MEAGHAN SMITH PERSONAL STYLIST

 I received an S.O.S text message from a girlfriend this morning.

“Help!!!  I bought a dress online.  Black chiffon with a ¾ sleeve with lace and just a sack on me.  I did all the measurements and it fits but it is the wrong style for me. I am ashamed to say that it was very expensive”

Immediately I called her because I knew the dress she was talking about was for a function she was going to tomorrow and I knew she had taken my advice and shopped online. So I felt some responsibility.  When I spoke to her she said she’d done everything I’d told her to do.

• Taken her measurements to make sure it would fit
• Enquired about the return policy
• Asked questions about the fit
• Checked how long delivery would take
• Made sure the dress was her style
• Asked herself whether she’d be able to wear it in different ways and therefore be able to wear it on several occasions

She did everything I told her to do, BUT it soon became apparent during our chat, that she had neglected to ask herself (possibly the biggest and most important question)

“Will this dress flatter my shape?”

When the dress arrived, promptly and conveniently to her doorstep and she excitedly tried it on, the answer was no.  The dress did not flatter her shape.  In fact it did the opposite.  It made her appear bigger and boobier, than she is.  She “looked like a sack of potatoes”.  The fact is, she actually has a very voluptuous, womanly figure that would look amazing dressed in the right style and fabric.  But a dress like the one she had purchased made her look completely shapeless. Her boobs were squashed, making them look larger than they are, her neck looked short and her face looked chubby.  Worse still was the dress was over $300. This is a lot of money for her. Like most of us, she can’t afford to make costly shopping mistakes.

She’d finally taken my advice and bought something online and it hadn’t worked out. Certainly I felt a little bit bad that I’d encouraged her to dabble in online shopping and on this occasion it hadn’t worked out, but I reminded her that the most important thing when shopping in stores, online and even in your own wardrobe, if you want to find something to wear that makes you look and feel great, is to wear something that flatters your particular body shape

Fortunately, after she emailed me a photo of herself wearing the dress, I was able to give her a few ideas, (with the use of some cleverly placed accessories and a suitably shaped jacket) as to how she could make the dress work for her so she could wear it tomorrow.  But I was very quick to remind her that if she didn’t want to continue to waste her money on bad buys, she needed to learn and understand the styles that suited her body shape best.  Then she needed to get into the habit of assessing every part of the garment, until it became second nature and she knew immediately as soon as she put something on whether it was right or wrong for her.  Otherwise, she was going to have a huge wardrobe full of clothes that cost her a lot of money and that didn’t make her feel good about herself.

Ask yourself, are the clothes in your wardrobe making you look like the voluptuous, curvaceous, attractive woman that you are or are they making you look like a frumpy, shapeless sack of potatoes?

Follow me on Instagram here

You can read what styling services I offer here

I’ve had this brilliant fuchsia Bettina Liano pant suit for 8, 10….maybe 12 years.  It’s been one of my favourite trusty items in my wardrobe where I’ve worn it to weddings, the races, dinners and Christmas parties.  It’s a very classic cut so although it’s years old, it’s still current.

When I first bought it I took it to my tailor and got him to alter it so that it fit me like a glove – so I know it flatters my shape. I’ve always felt great every time I put it on…until recently.

A little while ago I pulled it out and put it on to wear to a luncheon at the races and it felt all wrong.  I looked in the mirror and felt blah.  This was odd.  It always worked.  It was my fail safe item I reached for when I couldn’t decide on anything else. This time I had to take it off and put something else on.  I felt like I was over it.   I put this down to two things. Firstly, about a year ago when my jacket came back from the cleaners, two buttons were smashed and I had to replace them.  Despite searching endlessly for something that matched perfectly, I could never find something I really liked.  Secondly, I was bored with it.   It needed to be revamped, I just wasn’t sure how.

So I put it back in the wardrobe and there it stayed, rejected, waiting for me to come up with an inspired idea as to what I could do with it.

I searched…and researched…and researched and one day came across this….

…so I did this….

I really wanted round gold buttons like the photo but couldn’t find them. (Still searching!) These will do for now, until I come across the ones I really want.  When I was sewing these on, I wasn’t convinced it was what I was after, but as soon as I tried it on, I loved it. I felt like I had a new item of clothing, and I hadn’t spent a cent.

