It's great to be back after taking a few weeks off from blogging. I have to admit, I really enjoyed my downtime. I love blogging and connecting with all of you regularly but, man, I really needed a break.
The last few weeks weren't really a vacation, I still saw clients and caught up on other work and personal projects that needed my attention and just enjoyed the freedom of not having a blogging deadline hanging over my head. I also celebrated a milestone. This September marks my 13th year in business as a personal stylist. That's right, I started Bridgette Raes Style Group 13 years ago this month when I was a very naive 28 years old. I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around this. In some ways it feels like only yesterday that I threw all caution to the wind and started my business. Yet, when I look back and think of all the women I have worked with, all the ups and downs of building my business and career, and all the things I have done, it feels like I have been doing this forever.
The very best thing about my work is not the fashion, it's the clients, the women whom I have worked with over the years who I feel so grateful for. There have been times these 13 years where I wondered how long I want to keep doing this. How many closets can I clean, shopping trips with a client I can make and how many times I can revamp someone's style before I'm just done with it. But then I think about my clients, these amazing women who I have worked with over the years who are, hands down, some of the most incredible women I have ever met and feel privileged to know and it just sucks me back in. Hands down, the most rewarding part of my job has been watching these women change, transform and grow. The bonds I have developed with many of my clients is, by far, the most cherished part about what I do. Without them I wouldn't have a business (literally) and if it weren't for them, the true heart and soul of what I do wouldn't exist. So to all of you who I have worked with, I thank you for giving my business the meaning that it has for me.
Speaking of my clients, as you know, I have a very strict policy of not revealing information about the women I work with unless I have their permission. A few weeks ago, while styling and photographing looks with a client, I told her that she didn't have to worry, none of the photos would wind up on my blog. Her response? "Oh, you can use them if you want to." I became excited when she said this because her photos really illustrate how you can get more from your wardrobe, you just don't know it. Like most women, my client has a client a closet full of clothes that she didn't know how to use as effectively as she could. In today's post I am going to show you what I did with her to hopefully inspire you to get more with less.
When I feature clients on this blog I never use their faces and I always give them fake names that describe them perfectly. I have featured clients on this blog like, Ms. Chic, Mrs. Hottie, Mrs. Fabulous and now this client who I have decided to name Ms. Lovely, because lovely is the best way to describe her. She's younger than most of my clients (she was in high school when I started my business. Yikes!!) but is wise beyond her years. Like most of my clients, I cherish my time with her. She is gracious, smart and just...lovely. Without revealing too much, she is currently doing her medical residency in Psychiatry. Loving the psychological side of my work, you can only imagine the types of conversations Ms. Lovely and I have. I am learning just as much from her as she is learning from me.
When I work with clients in person, most of them go through several steps. It starts in the closet where we purge and edit, we go shopping together and we also do outfit styling sessions where I help clients put looks together and photograph them for reference. The below photos are from this session. Ms. Lovely and I had done just a few hours of shopping a few weeks earlier and I wanted to get back in her closet to put looks together and assess what else we needed to purchase.
Outfits from my session with Ms. Lovely
At the start of an outfit session I always ask a client to pull a piece from their wardrobe that they want to start working with. These pieces are usually ones that the client doesn't know what to do with or wants to get more use from. Ms. Lovely pulled these patterned navy pants from Ann Taylor that she bought on her own, liked, but was having a hard time styling. She barely finished her sentence about her issues with these pants and I was already pulling a bunch of tops from her closet to wear with them. When we start with one piece I always like to create multiple outfits to show how to mix-and-match and get more looks.
Navy Patterned Pants Outfit #1 Navy Patterned Pants Outfit #2
If you break down all the pieces used in these outfits it's a pretty small assortment. It's the mixing-and-matching that matters along with a keen understanding about how to put looks together. Instead of going out and buying more clothes that will not necessarily solve the problem, work on creating looks by shopping in your closet.
I thank Ms. Lovely tremendously for allowing me to share her photos with all of you.
