When I first decided I wanted to become a Personal Stylist (2006!) I remember despite all my enthusiasm for this fantastic new career choice I was faced with a lot of negativity from my peers in my office, not from the women but from the men! I regularly received comments like: “What people really pay people to take them shopping?” and “Only rich people with ample money to throw away would be silly enough to hire a personal stylist”. Don’t get me wrong I deep down feared they we’re right but luckily something inside me told me to persevere and the rest I guess as they say is history!
See what followed the next 10 years in the retail market was a massive surge in the Personal Styling industry. Every big department store soon after started opening Personal Shopping departments and soon after the smaller brands did too. Customers wanted that value added service when choosing that special occasion outfit or were of the mindset that if they were intending to buy a lot of clothes at one time they’d prefer to have a more experience sales assistant assist them by selecting clothes in advance for them, saving them the hassle and time.
I know what you’re thinking, that yes that’s all great but aren’t personal shopping departments in stores free of charge so of course the general public would take advantage of this free service but what has been so surprising even to me is that the people who book for my services or one of my Style ME stylists are not necessarily the ones with the biggest bank balances!
In my experience the richer the customer the less wiser she needs to shop; if she likes it, she buys it, it’s as simple as that, even if it sits in her cupboard with the tag on for years she won’t feel guilty. The woman who desperately wants a stylist and then pays for it, is the woman who is sick of impulse buys, feels guilty that she’s only wearing 20% of her wardrobe 80% of the time, she’s frustrated that despite all those clothes she still has nothing to wear and the funniest part is, it’s the same men that mocked my career choice all those years ago that are the ones booking my services not only for their wives and girlfriends but for themselves too!
Hiring a Personal Stylist in my opinion is something that everyone should do once in their lifetime, in order to understand what colours suit them (these colours will always be your flattering colours, so you only need to get them done once) and then see what styles of clothes will suit your body shape, which unless something drastic changes with your body, the rules in how to dress your shape in a more balanced slimmer way won’t change. A good personal stylist will educate you as you go along so you really never need to call on her services again. Going forward you’ll confidently know exactly what styles and colours to go for, saving you precious time and of course precious money!