← Her Style Podcast | Shopping, Color Palettes, Fashion, Wardrobe, Outfits, Clothing
Her Style Podcast | Shopping, Color Palettes, Fashion, Wardrobe, Outfits, Clothing
257 | 18 Years of Styling Advice in 18 Minutes
00:19:53
The older I get, the faster the years fly by! And it’s crazy to think that I’ve been a Certified Image Consultant and Color Specialist for the past 18 of them. From working in personal shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue and J.Crew to styling private...
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- [00:01]
Heather Riggs
The older I get, the faster the years fly by. And it is crazy to think that I've been a certified image consultant and color specialist for the past 18 of them. From working in personal shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue and J. Crew to styling private clients both locally and all over the world, I've learned a lot of lessons, sometimes the hard way, in that time frame. In today's episode, I'm sharing 18 of my most important takeaways, one per year in just 18 minutes. This one's going to move quickly, so grab a notebook now and be ready to hit pause so you can jot down a few notes along the way. These are the biggest lessons I've learned and what I want you to hear above anything else. Ready for a lightning round of styling advice? Here we go.
- [00:46]
Sam
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, a 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. All right, friend, we have a lot.
- [01:14]
Heather Riggs
To cover in just 18 minutes or less, so we are going to jump right in to 18 of the biggest lessons that I have learned throughout my career as an image consultant and color specialist, both in working with women all over the world and also for my own experience and style journey as well. So the first lesson that I'm excited to share with you today is that style is teachable. It's not something that you either have or you don't have. It's a skill that you can learn. I've always loved shopping and fashion since the time I was a little girl. But I wouldn't say that I was innately gifted at it. I definitely had an interest, and I enjoyed helping women find pieces that they felt good in when I worked in retail over the years. But I knew I wanted to go deeper and get to the why. Why does this look amazing on her? But not that? And so I studied it, I practiced it, and I've developed my skills over time. And I want to encourage you that you can do the same. You don't have to go through a certification program, but you can learn the basics. And as a bonus, the foundations of style that I talk about here on the podcast and within my program are timeless. Which means once you master a few basic design principles, you can reapply them season after season for a lifetime of enviable style. This is something that you can learn and master, and it really doesn't take that long at all. All right. Secondly, you don't need a bigger budget or a better body in order to be stylish. I have successfully styled women with zero dollars in their budget or zero desire to spend more money on their wardrobes. And I've styled very high net worth women where money was no object, especially when I worked at Saks Fifth Avenue. And I can tell you what, one is not necessarily easier than the other. We all have hang ups around getting dressed and defining our style at times, and it's the same path to overcome those challenges. I've helped women develop stunning outfits at every single price point. And I can tell you after 18 plus years of doing this work, because that's not even counting when I did work in retail before that your budget is not a barrier to looking your best. There's always a way to figure it out. I've worked with clients from size 0 to double X and everywhere in between. And I can tell you we all have insecurities and we can all conquer them. I've seen success and styled women in ways that help them recognize their beauty and have fun getting dressed at every single size. And I've learned that the most important thing to showing up at your best is feeling secure about who you are and being intentional about what you buy and wear. And one of the biggest mindset shifts is when clients stop trying to fix their bodies and start highlighting what they appreciate about their physical appearance instead. It's liberating and it shows so much. And there's no reason to wait until you hit some elusive number on the scale or you have some magical number in your bank account. It is possible to look and feel your best right now, whether you focus on styling what you already own in better ways, or you choose to focus on your best features and highlight the physical assets that you appreciate the most. I don't want you to let any excuses about your budget or your body hold you back from showing up and living your life to the fullest and having fun getting dressed today. It is possible. Number three, personal preferences over chasing trends every single time. And you know, I love to stay current and I do work to keep a pulse on what's trending, but the difference is being highly selective of trends, not being a slave or a sellout to them. It's. It's so important to have security in what you like and what looks good on you and what you want to wear, no matter what other people are wearing or telling you that you should be wearing. It's having that confidence and empowerment to make the best choices for you and staying authentic to what you feel your best in. Period. All right, lesson number four is that color is the biggest needle mover in your wardrobe. I've seen this time and time again with countless clients that something powerful locks when you discover your best colors. Wearing the wrong colors can completely kill your confidence, but knowing your best colors makes everything a million times easier. It leads to the biggest confidence boost. It can definitely simplify your wardrobe when you know with certainty which colors work best for you and also together and eliminate so much of the guesswork around shopping. My clients are always amazed at the compliments they hear just from making the change of wearing their best hues. And it is such an impactful piece of the process and why color has become my biggest passion and my specialization over the years. It's such a fun and effective transformation to see. All right, number five is to flatter your figure. Don't fight it. I know we already touched on this a little bit in the second point, but I think it bears repeating and having a place on this list all on its own. And it's that your style should be