← Her Style Podcast | Shopping, Color Palettes, Fashion, Wardrobe, Outfits, Clothing
Her Style Podcast | Shopping, Color Palettes, Fashion, Wardrobe, Outfits, Clothing
270 | September Q&A: How to Set Style Goals, Wedding Wardrobe Dilemmas, and Easy Denim Alternatives
00:24:02
Welcome back, friend! Today we’re diving into one of my personal favorites—our monthly Listener Q&A episode. These are always so fun because I get to hear what’s on your mind, where you’re feeling stuck, and how I can best serve you right...
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- [00:01]
A
Welcome back, friend. Today we're diving into one of my personal favorites, our monthly listener Q and A episode. These are always so fun because I get to hear what's on your mind, where you're feeling stuck, and how I can best serve you right here on the podcast. Each piece of advice I'm about to share is designed to help not just the woman who asked, but anyone listening who may be struggling with similar style challenges. And before we get into it, I want to remind you that if you'd like to have your question answered, you're welcome to submit it for our next Q and A episode coming up in October. But the best way right now is to come join me live inside our Wardrobe Revamp bootcamp, happening from September 16th through 19th. You'll get four days of freestyle coaching and support from me, plus the chance to ask your questions in real time. You can register right now@herstylellc.com Bootcamp and if you sign up before tomorrow, Friday, September 5th, you can even enter to win this week's store prize, which is a 15 minute power style coaching sess with me. I would love to coach and connect with you personally inside this free event. For now, let's go ahead and tackle our listener questions for the month. 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 of. Let's get started. All right, our first question was submitted by Jeannie and she sent this one in response to an email that I sent out where I encouraged our community members to look at their last five wardrobe purchases and evaluate whether they reflected their personal style goals. So Jeanne hit reply on that email, which is one of my favorite things. It really means so much to me when you take just a minute to write back, let me know what you're enjoying, what you want to hear, more of, what questions you have, all those good things. And so Jeanne wrote back and she said, I have a question for you. How do I begin to set style goals? That was a new phrase for me, and now I'm so intrigued. So let me start by explaining what I mean by the term style goals. And in that particular email I was referring to the vision that you have for your personal style. You might have a lot of wardrobe goals, like cleaning out your old T shirts from college or replacing your favorite swimsuit that no longer fits like it used to but your style goals are going to help move you from where your personal style is now to where you want it to be. And this is such a great place to start if you're just beginning your wardrobe journey. Because setting style goals will give you some very clear direction and empower you to make better shopping and styling decisions. It's the bridge between awareness and and action. So here's how you can go about setting your style goals. The first thing to do is you've got to stop and assess where your style is now because you don't know how you're going to get where you want to be if you don't figure out where you're starting from. So I'm going to give you a few reflection questions to think about that will help get you on the right track. The first one is what story do I want to communicate with my appearance? Maybe you want to look approachable, creative, polished, a lot more fun. It could be anything under the sun, so just give a little thought to what story you want to tell or communicate through your clothing. The next one is where do I want to focus my attention this season? I love to work on small goals that have a pretty quick deadline, so I will usually work on three month goals in my life and in my wardrobe and it just makes it a lot more doable and gives you room to adjust them if you need to as well. So think about what feels most exciting for you right now. Maybe you want to embrace more color or try incorporating more accessories into your outfits this season. Dressing for comfort it could be anything but think about what you want to focus on right now when it comes to your personal style and then also which aspects of your style feel most out of alignment right now. I would go category by category and think about which activities feel the most off for you as it relates to your style. So for example, maybe your athletic wear is feeling a little bit sloppy or your professional wardrobe feels a bit outdated. Your date night outfits are feeling uninspired, whatever the case might be. And then how do I want to feel in my clothes day to day? Not just what image you want to project to others, but how do you want to feel internally? Do you want to feel more energized? Confident? Playful? Elegant? Again, run the gamut. Figure out what words most light you up when you think about getting dressed and then ask yourself what parts of my current wardrobe already make me feel that way and what parts don't. You might be able to pinpoint some specific style values that are lining up with that and other ones that you want to add in or focus on as you are picking up new pieces, auditing your closet, and kind of honing it in a little bit further. You can also ask which activities on my calendar matter most for how I'm showing up. And you might have a lot of things going on at work in this current season of your life, and maybe that's an area of your wardrobe that you really want to put a lot more attention on. It could be social events, family activities, maybe you're doing a lot of travel right now. So again, think not just about your broad style, but what areas of getting dressed need to take your time and