Make It Easy—Where to Get Help

17.10.2017 |

Episode #9 of the course Lazy person’s guide to a perfect wardrobe by Andrea Pflaumer

 

This one will likely be a great relief for true lazy fashionistas. It’s about letting someone else make—or help you make—decisions about what to wear.

Ultimately, your goal should be self-sufficiency: knowing your color, style, and needs so clearly that you don’t need help. But if you don’t yet feel confident enough to make intelligent shopping choices, consider these resources as training wheels.

 

Professional Stylists

Nearly every town has stylists trained to help you edit your closet, put together outfits, clarify your ideal wardrobe, suggest types of clothing and where to find them, and even shop with you. Be prepared to tell them what you need and for what purposes you need them, your budget, and your understanding of your general coloring and style. They will have their own opinions, of course, and some of those will be very helpful. But don’t let yourself be talked into anything that is too expensive, too loud, not in your coloring or style, or not useful for your lifestyle.

Friends’ referrals for a stylist are always great. But you can also do a web search for local professionals. Always look through their websites and clients’ testimonies to see if they are a match for you.

If you don’t know where to start, check out the Association of Image Consultants International. They have a very good reputation for maintaining a high level of professionalism in this field.

 

Store Personnel

Once you know the clothing manufacturers whose styles work for you and the stores that carry those brands, you might want to befriend a good salesperson there. Let them know what you like, your sizes, and color preferences. It’s in your mutual self-interest to have this relationship. When things you like are about to go on sale, a good salesperson will contact you. Sometimes, they will even put something aside for you. They are worth their weight in gold.

Outfits on store mannequins are designed by professional stylists. They are trained to know what works with what, what accessories complete a look, and what colors go together. If you see an outfit that suits your color, style, and needs, buy the whole outfit. Radical notion, isn’t it? But truly, you will be so happy you did. You will know that you have at least one foolproof ensemble (a uniform!) you don’t have to think about. Even if the style is maybe a little more sophisticated than you usually wear, you will feel good every time you put it on.

Some of the larger department stores employ in-house stylists at no charge. Just remember that they have merchandise to move. A good stylist won’t push things on you that don’t meet your criteria.

 

Online Curated Fashion

The online fashion wars have spawned an entire international industry of curated fashion delivered right to your door for both men and women. These are called subscription “boxes.” You simply go to one of the sites, fill out a profile of your style preferences and sizes, and indicate your required frequency of shipments (monthly, quarterly, or just when you request.) Some even have a rent-to-buy option. You try everything on, send back what you don’t like, and only are charged for what you keep. Several have free shipping both ways. This is a lazy fashionista’s dream come true. (At the end of this course, you’ll find a link to a PDF I have created listing all these companies.)

Tomorrow, in our final lesson, we’ll go over the fine details that say, “Savvy, not lazy, fashionista.”

 

Recommended book

How to Look Expensive: A Beauty Editor’s Secrets to Getting Gorgeous without Breaking the Bank by Andrea Pomerantz Lustig

 

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