By Gwen, mama of 3

There have been many times I’ve watched the show “What Not to Wear” on TLC channel and secretly wished for my own wardrobe intervention – only without the public humiliation and national television exposure. The truth is, my wardrobe lost its mojo somewhere between the dressing room and the delivery room. After three stints of maternity clothes and post-partum “roomy” clothes and “almost back to normal clothes,” I had to face the sad truth that I’d become a “uniform” dresser – jeans, t-shirt and comfy shoes – just about every day. In the winter, that uniform would include a zip-front hoodie over the t-shirt, but that’s about as versatile as I got.

There were mornings when I’d be sitting in the drop-off lane at my son’s school and notice another mom walk by who looked completely put together – with accessories, make-up, cute handbag, the works – and wonder why in the heck I couldn’t pull that off. Then I’d drive home, praying that I wouldn’t be in a fender bender because, if I was, I’d have to get out of the car wearing my pajama pants and my husband’s white t-shirt. Not a good look.

I knew I needed to shop for new clothes, but I felt like I was in a rut and didn’t know what to buy or where to get it. It was just easier and more fun to shop for my kids’ clothes, so that’s what I did. That’s when, as luck would have it, we moms here at nwaMotherlode heard about Stephna Masters – a former manager of a ladies’ clothing store (national chain) who’d left the company recently to start her own fashion consulting business in Northwest Arkansas. We just happened to be looking for someone qualified to write fashion articles for the website at the time. Needless to say, when Stephna offered to demonstrate her expertise by doing a closet makeover for one of the website mamas, my hand shot up into the air to volunteer. I was nervous about it but also really glad that perhaps help was on the way.

Here’s what happened: Stephna came over to my house (on a day when my kids were at Mothers’ Day Out) and looked through my sad, pitiful closet. I held my breath while she was in there because I figured she’d come out, shake her head and say, “I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do here.” But she didn’t. She started plucking things off the hangers and went to work. She laid out a large taupe-colored sheet on my bedroom floor and started assembling different outfits on that sheet – pants, top, shoes, and accessories. She’d ask me what I usually wore with a certain top and then she’d go find something completely different to put it with – a look I’d never thought of before. I couldn’t believe the number of outfits she managed to pull out of there that I’d never worn that way before.

She made notes on each outfit and then took a photo of it. While she did all this, she had me look through some of her fashion books so I could point out photos of outfits I liked best and we talked about how to achieve that look. Flipping through those books, I realized just how long it had been since I’d actually thought about what kind of image I wanted my clothes to convey. I’d been so busy being a mom and dressing my kids that the only real effort I put into dressing myself was to find a t-shirt that didn’t have a baby spit-up stain on it.

After a couple hours, Stephna finished her closet magic and we put everything away. She told me what basic pieces she thought I could shop for that would expand my outfit possibilities. She even wrote a list for me in a little purse-size notebook, with ideas for which shops to check out and what types of fabrics and colors to look for.

When she left, I was actually excited about the thought of going shopping – a task I usually dreaded. For the first time, I felt like I knew what I was looking for and, more importantly, why those pieces work for me. It was quite an education in two hours’ time.

A few days later, Stephna dropped back by my house to deliver a small photo album containing pictures of all the different outfits she’d pulled together from my closet – 25 different looks, complete with typed-up notes on each outfit. It’s my own little cheat-sheet book that lives in my closet and helps me answer that age-old question “What could I wear today?”

Since then, I’ve been implementing the tips I learned, and my husband and even my kids have noticed the difference. Even better, I notice a difference in myself. When I take the extra time to put together an outfit I feel good about, I carry myself differently. I feel like I can handle the day a little better. I flirt with my husband more. It’s all good. Of course, there are still days when I’m running behind and I race out of the house looking a lot less than polished. Hey, we’re all human. But I’m definitely on the road to fashion recovery, and for the first time in a long time, clothes are fun again.

For more info on closet consultations like the one I had, e-mail Stephna at mamas@nwaMotherlode.com or call her for your own consultation at 479-841-2360.