Mile High Style

Liz did wonders for my home and my wardrobe.
1.5 years ago I was frustrated. I had decorated my 1960s ranch style home with a mix of Mid Century modern, some industrial and vintage pieces that I loved, BUT it wasn’t cohesive. I had scoured all the websites (Houzz, Dwell, Apt Therapy) and attempted to create the feel of what I knew I wanted on my own. However; the result was haphazard at best.
Working with Liz was the best thing I could have done. She really is a genius when it comes to working with my base style and bringing everything into focus and making every piece pop. She is so quick too. By reorganizing, removing items that «cluttered» up the place and painting the walls a different color — my home was transformed. Everyone that comes to my house comments on how great it looks and how it represents «my style». And every day when I sit on my couch enjoying the look and feel of my home, I think to myself «why did I wait so long??».
So here I am 1.5 years later. I knew what Liz was capable of… she had revamped the wardrobes of 2 of my friends, she did an amazing job on my home — why was I waiting to get her help on *my* wardrobe?
I feel I gravitate to a certain style — slightly conservative, with a love of menswear style shoes (wingtips, loafers, loafers with tassels… you get the picture), a little nerdy with a dash of vintage. BUT like my home — even tho I have some great pieces, I had been a stuck in a rut, making sure everything matched and the result was uninspired.
Liz had a great process for the wardrobe revamp. Not one second was wasted.
The process is as follows:
1. Check out my closet (20 minutes at most)
2. Shop for pieces that I was missing (I’m sure this varies by client, but we only shopped at 1 place for 1.5 hours — then we were done!) She worked well within my budget.
3. Order items from online. I wear size 5 in shoes, so it’s impossible to find anything locally, she had me order several pairs of shoes with the idea I would only keep a few and send the rest back.
4. Once I had everything — she came over and had me try on various outfits (shoes included) and the ones that worked, she wrote down
5. Go through my closet and throw items not being used in the donate pile. It was a BIG pile… all those shoes from the 1990s = GONE. Items that didn’t suite me anymore = GONE.
6. She met me at the tailor and directed sleeve length and hem length. I’m short 4’10″ — so many things had to be altered.
7. 1 day later she emailed me a detailed sheet of 22 amazing outfits!
8. Learning from her expertise — speaking to how to lengthen my short stature, how to mix up unexpected pieces — I’m quite sure I can come up with many more variations of outfits.
Closing thoughts:
She quickly picked up on my nerdy slightly vintage style. Her process style isn’t «cookie cutter» — it’s based on YOU and only YOU. What works for me probably wouldn’t work on anyone else.
Every outfit pops and brings my style into focus. Several of the outfits are made up of only items that I already owned. Other outfits incorporated the keys pieces purchased during our shopping trip.
While wearing my outfits, several people have asked me if I have lost weight. Nope, Liz just knows out to put things together to bring out your best.
i thought it would be hard to let go of stuff, but when I saw how MANY great outfits I had to wear, I loaded up the donate pile and headed straight to the Goodwill.
My closet is so streamlined and my dresser drawers so spacious.
Why did I wait so long?

I was in my early thirties, recently had a child, and had nothing to wear. I had no time shop, didn’t know what was in style, and therefore was intimidated to buy anything. I wanted to start building a wardrobe, not outfits off the mannequin that didn’t go with other pieces in my closet because I didn’t have the time or know where to shop anymore. A good friend introduced me to Liz and I started following her fabulous blog. Then, I mustered up the guts to have her into my closet. Hallelujah!
Liz is the consummate professional and one of my favorite things about Liz is that she values time as much as I do. She efficiently worked her way through my belongings, including bags, jewelry, coats, etc. Within the same day she sent me links to get started shopping on line. We spent one hour shopping together in great local stores and we got so much accomplished. I used to spend weeks trying to find all those pieces and bringing things home and then returning them. It was so worth the money to have Liz guide me through all the crap to find things that fit, looked fabulous and worked together with other items, and were in my budget. To save the best for last, once this initial shopping was completed, Liz came back to my closet and put all these outfits together for me, head to toe, on a typed up list that I keep in my closet and look at. Genius! Getting dressed for dummies.

