Case Study
I met Joanne Robinson recently, and like most people, she wasn’t too sure of what a personal stylist does. However as soon as I explained what I did, her eyes lit up! During a conversation, Joanne revealed she used to love clothes and fashion in her teens but when she became a mum, her lifestyle and focused changed to taking care of her children’s needs. Joanne was also concentrating on her relationships and putting her needs last, but knew deep inside that she was not being ‘the real me’.
Joanne has now launched her own counselling and coaching business and as a busy business owner and entrepreneur, she knows the importance of making a first impression in any business situation. She spends a lot of time delivering ground breaking workshops to women, and so it was vital that her clothes portrayed the business woman she has now become.
Joanne had changed a lot over the last few years, with increased confidence,
and felt that there had been a lot of inner changes. However, on the outside, she felt there was still a job to do, ‘I wanted my clothing to reflect the woman I had become and not the girl that I used to be’.
We set a date to embark on Joanne’s style journey. Joanne is a typical pear shaped women and struggled to find trousers. The journey began with an in depth consultation which included a full questionnaire: finding out more about her background and thought provoking questions such as ‘Why do you think its time for a change?’, ‘How would you describe your current style and what type of style personality do you want to achieve?’. The questionnaire also asked for information on where Joanne shops for clothes and where.
After the consultation I asked Joanne for her thoughts and she said:
“The consultation really normalised some of my fears and helped me overcome the feelings of stress I felt about clothing. It really helped me think what I wanted to wear instead of dressing out of comfort and being ashamed of my figure”.
Following the consultation we met up again, where I gave Joanne own unique personal styling assessment. This is a very detailed report explaining what exactly Joanne should wear to compliment her body shape; this included fantastic tips and advice on styling that she had not even considered before, like colours and textures.
Joanne was delivering a series of workshops and attending some business meetings and wanted clothes that gave the right message and she exuded confidence. We spent the day shopping in
We then moved on to Zara and Marks and Spencer and found her a red double breasted Jacket with a belt, an a-line flippy skirt that skimmed her hips and fell just below the knee and finished off with a pair of black suede 3 inch Mary Jane shoes. When she came out of the fitting room dressed in all the items including shoes, she exuded confidence and the compliments were flowing from staff and other customers. Joanne was surprised, and pleased, at what she saw and the compliments she got from the other ladies in the changing room Additionally to take Joanne ‘out of her comfort zone’, I encouraged her to visit key shops, and try on a series of different outfits and shoes that she would never wear.
After our shopping trip, Joanne and I went for a coffee, and she told me how much she enjoyed her ‘life changing’ shopping experience. Joanne said, “I love going shopping. It is not a chore anymore, I know where to look, what styles to look out for and what to avoid and really open to experimenting with clothes! The experience has completely transformed the way I shop for clothes and can never go back to the way I used to think about clothing”.
This is just the beginning of the style journey for Joanne; the transformation is a process and doesn’t happen over night. Joanne now exudes confidence and has embraced her body, even the parts she thought were problem areas. The next step is wardrobe management and like most women Joanne has clothes that she has never worn, doesn’t like but kept them anyway, clothes that are too small, need mending and much more.