This weekend I got to live out one of my dreams: I was someone’s personal stylist.
I’ll probably talk about the difference for me between style blogs and WNTW another day. For today, I want to introduce you to my friend Hannah, who I helped shop for this weekend!
Hannah is an old student whom I used to mentor years ago, when she was in college. Now at 24 years old, she has 2 jobs as an administrative assistant and is in nursing school. Talk about a full life!
Hannah’s Old Style
Hannah wanted to change her style to feel more adult and put together. 🙂 Black Vans, t-shirts, and black hooded sweatshirts became her uniform and that was no longer how she wanted to portray herself.
Sad face in her old clothes:
She saved money for the day she could buy a new wardrobe, which is no easy feat. She had given away 90% of her wardrobe before our day together, so we had nothing to work with but some skinny jeans–not even shoes! We truly started from scratch, and we shopped for 11 hours.
What We Aimed For
- “Everyday cute and dressy look” was her wish.
- Versatile wardrobe that took her from work to school to birthday parties on weekends. In her large Latino family there’s always a birthday party!
- Balance out her figure. Hannah was concerned about her mid-section as well as feeling a little top-heavy, so we worked on that by playing with fit and proportion.
- Increased self-esteem. She’d been feeling self-conscious lately, so my biggest hope was to remedy that during our shopping day. I want women to feel great about themselves!
As for the rest of her pics below, please excuse her messy hair. It was super cute at the beginning of the day, but these pictures were taken after 11 hours of shopping! So just imagine hair cuteness, okay? 🙂
Her “Rules”
#1 Stop shopping in cheap junior’s stores. Hannah was buying clothing with odd-sized labels, which indicates junior’s sizing, and she had no idea. When I told her those clothes are better suited for girls with far less curves than she has, it made sense why so many of those clothes didn’t fit her well. Instantly her self-esteem grew a little. Yay!
#2 Balance out your top half with a-line skirts or straight-legged jeans (shown in #3 below).
Hannah’s looking slim in a blazer and jeans! (The jeans still need to be hemmed…)
#5 Play with pops of color in your accessories to liven up an outfit. These red shoes make this teal dress a little more special.
All in All
We got Hannah a wardrobe from which she could make 35+ outfits. It’s a great foundation to start a new chapter in her life. I’ll post a full shopping list on Thursday. Promise.
The Best Part…
I asked Hannah how her first day in her new clothes went, and she responded, “Good! I got many compliments at church today and a lot of looks from people at the grocery store. I wore the brown dress, belt and red flats. I finally feel like a young woman instead of a woman stuck in her teens. :)”
By the end of our shopping day she felt good about her body and couldn’t wait to wear her new clothes. I’m so happy for her!
Again, on Thursday a full shopping list with links will be posted along with what we looked for and how we shopped. Stay tuned!
If you have questions before Thursday, feel free to ask and I’ll try to include that in the post.