I have never been much of a ‘Fashionista’. For as long as I can remember, I would rather spend my last dime on a computer or stereo than on a pair of shoes. Until recently, the nicest thing I had hanging in my closet was a pair of Joe’s jeans that some friends practically forced me into buying. I’m not sure what happened, but one day I woke up & decided I needed a fashion upgrade. My closet was packed full of clothes but deciding what to wear was a painful ritual — lots of trying on, finding things didn’t flatter or fit, trying something else on, still not liking how I looked. And when I thought I looked pretty good, seeing myself in pictures would tell a different story. I went into Chelsea one day, saw some information on Liz’s services & decided to take the plunge. Probably one of the best decisions I have ever made.
Liz came to my house, talked to me about my lifestyle & headed straight to my closet. I will admit that letting go of most of my clothes was a little painful. She told me what I should get rid of, what she would take to the consignment store for me and, most importantly, what I needed. I was a little tricky because I needed a casual wardrobe for wrangling my kids, a professional wardrobe for work and a fun, chic outfit for evenings on the town. I learned what shapes worked for my body, how to dress more age appropriately without looking ‘old’, how to find fashionable heels that I could stand in all day (challenging but possible) and how to put together a complete outfit. She didn’t just tell me what to wear but WHY I should wear it. I’m not sure how she did it, but Liz really figured out my «style» and created a wardrobe that was uniquely me. I have watched her work with some of my friends & the closets she has created for each of us is completely unique. Our shopping trips are all business & I always come home with bags of fantastic outfits.
Fast forward to today. My closet contains about half as many clothes as it used to yet I have triple the outfits. I feel like I can ‘shop’ my closet, mixing & matching, knowing that everything is going to fit & look great. I now understand the difference between ‘quantity’ and ‘quality’. When I am lacking a little inspiration, I just refer to my awesome 3 page list of outfits that Liz made for me (and is constantly updating). I am emailed links to online clothes when Liz sees something that would work well for me. I get compliments on my appearance daily. I feel amazing.
As a student in Liz’s fashion school, I am probably only a sophomore or junior. This fashion stuff takes a little work but I am loving the challenge of learning new things. And having Liz around to help me when I need her (especially the emergency texts from dressing rooms) is such a great bonus. I cannot recommend Liz highly enough. As I said earlier, hiring her has been one of the best decisions I have ever made for myself.

Am I Liz’s favorite client? She CAN’T make everybody feel this special… can she?!
I’m hesitant to write about all the incredible details and extra time & care that Liz put into our appointments. I don’t want her to get into trouble with other clients for treating me like her FAVORITE!
The process was new and intimidating at first. I was most concerned about our shopping budget AND whether her suggestions would be functional for my sporty, bike-​commute-​to-​meetings lifestyle. I have no problem spending money on cycling gear or electronics but never really had a good sense of what to do when shopping for clothes!
Holy Cats! In a whirlwind of productivity Liz asked a few questions, had me order a few things online to try, came over to my house and zipped through my closet. We headed out to the most efficient (and successful) shopping trip ever! She grabbed pieces, I tried them on at top speed, then headed home with a pile of new options.
One of the core values in the Zappos Book «Delivering Happiness» is «Delivering WOW Through Service.» Liz’s service is the picture of WOW. Seriously! After she assembled my new wardrobe she offered to meet me at Sephora to help pick out a few must-​have items to finish off my outfits, brought me some little band-​aids to keep in my wallet for shoe emergencies, and had so many outstanding suggestions to share.
I’m so thankful to have some new options, list of outfits so I never have to think about what to wear, and all of the incredible little extra awesome touches she added to the experience. It was not nearly as terrifying as I imagined, very fun actually!
I look forward to working together again and have been telling all of my friends about this terrific adventure.
And, I am loving all the compliments I’ve been getting lately too!

As a work-​from-​home professional I was stuck in a rut wearing the same clothing day in and day out. Who would ever see me right? What I realized in working with Liz is that my attitude regarding clothing also affected my self-​confidence. I was also a habitual «mannequin» shopper. If it looked great on the mannequin surely it would look great on me! This resulted in an endless cycle of orders and returns and a pile of clothing for donations. Liz listens to my concerns and comments and gently persuades me out of my comfort zone by selecting pieces I never would choose for myself based on self critical thoughts of «my arms are too big for that» or «that makes my butt look big». I love how quickly Liz works from the initial selection process to providing a list of wearable outfits. She has an amazing eye for style and beauty, chooses quality over quantity and isn’t swayed by the latest fads.

I must have spent 30 minutes each morning staring at the clothes in my closet and coming up with the same outfits time and time again. It’s not that I didn’t have enough clothes to choose from, in fact I had too many and only wore/​loved a fraction. I was SO SICK of everything in my closet and needed a re-​fresh. I wanted to incorporate the clothes I had and transition into a more sophisticated and stylish look. Lucky for me, I had watched my dear friend ‘Katie W’ as her style evolved and how fabulous she ALWAYS looked. She recommended I use Liz.
I’m in sales and have various events and trade shows to attend throughout the year. It typically calls for at least 5 outfits and I never want to wear the same outfit twice. I had an event in Newport Beach coming up so I hired Liz to put together outfits for me — she went through my closet and helped me pair items I would have NEVER put together and LOVED them. She added in a few new items and Katy 2.0 was launched! I love the way great clothes/​style makes me feel and I loved the way I felt in the outfits Liz created — unstoppable.
Liz is a woman with many style-​talents; I was looking to paint my kitchen and had about 35 colors (not exaggerating) on my kitchen wall. I couldn’t commit to a color… Liz came over and in 5 minutes selected a color and it’s AMAZING. In the further I plan to have her start decorating my house — one room at a time.
It seems that every season I have that same blank stare into my closet but the more I work with Liz the better I become at creating a look I love. Though I do wish I had Liz living in my closet! She has an amazing way of capturing my style and expanding my comfort zone. If you’re struggling with closet paralysis then Liz is your girl — she’ll remove the clothes that don’t work for you, add items that do and pair them all together. Your 2.0 is right around the corner!