Allow Me to Introduce Myself

The new year is here, and I’ve decided that I'm not going to bore you with some cliché entry about it being the perfect time for a wardrobe change, or a great time to make it your goal to try a new look, or to change that one thing about yourself that you just don’t like. Instead, I’m going to give you a bit of my history and background so that you can decide for yourself if you would like me to usher you through the wonderful world of fashion for 2008 and beyond. If you like what you read, please stop back often (and you can visit my personal blog Life in General). If you don’t like it, no hard feelings and I wish you the best in your quest for fashion.

Where to begin? The beginning of my fashion awakening, I guess…..When I was in high school, I was the furthest thing from a fashion plate. I was chubby, shy, and pimply, with a bad haircut and no sense of style. A tomboy through and through, my favorite outfit was a pair of straitleg jeans and my fast-pitch softball sweatshirt with my hair in a frizzy permed-once-too-often mess. I claimed to not care about what the “cool” girls wore, though I’m still not sure if that was because I knew I couldn’t pull off their clothes with my less-than-perfect looks, or if it was just that I enjoyed being different. When I was a senior, I quit my job in the town’s main hardware store for a sales position at the only other place that was hiring: the accessories chain at the local mall. That was the beginning of the change.No longer could I schlep to work in my beloved jeans and an Ace Hardware t-shirt; the most casual I could go on my new dress code was khaki cargo pants and a button-down men’s shirt. Suddenly, I was required to-gasp-dress like a girl! I soon discovered that I had an inner fashion diva just waiting to get out. (Picture the change in Andy from The Devil Wears Prada. That was the transformation I went through.) Within the first month, my 30-minute daily lunch break became a 30 minute daily power-shopping trip. As soon as the mall opened, one of us girls would head out to scout which stores had the best sales and we’d all head over there as soon as we were able. After just a few months, the manager of the salon in the mall offered me a free hair-cut-and-color-package with one of her student stylists, and I emerged a sleeker, smoother, shinier version of myself. In my circle of friends, I became known as the one with the way-out-there sense of style, and I relished the attention that came with the title.After a year of art school during the day and accessory-selling by night, I realized that I really enjoyed- no, make that, adored- fashion. I decided that art school wasn’t for me, and instead enrolled in a program called Fashion Merchandising. Within four years, I found myself as a buyer at the accessory chain, with a brand-new dress code, a brand-new address, and a brand-new paycheck! My new job as a buyer required that I keep up with each and every trend. Aided by the company’s Trend Department in New York, I devoured copies of Women’s Wear Daily and InStyle, and I soaked up fashion knowledge like a well-dressed sponge. I began to learn the merits of name-brand versus knock-off, of leather versus pleather, of dupioni silk versus silk satin. As my knowledge grew, my wardrobe shrank. Instead of wasting $10 or $20 dollars on a pair of shoes or pants that would fall apart in a few weeks, I began to invest in top-of-the-line leather stilettos and 100% wool trousers. These were timeless pieces that would last a lifetime.
Then, six months ago, everything changed. As my daughter approached her 6-month birthday, I realized that I needed to be home with her more than I needed another little black dress. I made the decision to work part-time from home and quit the paycheck, the stressful corporate life, and the fashion. But, as it turned out, I couldn’t quit the fashion. Now, I’m smart enough to realize that my daughter doesn’t know whether I’m wearing Steve Maddens or Steve Madden knock-offs from the chain shoe place at the strip mall, but I also know that I wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t keep tabs on Proenza, Vera, and Stella. As a compromise, I keep my actual shopping to a minimum and my window shopping to a maximum.That brings me to today, writing this blog for The Clothes Gallery. Sherree and I met last March when I was trying to get my home-based business off the ground. She said she loved the idea of a blog on the site, but just didn't have the time to keep it up herself. It sounded like the perfect way for me to share my fashion knowledge with others. I mean, really, what good is it knowing what the hottest looks are if you can't weigh in on them?

So, that about sums it up. I’ve been to almost every extreme on the fashion scale, from not-caring-Nellie to label-snob-Leslie. Today, I find myself comfortably in the middle, aware but not obsessed, ready to filter the best of the best and help you navigate the fashion jungle, aided, as always, by the fashion savvy girls at The Clothes Gallery.

Talk to you soon!
~Kelly VanHoveln