Finding clothes that enhance confidence and elevate a wardrobe can be challenging for those with busy schedules, who lack an interest in fashion or do not particularly enjoy shopping. Barbra Horowitz, a professional stylist and the author of “Closet Control: The Ultimate Guide to Revitalizing Your Wardrobe and Revolutionizing the Way You Store It,” finds clothing for clients wishing for a closet makeover. After being in the styling business since 2004, writing a book in 2007 and being featured in British Vogue in 2008, Barbra shares insight into how trusting someone else in styling can alleviate the growing pains of an updated wardrobe.
Based in Los Angeles, Barbra caters to the entire country remotely through online communication platforms. She aims to make clients their most confident selves with her email signoff even defaulting to “Does your wardrobe communicate your worth?”
Personal stylists work with clients to connect their inner selves to their outer selves through personalized ‘edits,’ or a selection of clothing items curated for their needs. Anyone looking to polish up their closets can connect with Barbra and find pieces that not only uplift their confidence but guide them toward a wardrobe that will serve them for years to come.
What is the biggest difference between an image consultant and a stylist?
“A stylist is basically not going around these rules. There are certain color theories of image consulting where there are rules: ‘You could never dye your hair brunette, you only can wear these colors, you are this body type.’ In styling, it’s so much more of art direction, it’s so much more creativity, it’s so much more around your energy. It’s really understanding that there are no limits or rules to your clients, and so you think really quickly on your feet and you’re not putting them into a segment. There is no segment.”
Are clients ever nervous to try something new and how do you get them through it?
“Yeah, they’re nervous and excited, but it wouldn’t be normal if they weren’t nervous and excited. Because the edits I send in are all returnable, there’s no risk. The biggest problem you’re going to have with an edit that I’m going to send you is you’re going to keep a good percentage of it. That’s going to be your biggest issue, so there are going to be things that are going to feel as one client said, ‘adverse.’”
Do you think buying base clothes for your wardrobe is essential?
“Most clients understand the base, but they don’t understand the exclamation point. Shopping is like clothing — it’s just buying pieces — but styling is another function of the brain. You can shop — and clients do shop in patterns and don’t realize they do — but they don’t know how to style themselves, so they don’t understand that styling is a puzzle because it’s so personal to them. The number one thing that people meet me with is so much like body shaming really. So much body type, body issue, ‘my body is so hard to dress’ and that’s actually not true.”
Do you think clients who believe in body types are actually putting themselves in a box?
“Yeah, because it’s really about energy. Body types are really old-fashioned. Body types don’t include ethnicity, they don’t include hair color, they don’t include the energy frequency and vibration of a person.”
Have you noticed clients are much more confident after receiving styling help?
“They’re just elated. The thing is, when you ask for help like this, you do think something could be different if it’s something that interests you, but if you don’t know how to do it, then you ask for help. It means I want something to be better, I want something to be different in my frame inside and out and styling is the same. It’s an inside-outside connection.”
To learn more about how you can upgrade your wardrobe, find “Closet Control” on Amazon or Google Books. Check out Barbra’s Instagram for fashion inspiration and updates @intuitivepersonalstyling.
