Right before the holiday we worked with a personal shopping client to revamp his wardrobe into a tough, casual, and modern look. The subject? Yang Hu. The mission? Update his look so he no longer looked like an undergrad. Here were the results…

The Before:

Above: This was right before his haircut at Vain downtown. Notice how his clothes don’t fit well, bagging in unnecessary places. Fit was our number one priority, so we were determined to find cuts that made Yang look slimmer. The challenge would be to find the right silhouette for an inverted triangle body shape…

Below: But before we could start the hunt, we had to sift through his current wardrobe. Here is a photo of Travis stuffing everything into bags for Goodwill. In the end, we donated almost all of Yang’s wardrobe because of poor fit and a style similar to a middle-school-aged boy. The only items he ended up keeping were black denim, a charcoal gray button up shirt, his running sneakers, and two pairs of fashion sneakers. With everything cleared out, we were ready to get shopping…

The After:

Notice how much better his clothes fit. We made sure Yang went home with versatile pieces he could dress up or down and put together in no-fail combinations. So while we strayed a bit from the original intended aesthetic, Yang went home with a whole new winter wardrobe. Plus, a new haircut that is simple, easy to maintain, but sleek.

Overall: The first thing Yang said when he looked in the mirror to see his first full look was, “Wow, I didn’t realize how skinny I was.” This goes to show just how much shape can affect the appearance of weight. He was beaming, making faces in the mirror and chatting up a storm. The Verdict: Mission accomplished.

What do you think?

PS – sorry for the quality of the after photo. Our camera wasn’t picking up the low lighting so we used the owner’s camera.

We met with a client this weekend who is looking for a personal shopper to help him use style to get rid of his good boy appearance. He mentioned Johnny Depp being a style icon of his because he looks up to his nonchalant bad boy vibe.

Using Mr. Depp as a starting point, we realized no one better embodies this transition from good boy to bad than Zac Efron. After obtaining a squeaky clean reputation from the High School Musical franchise, Efron transformed his personal style to slowly phase out his good boy image. Now, he’s one of the most sartorial young male actors.

As the first step to consulting our client, we created the below mood board to give focus to our mission: embody a tough, modern, and casual aesthetic during our journey of transforming him from good-boy college student to an edgy and urban professional man.

We’re totally obsessed with the oxblood color invading the fashion scene this season. We’re especially obsessed with these ankle booties from MANGO, so when we saw the brand was hosting a contest on Polyvore we figured we’d try out hand at our ideal fall look.

We envision this worn with minimal face makeup minus a bold oxblood lip and a messy chignon. Style details would include the white shirt under the dress, with the collar and cuffs popping out. What do you think? We say bring on the sartorial season of the year.

We were chatting to some new bloggers recently and it wasn’t until we were talking about all of our most memorable photos snapped on the street that we thought to do a round up of some of our favorite looks from over the last 2.5 years. So here are the best street style looks from around the world. Click the image to see more looks.

While in New York we snapped a photo of Adria’s best friend, Colleen. We love her play on proportions, mixing cozy layers in a minimalist utilitarian look. We snapped this right after checking out the Aire Roman bath, a spa that has one of the best ambiances we’ve ever experienced.

Mind blowing detail down to the pocket watch and ring…

We were taken aback by this women’s ethereal presence. Her look is so simple, but with her slicked back hair and effortless demeanor she steals stares.

Love how she is mixing patterns and playing with proportions. Whimsy patterns with a muted color palette = styling success.