People are often surprised when I help them go through and clean out their wardrobe, that I don’t come up with an enormous expensive list of what they need to buy to have a half decent wardrobe.  Sometimes, once we’ve gotten rid of what doesn’t need to be there and we can see what’s left, we find some hidden little treasures that can be reinvented.  There are lot’s and lot’s of things you can do to make your wardrobe feel fresh and updated without buying a single piece of clothing.  Here are five things you can do right now.

• Pull all the dresses and skirts that you don’t regularly wear out of your wardrobe and consider whether they might work better on your shape and with your lifestyle, with a different hem length
• Soak all your whites overnight in NapiSan or similar to bring them back to white white, rather than grey white
• Try all your daggy jeans on and think about whether they’re making your legs look bigger than you are and if they would look more flattering if they were slimmer in the leg.  If so, take them off to a tailor (or do it yourself if you’re clever) and ask him to run them in down the leg
• Give your leather bags and shoes a clean and polish. (I often just use Mr Sheen)  Make sure you test a small patch before you do the whole item
• Buy a thick piece of velvet ribbon and wrap it around your waist and tie it in a bow with your blouses and dresses. Attach a vintage brooch.

**I wrote this back in 2011.  It’s now five years later and this suit is still alive and kicking.  I’m about to reinvent it yet again by having the pants cropped.

READ: “What’s Hiding In Your Wardrobe That Could Be Reinvented?” Here

Details of my personal styling services (Including prices) here

Get to know more about me and my style on Facebook here

..& Instagram here

I’ve always been obsessed by fashion.

When I first started working in the city, as soon as my pay hit my account I’d race off to Myer in my lunch break to buy myself something new to wear out on the town on the weekend. I wasn’t from the city, so all the options available were overwhelming and shopping in the Big Smoke, exciting.  When I wasn’t investing in clothes, make-up or skin care, I was spending my hard earned on Cleo’s and Vogues, where I attempted to replicate the looks of Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Back in those days I thought I had the fashion thing and my style sorted out. I thought I knew how I wanted to look and what I was doing when I shopped, but in actual fact I didn’t.

I really had no idea what my Personal Style was.

I was really just following the trends in the magazines, the way my friends dressed, the way they dressed in the bars and nightclubs I went to, the way the women in Collins Street (where I worked) dressed and how the actresses in movies and on TV dressed. I hadn’t really developed my own sense of style.  So for this reason I made lots of very costly shopping mistakes.

It was in my early thirties when, as Oprah would say, I had a light bulb moment and I figured it out.

During this period I was spending a lot of time, particularly going to 30th birthday parties, with two girlfriends who often dressed in Allanah Hill clothes. (Pictured above)  We’d meet up beforehand and they would both be wearing beautiful lace and velvet dresses with brightly colored flowers in their hair – looking sexy and elegant and I would be in my best jeans and top.   To set the scene, both of my girlfriends had gorgeous curvaceous figures. Both had amazing curly hair – one red the other blonde and they would both have their lips painted bright red. I was so envious of how feminine, attractive, sexy and glamourous they looked – when I felt like a skinny, under dressed boy. (I had short hair back then)

In an attempt to try and emulate the looks of my lovely friends, I’d often go into Allanah Hill and try on a heap of dresses, determined to pretty and womanly as my girlfriends did.  But on every occasion I’d stand in front of the mirror feeling like a little girl going off to a six year old birthday party.  Why didn’t I look like my friends did?  Why didn’t these dresses suit me?  Why did I look like a little girl when they looked like gorgeous, sophisticated women.

In the end I bought one of the dresses, even though it never did feel right.  I thought it was beautiful and it was on sale.  It was orange and white gingham chiffon, with ruffles.  I took it home and hung it on my door in my bedroom so that I could just look at it, and there it stayed til I sold it a year later on eBay.  You see even though I loved that dress, it wasn’t my style.  So it never felt right.

I attempted to wear it to the races.  I even bought something to wear in my hair and a pair of shoes to wear with it.  But on the day when I put it on, it felt all wrong, so I took it off – frustrated and annoyed – and put on a trusty classic black dress I’d worn a hundred times.

