The other night I had a session scheduled. My client wanted me to go through her closet. She self admitted she had a lot of clothes and wanted to weed out the old and then go through and ‘shop’ her closet.
I can usually tell a lot by someones home decor and when I arrived and was welcomed inside I noticed right away the interiors. There was such a great use of color and bold pattern. A mix of texture and prints. So well done. I loved it. It told me that I was about to see a wardrobe filled with a lot of personality and style. And that is exactly what I saw. Her closet was filled with so many awesome pieces! SO many!! She actually had a VERY full large closet (top and bottom) and a VERY full wardrobe closet as well as a full shoe closet. No wonder she was having a hard time coordinating. There was just too much to choose from. If you have too much to choose from it becomes just that..too much. It’s so hard to make a decision when you have too many choices.
So after assessing her body type I noticed that she is petite, she has great shoulders and decollete, she a defined waist but her rise (from your belly button to your crotch measurement) is really long. What often happens to women who have a long rise is they have shorter legs and longer bodies. Some would jump to a conclusion and classify her as a Pear shape. She wasn’t a pear shape though because her shoulders and hips were equal in width. This was a great example of why those ‘What’s my body type’ books don’t work. There is SO much to consider when looking at someone’s body type and everyone’s is unique and original. You can’t find that in a book…yet.
Ok I dygress.
So we started going through her closet, piece by piece. What I saw concerned me. I was seeing silhouettes that I didn’t feel would be complimentary on her. Boxy shapes, bulky sweaters. Some items she was willing to get rid of but most of them she loved so we would try them on so I could show her why it didn’t work for her body type. She was really receptive once she saw things on her and I was able to show her why it wasn’t flattering. However, when 2/3 items needs to go in the rid pile and it happens over and over again. I could see that it was starting to make her uneasy.
Two hours later and we’re only done with the top level of the first closet and I’m really feeling like The Bad Guy. I don’t think she realized that the one silhouette: LONG blous-y top over leggings, which is her favorite thing to wear, isn’t the best for her body type and I have to be the one to tell her. Most often I’m hired because people know that what they are wearing isn’t the best for them and they want help. In this case, though, she seems to be open to the information, it just may not have been what she expected. I keep asking if she’s doing okay and she assures me she is but I sense it’s more difficult for her than she’s putting on. Not to mention I can see that when she looks at the GIANT ‘rid’ pile all she see’s is how much money was spent on those clothes and not that they just don’t fit her lifestyle or body well anymore. It’s my hope that when she get’s that check from reselling her items she feels less guilty of ‘ridding’ so much and she realizes that she just paid for me and my time and invested in her own future. A future filled with a closet that she can go into, grab a stylish and flattering outfit out of and not have to think twice about it.
Ultimately letting go can be a challenging journey but it is one that is worth taking if you’re ready for it. I’ve since been in contact with this client and as I suspected, time gave her more perspective and she’s eager to let go and continue on with the process. Every single one of my clients adjusts to this process in their own way. What makes my job so fascinating is learning to adjust to each client to be able to give them what they need, how they need it and in a manner that is effective for them, individually. This is the part of my job that keeps things engaging and exciting. I LOVE it:)