I am dressing in harmony with the energy I wish to manifest. That means bold prints, brash colours, statement jewellery and anything that will make me stand out. “Mum, why are you wearing crazy clothing?” my nine-year-old daughter Lola asks. “It’s an experiment,” I tell her. “I’m attracting abundance.”
At the behest of an energy dressing expert, I’ve ditched my high-waisted jeans and T-shirts for clothes that I’d never typically wear. Today, that means a stylish off-the-shoulder toga dress that’s coloured bright purple, and a giant shell ring on my finger. We head down to a local park in west London, dog in tow, and I notice some raised eyebrows from shopkeepers and other mums – they’re all used to seeing me looking quite unspectacular.
I’m following the guidance of fashion manifester Nieve Tierney, an energy healer and author who – days earlier – had helped me “clear my energy” in a reiki healing session. This “energetic reset”, as she called it, will help create a more positive and receptive state for manifestation and clear out any emotional blocks that might be standing in the way of me attracting my dreams.
Tierney’s new book, The Fashion Oracle, suggests that there is a connection between our desires and how we dress. It’s a bit like the blockbuster self-help book The Secret, which claimed that one’s thoughts and feelings can directly influence their external reality. Tierney goes one step further: if we dress a certain way, good things will come to us. Her book is further inspired by the legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel, who spent her life fascinated by esoteric and mystical practices, including tarot and astrology – elements of which she incorporated into her collections.
The Fashion Oracle describes 70 “archetypes”, each with its own energy, colour palettes, textures and silhouettes: among them are “The Rebel”, “The Devil”, “The Seductress” and “The Cosmic Voyager”. Tierney asks readers to pick a page at random in the book and “step into” that archetype’s energy in order to attract what you desire. But, as Tierney points out, “You wouldn’t necessarily know somebody is energy dressing – it’s about the intention, not the style itself. You can dial it up or down with your wardrobe.”
Ahead of our session together, Tierney asked me to prepare one fashion-related question. “What do I wear to create overwhelming abundance in my life?” I ask her. Before she answers, she asks me to flip backwards through a copy of The Fashion Oracle, and stop when I intuitively feel like it. It’s similar to shuffling tarot cards, and just as panic-inducing. The book randomly lands on an archetype I definitely didn’t want to “step into”: “The Influencer”. “Oh no,” I cry. I can already tell it’s going to be too full-on for me.
To “step into” this archetype, I must wear pieces that “turn heads” and “be bold, stand out and opt for a style choice that is sure to influence others to follow”. “Always be dressing camera-ready,” Tierney advises, who suggests I also develop a “signature style” that will eventually make me “instantly recognisable”.
I can’t stand the idea of it. Could we redo it, I ask. Anything would be easier! “The Mermaid” perhaps? I could wear all the pearl necklaces that have been handed down to me from my family. Or even “The Mother”, which would mean wearing clothes and accessories that shimmer with golden threads. But no, Tierney insists, I must trust the process.
“Sometimes there can be resistance when we land on an archetype that is slightly different to how we normally dress,” she explains. “But it asks you to step out of your comfort zone. It’s guiding you to change your statement look from jeans to something that stands out more.”
I realise I need to adopt a fearless approach to fashion. Or at least go back to how I used to be. In my late teens and early twenties, I broke all the fashion rules. I remember wearing a pair of silk PJs to a party long before it became a trend. I looked good in anything – even the black bin liner I once wore to a fancy dress party, accessorised with a statement belt. But now all I want is my jeans. The book, however, warns me against this. “Clinging to the familiar and the tested will only anchor you in the shadows of what has already been,” Tierney writes. “To transcend and advance, you must move towards the uncharted and the new.”
In our session, Tierney gives me some ideas: “Will you be known for always having audacious handbags in the shape of animals, or for wearing metallic nail vanish, or red lipstick every day?” she asks. “What will make you stand out from the crowd?”
I have a second question for her. Are my jeans holding me back from my most abundant life? We flip through the pages of The Fashion Oracle again, and I land on… “The Goddess”. “Let your jewellery speak the language of the Egyptian gods,” it advises. “Honour the feminine aspects within you – however you identify – and understand that true strength often comes from qualities like empathy, intuition and the ability to nurture life”.
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I decide to take inspiration from Karl Lagerfeld’s 2018/2019 collection for Chanel, which was full of golden hues and nods to ancient Egypt. I’m also advised to surround myself with people who recognise my worth. But the book also tells me to recognise my own value, too. “Let your jewellery be the starting point for building your outfit as you are stepping into this new vibration, or frequency,” Tierney says. “It may be as simple as a bracelet or a ring, rather than a whole outfit piece. It may be a colour, too. It doesn’t mean you have to dress head to toe in gold.”
I resist Amazon Prime-ing some amulets and scarabs and instead opt for a thick, heavy gold bracelet with a turquoise veneer that I find in a drawer. I wear it with a voluminous silk skirt in a light pastel floral design with a T-shirt and trainers. It feels more me, at least, than the sleeveless Masscob dress with shiny gold all over it, which I’d worn to a lunch the day before. I also opt for an Isabel Marant bohemian dress that fits the whole goddess vibe.
“I find it kind of magical how we asked the book several times, and along a similar theme, what you should wear to shift and optimise your frequency to manifest abundance,” says Tierney. “And each time, we received consistent guidance: jewellery with Egyptian connections, and statement pieces. The universe clearly had a message it wanted you to hear!”
By the time I hit the local supermarket in my bright purple dress, I’ve followed Tierney’s advice for a week. She says that it can take at least a month to see results. But something is working for me: I certainly feel better having broken free of my jeans, and I feel more open to the new rather than the safe and familiar.
At the park, my kids admit they’re suffering from the post-holiday blues – we’ve just returned from Greece, with no further plans for holidays until next summer. Then, unexpectedly, I receive a text message. A new single dad friend that I’d met in Greece has invited us all to stay at his villa in Corsica. My children scream with joy. Is it just a coincidence? Or proof that I’d manifested something positive with my clothing? Either way, it’s not something I could have ever predicted.
