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Cham’s Story
Today we’re getting personal (with Cham’s permission of course) and I am sharing her style story with you.
Cham is a close friend of mine who I met almost 10 years ago at Northampton University. When she found out that I became a Personal Stylist, Cham was eager to book a Wardrobe Edit with me as she confessed she had a lot of clothes piling up which she didn’t wear (music to my ears).
I felt like I knew and understood Cham’s style having known her for years but I got to know her even better through her wardrobe.
Cham has a very bright and bubbly personality and that’s definitely reflected in her fashion choices. I noticed many fun details in what she chooses such as cute collars, embroidered motifs and a love of dungarees.
Despite her carefree and cheery attitude, Cham is very decisive and strong-willed. She was happy to give away old pieces that were no longer working for her and we ended up with a big pile of things for charity. We also found a few things that she’d had to recycle as they were in no condition to give away.
We noticed quite a few t-shirts had become stained and we no longer in good shape which made us decide to book a Personal Shopping trip for the next day. In a week’s time, Cham had a holiday booked to Milan and we felt that we definitely needed to add more items to her suitcase for that!
You’re probably wondering how I chose the right pieces for Cham without having had a Colour and Body Analysis first right?
During our Wardrobe Edit, I asked Cham many telling questions about her skin and personality and as we went along she explained her relationship with colour whilst showing me examples from her Wardrobe.
She showed me that one of the jumpers she couldn’t wear was a bright post-box red colour, it felt too much for her. Cham seemed to feel more comfortable in earthier and darker shades like plum purples , khaki and bottle greens and mustardy buttery yellows which gave me some direction when shopping.
Cham also let me know which parts of her body she liked and which she’d prefer less spotlight on. This is very important before a Personal Shop so that I can make sure that I am picking clothing that’s going to make my client feel not only fabulous but listened to.
Her shoulders and legs were her less confident areas but her waist and bust she wanted to highlight. I concluded that her body shape was more towards the ‘apple’ type. This body shape tends to have wider shoulders, lovely cleavage, a high waist, curvy bottom and shapley legs.
Apple bodies ladies tend to prefer to hide their shoulders, you can do this by drawing more attention elsewhere. Adding more volume to the bottom with a flared trouser or patterned bottom balances out those shoulders too. Tucking in t-shirts can attract attention to the waist that they love too.
Being petite like Cham, a great way for her to add height is by wearing all one colour, creating a long column of colour. Lines going downwards in general give the illusion of height for a smaller figure and also have the added bonus of making the body look slim (win win)
At Westfield Stratford (the closest shopping centre to Cham), I found many great items in Monki, M&S, New Look and H&M.
Monki had some really great quality soft t-shirts in colours that Cham really liked and said she wouldn’t normally pick for herself.
At Marks and Spencer, we found some great quality jeans in some new fits for Cham. She also really liked the dark blue denim, another shade she wouldn’t have chosen normally but fell in love with. Cham appreciated that she could get a short leg there!
New Look really brought the fun and we found some great t-shirts on offer so we able to get a few. Definitely keep an eye out for their deals! I picked an Autumn mustard which she loved and a sassy motif that was very Cham. We also loved the chunky cardigans there as we noticed on the Wardrobe Edit that Cham didn’t actually have any cardigans (shocking!) which are definitely a wardrobe staple.
Speaking of cardigans, H&M also had some great ones and a ‘Cham yellow’ cardigan has definitely become a much loved piece for her as well as more handy t-shirts. H&M really do have great joyful basics.
Overall, we had a fantastic two days together really getting to know Cham and her wardrobe.
Cham had a lovely time in Milan and sent me many photos of what she wore. It’s fantastic to see the striped trousers she struggled with on our wardrobe edit being worn with the new pieces we bought on our trip as well as many other new t-shirts and jeans looking effortlessly cool with her new cardigans.
I hope you enjoyed this story and feel like you’re itching to have your wardrobe looked at too – who knows where that could take you but I’d love to get to know you triggers fashion as well! Get in touch if you fancy to getting started on your very own style journey.