And this was when I realised it.

Pretty, floaty, floraly, whimsical dresses were not for me.  I could admire them on other people, in magazines and in shop windows, but I should not buy another one again, because I was just wasting my money and I was wasting time shopping in stores that only stocked these kinds of clothes.

I felt relieved.

But if that wasn’t my style, what was?   That’s a whole other story…..

Follow me on Instagram here

You can read what styling services I offer here

Subscribe to Fabulous Finds and Favourite Things here

Janet is 46 and has been divorced for nearly three years.   She works in accounts at Bunnings. When she’s not working she’s being mum to her teenage daughter and son.  Running them around and watching them at sporting commitments, helping them with homework, cooking, washing and cleaning.

Eating healthy has not been a priority since her husband left.  Often now meals are whatever’s quickest so she can get her kids to basketball and soccer training or grabbing a drive-through burger from somewhere on the way home.  Exercising has gone by the wayside.  She’s often too exhausted to even think about it.  After initially losing a lot of weight when her husband first left, in the last three years, Janet has gone from a size 12 to a size 16.  A lot of her wardrobe is too small for her. What does fit is shapeless, unflattering and makes her feel frumpy. None of her clothes represent and highlight how kind, attractive, interesting, vivacious, fun, youthful, etc, she is.

Janet would love to start dating and meet someone but doesn’t feel good about herself and the way she looks at the moment.  She feels that she’s let herself go and has lost her confidence. Despite the fact that she doesn’t have a lot of money to buy new clothes, she wouldn’t know what to buy if she did go shopping. She finds the whole shopping experience painful – her body’s such an odd shape (Wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that description), nothing ever looks good on her and often she ends up buying something  that never gets worn.  (Like she can afford to waste the money) The only chance she gets to see what people are wearing or what’s fashionable is seeing what the other mums wear to basketball or soccer training or what her daughter and her friends wear. And she’s 14.   She doesn’t really know whether any of her clothes are still current or dated. She wears a uniform to work.

Once a month she meets with her book group and from time to time they go to a local bar or hotel.  She often feels daggy and intimidated by some of the other women who always look nice and wishes she could put outfits together like they do.

She’s frustrated and wants to make some changes in her life but has no idea where to start.  She wants to feel good about herself again.

Does this sound familiar to you?  Can you relate to Janet’s story?

Well Janet is really a fictional character but her story is almost identical to many I hear.

Women I meet and talk to are often frustrated with how they look and the idea of making changes is daunting and overwhelming and they don’t really know where to start.

All you need to do is start.

Start small.

• Open a Pinterest account and start pinning images that speak to you.
• Start asking yourself what you like and what you don’t like – whether it’s a song on the radio, the scent of a candle or the style of a dress.  Start getting a good idea of what you do and don’t like.
• Book in for a consultation with a hair stylist or two (without commitment) and get some advice and ideas about what you could do to freshen up your hair. (This is where Pinterest also comes in handy)
• Start following my Facebook and Instagram for ideas and inspiration.  (One of the reasons I post photos of myself on Instagram is to show you how I use my clothes in lots of different ways, to give you ideas to do the same with your clothes)
• Wander through the shops.  Perhaps pick three and go in just to look at what they sell, noticing what shapes and styles are in fashion (according to this store).  If you feel the urge, try some clothes on with the view to just sampling them.
• Buy yourself a new lippy. (Or mascara, or foundation, etc)  Something a bit different to what you’re used to.

And if you feel like this is something you can’t do on your own. If you want support, encouragement and guidance (and perhaps even a gentle push).  If it seems too overwhelming to even make a start, begin by reading through my styling services to see if anything sounds like it might be what you need to get some help and advice.  And, again, if you get the urge email me to book in for a Wardrobe Overhaul or Personal Shopping or to simply arrange a time for us to have a chat. I promise, I will do everything I can to help you.

Take at least one baby step.  A move forward in a positive direction.

But what ever you do, don’t ever give up on yourself.  You deserve to look and feel the very best you can.

Follow me on Instagram here

You can read what styling services I offer here