Brandi - Style Makeover
#RealWomenRealStyle
Meet Brandi!
Working with real women (vs. say, celebrities, or models), is one of my favorite ways to spend my days. I've said it before and I'll say it again - most of my clients don't give a rats a** about fashion. They've got kids, a business, jobs, significant others, hobbies, and more than enough to do than stress about what should be an easy decision: getting dressed, or worrying about the latest trends which will just change again in three months time.
Brandi's style session has been a long time coming! We first started chatting back in February; she booked her session in May; and we finally got to sit down and do some major close work in early June.
We're now prepping for some virtual personal shopping and a follow up session where we will mix and match her old + new pieces to create some awesome new outfits, but first up - her closet work!
Brandi booked a Style Session which is THE place to start for clients looking to really work on their style - it includes a style consultation, closet work (usually a good cleanse is in order!) as well as a custom mood board and shopping list. While I always educate and empower my clients to do things on their own (education is an essential part of my sessions!), by booking a style session, I already have all the tools I need (a client's measurements, their lifestyle, budget, etc.) to take off running with anything a client needs, whether that's personal shopping or an outfit creation session because I'm already familiar with their closet.
Listed above is everything we did in Brandi's first Style Session - this was three hours of WORK!
Our first hour was spent going through the style consultation and figuring out what Brandi needs for her wardrobe. Brandi works in the tech field and her office is very. casual. Think: leggings + flip flop casual. Think: millennials and hoodie casual. She also has two children who keep her busy and she needs pieces that will help her look like the rising boss she while also going from day, to kids, to night.
Next in our session was the closet cleanse. We took everything out of her closet, dumped it on the bed and got to work!
Each item got a thorough going over - does she like it? Does she wear it? Does it flatter her body type. The answer was NO to most of these things, so into my bags they went.
We worked our way through her closet, the dresser, and even made it through the bins of out of season clothes. While we didn't make it to the shoes or jewelry - we spent our remaining time on education and outfit creation. I love taking pictures to show to clients so they can actually see what something is looking like on them. Here, we were demonstrating how the richer, jewel tones work better for Brandi's skin tone than the paler, pastel colors.
And since we did a pretty good job of cleaning out her closet, I put together 4 simple outfits from pieces she already owned that she could wear to work in the upcoming week - all casual pieces like jeans and sandals that are accepted in her work place, while still upping her style game with layering and accessories - she's getting into scarves!
When it was all said and done, we cleaned out SO much! I swapped out all of the plastic and wire hangers for a set of slim, felt hanger she had in her room already and organized her closet by similar pieces and color. While we = emptied her closet, she was left with pieces that she liked and that fit and flattered.
Brandi's session by the numbers:
- 7 bags of things to get rid of!
- 49 hangers
- 21 tops
- 22 dresses
- 25 sweaters
- 27 pants
- 7 skirts
- 9 shorts
- 3 jackets
- $26.40 in resale (also a future credit for her to use towards Chic Stripes services!)
Sydney Lester is a Richmond, Virginia-based personal stylist who creates wardrobes that reflect your life + style.
Ready for your own style session?