MEAGHAN SMITH PERSONAL STYLIST

It doesn’t matter if something is fancy designer and costs you a lot of money, if it fits badly, it looks bad.

Remember when Gwyneth wore this pink dress to the Oscars?

It’s not that it wasn’t a nice dress – it just didn’t fit her properly.

Supposedly, Gwyneth removed the piece designed to wear under the bodice (Breast pads or a structured bustier??) leaving the top part too big for her. *I’m not suggesting Gwyneth didn’t look lovely, she did – the dress was just not right.

Despite the dress being Ralph Lauren couture and worth a squillion dollars (I heard her say in an interview it was before the days of stylists, and she bought it herself), it didn’t look great, because of how it fit.

When something doesn’t fit well…

You might put it on to wear and then take it off again. You can’t put your finger on it, but it’s not quite right.

It can make you feel frumpy.

It might make you look like you have a different shape than you do. (Not in the way you want!)

Your outfit can look messy, rather than clean, sharp, polished, etc, etc.

Maybe in a work environment, it could send a message that you don’t care. (i.e. “That’ll do”)

And the most important one – it could affect your confidence.

Most of us are not taught what to look for, to know when our clothes fit us properly. Growing up, if we could get it on and do it up, it meant it fit.

So, if it matters to you, spend some time really looking at the way your clothes drape over your body. Is anything pulling, puckering, not sitting where it should be, or even making you look wider than you are? If so, figure out why.

If you’d like some help, learning how your clothes should (and shouldn’t) fit you, book a Wardrobe Overhaul or Personal Shopping.

If you’d like to learn how to know when something fits or doesn’t fit you well, book in for a Wardrobe Overhaul or Personal Shopping here 

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When a pair of tailored pants pull across the hips and pocket like this…they don’t fit.

Notice the lines being created – because the pants are too tight across the hips – from the top of the zip to the pocket. …and then, as a result,  how the pocket is pulling away from the body.

Because the pants are ill-fitting across the hips it’s drawing attention to the area …..and it looks messy!

I understand for Kim and for those who have similar shapes to her (tiny waist with wider hips and bottom), that finding pants that fit well can be difficult.

My advice is to keep shopping til you find a pair that work for you.  Don’t just settle for “These will have to do”.  I know it can be very frustrating, but you need to be prepared to try lots of different styles til you find a pair that are just right.  In Kim’s case a different fabric or a style without pockets might have worked better for her.

And secondly, consider buying up a size and having them tailored to fit you.  (Or alternatively, have a pair made)  *I’m sure Kim could afford to work with a tailor.

Remember recently I wrote about how a pencil skirt shouldn’t pull across the hips here.   Same thing…

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I love the idea of a clutch bag.  They remind me of a couple of things – the 70’s …and Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw.  Both of which have influenced my style a lot.  (I would wear Farrah’s outfit (above) head to toe today)

Perhaps it’s because I’m petite (ie under 5ft 4), but I like the idea of not being swamped by or having to lug around, a big oversized bag, instead having something small that I can hold in my hand (like Amal did here and Meghan did here) or tuck under my arm. (Like so).

I’ve collected a few over the years.  There’s this one, a birthday gift from my family, this one I found at The Mill Market in Geelong, and this one I bought from a vintage store in Paris.

While I tend not to use them much during my day to day, the first chance I get to pull one out and use it for a night out or a day at the races, I do.

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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 

You can read what styling services I offer here

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