means about them and their biggest talents.
2. What is wrong with the color black and the advice of fashion experts?
Black is a fine color, like any other. The problem is that it’s a color that suits very few people (physically and energetically) and the fashion industry made it THE color. So-called experts have spread myths about black: it slims your silhouette; it suits everyone; it works with any color; it looks chic and luxurious…
But all of this is false. Black doesn’t slim anything or anyone, it only make things appear more dense than they are (heavier, as well). Black doesn’t suit everyone, just look at the crowds in the streets of Paris where everyone wears it and you will see zombies. Black doesn’t work with any color, we have been used to seeing it used everywhere so we believe it now. And black is not chic and luxurious—I know in the last 48 hours that you have met someone wearing black and thought, “This looks cheap”.
Fashion experts are a problem because fashion is a problem—it doesn’t take into account the real needs of our physical bodies. The colors, shapes and textures we need are different from one person to the next, and they don’t really change over a lifetime. Fashion wants everyone to wear the same things, and to change these things every new season. It has things completely wrong.
3. Are there little ways that someone can express their energy outward without having to buy a completely new wardrobe?
Yes! The first step is to identify the clothes that work best for you in your wardrobe. To do that on your own, I suggest you try all your clothes while closing your eyes.
Closing your eyes will prevent your brain from focusing on outside distractions like what you look like, if the piece of clothing is fashionable or not, etc. It will help you focus on the most important thing: How you feel.
When you review your wardrobe this way, take the time to move the way you naturally do throughout the day. You should pay attention to the length, the texture, the warmth, the feel, the way the fabric clings to you or not, etc. There are no right or wrong answer here—pay attention to what you prefer and put away the clothes that feel bad when you wear them.
The second step is to write down all your remarks and find the recurring patterns. You may realize you hate skinny clothes or ¾ sleeves, or that you only like stretchy material and round shapes. Whatever it is, you will gain a better knowledge of your personal needs by doing this and that’s the path towards expressing yourself.
