← Her Style Podcast | Shopping, Color Palettes, Fashion, Wardrobe, Outfits, Clothing
Her Style Podcast | Shopping, Color Palettes, Fashion, Wardrobe, Outfits, Clothing
253 | At the Beginning of Your Style Journey? Start Here!
00:15:49
Hey friend! Welcome back to HER Style Podcast. I received an email recently from one of our listeners (quick shout out to our friend, Kaelyn! 👋) asking where she should start at the beginning of her style journey. Her request made me realize we...
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Hey friend. Welcome back to Her Style Podcast. I received an email recently from one of our listeners. I'm going to give a quick shout out to our friend Kalyn asking where she should start at the beginning of her Style journey. And her request made me realize we have not done an introductory episode in quite a while. So today I'm excited to share my story, offer a few simple steps to help you start up leveling your personal style, and share the most important thing to focus on as you begin building a wardrobe you love. We're going back to the basics today, and whether you've been listening since day one or you just stumbled upon this podcast and decided to give it a chance, I'm confident that this episode will recenter you on what really matters when it comes to getting dressed. No matter what stage you're in on your style journey. I'm so glad you're here and I hope you love this one. Welcome to Her Style Podcast where we're all about empowering you to show up and get dressed every day with confidence. I'm your host, Heather Riggs, 15 year and counting, certified image consultant and color specialist. Ready to build a wardrobe and a personal style you love. Let's get started. I've got to tell you, when I received that email from Kaylin, I was first so incredibly grateful because I realized that I probably have never done an official intro episode for this podcast. We kind of just jumped right into some of the core topics and we've been been chugging along ever since. And I also felt a little embarrassed that we've never done an episode like this. And it's been quite a while since we kind of took a few steps back and really started with the beginning of your style journey. There's nothing really clear within Her Style podcast of where to start. So, Kalyn, again, I'm just so, so thankful that you reached out to ask this question. I haven't been doing our traditional Q and A episodes each week, but I knew that this one had to be addressed and brought into a full episode. And then funnily enough, as I'm recording this episode for you, I listened to the intro and I put it in for every single episode. I do all the podcast production myself. I always drop in the intro, but I haven't really listened to it. And I was like, oh my goodness. I say that I've been doing this for 15 years and counting, friend. It has been 18 years since I became a certified image consultant. That was back in April 2007, and I want to thank my Sweet friend Erica, who I completed that program with, she actually texted me a picture of her certification, which I have somewhere. But I packed it away when we were moving, and I haven't uncovered it yet. So I wasn't even sure the exact date that I went through my first image consulting certification, which was through the London Image Institute. So thanks to my sweet friend Erica for reminding me about when that was. And it's crazy to believe that it has been 18 years since I have been doing this professionally. Now, before that, I'll back up a little bit even more. I have always loved fashion from the time I was a little girl. I never had a ton of money to spend on clothes growing up, but I always wanted to try to dress cute. I was definitely one to follow trends through high school and all of those things. And I always knew that I wanted to work in fashion. Initially, I planned to go into costume design, and then I realized very quickly after just the first semester in college that you have to be able to sew to be a costume designer, and that is not my skill set. So I switched things up and went the fashion design and merchandising route and took a more business focused path. But that never really felt right either. And during all of that time, I worked some different retail jobs. And then I ended up in the personal shopping department at Saks Fifth Avenue during, I think, my senior year of college. And I absolutely loved it. Not necessarily because it was all of the high end, beautiful designer garments, which was definitely fun to work with, but because the women there were so focused on building wardrobes that they loved, and they were willing to invest in clothing that made them feel amazing, that I could see them light up when they would find a beautiful piece, and that brought out their best, and that made them feel really great. And I started to really love working with clients one on one at a deeper level. So as soon as I found out that image consulting was a thing, I knew it was for me. And like I said, I took a couple of different certification courses. I fell in love with the area of color in particular, and then went on to become a color specialist through Color Designers International. And then I took some continuing education with the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. And this has just been such a passion for me for all of these years. I have also admitted not always being the savviest sh of the bunch. I definitely went through a long phase of being a shopaholic, an impulse shopper, whatever you want to call it, just kind of buying all of the pretty things and not necessarily