ComposedCo

I don’t ask my clients to pose for pictures but I do always like to get an after shot of their closet because I think it demonstrates how uncluttered their insides feel when we finish a session. If you don’t feel this calm when getting dressed, let’s chat!

This month's blog is up. Hope you'll take a look and have a think. I'm always open to your thoughts about why you buy and wear what you do.

The Importance of Clothes Betty Halbreich was a shopping legend whose values I feel very much aligned with. Despite being Bergdorf Goodman’s crowning jewel of a personal shopper, she counterintuitively didn’t pu…

'The clothes make the man,' or so goes the old saying. We have seen how Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama and others' clothing choices in politics are scrutinized, obsessed over and thoughtfully analyzed, most recently at the DNC. The attached article by Washington Post style writer Rachel Tashjian demonstrates just one such example.

Tonight is the Presidential Debate and the clothing of both candidates will be dissected alongside everything else. One smaller detail I'm curious to see are the style choices as well as the interpretation of the why behind the choices made.

Remember, we all send a message about ourselves with what we wear, whether we choose to or not.

Column | Why Kamala Harris’s clothes matter Kamala Harris delivered her DNC acceptance speech in a navy Chloé pantsuit — and showed viewers she was confident, comfortable and commanding.

My favorite season by far is fall. Between back to school and memories of New England growing up, I get pumped. And yet it still VERY much feels like summer in LA. What to do when the weather won't cooperate and the seasons are dragging things out? Check out my latest blog for answers plus some easy trends to consider. Enjoy and LMK me any tactics that work for you if you too are sick of summer heat, already!

The Dog Days Are…Not Over Hello from 92 degrees and climbing! It’s nearly Labor Day and summer as it is typically thought of in Los Angeles has finally arrived. Methinks it’s going nowhere fast. We’re likel…

The weather is doing the 'It's Almost Spring' thing here in Los Angeles. Check out my latest blog post for thoughts around how I'm dressing and organizing for the transition, as well as my fave (and most wearable) Spring 2024 trends for all. Enjoy and Happy Spring!

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Spring Wardrobe Focus Spring seemed to have officially landed in LA last week…and subsequently departed. It was winter this weekend, and now summer hot today. Though the weather report tells me I wi…

Here's a fashion / sport crossover that hits the Venn diagram of our household. I'll be watching...and not just for how they handle the turns. Who else enjoys F1?
P.S. Shout out to Gregory R. Little for introducing me to F1 years ago.

Hugo Boss’ Hugo Brand to Sponsor VCARB F1 Team The German retailer’s Gen-Z label will design apparel for the newly rebranded Visa Cash App RB team.

Had to get snaps of these 💚Kermit Stan Smiths 💚 in the field. They made me so happy and I realize I am all in for a Muppets collab on literally anything. Try me! 🐸 🌈

‘It’s not a trend. It appeals to a certain kind of joy in everybody.’ Iris Apfel was the ultimate icon for maximalism, for high / low fashion, for dressing for joy, for matching your outsides to your insides. May she rest in peace and in our inspirations always. The most remarkable of women!

Iris Apfel, Eye-Catcher With a Kaleidoscopic Wardrobe, Dies at 102 She came to fame in the fashion world in her 80s and 90s, and her wildly eclectic closet of clothes formed a hit exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Damn right she’s a hero to Gen X…
I do appreciate when brands put their visibility to good use, not just to sell clothes but to support women , encourage voting and perhaps to introduce new generations to survivors like the brilliant and resilient . Score one for Reformation. 💪

Monica Lewinsky on Becoming a Fashion Campaign Star at 50 The activist and writer talks exclusively with ELLE about fronting Reformation’s “You’ve Got the Power” campaign.

Overstuffed? Cheek by jowl? Packed in like sardines? However you describe your closet, if it’s feeling tight, it’s likely time for a wardrobe review. Most of us wear 20% of what we own. Let’s free those extra clothes - and the hangers that serve them - so YOU feel freer every dang day.

Fashion Thoughts for Today - Blog Post Feb 21, 2024

👠 My shoe collection is not a headstone. It’s official! I have given up every pair of unwearable-for-me shoes in my ‘Shoe Museum’ and couldn’t be happier. This has been a long process of learning AND ACCEPTING (the distinctly harder part) what I can physically tolerate as I’ve aged, what I have wanted to keep emotionally because they were simply beautiful works-of-art-to-me, and an acceptance of my current priorities (I’d rather have a tight collection than a wide range of options I am less likely to use). This has taken some decades of constant growth, and I am fully okay with the knowledge that my perspective may once again change in the future. I get to say that for myself, no one else, and to leave some space for continued change.

📊 Not every trend is for me and THANK GOODNESS for that. Perhaps it’s simply my age, or the return of silhouettes I recall with a shudder having ‘barely survived’ (*insert eye roll for hyperbole here) the first time around. Maybe wearing them makes me feel like an oversized baby or straight up uncomfortable…just nope. It is such a gift to have more of a bird’s eye view on the lengths to which I am (un)willing to go, to ever-more increasingly prioritize dressing for my own agenda rather than for others’. Also, this still leaves me uncountable and unknowable options and possibilities, such as that old chestnut, ‘Never say never’!

👑 I now prefer accessories to clothes. What does that mean? It sounds – and feels- a little bit like heresy but let me explain. This is a more recent development for me. I’ve always known that I adore accessories (I especially need more fingers, necks and wrists stat). Clothes were equal if not primary in terms of transmitting my mood, personal creativity, how I wanted to show up, etc. In recent years I have come to appreciate using my clothing as more of a blank canvas on which to splatter the accessories as paint. (Who says my Art History degree is useless? Metaphors are useful!) The versatility that comes with this sideways approach is truly awesome. I know, it sounds counterintuitively bananas, but it’s not! Promise.

I hope to get your wheels turning on how you feel about YOUR specific manner of dress today, and I hope you’ll leave room for the evolution and growth of your style – and self – always.

x Stephanie

This article makes clear that the principles that I have long used in my approach to personal styling and closet/wardrobe curation for all occasions is becoming a more mainstream movement. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see the demystification of 'Fashion' spreading and accepted more broadly to all bodies, all genders, all budgets. YES!

Prioritizing your everyday wear over the belief that only special occasions require the intention and special attention of a stylist is the core of my work, because we are all worthy of feeling GREAT each time we get dressed, across all categories including work, play, hobbies, athletic wear, sleepwear, underwear, swimwear, etc.

What you wear affects how you feel and how you feel affects how you are in the world. We can control so little. If you'd like to control how you face and move in the world, ask yourself questions about your clothes and how they make you feel physically and emotionally. If you'd like help with the process, I'm always available whether IRL or virtual.

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How to Finally Clean Out Your Closet The allure of a streamlined wardrobe calls. Here’s how experts say you can get there.