about celebrating your body, not criticizing it. Instead of trying to hide what you don't like and covering up in oversized clothing, I want you to focus on enhancing what you can appreciate about yourself, whether that's your waistline, your hair, your shoulders, your eyes, your curves. Lean into pieces that work with your features, not against them. The styling principles that I teach, like repetition and balance and movement, work best when you use your physical appearance as a guide. This makes you look and feel so much more at home and natural in your clothing, and it can make your outfits become almost a second skin, so to speak. It's going to help you to wear your clothes instead of your clothes wearing or overpowering you. So don't hide in oversized and ill flattering garments, but learn to work with your shape, your features, and your body's scale and see how much easier it becomes to let go of feelings of shame and start getting dressed with confidence and joy instead. I guarantee the compliments will follow when you start working to flatter your figure instead of fighting it. Number six, your lifestyle should shape your wardrobe, not the other way around. If you feel like you don't have what you need to get dressed each day, it could be because you're buying what you want first instead of looking ahead at what's on your calendar as a way of determining what you actually need. And you know I love an impractical cocktail Dress as much as the next gal. But my wardrobe has never felt better or been more exciting than when I embrace my everyday life as a work from home mom. Now that my closet works for my real life. I love getting dressed each day. It's fast, it's easy, and I really do enjoy it so much more. I don't have a closet full of eye candy that I love but rarely get to wear. Instead, I have everyday items in colors that light me up and fabrics that I cannot wait to put on and combinations that keep me feeling playful and inspired. So I want you to embrace where you are and use your calendar to make sure that you always have exactly what you need to get dressed. Okay, Lesson number seven is that more clothing doesn't equal more style. In fact, in my experience, it usually just means more overwhelm. And when your closet is jam packed with one off pieces that don't work well together, getting dressed just becomes exhausting. I am a huge advocate for quality over quantity, and I think a small collection of pieces that you love and that can mix and match will take you so, so much further than a closet bursting with clothing and confusion. I'm not a minimalist, but I can't tell you the number of closet audits that I've done over the years and how much freer and more excited my clients always feel when they have less but better. Lesson number eight is all about intentionality. And this is the number one most essential ingredient to building a wardrobe you love. You cannot impulse shop your way to a functional and streamlined closet. I'd love to see you try. Actually, I wouldn't. Because like we talked about before, you don't need a bigger budget or spending tons of money to feel your best. But I believe that every item in your collection should earn its spot. And when you make thoughtful buying and styling decisions based on practical things like your personal style, your needs, and your real life, getting dressed becomes a joy rather than a source of stress. So having even a little bit more awareness about what you buy, why you're buying it, and how you're putting your pieces together will make such a big impact overall on how you show up and feel. So again, intentionality is the number one most essential ingredient when it comes to building a wardrobe you love. Number nine, Seasonal edits are more important than seasonal hauls. And I mean that like H A U ls like, you see all of the shopping hauls that people do on social media, and I think instead of doing these big shopping sprees every single time the weather changes I recommend checking in with what's in your closet each season already. If you can keep a pulse on what's working and what's missing from your wardrobe, you are going to save a ton of money and buyer's remorse from season to season. And this process will also help you maintain a well curated closet for the long haul. So do a seasonal edit before you do any seasonal shopping and don't feel like you need to run out and buy all new pieces every single time that the weather or the calendar changes. All right, number 10. Your budget is your best friend, and I cannot believe I'm saying that. I used to hate the idea of shopping with a budget and I went broke as a result. But now I find it empowering and even rewarding to be a good steward of my finances. And it makes it so much easier to shop when I have a clear price point in mind. I know exactly what I'm looking for, how much I'm willing to spend on that piece, and I love showing women how they can build a wardrobe they love without spending more money than they feel comfortable or feeling limited to shopping the sales racks. Dave Ramsey says if you don't tell your money where to go, you won't know where it went. And this is true for your money as a whole. And I've come to learn how important it is to apply to your shopping dollars as well. It's made my clients and myself way more discerning buyers, and our wardrobes and bank accounts are far better off as a result. Number 11, you don't have to be dressed up to be well dressed. Sometimes my clients and I feel our very best when we're just hanging out at home wearing a new pair of pajamas in a beautiful fabric or a comfy sweatshirt in one of our best colors. And I think one of my favorite things now that I'm in my 40s is being dressed down and well dressed at the same time with nowhere to go. Even if you're the only one that sees your outfit for the day, you can still wear pieces that you love, even if it's just loungewear or something laid back. I love being selective about even these small details of my wardrobe. I love putting on just some pretty jewelry or maybe a swab of lipstick. Even when I'm relaxing at home in my comfiest sweatpants, the little details go such a long way and you don't have to be all done up to be well put together. All right, lesson number 12 is that confidence is a choice and a selfless one at that you can listen to episode number 45 for my full thoughts on this. But the quick rundown is that when you feel confident in your clothes and in who you are, you can show up more fully for your family, your clients, your community. It's not about vanity or being conceited, but it's about