I know it's been discussed a lot on here but are style days worth it?

[CambridgeBlue]

I've been tempted for ages by a HOC Style Day (had colours done a while back). I'm 42 and while I've got a reasonable idea of what suits me and know what I like, I sometimes feel completely clueless, especially dressing for occasions - day to day I'm not too bad. I'm intrigued to find out why I feel comfy in some clothes but not others and would be fascinated to know which 'type' I am.

That said, while I enjoyed the colour session and can see how my chosen palette works on me, I do sometimes find myself wanting to rebel and wear completely different colours just because I don't like being told what to do! I don't want to spend £150 on the Style Day and end up ignoring what I learn.

Do you think it's worth it or should I carry on working out 'my style' by reading blogs and this board, Pinteresting endlessly and wasting too much time in the shops?

Blair thanks for the great summary - very useful!

I have an angular/straight body and that personality type too, but perversely I've found that sometimes I want to tone it down by wearing feminine stuff that has a bit of curve (because I have none). Other times, I like menswear bits, loafers, men's shirts etc. So in a way balancing Ying and Yang works for me.

I've found style quizzes too simplistic and limiting for real life. I like to wear slightly preppy stuff for work, more natural-leaning casual clothes and lots of denim at home, but love an occasinal all-out romantic outfit. The common denominator is that I prefer fairly clean lines and feel better in solid color than pattern. Texture is important for me but I have pale, muted coloring so I tend to avoid extremes in contrast. I respect some shape rules, but my body is quite easy to dress and I feel I can pull off lots of different styles.

I tried wearing dramatic classic clothes for a while, but it was not always easy to find clothes that matched my coloring and lifestyle (how do you do casual?). So I felt the rules were quite limiting.

I loved my style day and found the information really useful. I now understand why I can't wear jeans and a tshirt and look like a rock chic! I need to wear smart, expensive (good quality fabric etc.) clothes with texture or a twist. I'm a Romantic Classic and a soft curve body type. I can't wear anything too girly, no capped sleeves for example. V necks are a no no (too much cleavage). Soft but fitted lines work best for me.

I'm leaning towards wanting to do the Style Day now, really tempted!

It really helped me shop and look so much better.
I knew I looked good in fitted clothes as I am tall and a neatish hourglass
but I always felt uncomfortable and couldn't wait to rip them off. I felt comfortable in loose clothes but they made me look two sizes bigger
I was diagnosed as a natural injenue and now I feel really comfortable in my clothes and enjoy wearing them.
Many many people have said how much better I look.
I did a personal shopper from John Lewis before who was very good in her choice for me but I wasnt able to replicate it.

I loved both my colour and style days.

Having looked at a lot of info online I went along to my style day fairly sure what my profile would turn out to be - some type of classic. When my consultant said I was an ingenue (albeit with a hint of classic) I argued her down until she showed me a scrapbook she'd put together of all the different looks taken from magazines, and it suddenly clicked. It's not made a staggering difference to the way I dress from day to day, but I'm starting to build up a few pieces in my wardrobe that make me feel good, and to understand why that's so. My consultant was fab, I'd recommend her like a shot. She even sent me a birthday card when I turned 40 last month

I'm a Romantic Ingenue, which I translated as a medieval Elizabeth Taylor. Might sound a bit odd but made sense to me! It was how I already dressed but gave it some structure. I actually suit things that are soft and a bit floaty, May not be fashionable but I don't care, I have big boobs, hate looking top heavy/ tarty, so prefer to look elegant or a bit hippy than like Bet Lynch! Big boobs are the hardest body shape to dress IMO, so you have to get a bit creative and go with what works for you rather than what is currently fashionable as they will never be in style, sadly!

I found the style day more useful than colour, in many ways (I already knew I looked dire in black, although the nudge towards a more limited palette was great for me). Style was a total revelation for me though - my mum and sister are both incredibly stylish women, but all three of us have really different styles and body shapes (my mother's natural ingenue, sister is natural romantic, I'm natural dramatic) and I'd spent years buying the same stuff as they bought because they looked great. it was wonderful to realise why I felt like such a fraud in all the girly stuff, and how I could still look feminine in my own way - in fact more feminine than when I was trying to dress in a feminine way! I still play with the rules a bit here and there, because I wouldn't want to be in one limited box for the rest of my life, but I know what works for me, my body shape and my personality.

I am a consultant, btw, so you may wish to ignore my opinion entirely .

Oh, and a good consultant should be able to marry the inside and the outside - we're trained to do it! The whole point is that it isn't as simple as dressing a body shape. To those who felt their consultant didn't manage that, I'd consider writing to head office to mention it. Fashion sense is a whole other thing (some consultants are v fashion conscious, others not so much), but if you look around your nearest consultants hopefully you'll find one who looks like someone you could take advice from.

