For those of you who don’t know, I am a personal stylist with an emphasis on minimalism. Very often, my clients contact me to help them with a complete wardrobe makeover. Last week, I got the opportunity to work with Wendie from Pantry Doctor and so I wanted to share a bit about our session here on the blog. I think people sometimes feel like it’s a luxury to get a wardrobe makeover, but I wanted to show you that creating a minimalist wardrobe and using a personal stylist to help you do that can be affordable. And it can change your quality of life. How is that, you say? I believe strongly in energy and flow. If you want to learn more about this, I suggest reading Marie Kondo’s book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Clutter creates a sense of chaos and heaviness that can become overwhelming.  When we have a simple and clutter free home, we instantly become calmer and we’re able to handle more pressing things on our to do list. Why does our closet become so cluttered? Instead of buying less and investing in pieces of quality, we buy clothing impulsively. We buy things on sale.  It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to buy a $20 top from Loft but when it has no place or purpose in our wardrobe, it becomes one more piece of clutter that causes stress. Wendie was feeling this way and it had been a long time since she invested in her clothing. She called me to help her get a hold of her closet and her wardrobe.

 

 

The first thing I like to do with a client if I can is clean out the closet. I think you’d be surprised at how easily an item can feel refreshed just by changing up it’s function. So many of my clients have been blown away by the outfits I’ve created for them once I added a different pair of pants or a scarf. I also like to “encourage” my client to get rid of anything that doesn’t make her feel good. We tend to hold on to things that are a name brand, have a perceived high value, or even clothing to which we’ve attached fond memories. And I totally understand the pain one feels when realizing she spent $150 on a dress that she hasn’t worn in 5 years. But let’s face it, if you haven’t picked it up in 5 years, you never will. When we get rid of the things in our closet that no longer serve us, we create space for new things that can bring us joy. IHaving a stylist to assist you in this process makes things easier. And it forces you to follow through. Wendie is going all in on the minimalist wardrobe and at the end of our session, we donated 5 bags of clothes to Miracle Hill. Her closet certainly felt lighter and more organized.

 

 

Our focus was on Wendie’s fall wardrobe, It’s still in the high 80s here in SC, so we made sure to include transitional pieces to get her through to the cold weather. We kept 6 short sleeve shirts and 5 long sleeves shirts that can be worn to work and/or date night. We kept 3 casual long sleeve shirts to be worn to yoga or for weekend wear. She was in desperate need of work pants, basic tees and camisoles, leggings, and layering pieces for fall. She also wanted to create a similar capsule style wardrobe for athletic wear since she works out daily. She had some nice items, but we need to add several more sports bras, a couple of pair of workout pants, and a few athleisure shirts for cooler weather. Lastly, she needed a solid pair of dress booties and some cute flats.

 

For all of my clients, I create a shopping list. In this list, I include the pieces she needs to buy to complete her wardrobe. I include links to pieces I’ve found that I think fit into her style and her existing wardrobe. That list acts as a guide to help my client with a couple of things:

 

  1. To know what to shop for and where
  2. To give options based on her taste
  3. To help keep her focused on a minimalist wardrobe and to prevent her from buying things she doesn’t need
  4. To use as a guide for future purchases

 

I can help her buy some of the items if she’d like or she has the links and can buy them as she wishes. Depending on the package purchased, I will sometimes create a style guide from her completed wardrobe. I like to include a reference book that helps making getting ready in the morning easier.

Because we are constantly marketed to, it is so easy to buy items not on the list. Sales and special shopping events help lure us to purchase items we don’t need. And I don’t want to make it seem like you should never buy something random, because I firmly believe that we need to do things that bring us joy. That being said, if you’re someone who tends to buy things to make you feel better and your closet is full of clothes you never wear, it’s nice to have a list to help keep you on track. And honestly, the less stuff you buy, the easier it is to splurge when you do.

 

 

Here are some items I found that fit perfectly into Wendie’s newly cleaned closet

 

As you can see, not everything in here is focused on Eco Fashion, but as i mentioned in this post, it’s all about balance. I know that Wendie really loves Anthropologie (and Greenville has a storefront downtown) and Lululemon (also downtown). Those are two stores active in the Greenville community and I wanted to include them in her shopping list. I also included Banana Republic as well. I encouraged her to thrift some items, which she did, and talked to her about the importance of buying eco friendly clothes. That being said, I like to add variety to the shopping lists and I like to include places I know my client loves.

I can’t wait to snap some pictures of Wendie in her new outfits. She’s very stylish already so I feel like my contribution was to help her get rid of the clutter, streamline her wardrobe, and make her life easier so she can focus on building her amazing nutrition counseling business.

Rememer, you are worthy of it all. You are worthy of luxury. You are worthy of feeling pleasure. You are worthy of freedom.

More than anything, I hope that you feel that every single day of your life. Thank you so much for reading.