attention a little bit more. And then if you picture yourself six months from now, what do you want your style to look and feel like? The vision of where you want your style to go might be enough to keep you clear and centered, but you can also use this insight to set a few tangible goals. I love making my goals concrete and measurable. So for you, this could sound like embrace two to three new colors from my palette this season. Instead of saying generically I want to wear more color, this is going to give you some good direction and focus to help ensure that you are hitting those goals that you have. Or it might be something like, develop a loungewear style that feels beautiful and intentional instead of just saying, I want to look better at home. Essentially, the more specific, the better. So I would start with just one to three goals for the season so you don't get too overwhelmed. And remember, the more specific the goal, the easier it's going to be to gauge your process along the way. But remember, your style goal can also just be to work towards the overall vision you have for your wardrobe and the way you want to show up. So you definitely don't need to over complicate this either. Do this in whatever way serves you best. And then to loop back full circle on the original conversation that we started from Jeanne. Once you've gone through all of those steps, you can then look back at your last five purchases and evaluate whether they support or detract from the goals that you've just set. I would keep a running note on your phone with all of these ideas. Or you can start a Pinterest board and then add ideas that align with those goals, and you can use them as a roadmap to reference when you're shopping and styling your outfits. I also think it's wise to check in with yourself monthly and ask, am I moving closer to this vision or am I getting sidetracked so that you can tackle any challenges that are coming up for you head on. And then, of course, as we talked about before, you can always adjust those goals a little bit if you need to. And this way, you're not just dreaming about having better style. You're actively building a wardrobe that reflects. Reflects your goals and your real life.
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Hi, Heather, this is Nicole. I'm so glad that there's a platform that I can ask this question to you on, because I'm really struggling. So I'm going to a wedding in a couple weeks. It's a beach wedding, and I have a few wardrobe barriers for this wedding. So on one hand, like, I want to look really cute, of course, but I'm also going to be bartending, so I need something practical. And I already have a lot of dresses in my closet. I'm kind of like you used to be, where I. I just have way too many cocktail dresses, so I really don't want to go out and buy a new dress. But a lot of the dresses that I currently have are just a little snug for me, and so I don't think they're going to be comfortable for when I'm bartending. So I was just wondering if you have any advice that can help me get dressed for this wedding. Thanks so much. Bye.
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Nicole, this is such a fun and very practical question, and I hope that it's not too late to help you figure out the perfect outfit to wear for this wedding. The key is obviously to strike a good balance between style and function. Since you're going to be bartending, you want something that looks festive and pretty, but that still allows you to move easily and stay comfortable throughout the event. My first suggestion is to go through your closet and look for looser silhouettes. Things like a wrap dress, shift dress, or empire waist. These styles might give you room to move and won't feel too restrictive. But if this isn't an option and all of your dresses are feeling too snug or impractical, then I do have a couple of other ideas for you. The first would be to consider tailoring, just because you said that you already have a pretty abundant assortment of dresses. If you have time to do this before the wedding, you could see if a seamstress can let out the seams slightly because this is often more affordable than buying a whole new dress, and it helps make use of what you already have. If tailoring isn't an option, I would definitely consider a clothing rental service like Rent the Runway or Nuuly. You'll get something special and event appropriate without making a permanent purchase, especially if your cocktail dress collection is already quite full. I have obviously been down that road before, as you said, and I definitely think twice now about buying formal dresses. These days. I'd much rather rent something that is perfect for the occasion, but that won't make me feel like I have to find an excuse to wear it again. So if you want to keep things practical, I would recommend that you choose flat sandals or wedges so that you can stand comfortably. You could add a light cardigan or maybe a pretty kimono for some extra coverage while you're working and then let your hair, jewelry or makeup bring that cute factor. Remember, your finishing touches can totally elevate even the simplest dress. And if no dress feels quite right or you're at a time you can't rent something, this might be a good occasion to try out a flowy skirt and top which would be totally beach wedding worthy. Or you could try a fun jumpsuit or even pants and a gorgeous top. I think that you have some creative liberties here. Given the ambiance and the fact that it's a beach wedding, it feels a little bit less formal as well as the the fact that you'll be rolling up your sleeves to help out at the event. So the bottom line is you don't need to spend any money on a new dress unless you want to. I think with tailoring, clothing rental services, or some creative styling, you can absolutely make this work. All right, our next question is from Kathy and she wrote an email saying thank you so much for providing informative content in a way that makes me feel seen and