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The one thing that changed everything

It was the darnedest thing. One single piece of clothing changed everything!

Here’s how it happened. I have a client I hadn’t seen for over a year. She had personal things to deal with like an illness and the death of a loved one. It had been a hard year for her and her wardrobe hadn’t gotten much attention. Additionally, we had a tough time getting our schedules to gel but finally the day arrived. Our plan was to purge the closet of anything that wasn’t looking great on her. We don’t settle for “okay” anymore. She wants her clothes to be a “wow” for her. They are a source of pleasure and we don’t need to get sidetracked by anything that’s just okay.

She teaches at a university, socializes with friends and family, and most of her life can center on a great pair of close-fitting dark jeans that get dressed up or down. Casual chic might be the umbrella her wardrobe falls under.

In addition, she’d picked up a few things that she wanted me to review. The price tags were still on them so she could return them if need be. And then she wanted me to style some new outfits for her to wear this fall. Great!

I had my assistant, Erin, with me and we were ready to do an assembly line review of her signature jackets. This client loves variety and she gets it with jackets that are either embellished, in animal prints, are modern versions of classic styles like the safari jacket or Chanel type jackets, or anything in great fabrics with interesting textures.

We’ve honed in on what looks great on her, what fits well, and which colors are her most flattering and we stick to that winning formula.

A lot can change in a year. One of the things that can change is the silhouette of clothes. Of course, designers are not committing to one thing so we have the Miley Cyrus belly-baring midriff tops but we also have the longer tunic tops and a few things in-between.

Before we got too far into our review, I asked her to slip into a silk tank she’d purchased on her own at Nordstrom. Her figure is best suited to plus sizes on top and regular sizing on the bottom. She put on a black silk Sejour tank in a size 14W. I added one of her animal print jackets to the tank. The tank hung down about four inches beyond her jacket. It’s not really a tunic length but it certainly hearkens to that new length we’ve been seeing. The way it fit her under the jacket, it almost made a little flutter at the bottom, which was so pretty!

This ONE thing, the longer silk tank, changed the look of everything. I told my client, “I’ve always thought of you as an attractive woman but wow, I look at you now and I just want to exclaim how pretty you are!”

With every change in jacket, words spilled out to describe what we were seeing: pretty, attractive, beautiful, feminine, womanly, sensual.

“Well, I like that!” she said. “I didn’t realize my style could change.”

Style certainly does change. We change plus fashion changes, new options become available and suddenly the eye views beauty in a new way. For her personally, she was enjoying a more introspective time in her life and these softer, prettier looks were exactly matching how she felt inside.

In the past we’d have used collared cotton blouses to pair with these jackets. White ones, black ones, brown ones, teal and fuchsia ones. Because we had this silk tank, which was more fluid, her look got softer and more sensual. I started to use the words “Soft dramatic” as her new style direction. She gets drama from her jackets and her jewelry collection which I love playing with. Layering necklaces has been a big “wow” for her. They do a lot to bring attention to her pretty face. Sorry I don’t have pictures! We did a lot in five hours and there was no time to snap photos. Will you take my word for it?

And if you’ve read this far, you’re about to take away the best tip of the day. She had purchased this tank in black, teal and ivory. Her plan had been to have them shortened (and she had shortened one of them) but we talked her out of that. When she had the ivory one on, she said, “I love this but I’m concerned about my rolls. And I really don’t want to wear those Spanx things.””You don’t have to,” I said. “Just layer another one over this one.” She had two of them so we tried it.

“That’s amazing!” she said.

Two silk tanks are better than one when you’re wearing a light or bright color and don’t want them clinging to anything around your waist.

We went online to see if this tank had come in other colors. I wanted a chocolate brown but it’s not there. However, the black one and the ivory one are now on sale. They went from $79 to $39. The teal one is still regular price.

Do you think this could be a solution for you? The links are below! The sale is on now.