thinking about what I actually needed to get dressed every day. So I have been through all of the common roadblocks that I hear about a lot from women in our community between having a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear, to really struggling to be a savvy shopper, to budget for what you need. And I've learned the hard way through trial and error for all these years. I'm going to do a fun episode coming up pretty soon on some of the biggest things I've learned over the past 18 years working in this industry. But I think that the most challenging time for me personally was after I had my son Grey. My whole world had changed. My husband and I had been married for 10 years before we had our son. And I was really career focused before he came along. And so I was very grateful to have the opportunity to take some time to really stay at home and focus on him. And then shortly after, we went through Covid in 2020, just when he was about two years old. And during that two year stint, I struggled more than I had ever struggled before to get dressed, to feel good, and to show up with confidence. And I think it was partly from all of the physical changes that I endured through childbirth and all of those things. And also my whole identity had changed because here I was before that, being really independent, like I said, career driven. I had clothes that were dry clean only and a lot more dramatic. I had tons of big heels and things that really just weren't practical for a simpler life of mostly being at home, especially during the COVID phases, and not really knowing what I wanted my style to be in this new phase of my life. So I don't know if you can relate to that, if that's part of your journey and why you found yourself really taking a new interest in building out a wardrobe that you love. But I just want you to know that I can relate to that. I had gone through years and years of training, of working with private clients, and I still found myself in a huge wardrobe rut back around 2018-2020. And I realized that I had to kind of start over with my own wardrobe and become my own client. And so I put myself through all of my services, and I not only realized some things that needed to shift in the way I was thinking about shopping and getting dressed for this new season of my life, but also I just felt so reinvigorated and to do this work and to do it in a bigger way. And so I decided to take all of my services and turn them into a virtual format because I was only working with in person clients back at that time. And so I decided to launch her style online and in 2022 we created this podcast. And I've been so blessed in these last several years to be able to branch out, to work with clients all over the world and to be able to serve you for free through this podcast. It has been such a joy for me to really help you get started with your style journey and to learn a lot of more in depth tricks along the way too. So that's just a little bit about my personal background so that you know I can relate to so many of the struggles that you might be facing as well and that I have the professional training and credibility to back this up. Right. So I'm not just someone who loves style. I have studied style and I'm really excited to let you know first and foremost that this is something that you can learn. This is a skill that you can develop and it's not really that complicated. And where I suggest to everyone that you start when it comes to up leveling your style is with what I call the foundations. In a nutshell, this is number one, dialing in your signature style. I actually have a free quiz that you can take to get started with this step@herstylellc.com quiz so that is where I have everyone start. Wherever you are on your journey, it's always a helpful point to come back to. So you definitely wanna begin by dialing in your signature style. The second of the three foundations is learning what flatters your figure, and the third is discovering your best colors. I know there's a lot of information out there when you start on the path of getting interested in fashion and style, but really everything boils down to these three categories, style, fit and color. And I do suggest that you start with your personal style because it is going to overlap into everything else. Once you figure out what general looks you love, what works with your lifestyle, what catches your eye, you can infuse that into the silhouettes that you're going to choose for your body type and the colors that you want to wear. But it really starts with understanding what your personal preferences are. And it's also the least technical. So it's so easy to get started with figuring out your personal style, whereas understanding what flatters your figure and colors can be a little bit more in depth. And there's a lot more nuance to that. I have tons of podcast episodes to support you with those pieces as well, but I Do recommend start by dialing in your signature style. You can go take my free quiz right now. It'll take you less than five minutes and that's really going to help get the ball rolling in the best possible way on your journey. And in addition to diving into the foundations and really understanding what is most flattering for you so that you can build a wardrobe that brings out your best and makes you feel your most confident, I think the most important thing across the board as you begin building a wardrobe you love is to focus on awareness. If you take anything from this episode today, if there is one practice that you begin implementing, I want you to start developing your