3. A styled outfit just for you can tell you so much.

Your clothes are about who you are and what you love, yet it can be so hard to put all the pieces of your style jigsaw together and create a consistent look.

We find it easier to buy for different versions of ourselves simply because we are trying to figure things out. Having a ‘look’ & a style that feels like ‘you’ comes down to putting together all the ingredients that truly matter to you into your clothes, like one magical cake and doing it in each and every outfit. It’s hard to do.

It’s why I love Styling Boards.

It’s 4pm on a Friday and I am about to shut my laptop for the weekend. But this weekend feels different. I have just finished creating Styling Boards for my last Spring client and am about to hit send. I’ve butterflies.

Styling Boards for me are the best visual way to help someone begin to see a pattern to the look we are building, how things cross over, how the feeling we want flows across the boards like a thread.

I’m excited for her to dive in and see all our work come together.

I call the process of getting to the Stying Boards stage - Style Discovery & Design. It really is quite simply intentionally creating a style that fits you - ALL OF YOU. The key styling tweaks that matter for your shape, looking at skin tone and depths of colours that work but also the colours that feel like you when you wear them. But most importantly, I know that outfits that hit differently are built around a feeling you want to create through your clothes and that comes from digging a little deeper into your personality, loves, hates, being.

From there we can create a Style Map and an Outfit Map - the two most liberating & simplifying maps you might ever see :-) taking you by the hand and giving you something to follow to help you shop, create & play - with your own style.

So I thought I would share with you what a Styling Board looks like as I was so excited to share it with my lovely client but first, here is a little context.

A little about this gorgeous client:

She has a very busy life working in Law. She has nailed her ‘work look’, and aces it. Loves dressing for the office. Is hourglass. Embraces her curves and loves shops like Reiss & LK Bennett for fitted and professional dresses. Over time she has lost her sense of what her style actually is outside of work. And so her journey with me has been an exploration of what we call her ‘Saturday Style.’ We created her Style & Outfit Map and uncovered her 3 style words, which were Simplicity, Elegant & Neutral.

Our Style Map must always have room for play too :-) Maybe you want a little creativity because you’re going on a date or meeting up with the gals. Maybe you want more comfort & grounding because you are going through something personal. Though we can design our style around our core style and words, we must create a map that allows for ‘Micro Styling’ moments within that - for this client that came up as little elements of 'creativity’, mainly through our colour and accessories.

So, here are some of our outfits and the balance we were playing with was Simplicity, Elegance & Neutral’ with elements of gentle fun.

The dress here is the ‘Natasha’ dress from Crew Clothing. I’ve teamed it with a couple of show options, which I always like to do as the big struggle with building an outfit with the right feeling for your style can be the shoes. You want to practice, going for more casual options but still feeling overall (in this case) your outfit feels Elegant, simple and neutral. The heel on the left is the beautiful Sani shoe from Ancient Greek Sandals. On the right is a leather gladiator sandal from Boden. The bag is from a beautiful brand called ‘Polene’. The earrings are the ‘Mini Graduated Hoops’ from Outimberg.

I have heels again here from Ancient Greek Sandals, just a slight variation from the previous look so just depends on preference but each give a lovely simple elegance. The white denim is from Boden but sold out. Here is a similar pair with a little bit less simplicity. The denim jacket is from Benneton. Stripe top is the ‘Aisapaw T-shirt’ from Part Two. The earrings are the ‘Chunky knot soft citrine earrings’ from a brand called Shyla. The soft suede belt is from Massimo Dutti and the beautiful bag is the ‘Noval leather shoulder bag’ from Malene Birger.

This is the ‘Jenny’ Linen jumpsuit from Crew Clothing. The jacket is from Massimo Dutti. The earrings are the ‘Siren Huggie Pearl Earrings’ from Monica Vinader. The leather sandals and leather bag are from Massimo Dutti.

This is one of my favourite looks for this client as it fits our brief so well. Simple, elegant and neutral but so wearable for a Saturday wander. The dress is the ‘Harlyn Linen Shirt Dress’ from Phase Eight & is currently reduced to £69. The earrings & sandals are also Phase Eight. The beautiful everyday bag is from Mango.

Now this look is the one where we push a little on the creativity. Overall, the look maintains a simplicity and an elegance but this colour choice is our experimentation with something a little more creative. Even though one of her words is ‘Neutral’ her colour palette contains warm rich tones like this mustard and by keeping it as a co-ord set we have the same simplicity as a neutral outfit would give. The set is from Massimo Dutti (as you can tell one of my favourite shops for this client). The sandals make it a more relaxed and are from Dune. The leather bag is from Mango and the Earrings are the ‘Iota’ Daisy Hoops from Daisy Jewellery.

I think it is really useful when you create a look that you can see how you can separate the items and re style but still get the feeling we are after. Here I have teamed the Massimo Dutti Safari Jacket with straight leg denims also from Massimo Dutti. The Sandals are the same ones from Dune. The ring is the ‘Anya’ ring from Shyla and the bag again from Mango. The bracelet is the ‘Love link’ bracelet from Outimberg.

One of our goals was to give her a ‘softer’ look but still maintain the elegance. She is used to fitted and shapely dresses for work (she is hourglass shape) but by gently playing with softer fabrics and slightly more A line styles, while always keeping that fabulous waist, we are gentle showing her how her clothes don’t always have to be fitted to get the beautiful feeling we want. Here we have the ‘Teresa’ drawstring waist poplin midi skirt with slit from a brand I love called Soeur via Selfridges. It’s teamed with a simple but lovely quality stripe vest from In Wear. The jacket is same as before from Massimo Dutti. The necklace is the ‘Thiva’ from Shyla. The bag again is from Massimo Dutti. The shoes are a super investment for her wardrobe from a beautiful brand called LOQ. They are the ‘Ara’ Sandal in Dune. The earrings are the ‘Loop Drop Hoops’ from Otiumberg.

This is the point where I tell you there were over 40 looks for this client to enjoy and browse through so this is just a sample to show you guys. My final look to show you is another favourite of mine for her. This very nice stripe dress is the ‘Aimiepw’ Dress from Part Two. the denim jacket is from Ralph Lauren. The necklace (our little bit of something different) is the ‘Rita’ necklace from a brand called Daphine. The leather sandals are from Massimo Dutti. The Earrings are the ‘Twisted Mini Graduated Hoops’ from Otiumberg & the bag (love) is the ‘Nappa’ leather shoulder bag from Massimo Dutti.

I’m off for a lie down and cannot wait to see how she is getting on with these!

If you like this post, please do share with friends you think might like it too!

Speak soon.
Julie x