normal. I've been binging your podcast on my morning walks and and so much of it resonates with me. I've taken the style quiz more than once. Some of the questions didn't fit my lifestyle, but I've landed on a style profile that feels right, natural, feminine and classic. I love pretty things like pintucks, tiny ruffles, pretty buttons, flowy skirts, comfy jeans, natural fibers in shades of rose pink, burgundy, green, blue, brown and cream. Except for jeans, these clothes don't seem to exist. I now have a wardrobe of boxy cotton tees and wide leg jeans. Sigh. Any idea where you can find feminine, natural pieces that I can live in? And Kathy, I feel you friend. I love me some romantic details as well. So I do have a handy list of stores that you might want to explore. And I also understand the frustration that many feminine styles and styles in general are made of Synthetic fibers. So here are a few starting points to help you in your search. First, Cezanne. You know I'm obsessed with this store. They have the most beautiful romantic detailing natural fabrics. I think the softest cotton candy colors that are just fit me to a T and sound like exactly what you might be looking for as well. So I would definitely recommend checking out Cezanne. Christie dawn offers sustainable feminine silhouettes. I think that you might love some of their pieces as well. Doan, which is spelled D and then O with a Circumflex which I totally had to Google. It's the O with the little triangle on top of it. I did not know what that character was called. And then en. So D, O E N And this brand has really pretty flowy cottage inspired looks. I would absolutely check them out along with Pact, which is a great sustainable brand. They have lots of organic cotton basics and some softer details. Maybe not as as romantic as some of the others, but I think worth considering for some of your good staple pieces. And then I would also check Nation Los Angeles. This is a brand that one of our collective grads told me about a few years ago and they have some really nice timeless pieces with some feminine nods also. So I highly recommend checking out the Good on you app. You can download that, it's completely free and that allows you to explore more sustainable brands that are in favor of natural fibers. And you can also put in stores that hit the mark on style and then the app will recommend more sustainable alternatives. So that's really going to expand your search as well. And then Kathy, when you are shopping online, I would try to be as specific as you can with your filters. Use descriptive words like cotton, linen, silk and wool when you're browsing for things. So you might want to search keywords like pintuck, blouse, cotton or ruffle, hem, dress, linen and then that should help you discover even more options. It's not going to be a slam dunk. You will find some outliers in there that don't fit with exactly what you're looking for. But I think the more specific you can be, the more your search results will be tailored to exactly what you want. It does take patience, but once you find your ideal brands that align with both aesthetics and your fiber preferences, I think shopping quickly and confidently for the items on your wish list will become so much easier. Hey friend, quick question. Do you ever stand in front of your closet thinking I have nothing to wear even though it's jam packed with clothes? Do you wish you had a wardrobe that felt streamlined, stylish and simple to put together even on your busiest mornings. If so, you cannot miss our next free Wardrobe Revamp Boot Camp happening online from September 2nd, 16th through 19th at 12pm Eastern each day in just four days, you're going to learn how to define your signature style dress to flatter your figure, declutter and wear more of what you own and finally start building a wardrobe that works for you and your real life. I'll be going live every day with trainings, giveaways and Q and A time so you can get your questions answered on the spot. Head to Herstyle LLC.com Bootcamp and grab your free seat right now. That's Her Style llc.combootcamp and I'll see you inside. We have two more questions to cover today and spoiler alert, they're both touching on the subject of jeans. Our first one is from Allison who wrote in for help saying I dislike wearing jeans and I'm trying to find other types of pants to try this this fall winter that might be more comfortable but give off a polished vibe. Could you suggest a few non denim pant options that would be at least as formal as jeans or a little more so definitely more elevated than leggings or joggers paired easily with sweaters and button downs. Comfortable, mostly natural fibers. And Alison, I love this question. I agree. Jeans are not for everyone and there are so many comfortable yet elevated alternative. So the great news is that you have lots of choices and I was on a mission for something very similar last fall. I made out really well shopping at Banana Republic. I even scooped up an amazing super comfortable pair of twill trousers from the loft I believe that were on sale and so yeah, definitely look around, see what you can find. But just a few basic categories that I think might work well for you are twill trousers. You can look for wide leg or straight leg styles. These are going to be usually in cotton or cotton blends and they're super versatile with sweaters and button downs. Many of them are going to feel incredibly comfortable, almost like you're wearing pajama pants, especially if you can find some that maybe have a drawstring waistband that makes them even more comfortable. In my opinion, corduroy pants are a great option. They're going to give you some cozy texture for the fall and they're going to be a touch more elevated than denim and they pair really well with boots too. You can also get corduroy pants in lots of different silhouettes, just like with your jeans wool Blend trousers could be a great option. They're perfect if you need some warmth and a little