yourstyle
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BREATHE FRESH AIR INTO YOUR STYLE By Jill Ellis-Worthington
We’re shedding winter’s weight, dark colours and heavy fabrics as we move into spring and summer. We want to up our SQ (style quotient) while maintaining the budget. Ridding ourselves of winter weight does not mean divesting ourselves of pounds put on over the past year while we have been isolating, it means losing the extra weight of the stress that having a messy, disorganized or clogged closet gives us. We need to lose the weight of the guilt we have as a result of keeping pieces that still have the tags on them because we’ve never worn them or items we’re hanging on to that are much too big or too small. All sorts of ghosts live in our closets, but Victoria Baird encourages us to rid of ourselves of all this dead weight, so our wardrobes can reflect our present realities. Realizing that the pandemic has wrought many changes to both our bodies and our perspectives, she adds, “What you keep is holding you back if you’re holding on to a person, place or size you once were. Letting go is very freeing because it lets you be the best version of who you are today,” says the image consultant. In her business as an image and style consultant, Baird works with clients to clear their clutter, ensuring that they have head space and closet space to organize the remaining items into unexpected combinations and add select pieces. Baird starts her client’s closet detox process with an assessment form. You can replicate this experience at home by asking yourself some revealing questions: What do you like most about your body? What do you like least? What three words describe the style to which you aspire? Who are your fashion icons? Do you impulse shop? If yes, what are the results? What are your personal and professional goals? Do you accessorize? Are you comfortable with and good at putting outfits together or do you wear the same items in the same combinations? Do your present pieces of clothing fit the way you work and live now? Answering these questions honestly will point you in the right direction but then you need to dig in and try on each piece. Start by feeling confident with hair and makeup in place. Stand in front of a full-length mirror or have a friend take photos of you. Use your cell phone to look at pictures side by side for a more objective assessment, advises Baird. Seeing
40 Lifestyle May/June 2021