putting your insecurities aside and focusing out on others instead. I think when you work on boosting your confidence and choosing to show up and fully, it really enables you to let go of all of those mental insecurities that can get us caught up sometimes and put our best foot forward and serve those that are around us. All right, styling advice number 13. I was saying lessons, but I guess this is styling advice. Either way, it goes hand in hand. And the 13th one is that Pinterest is a resource, not a goal. Pinterest is a beautiful place to gather ideas and to get inspired. You know, it's one of my favorite resources, but it's not real life. The closets and the outfits that you see there are really carefully curated, edited, and often unattainable. And you can use it as a jumping off point, not as a benchmark. This goes for social media as well. If you're following influencers or you're getting wardrobe inspiration online, I want you to set realistic expectations for your own wardrobe and focus on creating a closet that serves you, not someone else's newsfeed. All right, number 14. Fashion gets to be fun. I beg you, please do not take this all too seriously. I know there's a lot that you can learn, and I know that you want to show up at your best, but I think my favorite outfits have often come from unexpected combinations that I've tried just on a whim. So give yourself permission to experiment and have fun with this process. Play with color pairings. Mix. Mix patterns. Try on something that's maybe a little bit outside your comfort zone. That's how you're going to discover some new favorites and make your style feel fresh and alive every day. So my challenge for you is to try something new this week just for fun. Let go of the need to get it right. Trust your instincts about whether it works or doesn't work for you. If you are feeling insecure when you step out the door, that's not the right outfit for you. Of course we want you to feel confident, but you get to have fun and be expressive and experimental along this journey. Number 15, personalization matters. What works for me or your favorite influencer might not work for you, and that's okay. In fact, I think it's amazing because the more you embrace your uniqueness, your preferences, your features, your lifestyle, as we've been talking about throughout this whole episode, the better your personal style will feel. I think that your wardrobe should be an extension of you, not a copy and paste version of someone else. We just talked about the fact that I love to use Pinterest as a resource for outfit inspiration, but I think one of the most critical steps people forget a lot of times is to then take those outfits and adapt them to make them work better for you. So personalization is so important in this whole process, and it's really essential to do some deeper work to figure out what works best for you. All right, number 16. We're almost to the end. Is to learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist. And this is not a unique lesson. It's not my original quote, but it's so true, and it's something that I have come to appreciate more and more with each passing year. My clients want to be empowered with information and to know what looks good on them and to build up that certainty so that they can then deviate from the rules with confidence. I love rules and checklists, but I don't want to feel limited when I get dressed. And I think it's okay to play in both boxes, both understanding and applying the basic principles and then also throwing them all out the window every now and then with intentionality as well. So you've got to do it with purpose and confidence. But in 18 years, I have learned to love the freedom in that, both coloring within and outside of the lines from time to time. All right, number 17. Our worth isn't in what we own. You are not your closet friend. You are not your clothing size or your shoe collection or your handbag budget. What you wear is an opportunity to show the world who you are, but it's not who you are. And there's a huge difference in that. So please don't forget it. Your value is so much deeper than what you wear. Number 18. I think I might have saved the best for last, but it's that your style will evolve, so you've got to let it. And this might be the most important lesson that I've learned over the years. It's that your life will change, your preferences will change, your body will change. So you've got to let your wardrobe evolve with you. If you're not keeping a pulse on what's happening in your real life and making sure that your wardrobe follows suit. That's when you're going to end up with a mismatch. You're going to find yourself in a closet rut. So you don't want to cling to the past or force yourself into someone else's version of who you should be. You've got to stay flexible and be open to changes in your style and what feels best on you. So don't be surprised or caught off guard when your wardrobe stops working for your life. Just keep tabs on it so you can keep showing up at your best and authentically expressing who you are in every unique season of your life. All right friend, we did it. We are at the 18 minute mark and I hope that you loved hearing 18 pieces of styling advice that I've learned over the past 18 years in just 18 minutes. I would love to know which of these lessons stood out to you the most, whether it's something you've already learned or if it was a new AHA moment for you. You can join us inside our free Facebook community and let us know. You can find that@herstylellc.com community if you're ready to put these lessons into practice with some structure and support and encouragement. Herstyle Collective is where I help you do exactly that. The doors are open to this 90 day coaching program so you can join us right now@herstylellc.com collective and we can start building you a wardrobe you love. All right. I cannot wait to see what the next 18 years will bring and I hope that you'll be along for the ride with me. I'll meet you back here again soon, friend.
- [19:06]
Sam
Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you want to stop copying everyone else's style and start dialing in your own swoon worthy signature look, head over to take my free 5 minute personal style quiz which you can find at.
- [19:21]
Heather Riggs
The link in the show notes.
- [19:22]
Sam
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.
- [19:32]
Heather Riggs
A two way conversation and send me.
- [19:34]
Sam
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.
- [19:45]
Heather Riggs
Until next time, Sam.