In Person Styling Session: Jessica

In Person Styling Session: Jessica

Last Saturday I had the chance to re-style a new friend's closet and get her out of her "uniform" of skirt+shirt+cardigan for work or jeans+t-shirt for play. Jessica is a mother to a nearly two-year-old (yes, she is in incredible shape and works very hard at it!) She also works in an office where most women dress fairly conservatively, but she's looking to feel a bit more polished than what she was typically wearing, which was a basic shirt and skirt, like this:

A lot of my clients come to me at similar stages: going back to work after years staying at home, retiring and wondering what to wear now that you're not going to an office every day, or reclaiming your bodies after many pregnancies. It's such an honor to be asked into your homes to work with what you already have and think carefully about what pieces to add!



As you'll see, Jessica has some great clothes and loves bright colors, which gave me a lot to work with! She's really intentional about buying quality over quantity, and she has a classic, elegant look that's really natural for her. I think her "before" looks were fine, but I agreed that they could use a little more visual interest.

We found that many of her skirts were a little loose around the waist, and so we pulled a sweater on top and highlighted her waist and shape with a belt on top of it all. Since she's petite, I was sure to pull up her sleeves and leave the v-neck open so she didn't drown in all that fabric. This is an easy look to re-create because it takes the colors in a sweater she already liked and echoes them throughout the outfit. Easy!

We used the same skirt here but added a sparkly gray sweater and pearls. For her husband's holiday party at his office she could add her red heels and even wrap around a red pashmina for the end of the night or if the event is chilly.

She also said she wanted some help putting together non-work, casual outfits that looked a little more intentional rather than her typical jeans and t-shirt. Here's an example of a monochromatic outfit she could wear on the weekend. The half tuck is on purpose, but you could skip it if it feels too casual for you.

Here I played with pattern a bit with her using her only plaid shirt (shopping reminder: we need more pattern) and a great vest she has. She wasn't sure about wearing them together to work so I paired them with her skinny jeans and low boots and encouraged her to try this out on a weekend. It's ok to take smaller steps!

Our mutual friend, Shannon, even got in on the action and picked out this preppy, cheeky outfit! Shannon swears it's as southern as she is, but I think Jess is ready for a New England prep school!

 

 

We put together many, many more outfits, and I even hung some surprises up for her in her closet. Since she's a busy woman and mother, I hung up the outfits together with the accessories included to make them as easy to wear as her old t-shirt and jeans. The bad news? Her husband is going to have to move some of his clothes to another closet, I think!

Also, check out her pretty diaper bag!

I thought you might like this behind-the-scenes action shot with her incredible baby! And yes, she's wearing those heels.

Next up? Tailoring some of her skirts and dresses and going shopping with me for more patterns and a few great blazers for work.

Thanks for having me over, Jessica!

I know it was a good session when my clients send me pictures of her outfits days after-thanks, Jessica! You look gorgeous -from all angles.