Affordable Personal Style: Something Worth Celebrating
By Dena Kouremetis

Personal stylists. Celebrities swear by them.

The rest of us wonder just what it would be like to have our own personal clothing guru – someone to advise us on what to wear for certain occasions, to select clothes that flatter our diverse body types and minimize attention to areas best left camouflaged.

If ladies routinely attend Tupperware parties, jewelry parties, and cooking parties, where they mingle, munch and buy, why not consider attending a ‘Wardrobe Success’ party?

One such party/workshop took place recently at the El Dorado Hills studio of Wendy Harris (fit4successlifestylestudio.com), where a gathering of ladies of all shapes, sizes and ages learned from Amy Wister of The Stylist Online – thestylistonline.com – how to dress their own unique body types using a unique ‘Style Dial.’ The wardrobe expert offered detailed information on what cuts of dresses, shirts, trousers, jeans and accessories to wear to make the most of what Mother Nature bestowed on them. “I don’t like to use fruit analogies when describing body types,” says Wister, who grew up with a diminutive mom who kept her personal seamstress busy altering clothes for her throughout Amy’s upbringing. “I’d rather describe the most common shapes we come in with a few variations on the theme,” she says with a chuckle.

Harris, a fellow local lifestyles change artist, personal trainer, closet overhauler and personal shopper, was kept busy pulling stunning examples from her Etcetera trunk show clothing line to illustrate the cuts of clothing Wister recommended.

Each body type, whether broad-shouldered, long or short-waist, boy-hipped, hourglass or everything in-between, has an asset that can be emphasized, according to Wister, who holds parties like these in her clients’ homes as she conducts business as a professional stylist, wardrobe-editor and shopping guru.

Morgan Selby of Placerville admits that she didn’t realize there was so much to learn about the art and craft of dressing for her own body type. “I learned so many great tips here tonight – insider stuff I doubt I could have learned in any other setting.”

“I have gone shopping with Amy,” says Folsom attendee Sunshine Wiebold. “It’s unlike any other shopping trip I’ve been on, mostly because she provided me with my first ‘Liberace’ moment.” A Liberace moment, according to Wiebold, is one in which a flamboyant clothing piece is selected for you that you would never even consider taking off the rack, only to find that it looks amazing on you.

Wister ended the session offering a list of “must-haves” for any wardrobe – items like a versatile pashmina shawl, a trusty crisp white blouse, some undergarments no woman should be without, and last but not least, the services of a good seamstress or tailor. “You can’t take clothes off the rack and just expect them to fit,” she admits. “A pair of jeans that fit a size ten hip measurement may be in need of a size eight waist dimension on some ladies,” added Wister. “And nothing is more comfortable and makes you feel more confident than clothes that fit perfectly.”

For more information on holding a Wardrobe Success party, contact Amy Wister at 916.837.2737 or Wendy Harris at 916-941-0702.