Whenever we get asked, “what do you do”, and we say, we’re personal stylists, the next question we invariably get is, so, what celebrities do you style? Okay, so there’s some truth in that perception, because we do work with a number of high profile peeps. But most of the men and women we work with are not usually who you’d read about on Buzzfeed. In the ten years we’ve been doing this, we’ve actually found that there are LOTS of regular, non-celeb type people who need a stylist to help them in their life, and many, many more who could really use our services, but are still under the impression that hiring a wardrobe consultant is a luxury for fancy people.
Based on our experiences, we’ve discovered that people hire us because they fit into one of three categories.
#1. They are in transition.
Most of the people we help fit into this group. They come to us because they’ve gotten a new gig, or lost a bunch of weight, had a break up or divorce, (and looking great is the best revenge) or they just want to do something nice for themselves to kickstart their life. So they come to us looking for help get them Insta ready. We love helping these people because after we’ve gone through their closest and done a cleanse, gotten rid of the clothes from their previous “life” and re-purposed the ones we left, and then taken them out shopping to fill in the gaps and build their wardrobe from the ground up, they get to see themselves as a truer version of who they are. This transformation is almost always a major catharsis and super emotional for our client, and deeply satisfying for us, because it’s real life stuff, and way beyond the perception of what a stylist does.
#2. They don’t have the time to shop.
These clients usually have the means and are in some kind of position where how they present look really matters, but because of that position, they’re too damn busy to shop. So they hire us (yay!). We serve as their eyes (and feet) to get them into clothes that will tighten up their style and polish their personal brand. Stacy London is a perfect example. Stacy, who we worked with on “What Not to Wear” and “Love, Lust or Run, is an on screen celebrity stylist and obviously has great style. But what she didn’t have was the time to shop for herself, because she was too busy telling other people on TV how to dress. So Stacy became our job. No stress there pulling looks for a famous stylist! But as her “Glamazons” (her description of us) we loved the three years we worked styling Stacy.
#3. They %$&*! hate to shop.
As image consultants and stylists, we clearly love to shop. So for clients that hate hate hate it, we fix a very big pain point. More men than women, these shopping averse folks seem like candidates for subscription services like Stitchfix or Trunk Club. But what they tell us is that they want a more “bespoke” experience. So after a consult with them at their home, and a work through of their closet we go out and shop for them. Only then do we ask them to meet us, get them set up in one of the comfy private rooms we use, and have them try on the goods. They leave better dressed and invariably happier with their “shopping experience.” Just because you hate to shop doesn’t mean you don’t want to look good.
So if you see yourself in one of these buckets, then maybe it’s time for your very own personal stylist. Consultations are usually free and most of us are very happy to talk about your life and how clothes can make it better. Hello, life change!
Interesting read, thanks for sharing