bit more elegance. They're really ideal for a work environment as well. You could definitely dress up a good pair of wool blend trousers and then also cotton chinos or sateen pants. These are going to be softer than dress pants but still very elevated and I think easy to wear casually. You can also dress them up so again, so much versatility available to you. You can also look for some really beautiful colors or stick with your classic neutrals. Whatever feels good for you. I will say I think that the key is in the styling. If you try tucking in your blouse, adding a belt, and then opting for a great pair of loafers or some good ankle boots, these small tweaks are going to take any of these pants from casual to effortlessly styled and of course polished just like you want. I think comfort and formality can absolutely coexist and I also have an entire episode on the most flattering and comfortable pant options you need to know about. So I would go and listen to that episode next. Next it's number 73 and I will link it up in the show notes for you. Now, funnily enough, Alison wrote in to say that she dislikes wearing jeans and wanted to find other options. And our last question this month is from Caroline, who loves wearing jeans but suddenly feels like they're not right for her anymore. And here's her exact question. She wrote in and said my style is natural, feminine, classic. I'm starting to feel like these are tied for second place and creative. She said I've established my love for dresses both at work and casually. However, when I want a break from dresses for work and weekend and I don my jeans, I feel so off all day I can't wait to take them off when I get home. But it's not a comfort thing. It's like they don't feel right for me anymore. The same goes even when I wear them for family outings or birthday parties on the weekend. So I guess the question is, what do I do? I love how they look. I keep adding outfits with jeans to my Pinterest board, but clearly there's a connect. And as a follow up question, I've got my eyes on the daily twill drawstring pants from Pact. I'm wondering if these could be the fall early winter version of linen shorts which had been my go to this summer on work from home days and weekends. And I wonder if they may be a replacement for my jeans. But I'M concerned about whether they would be business casual, appropriate for the office. So that's it for Caroline's question. And this one resonated with me a lot because it highlights something that I see all the time. And it's that when your style identity, identity shifts, certain pieces in your wardrobe can stop feeling right, even if they technically still look good. So that's why we want to evaluate all three aspects of those style foundations, which are not just whether they flatter your figure or they're in your best colors, but also if they align with your personal style and where you want it to go. So here are some steps that I would recommend for you, Caroline. First, I would take a second look at the jeans outfits that you've been saving to Pinterest lately and do some deeper investigating. Is it that you love the jeans and the way that the jeans look in the outfit, or are you actually drawn to something else in the outfit? Maybe it's not the overall look exactly, but there's a pretty sweater paired with them, or you're really drawn to the color scheme or the way that the outfit is accessorized. So my first question is whether it's the jeans outfits that you're still craving, or if you're drawn to something else entirely with those looks. And then if you discover that it is in fact the look of the separates. If you're liking the way that it looks with the jeans and a top, but you're still wanting to mix it up from your everyday dresses, I think the most natural alternative for you at this point might be a skirt and top combination. This is going to give you the breezy feel of a dress, the more feminine aesthetic, but allow you to mix up your pieces and feel more playful with your styling versus is just wearing a dress by itself. So this will give you some other styling options for work and the weekends. Or you might want to experiment with some alternative bottoms, like the packed daily twill drawstring pants that you mentioned. This is a very casual pant, for sure, but it might feel more authentic to where your style is headed. And I do think that they can be work appropriate if you opt for kind of a high, low sort of styling and you pair them with a dressy top, maybe a structured blazer. And then, of course, you're going to want to make sure that you're putting on sophisticated shoes like a kitten heel, a ballet flat, or a loafer, just as a couple of examples. So my advice is to reevaluate what's on your Pinterest board. Try to pinpoint exactly what you're liking about those looks and then if it is the separates option, I would experiment with some substitutes and just be really mindful about what you like and how you feel in everything and give yourself permission to release your any mental attachment or pressure that you're putting on yourself to make your jeans work. If they just don't serve you right now, you can always hang on to the pairs that you have, maybe just tuck them away for a little bit and then revisit them in a few months to see how they feel and whether you actually missed them. All right friend, that is it for this month's Q and A episode. I want to give a big shout out and a super huge thank you to Jeannie, Nicole, Kathy, Allison and Caroline for submitting their questions. I can't wait to answer yours in the next the next one, or even sooner at our upcoming Wardrobe Revamp Boot Camp, which is happening from September 16th through 19th. Again, you can head to herstylellc.combootcamp to grab your free seat and I will see you there in less than two weeks. Bye for now. 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 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. Me? I'm always here for you in style and service. Until next time.