It’s fair to say that there are a variety of titles for Personal Stylists – Stylists, Image Consultants, Style Coaches, Colour Consultants, Personal Brand Stylists, Personal Image Coach and so the list goes on. There are also those who specialise in certain elements of personal style – Personal Shoppers (in-store and independent), Make-Up Artists, Style Bloggers/Vloggers etc. Most of these people have one thing in common – a love for helping people to feel confident in the way that they look.
So what does a Personal Stylist actually do?
Depending on the type of Stylist you choose to work with, you’ll generally find that they offer a number of services, all focused on helping you choose clothes that suit you. So they tend to offer:
Colour Analysis – to show you which colours of clothes suit your colouring best (- your colouring is the mix of your hair colour, skin tone and eyes). Colours can make you look vibrant, but they can also make you look drawn and tired, so to miss this part is, I always think, a big mistake! (You can read more here: Colour Consultations for Women, Men’s Colour Consultations, Virtual Colour Consultations).
Personal Style Consultations – these can vary widely. You can seek one-off style advice or it can be something you work with a stylist to develop over time. Some stylists will simply help you to put together outfits to take account of the latest trends, some will offer detailed body shape analysis and provide you with guidelines on how to flatter your shape, some will offer to sort your wardrobe and help put together outfits for you, and others take a more wholistic view and help you to develop a wardrobe full of clothes that suit your personality, how you spend your time, your styling preferences etc., as well as those that flatter you. I count myself as this latter type of Stylist – I 100% believe that your clothes are an expression of YOU. For me, feeling confident comes with expressing yourself in the way that YOU want to. So I’m not a prescriptive process-driven stylist who wants to put you in boxes that simply describe your shape and body characteristics and then reel off the ‘rules’ for dressing that shape, I want you to wear things that you love and feel totally you in. So we always start with understanding your style personality and how you can dress for you. (Read more about consultation I offer here: Style Consultations for Women, Image for Men).
Personal Shopping – some stylists are employed by shops to offer in-store styling services to help you get an outfit or series of outfits for a particular event or season, and others are independent and can help you choose clothes from any number of retaillers. Some offer online shopping services too, putting together options for you to then buy online yourself and there are of course the postal shopping subscription services that offer to select clothes for you based on an algorithm that takes into account answers to questionnaires and ‘learns’ your preferences based on what you choose to keep or send back. (Read more here: personal shopping, online shopping, Stylist At Hand subscription service).
Capsule Wardrobe – some stylists help you to put together specific capsules of a set number of clothes to create a mix and match wardrobe. This might be a work capsule wardrobe, for example, or a seasonal capsule wardrobe, or it may be that you like many capsules for the different ways you spend your time – work, casual nights out, dressy occasions, formal events, holidays etc. I offer a monthly/quarterly/bi-annual service to help you create these capsules – Stylist At Hand – so that you always have multiple outfits to hand.
Make-Up – some stylists can also offer make-up advice and tuition in how to apply your make-up. (Read here for the services I offer: Make-up)
How much does it cost to work with a Personal Stylist?
As with most professional services, this can vary hugely and it’s not always the case that the more you pay the more experienced the stylist either in my experience. Some stylists price their services as discrete consultations, some as packages and others work on an hourly rate – which can be anything from £25 an hour to £250+ an hour. Location can also make a difference too, city stylists often charging more than those based elsewhere.
For me, despite having 15+ years of experience, I really enjoy helping people who don’t necessarily have designer label sized budgets so I purposely keep my rate affordable at £60 per hour. It’s been this for more years than I care to remember! I also offer discrete prices for specific consultations as you’ll see throughout my website.
What will you get if you choose to work with a Personal stylist?
- Most of all, a boost in confidence. There is so much evidence that shows the correlation between how we look and how we feel.
- Time. You’ll spend less time deciding what to wear once you have a wardrobe full of clothes that you love and that love you. You’ll also spend less time shopping as you’ll become so much more efficient at it.
- Stress reduction. If clothes isn’t your thing, it’ll no doubt be causing you undue stress having to decide what to wear. (I know this feeling – I really don’t enjoy cooking and love anything that makes it less stressful – hence I’m a loyal Hello Fresh customer!).
- Value for money. Clients tell me time and again just how much value they’ve received from their investment in their image, not just in terms of how they feel afterwards, but also in terms of the money they have saved. They often go from having a wardrobe full of too many clothes, most of which they hardly wear (wasted money) to a wardrobe full of fewer clothes that they wear all of the time. Their shopping is much more fruitful, as they spend money on things they know they’ll wear.
- An organised wardrobe. If your stylist organises your wardrobe for you, or shares tips on how you can do this for yourself, everything has its place and is easy to hand. No more clothing overwhelm and clutter.
Where do Personal Stylists work?
Some Stylists are employed by retaillers and are based within their stores, some are allied with nationwide image consultancy companies, some work for the postal styling services, other still run their own styling businesses and either have a Studio at home where they see clients and/or work remotely and visit clients at their homes or places of work.
I also offer training for employees in Personal Branding so work in corporate and charity organisations nationwide.
Can I help you?
If I can help you in any way do just pick up the phone (07917 663330) or send me an email. I love talking to people to find out what their styling dilemmas are and how I can help. If you hate clothes and just want to make it easy, I promise I get it! If you work and need to portray a brand that works for your job role and still feels like you, I get that too. If you just want help to thin out your wardrobe so that it’s not overwhelming, I’d love to help! Or if you’d like some help on an ongoing basis with me putting together outfits for you – on an app that’s always at your fingertips – why not give that a whirl.
I’m a really down-to-earth friendly sort, not at all the fashionista you might think a Stylist is!