Fashion Blogger Hires a Stylist. For Realz.

You know what you figure out when you search your own blog for the last post you did on cleaning out your closet, which you swear was not too long ago?

You figure out that it was in 2011.

Really.

See?

My August 2011 Accessories Cabinet Cleaning. Seriously. It's been that long.

I'm sure - I know - I've cleaned it out since then. At one point early this year, I even had clothes separated out into the Piles Every Stylist Says You Should Make When Cleaning Your Closet: Keep, Donate, and Maybe They Can Be Tailored.

And then we started #OperationPrettyHouse, beginning with painting our bedroom, in which All of the Piles were sitting, and I had to toss them back into the closet. Actually, H did. he hung them nicely, and sorta kept the organization from the piles, but all of the "Maybe They Can Be Tailored" pieces, most of which I really suspect can't be tailored, but I just can't give them up, are hanging there, smooshing the things I can wear now.

So about a month and a half ago, I emailed the savviest stylist I know, Rosana of DC Style Factory, and begged. Direct quote:

"I need official, real, closet help. I need to hire you for a closet audit as soon as you can fit me in. Desperate."

I then launched into the details of the problem, with formal, official closet analytics:

80-90% of the closet is "iffy or completely wrong in the fit department." #healthyme is taking its toll on my wearable clothing
5% OK for work
5% is great for going out
1 pair of trousers that fit me that are ok for work
1 skirt that fits me and is ok for work (a desperate Target purchase)
I make do with creative recycling and ill-fitting clothing
I was hanging onto a whole bunch of stuff hoping I can tailor it
I have not gotten anywhere near the tailor
95 little jackets I use to cover up tanks and Ts that aren't really office appropriate but it's a look I couldn't wear before #healthyme, so i'm in love

And the critical issue? I have a fashionista's dream: 2 large gift certificates to Fancy Stores with which I can strategically change that frustrating closet described above. One we scored at an auction for way below the value. One is courtesy of a grateful business colleague for making a connection to some significant work for his business. He knows me well.

But I refuse, absolutely refuse, to spend that amount of money - gifted or otherwise - without having a really solid understanding of my closet, what's in it, what works, and what I "need." (Because "need" is all relative, isn't it?)

So tomorrow after work, Rosana will ring my doorbell. I'll cross my fingers our nanny can distract The Beans while Rosana and I tear through the closet and Figure This Out. It may be worthy of spectators.

Maybe we should sell tickets. Chelsea of the chelsea chronicles is in...

As a Regular Woman, I need help. As a Fashion Blogger addicted to makeover shows, I've been curious for  years about the experience. I know I have emotional attachments to Clothing I Should Not Be Wearing. I'm curious to see what she'll make me toss, what she'll let me keep. I'm curious as to how much skill-building (i.e. ability to make those choices for myself, vice the sequined mini skirts being forcefully torn from my fingers) we'll do.

And then, like the good Fashionista I am, I'll. Go. Shopping.

And then, like the good Fashion Blogger I am, I'll Instagram it.

Style Reboot: Baubles I Need to Wear, Part II

I'm a lucky girl. I have stylish women all around me. My grandmothers, my mother, my mother-in-law... But even luckier? The fact that I inherit their baubles, sometimes without even knowing it.

I literally don't know where this piece came from. No idea at all. I assume my mother-in-law, who has stashes and stashes of fantastic costume jewelry and vintage clothing, just put it in my jewelry box one day. Who knows how long it's been in there. But methinks I need to find a simple dress of undetermined color (black is the obvious choice, but that just seems, well, boring) and plop these sweet bangles atop.


I've only met her once, but I hear stories about her all the time. H's godmother is quite the accomplished woman, running a legal practice specializing in helping immigrants. We visited her right after we got married, on a whirlwind tour of western PA and Ohio. She gave us red cut glass goblets, , and this fantastic, massive, almost collar necklace. I've been intending now for 5 years to wear it. And I really need to find the right occasion. I used to have a one-shouldered, simple black gown (enter goddess). It would have been perfect. But it went the way of all $19.99 sale dresses. Yup.

I miss my Mom-Mom. I miss my Grandmom. Grandmom had very little in the way of shiny things. She just wasn't that kind of girl. The few pieces she did have are in my mom's jewelry box. prettyinpink and I have already assigned dibs.


I don't remember Mom-Mom as particularly stylish, though she was always put together, as women in her generation are. That being said, she apparently had a taste for pretty little things that she collected along the way. When she passed, my cousins and I literally went through the last bits of her drawers after the services. We're a very efficient family that way. My take? Bow pins, stick pins, brooches, clip earrings, and the fanciest little purse I've ever seen. As much in love with it as I am, though, I need to be deliberate and carry it soon. To an event with H, where he can carry Everything Else I Need. Yes, it is as small as it looks in the picture. It'll hold, oh, cash and a credit card. No phone, and a lipstick would probably ruin its line.

This is my closet. So what's in your closet?

Style Reboot: Finally Bringing It All Out

Way back in March, I posted about rediscovering what's already in my closet.

It's August.

I finally got around to cleaning out my accessories cabinet. Two weeks ago.

The day H and I were planning a Sushi Ko date (and on which I debuted my new Oscars), the afternoon was stormy. We were also planning a Big Dinner at a Fancy Restaurant for The Bean as a belated birthday present, so we unabashedly deployed the DVD player and on-demand to show movies and keep her quiet and rested. We hoped it that would yield a not-over-tired-child for her Marcel's dinner.

But I digress.

I dashed out to Ace Hardware, then The Container Store while they were napping and resting, and brought back what was probably intended as a hobby or hardware case with drawers. I wanted clear drawers so I could see what baubles were in there, but needed it to fit inside of our IKEA cabinet where I store my accessories (and my baking supplies. Yes, we live in a condo with limited storage space.). Fingers crossed. Because why would I do something logical, like measure the cabinet and its shelves? Caution, meet wind.

Home again, and young active things scrambling at my feet, I tried to distract them from the Pretty Sparkly Things emerging bit-by-bit from the shelves. I de-jumbled my chains, matched up my earrings, and remembered long-lost favorites. To The Beans' delight, I ditched every single one of the boxes in which my jewels had lived. I emptied out purses of the last bits of change, mints, and lipsticks I thought I'd lost. I wiped down the shelves. (Yes, Mommy, I am your daughter.)

My hobby-bins-turned-jewelry-box works perfectly. I can see what I have, and am unexpectedly enjoying, oh, I don't know, putting on different pieces each morning. Because I can now see what's there, and don't have to dig, I can easily find something different than the same 3 cuffs and 2 necklaces I'd been sporting for the last 4 years.

My Newly Organized Accessories Cabinet. And The Bag's Place of Honor, moved happily from atop my shoes in my closet.

Then there's The Bag Shelf. I've already carried 3 more purses than I had in those same 4 years: Mom-Mom's vintage monogram clutch, an adorable wicker Fornash clutch, and my beloved Furla (as H brought it to me from Italy, after my inability to shop while In. Italy., he was thrilled to see it again) all made it back into the rotation.

Next up? The Baubles I Need to Wear (Discovered in The Big Cleanup)