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Truth to be told, I’ve always prided myself on being a good dresser - that was until I went for my first Basic Fashion Styling class!
For context, I’ve always been an avid reader of styling blogs and I had an entire Pinterest board dedicated to “Fashion” with 750 pins (maybe a little excessive, but I proudly claim it as one of my go-to pastimes). If our lovely trainer Thomas were to describe my style, it would be the “Distressed Teenager with Overly Baggy Clothes” look.
Thomas has decades of experience in the Fashion industry working for major clients such as Nike, GAP, Calvin Klein, and Abercrombie & Fitch. I will say, he’s a classy man who has seen it all.
I first joined his 2-day class as a staff member, and did not have much expectation of learning anything new. After all, I had 750 fashion pins on my Pinterest board… but Thomas opened my eyes!
We first learnt about the different types of blouses, pants, skirts and shoes. Thomas explained that it was important to first know how to identify the different garments, before knowing how to style them.
After all, you don’t want to be walking into a clothing store just to say, “Erm… do you have the dress with the… pointy neckline?”
The best part was, Thomas made it so fun, that I couldn’t even tell that hours already flew by. The theory lesson was not even the least bit boring, and all of us were laughing every few minutes to Thomas’ jokes!
We then learnt how to style according to our body shape. I was aware of the basic body types: Apple, Pear, Rectangle, Hourglass, and the Inverted Triangle, but it’s always easier to identify them on others, than on myself.
Which is why… the “Thomas Clinic” was my highlight of the day! After the lesson, we queued up at Thomas’ “clinic” and he analysed our body types one after another. I found out that I was a rectangle body type (which was no surprise) but he also pointed out that I had long legs and a lot of stress on my shoulders. Maybe it’s time for me to stop slouching at my desk!
This also means that instead of always wearing overly baggy shirts, I should be flaunting my long legs by wearing more high waisted pants!
Body shapes were not all that we learnt, Thomas also identified our skin tones and matched them to different seasons. I was always comfortable with wearing black, but getting my skin tone identified helped me to realise a whole spectrum of colours that I could play with to look more vibrant!
One of the most interesting things I came to know of on that day was a foot measurement device called the The Brannock Device. I’ve always guessed my shoe size to be around 37 to 38, but the device gave me the exact size to a tee!
After learning everything we needed to know, Thomas released us into the shopping malls to practise the real deal on our chosen classmate.
Our group’s theme was: Dressing to celebrate the recent promotion to a sales manager!
We had so much fun patronising the different stores in Raffles’ Place and being stylists for the day!
Oh, and did I mention? We had our class at Sofitel Hotel, and we were welcomed by SO MUCH GOOD FOOD. Dishes came rolling in every few hours and some of us were even struggling to finish our portion. So well-worth!
The class was so much fun, and I got to learn so much about styling that I didn’t know about before! After this class, I think I will be trying on a lot more colours and stepping out of my “oversized look” aesthetic!
If you're interested to find out more, do WhatsApp us or drop us a call at 6011 8066 or if you want to sign up for Colour & Style click here!
