Please tell me I’m not alone? Does anyone else hang onto clothing that does not fit hoping that you will NOT get fatter or praying that you WILL get skinnier? Over the past few months I have lost a substantial amount of weight, but have been hanging onto my “fatter” clothes “just in case” (I threw the skinny clothes out years ago). So when I recently had the privilege of speaking to a group of 100 businesswomen at the July KZN Women in Business meeting about “Networking” (with Style Me as the gift sponsor for the same meeting), I thought that it would be a really good time to get Daniyel Berry (the mastermind behind the Durban-based image consulting business) to dress me/style me – as the perfect showcase of her talent.
And so we embarked on a shopping spree, the purpose of which was to find ONE outfit for the meeting I was speaking at. Well, as I soon discovered, you cannot only buy ONE outfit when you go shopping with Daniyel – she is far too talented to limit her creativity like that. Daniyel specialises in mixing and matching and has quite an eye for pairing items I would never dream of wearing together (like stripes and checks, oi vey!), and so it was that I found several staple items for my wardrobe, rather than just one outfit. We bought loads of accessories and scarves – something Daniyel swears by, as it can change a look totally at a minimal cost.
We actually did things in reverse, by shopping first and then auditing the wardrobe afterwards (as I had initially only intended to shop), but after seeing what Daniyel was capable of, I wanted her in my cupboard too. She spent an afternoon of “auditing” my existing wardrobe and seeing how the new items we had bought could work with older items. She threw out anything that was too big, too old, the wrong colour, unflattering etc, and at times she had to be firm with me, as I sentimentally wanted to hang onto items I really shouldn’t ever have bought in the first place. We did negotiate on a few items I really loved, so she wasn’t a bully by any stretch of the imagination.
My favourite part of the whole experience was receiving my wardrobe capsules (collages) from Daniyel after the wardrobe audit (see two sample capsules below), whereby she showed me how to wear my new items with the old. I can print these out, stick them on the inside of my wardrobe and not have to think about what to wear every day, as I now have so many options and this will stop me from reverting to the same-old same-old as I am always rushing.
What I really appreciated about Daniyel’s work ethic, is that she works within your budget and is sensitive to the features you like best and will work with you to enhance them, as well as disguise the features you don’t particularly fancy. Daniyel looked at what colours look best on me according to my hair and eye colour, as well as my skin tone. She also looked at what clothing suits my figure and had a close look at my style and clothing personality (which, not surprisingly, came out as “creative”). Daniyel provides you with colour and style cards, which will make it so easy when shopping alone. As an optional extra you can choose to have your hair and makeup revamped to complete your look (not much she could do with my short pixie crop)!
I loved walking into that room for my KZNWIB talk, dressed in a jacket and trousers which was SO NOT my usual off-the-shoulder dress, and getting told how fantastic I looked. Daniyel ensures you step out with confidence and makes getting dressed in the morning a fun affair! Contact her now if you’re in need of a makeover/more info: daniyel@styleme.co.za.
Alice Leah
031 – 573 1731 (ext 5)
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