So, You’re Trying On Clothes Alone
Trying on clothes is easy. Knowing if those clothes work for you is hard. It’s hard to be objective about yourself. It’s hard to move out of your comfort zone. It’s hard to see yourself from the back. But since you don’t always have the luxury of a personal stylist at your side during a clothes try-on, here are our best tips for a seamless try-on when you’re solo.
Get a full-length mirror.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Having a full-length mirror is probably the best step you can take to make sure you look and feel great in your clothes each day. When you’re trying on something new, being able to see the piece in its entirety — as well as how it sits on your body frame (i.e. your whole body) is critical to making an educated determination on whether to keep or return.
Try on every single piece.
Yeah, we know. You can tell those jeans aren’t going to work for you. They’re too long and too dark and the pockets are weird. Now that that’s out of your system, put them on. Put them on all the way. Use the zippers and buttons. Tuck in your top if they’re high-waisted. Cuff the bottom so they aren’t pooling around your ankles. Turn around and look over your shoulder to see what they look like from the back. Now you can decide if they work or not.
This brings us to a universal truth: The tailor is your friend.
Many slacks and jeans come with wildly long inseams — intentionally — so that you can have them hemmed to the exact right length for your body. If fabric pooling around your ankles is distracting you from seeing the true fit, cuff them to the right length and take another look.
When it comes to pants and skirts, fit at your hips.
As mentioned above, length is generally an easy fix. Because of this, you should evaluate the fit of pants and skirts by how they fall across the widest section of your hips. If they fit comfortably there, you can likely take in the waist and/ or shorten the length. If they are pulling across the hips — even if the waist and/ or length is perfect — they are too small.
Shoes matter!
If you take something to the tailor, please have the correct shoes with you. If you’re going to wear a pair of jeans with boots, bring the boots. If you’re going to wear slacks with sneakers, bring the sneakers.
Download the Stylematch app.
If you don’t have the Stylematch app yet, we highly suggest you get it :) If you recently completed a Style Mini and texted us your Look pics, we’ve probably already added them to your account. When you log in to the app, you’ll see them right there!
Subscribe(!)
For just $29/month you can enjoy 30-mins of styling support with your dedicated personal stylist (not a random!). Not sure which pair of jeans to keep? Text pics to us and your stylist will weigh in. Need a local tailor recommendation? We'll send one right over. Our subscription is designed to provide the closest thing to personal styling on demand out there.
We’ve intentionally priced our subscription below market rate because during these early days, we want to encourage as many clients as possible to continue working with their stylists in this ongoing manner so that we can see what kind of help you want and how often you want it. Then we’ll take that data to build out a thoughtful styling subscription that is the best it can be.
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