sense of awareness awareness. Start noticing what you feel best in what is most comfortable for you. When you get dressed, notice what you're buying, what are you buying and what are you wearing and not actually wearing. Notice what activities you need to get dressed for. I've also referred to this in other episodes as going from shopping on impulse to shopping with intention. I really believe that awareness and intention go hand in hand. It doesn't sound like much, but most of my clients find that simply giving this area of their lives more attention and bringing in a new level of awareness to it completely changes things for them. It's not that you don't know what to do. And even if that's true, like I said before, you can learn these skills. This is something that you can develop a sense for over time. But really you probably just haven't been giving this the time or intention that it needs. And the more you practice and the more awareness you develop around shopping and getting dressed, the easier and more second nature it'll become. I do want to tell you I teach all of this step by step inside Her Style Collective. So if you don't want to waste your time, if you are just beginning on your style journey and you don't want to have to figure any of this out on your own, if you don't want to have to piecemeal your wardrobe together from all of these different channels of advice out there and being swayed by different influencers or different voices in the industry. I would love to cut through all that noise and team up together inside of this program. It is a 90 day course where we will walk through all of the style foundations that I explained. You're going to dial in your signature style, we're going to talk about what flatters your figure, and I'm going to help you discover your best colors. I will even provide you with a hand curated color palette of your 35 best hues based on your personality, your color preferences and your personal coloring. And then we will take all of those foundational steps and we will use them as a guide to audit your closet with confidence so you can figure out what's working for you, what's missing from your wardrobe. We will determine what is going to make up your ideal closet so that you can get dressed for all of the big events and your small day to day activities that are on your calendar with confidence and we will spend an entire month mastering the art of outfit styling. You're going to build a complete library of looks that you love and we're going to find any items on your shopping list list so that you have exactly what you need to get dressed with ease within your budget. We cover everything in clear simple steps in the right order so we can strategically focus on one small piece at a time and you will have the support of myself we have some amazing style coaches inside our private Facebook community and you will have incredible peers women walking alongside you inside this program so you don't have to figure anything out on your own. There is no guesswork and you can do this. So I would love to invite you inside Her Style Collective if you know that this is an area of your life that you are ready to put your attention on and you want to have more awareness and develop the skills that you need to get dressed confidently for the rest of your life. So you can go to herstylellc.com collective to learn more about this program and get started right now. But also if you are not ready to go all in on developing your wardrobe just yet. If you are just getting your feet wet and trying to learn a few tips and tricks that you can implement on your that is okay too. You are in the perfect place for tons of free resources and encouragement to keep you moving forward on your style journey. I will link up a few other episodes in the show notes that are great for beginners and remember to focus first on developing your personal style and then starting to build awareness around what makes you feel the best when you get dressed. Notice which fabrics and colors you gravitate towards, which styles and silhouettes make you feel most like you. I want you to pay attention to which outfits you feel confident and excited to wear and in general just start giving some more thought to what you buy and why you're buying it. Think about your daily and weekly routines and what you actually need to make getting dressed easier and more enjoyable. I promise this single act of becoming more aware about your sense of style and how you shop and get dressed is going to give you so many aha moments along your journey and help you make smarter decisions when it comes to shopping and styling. Friend, Whatever stage you're in, I am so happy that you found yourself here. I would invite you to follow her Style podcast so you don't miss any episodes and I look forward to continuing to serve and connect with you personally. And I will meet you back here for another episode or better yet, inside Her Style Collective very soon. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you want to stop copying everyone else's style and start dialing in your own style swoon worthy signature look, head over to take my free 5 minute personal style quiz which you can find at the link in the show notes. If you've enjoyed our time together, please be sure to rate, review and subscribe to Her Style Podcast so you never miss an episode. Finally, I invite you to make this a two way conversation and send me a DM over on Instagram eatherriggstyle to let me know how I can best support you on your style journey. I'm always here for you in style and service. Until next time.