kitsch style makeover: meredith day one

Meet my friend Meredith.

The next few posts are going to be covering

 her new Spring Kitsch Style Makeover.

She volunteered herself on my facebook page

when I asked for a "petites and curvy" lady

who wanted a makeover.

Meredith has been my client and friend almost 8 years

and has recently lost a lot of weight.

Now she is looking to celebrate her skinny self

and learn how to dress her new body.

Meredith already has impeccable taste and style....

now we just have to put it all together.

Her Kitsch Style Makeover will include;

closet overhaul,

shopping for Spring trends,

a trip to the tailor,

clothing consignment,

hair & makeup,

and a "after" photo shoot.

Let's start with her CLOSET:

To be fair, Meredith wanted to clean her closet,

but I told her to leave it for affect.

SO for the first part of the makeover
 we had to start by organizing her closet.

A few closet rules I like to keep:

Everything in your closet should be wearable.

This means that the items should be the right size and in season.

Everything should be ready to wear;

hung, clean, mended, and tailored.

You should have a closet SYSTEM.

A place for everything and everything in its place!

Laundry hamper, dry cleaning bag,

coordinating hangers, jewelry bowl,bins for purses

 and hats, shelves with jeans and folded sweaters, etc.

Everything hanging in your closet

should be something you LOVE to wear

or that has a specific function (i.e. work).

If you aren't excited to get up in the morning

and wear it - DON'T keep it!

I found this Snow White costume in Meredith's closet.

We discussed putting all her many Halloween costumes

in a Rubbermaid bin and storing them in the garage instead.

She had 12 pairs of black flats - really!

We went through all her shoes to determine FIT and FUNCTION.

If you have 4 pairs of shoes that have the same function like, black work flats to wear with wide leg trouser pants,

then it's time to buy a different shoe like,

a strappy sandal with a kitten heel.  Get my point?

 The Trouser Pant Dilemma.

Meredith has dozens, but since she doesn't fit in most of them,

 we went through and organized them into piles;

KEEP, CONSIGN, TAILOR.

Some pants were ready to wear - KEEP.

Some were too big and were not costly -  CONSIGN.

And some were too big but were premium labels

 or designers - TAILOR.

These latter pants are worth the investment to have them tailored because they are made well with better quality materials. 

Hold on to these!

What to keep?

I had Meredith try on EVERYTHING in her closet for me.

She had things she wasn't wearing because she didn't know how

or what to pair them with.

Most everything in her closet is beautiful and well made.

  I mean, this girl has style!

Like this dress....she wasn't sure how to make it work

and considered consigning it. 

Here she is wearing it with a patent leather belt and pump.

I wish I was a better photographer so you could see

the adorable details in this dress.

Definitely a KEEP!

 Here she is wearing a well fitted black dress

but she wasn't too excited about it.

Then we put a sheer ruffle top over it with a belt and SMILE!

This LBD can be worn a million ways.  It's a wardrobe essential.

 A few other outfits we put together:

This is how to wear the Spring stripe trend!

Yellow sweater and shoes with navy stripes.

This blouse had become too boxy

with Meredith's recent weight loss,

but she loves it and can't let it go.

So we put a belt over it to give it some form

with straight leg jeans and wedges for balance.

Meredith bought this shirt awhile ago and it still had tags.

Don't we all do this?

She wasn't sure if she liked it because the fit was so-so.

I removed the pattern sash it came with and added her own belt.

Wa- la! She loves it.

Accessories!

Meredith had a drawer full of jewelry she wasn't wearing

and many still had tags.

Accessorizing will be a large portion of her makeover.

Here we put two easy looks together with some jewelry

she already owns. 

Here is her closet AFTER: 

Sweaters and jeans folded.  Clothing hung in categories on matching hangers. 

Shoes organized and put away.  We are going to be purchasing bins
 for her top shelf to store bags, hats, scarves, and other bulky items.

 Here are some under utilized items from her closet

that I'm going to show her how to use later on in the makeover. 
 Keep your eyes peeled for them!

Striped embellished T-shirt and white utility jacket. 

Navy stripe T-shirt and black flowy blouse.

Eggplant cardigan and white ruffle sweater.

Next up...SHOPPING!

I can't wait!!