​

​

"Style is the self-conscious attempt to create beauty, and that engages technique."  - Judith Thurman

 

We all have the potential to be great dressers if not exceptional ones. It’s a shame, to me, that there aren’t more of us out there. The overall flattening of culture and seemingly intellectually incurious society is partly to blame – yes, you can learn to dress well by reading, looking, seeing with intent. But we've also never been more bombarded with product (and promotion), big-time influencers, and overall misinformation about clothes, all contributing to a stylistically unconfident and confused populus. Still, self-education is only part of the fix. Most of us could use someone to help us develop the "technique" the former New Yorker fashion critic Judith Thurman is getting at. 

 

Developing your personal style is one of the most exciting journeys you can embark on. It’s a way to express your tastes, interests and rich inner life to others and, more importantly, to yourself. Through digital and in-person styling, it’s my job to assist you in bringing those intentions to bear. Do you want your office clothes to have more personality? Are you satisfied with your wardrobe but need the right accessories to enliven it? Maybe you’re starting from scratch. Or you’re embracing chaos with the coolest, weirdest, freakish brands out there. I engage everyone with the same level of enthusiasm.

 

What isn’t mentioned in my bio: I’m a former digital stylist for Nordstrom, my first “real” fashion employer (I started in the men’s furnishings department back in 2016.) It was my job, every day, to assemble trunks for customers based on a relevant but hardly sufficient profile: height, weight, geographic location, color and fabrication preferences, purchase history, etc. Occasionally you’d get a brief note from a customer, but that was it. I suppose that’s why the service (Trunk Club) shuttered in 2022. I always wanted to know more about who I was styling – how they wanted to feel in their clothes, styles they wanted to try, what would really make their style personal. Since delving into fashion writing and research, my convictions about how important these things are have amplified. It’s also helped me understand how critical research is to personal styling.

 

Being trained in wardrobe studies greatly informs how I dress clients. I spend a lot of time interviewing people about the clothing they buy, how they wear them, and what their clothes say about them for my PhD. On occasion, I end up offering them style advice. But I’ve come to realize that these in-depth conversations can foreground the shopping process. It’s where the real work is done. My approach to styling encompasses a rare combination of abilities: a writer’s critical eye and knack for storytelling, a scholarly aptitude for precision, and the technical know-how of a stylist. And, crucially, the relatability of a fellow dresser. Together, we’ll help you look and feel good in clothes that’re worth it.

 

So, what will this entail? It varies, but generally: an in-depth interview, style ideation and vision mapping, wardrobe auditing, identifying suitable brands and products, the most fun part: shopping, and the final edit. This is all to ensure long-term satisfaction with your wardrobe. However, depending on where you are in your style journey, they can be served up à la carte. How I get dressed influences how I dress others. That is, I don’t really believe in these overly prescriptive ways of putting clothes together. Like, no offense to Steve Harvey (he meant well), but every man doesn’t have to own a suit in those five neutrals. Some men detest suits. And guess what? They can still be remarkably stylish and have a cohseisve, functional wardrobe as they see fit. Equally valid: enjoying suits and wanting to know how to wear them with a kilt.

 

And how reductive is it that women’s fashion, until recently, has invariably involved what looks "flattering" on them? That certainly isn’t what any of the intelligently and interestingly dressed women I follow are prioritizing: Amy Smilovic, Miuccia Prada, and Rachel Salomon, to name a few. My point is that my system is only here to for make sure our ‘bases’ are covered. But it’s rarely useful when it comes to developing good and genuinely personal style. I’m more aligned with Oscar Wilde’s perspective, that "dress is made for the service of Humanity." That’s what I’m here for.