You've heard me talking about a wardrobe edit before but you're curious to know what actually happens when a personal stylist comes to your home. So, I thought I'd talk you through the process of a wardrobe edit and answer some questions I often get asked by clients before they book.
As you may be aware, my first experience of a wardrobe edit was when I had one myself about 8 years ago now. I had been home for a year on maternity leave, was just back working again and felt lost with my style. I perceived friends to look more "put together" than I felt and just didn't know where to start to put it right. So, I decided to invest in myself and booked a personal stylist to come round. As we all now know it was the start of a much bigger journey...
Wardrobe edits are probably my favourite service I offer. Wardrobes offer such an insight. For starters, many of us have plenty of clothes - we just need a fresh pair of eyes to show us how to wear them differently. In addition, there's the environmental perspective that it's much better to wear what we already have rather than going out and buying more - as Vivienne Westwood said "buy less, choose well, make it last". Shopping our wardrobe of course has a financial impact too, there's often no need to spend more money on clothes - we just need to wear what we already have but in a different way to refresh them. After all, many of us wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time. In reviewing a wardrobe it allows me to see where you are with your style but more importantly, where you want to get to.
So, the first thing I do once you book a wardrobe edit is send out a questionnaire to you. This allows me to do some prep work - get a feel for where you are with your style, what
stumbling blocks you may feel up against, who your style inspirations are, how you feel about your wardrobe, etc. It gives me an idea of how much I can "push" you with style and outfits if you're wanting to rediscover what feels right for you.
For the day itself, I'll ask you to have a variety of footwear at the ready, make sure you're wearing comfortable, well fitting underwear and to have a long mirror (if you have one, if not, I can bring one) available too. I'll sometimes suggest you wear an outfit to start with that you feel comfortable in, one that makes you feel good - perhaps something you would wear if you were meeting friends for lunch. It's just a good starting point.
On the day, I'll arrive with my bag of tricks - bringing things like hangers, a debobbler, moth balls, safety pins, etc. and we'll start off by having a chat and you introducing me to your wardrobe. You can show me where and how you store your clothes, what are your "reliables" and maybe what you've fallen out of love with but would love to wear again.
There are a number of approaches I'll then take depending on how the session flows. If you're wanting to declutter, we'll go through items you've been unsure of trying them on and seeing if we can make them work for you by styling them various ways. We might create "keep", "sell" and "donate" piles if that's what you're wanting to achieve.
With some of your dressier items which are taking up valuable space, we might try to style them in a more wearable, everyday way so that you can get more wear out of these garments. I might suggest tweaks to your existing pieces - e.g. shortening of skirts/dresses -which will work better with your body shape. We'll add accessories and jewellery to elevate your existing outfits. I'll often create 10+ "new" outfits from your existing wardrobe and we'll photograph these so that you can refer to them in future (although I sometimes get carried away and forget to take photos so I always ask clients to remind me!). Having the photos to hand later on is so useful on those busy mornings so you won't have to think very much - just pick a look/photo and off you go.
I'll be making notes throughout the session of anything which I think would be a useful addition to your wardrobe to give you more value from your existing clothes. This will mean you can be much more specific when you're ready to go clothes shopping and you won't be repeating past mistakes by buying things which are very similar to what you already own.
As for the getting changed into various outfits - you can do whatever you feel comfortable with. Some people prefer to step outside their bedroom to quickly change, others are happy to just change while I have my back turned going through your wardrobe. I want you to feel as comfortable as possible, so you are of course welcome to approach this part of our session however you feel most at ease.
Something I always warn clients about beforehand, is that a wardrobe edit can be very tiring. On average they take 3-4 hours and it really is exhausting (and hungry/thirsty) work so be prepared for that. Snacks may be necessary!
Finally, I want to use this article as a way to reassure you. Many times I hear clients "warning" me that some of their clothes are very old or their wardrobe is a mess. But I can assure you, I've seen many wardrobes and I'm not here to judge. I'm here to help you on your way to feeling more body confident and content in your skin. That's my mission because as I always say - life's too short.
I hope this has enlightened you and explained a bit more about the process of a wardrobe edit. If there are any questions you feel I haven't answered here, please just drop me an email and I'll gladly get back to you - lou@stylegalore.co.uk.
My Wardrobe Edit page also contains info if you'd like to have a look there and if you'd like to enquire about booking in with me, drop me an email and we can get that booked in.
Lou
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