MEAGHAN SMITH PERSONAL STYLIST

Here’s a little story about a client whose clothes weren’t making her feel great.

She was prompted to contact me because..

She’d recently lost a lot of weight and needed to upgrade her wardrobe but wasn’t sure what to buy to suit and flatter her new shape. She was also bored with her current clothes and needed some guidance with developing a new look, as she felt she was going into a new phase in her life and wanted to enter it on the right, stylish foot.

After talking about what direction she wanted her style to go in and when I felt we were both clear about it, we got stuck into working through her wardrobe.   Which consisted of:

• Outdated, tired and daggy clothes she’d had since the nineties. Some from her uni and back-packing days
• Clothes that were nice BUT didn’t fit properly or were unflattering to her particular body shape or completely opposite to her personal style
• Pieces that were making her feel and appear older than she was and making her look frumpy
• Items that were for exercising

As we continued to work through the wardrobe I observed that a large amount of her (newish) clothes had been purchased from the same local shop and it became apparent to me that my client had been misled into believing these clothes suited and flattered her body shape, when they didn’t.

My client had been enticed to shop at this particular fancy city boutique because it was close to where she worked and therefore convenient, because she’d noticed the girls working in the store looked ‘trendy” and because she wanted to update her look and was uncertain how to do so.

But…not only were these clothes unflattering, they were also not her style.

Although we’d determined together this girls style/personality was “Classic” (tailored, clean, simple, somewhat traditional)  she had been talked into purchasing things that were very pretty/floaty/whimsical/patterned.

She could never work out how to wear them. They looked great on the people in the shop but when she took them home and put them on, they felt all wrong.

Because they weren’t her style.  They were someone else’s.

The boutique in question sold beautiful clothes, just not pieces that suited my clients style.

This is why it is so important that you know exactly what your style is, what the image that you want to portray is and what styles flatter your body shape.

If you don’t want to waste your money by filling your wardrobe with clothes that don’t make you feel great, you need to:

• Learn and understand what flatters your body shape
• Know which shops don’t have the clothes that suit your personal style and which shops do
• Define and develop your own unique personal style and be sure about what you buy fits into this image
• Learn how to be a smart shopper or take someone with you who is, so that you don’t buy into fake flattery
• Don’t be talked into buying or wearing something unless you love it

I don’t entirely blame the staff in the stores for selling things to us that don’t complement our style or shape.  They’re like all of us, trying to earn a living and more than likely doing what their boss has instructed them to do.  Some of these girls would be students, working part time and they haven’t been educated about body shapes.  We need to take responsibility ourselves by knowing what we’re shopping for.  I guess if you asked does this flatter my shape, and they lied to you, that’s another issue.

If you feel like this is happening to you and you’d like help defining your style and then achieving it, book in for a Wardrobe Overhaul and Personal Shopping session here 

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Recently I went shopping with someone who among other things wanted to find a great pair of jeans.

We were lucky enough to find the pair at the first store we visited BUT it took time to determine the best style and fit.

The first pair I gave my client to try were skinnier than she was used to.  Although she wasn’t sure about them initially when I handed them to her, (in her assumed size) I told her to give them a try and yell out when she had them on.  When I went into the changeroom the first thing she said was that they were too small.  But after I got her to do my jean stretching routine and I had a good look at them, I told her they were too big and that she needed to try the next size down.  She looked at me like I was crazy, but I knew the right size in this particular style would look amazing on her.  We just needed to determine what that right size was.

To cut a long story short, we went down 4 sizes and bingo! we arrived at the perfect fit.  I could tell as soon as I walked into the changeroom to check out the fourth pair, that these jeans were the one.   They made my clients legs and bottom look amazing and most importantly she felt great in them.  Exactly how a great pair of jeans should make you feel.

The moral of this story is that my client thought the first pair were too small… where in actual fact, we had to go down four sizes to reach the size that fit her properly.  If she had tried on a bigger size or bought the pair she thought were a bit small, she would have worn them once and they would have gone baggy in the butt, knee and across the top of her thighs, and she would have felt very average wearing them.  When trying on clothes you need to take your time, try many sizes (not just the size you think is “your size”) and styles and assess the difference in each.  Learn to know when something fits and feels right for you.

The No. 1 thing I see in most wardrobes I help edit, is clothes that don’t fit properly.  As I’ve mentioned previously move around in the changeroom to make sure you see how a piece fits from all angles and if you find that you have things in your wardrobe that don’t fit you well, have them tailored.

You can read what styling services I offer here

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I wanted to show you these photos as an example of making sure when you buy a dress (or anything for that matter) that you always consider what underwear you’ll be able to wear with it.

In this case Meghan has worn a strapless bra – because of the boat neck.

(To be honest,  I think the visibility of the bra also has something to do with the fit of the dress. You can see it’s pulling under her arms and across her chest)

Recently I was shopping with a client in Camilla and Marc (an Australian designer) and some beautiful silk slip dresses in gorgeous colors caught my eye.  All I could think when I was looking at them, was what on earth would you wear under them.

*FYI – years ago I wore a similar style as a bridesmaid and I took it to a dressmaker and had her sew in a bra so that it became part of the dress.  By doing this, there were no signs of visible underwear under the dress at all. 

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