Styled by Laura

That’s my new motto. I tried it out on my friend Mandy when we overhauled her closet and it helped her put things in the bye,bye, bye pile. I fully adopted it last week when I was working with Lori. (Side note…Lori knows Mandy. I heart referrals, FYI.)

Lori works in a corporate environment but can dress business casual. She shared with me that she always dresses for the job she wants, not the job she has. So smart. Lori had a great base to work with but had LOTS of clothes. In my opinion, this is the number one thing that causes stress when getting dressed. You feel overwhelmed reach for the same pieces over and over. Some pieces, Lori admitted, she’d had for quite some time (very common) along with clothes she hadn’t worn in years (also very common).

We started with sorting and piling and laughing, “you mean you don’t think this is awesome?’ she asked me. I love a good sense of humor about an embellished t-shirt. As she contemplated keeping something that just didn’t work anymore, I used my line: “you have cuter things” and into the pile they went. It’s like magic, I tell you.

Once her bed was full of clothes ready for a new home, I started putting outfits together. This, my friends, is what I love the most. Mixing and matching, creating new combinations, maybe even pushing the comfort zone just a little bit—pattern mixing can have that effect, I’ve decided.

After three hours, there were lots of empty hangers, many new outfits and a manageable closet for Lori that allows her to see what she has. “There is actually space between my clothes,” she said. A few days later she sent me a picture of how she organized her shoes. I love that our morning of reorganization motivated her to continue to make her closet a place that doesn’t cause her stress.

Enjoy a few pictures of what I put together--all from Lori's closet!

Laura