How we dress and how we express ourselves are so intertwined that it can sometimes be hard to know where one ends and the other begins.
Indeed, the clothes we wear (and the ones we don’t) play a key role in asserting our personality, able to bring swagger, confidence, elegance and glamour, all at the simple unbuttoning of a suit jacket or the tightening of a belt buckle.
But choosing what to wear and how to wear it can be so tricky when you’re so invested in the decision. That’s where a personal stylist comes in. Once a role reserved for the stars, more and more people are now choosing to avail themselves of the services of a stylist in order to get their look – and attitude – just right.
Today, we’re speaking to Paola Farina, a personal stylist with a unique talent, about how she can help you realise your aesthetic vision, and the IDEAL reasons to hire a personal stylist. Let’s explore further.
Who Is Paola Farina?
Paola Farina started her career in fashion in 2000 and founded her own company, Paola Farina Styling, at the end of 2018, after a fruitful experience as a consultant for communication and events at Sky Italia and Elsevier.
Paola Farina certainly knows her stuff when it comes to fashion, with certification from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, plus several other stints across the globe in key fashion houses. All of this has given her the tools required to excel as a personal stylist, image consultant and shopping assistant.
Her services are requested by individuals as well as by renowned companies. She has worked with groups such as Mondadori and Condé Nast, as well as numerous online portals, from MTV to TgCom. Today, she is based in Milan and works as a personal stylist to celebrities and mere mortals, alike. She also offers services to third parties around the world through her online presence and social networks.
Now that we’ve all got acquainted, let’s take a closer look at those IDEAL reasons to hire a personal stylist like Paola.
Sartorial Makeover
Many seek the advice of a personal stylist in revising your wardrobe and adding outfits that enhance their own personal style. A personal stylist is the ideal person to help you stand out from the crowd if you’ve decided to ‘rebrand’, helping you choose a new wardrobe that’s both synergetic and unique.
As we all know too well, a sudden, drastic change in personal style can often lead to jarring visual results. But a personal stylist will help guide you through this process gradually and seamlessly, able to consider your body type, face shape, unique colouring and more, before deciding on a new sartorial style that will complement you and only you.
As Paola tells us, ‘’A personal stylist is first and foremost a fashion stylist. It is not about making or creating new models for you. Rather, it will be a question of identifying, using ingenuity, the type of outfit and accessories you need for each of your trips, whatever they may be. The choice of clothes will be made from a morphological and colorimetric analysis of which she holds the secret.’’
We couldn’t agree more.
Image Consulting
If a person’s clothing style says a lot about their personality, it is the same for a company and the image it conveys to the outside world.
Yep, personal stylists don’t just style individuals, believe it or not. Image consulting is a major part of the job description too, and a key skill of the personal stylist.
In some cases, the very best personal stylists are given the chance to enhance the image of a company, a structure or an association via their clothing choices, as well as their hair, make-up and even the decor of their office.
As Paola says, a great personal stylist ‘’is able to study customised solutions to expose the image of a company in the best possible way. It is often a mistake for many to think that the services mentioned here are only for a reserved category of individual. Hiring a personal stylist is in itself a better investment with multiple benefits, both on a personal and team level’’.
Accordingly, if you’re part of a company looking to refresh their image, enlisting the services of a personal stylist is a wise move.
Express Shopping
Picture this; you have a job interview. You’re wearing your finest, sharpest white shirt whilst simultaneously savouring your usual caffeine-based pick-me-up and practising your well-rehearsed lines. We all know what happens next.
Instead of arriving at the interview wearing a massive coffee stain and a look of embarrassment, a personal stylist can be your knight in shining armour, using their access to express shopping and their connections across the city to deliver you a brand new sparkling white shirt in your ideal shape, size and style.
An Implicit Knowledge Of What Goes Together
Of course, one of the key skills of a personal stylist that sets them apart from, well, you simply looking in the mirror and deciding what to wear, is their implicit knowledge of exactly what goes together.
As Paola points out, ‘’personal stylists have experience in styling such a wide range of clients, and along the way, will have developed an implicit understanding of both what’s currently in fashion (and what’s not!) and what pairs perfectly together’’.
Giving you a bird’s eye, impartial view of what you need to look your best, free from emotion and preconception, a personal stylist can guide you in new directions that you wouldn’t have otherwise considered.
More Than Just Fashion Advice
A personal stylist is all about helping people look and feel their best. They invest their time and energy into helping clients gain new perspectives, insights and confidence, not only into their clothing choices, but also into their life.
Some say that finding a good stylist is a lot like finding a good therapist; the help one gives can extend far beyond the agreed brief!
Paola tell us that a personal stylist’s ‘’soft skills need to be on point, with social intelligence and emotional intelligence all vital in this job.’’
Accordingly, the best personal stylists can lift your mood, imbue you with a new sense of confidence, and restore a certain strut you’d perhaps lost somewhere in your past.
Now, where do we sign up?