Meet Rosie - a lovely woman I have actually known for about a year now and who recently became a client. She has a very defined sense of style but was looking for someone to help to create a fashion uniform, mix and match pieces into new outfit combinations, and make getting dressed each morning easier, with no fuss, no stress. She wants a closet full of things that make her feel fabulous (no hum drum pieces here) and so that is our goal.

Our fist session last week included a style consultation, closet cleanse, and a few outfit mixing/matching ideas. We are scheduling a second session that will focus completely on creating new outfits from her streamlined wardrobe and then documenting them in an look book which will be easy for Rosie to reference each day.

Welcome to the closet befores:

it looks pretty good right? I loved Rosie's shoe storage in the clear plastic bins as well as her jewelry displays and the ghost chair.

Even when a closet looks this good, we still take everything out and go through each piece, one by one. In most cases, I also have clients embark on a marathon trying on session so that we can really evaluate current fit, look for any wear/tear, and see if the client still even likes what she has.

A stack of items to go through. We kept this long, polka dot vest!

Mess of hangers - I moved all of her pieces to the felt hangers and provided some clips to turn the felt hangers into skirt hangers.

I felt like a kid in a fashion candy store each time Rosie pulled out one of the pieces that made her feel and look fabulous. She has a very avant garde style and loves to look different. She likes shoes with interesting details such as a funky heel, she has a jacket made of paper, and each piece that we kept has unique details to it, allowing her to stand out and look fabulous even in a black dress (her favorite black dress is sheer by the way!).

Shoes with a funky heel, statement bracelets and belts, and a great zebra trench!

We actually managed to get rid of two huge IKEA bags worth of things - a few things that are worn and need to be donated, but the rest are some great pieces I can take to resell/consignment for Rosie (bonus for her, anything that sells will be a credit she can use for future sessions).

In putting the closet back together, we grouped like with like and by color. For Rosie, this means all winter items are on the left corner, all fancy items in the far right corner, winter and heavy coats on the ride side, jewelry and accessories on the left side and everything else in the middle. Once we got things back in, I organized by type and color - dresses, skirts, sleeveless tops, sleeved tops, jackets, skinny jeans, flared jeans,, etc. Organizing in this way makes it easier to see what you have in terms of color and it also lets you find things by shape and style vs. crawling through your entire wardrobe when things are interspersed with each other.

There is more coming from our work together, so stay tuned. I'm excited to work with Rosie because I truly believe that style can be had at any age, all it takes is a few little tweaks and you'll be walking in confidence in no time.

Sydney Lester is a Richmond, Virginia-based personal stylist who creates wardrobes that reflect your life + style.

Advanced Style: 75 and Chic