I should say, obviously the non-fashiony ones should be able to help you just as well as the fashiony ones, but you might be more comfortable with a consultant with a particular look/style/whatever.

I have a mismatch problem. I'm an hourglass figure but a tomboy personality. I want to dress like Sue Perkins but I've got a 1950s silhouette.
Any idea if they could deal with that??

If you are into Kibbe typology, a guide with pictures here.

museumum that sounds just like me! I was just thinking while watching Bake Off how much I like Sue's ripped jeans and blazer look but it doesn't work so well with boobs and a bum.

I did a style day, and I also turned out to be a Natural Ingenue. AND I am also petite and curvy. I found it interesting, and I could understand why certain shapes of clothing would suit me better. However, translating that into what to wear, and then where to find it is much more difficult. So I am trying to dress in my colours, but the style aspect is still not right.

Interesting to read about the 'rock chick' aspect of Natural Ingenue - the few Pinterest boards I've seen have been very pretty, 'wafty' kind of affairs. Not really suited to a short, stompy, robust lass like myself.

My Nomads catalogue dropped through the door yesterday and I remember thinking "that has Natural Ingenue written all over it" . Some of it's a bit waffly but not all by any means.

at "stompy" get yer DM's on girl!

waffly? Wafty.

I would dearly LOVE to get another pair of DMs, especially now I know they do vegan boots. However, I am not sure what I'd wear them with. I would very much like to stomp about at the office, but I don't think I could get away with that.

My consultant was very good at her own style, explaining why certain styles worked on certain shapes, and showing how details can make or break an outfit. I think maybe I was expecting more details about how the different styles translated into actual items in real life (ideally into items available in shops). And how to adapt the different styles for work, casual, evening etc.

I'm a natural classic and I still don't have a handle on how to make that work with my SAHM lifestyle. I feel a bit clueless about the whole thing!

Also my consultant is lovely, but not in touch with current style. She is ingenue and to me dresses like delores Umbridge. I needed things I could apply to clothes in the shops like kitty said.

I think it can be helpful to look at what slebs of different 'types' wear. So for instance, I'm a classic ingenue and so are Nicole Kidman and Helen Mirren. You can look at images of them and get ideas, although they do tend to be doing the red carpet look a lot if they're famous a tresses. I think Kate Moss is a natural ingenue, Adele a classic romantic maybe?
I've found it useful but it's taken a long time for me to get a handle on it - and I'm increasingly not so arsed about how I look as I get older. The best session I had was with an ex HoC consultant who is now independent and very stylish. I did a shopping trip with her and it was exhaustng but fruitful - she translated my style thpe into what was in the shops at the time. Very expensive though, and it'll be a long time before I can justify doing it again.
The HoC consultant was 't someone I'd emulate and ber advice was pretty basic, but it was a good starting point, even though I resisted the ingenue label for some time (how can a woman in her torties dress like a you g girl?), but the other consultant explained that it's a youthful look, in the way that gamine is, rather than the more mature classic and full-on womanliness of romAntic.

'Doloris Umbridge'
< checks wardrobe for embellished pink tweed >

Shotgun, I am totally with you on the being an ingenue as a woman in her forties. I am wearing more dresses as they do suit my shape better, but I much prefer trousers as they are just easier. I do not see myself as an overly 'girly' type, yet my figure is quite curvy. Romantic was far too full on for me, but to be honest, none of the styles really fitted.

I find work clothes the most difficult to be honest - I think other styles have it a bit easier for officewear.

I also felt my consultant was pushing me into a pre-decided box during the personality questions section - I'm pretty sure she'd already decided what I "am", especially as she made some hint towards it at my colour day a couple of months previously! It felt she was then trying to make me fit.

My main issue was I didn't feel I understood my clothing personality; I couldn't visualise how it was supposed to look at all. I felt very lost after the style day - still do really, though I think I'm getting to grips with the idea more now due to having a friend who did "get" it, and plenty of research on Pinterest etc since. I'm a Natural Ingenue and just don't have a clear mental image of clothing that fits this type.

I did the style day with two friends and I would say it was definitely worth it for them - they both now look fantastic and have had no trouble implementing their style. They're a Classic and a Romantic (interestingly, I have no problem imagining examples for these types, and knowing what they should look for when shopping). I have bought very little clothing since my style day (which I did over a year ago) - if anything it has put me off shopping and looking for clothes.

I think it can vary a lot depending on your consultant. I know quite a few people who have got on with it fine and rave about the whole process; you can see a marked improvement in their image. Maybe it's even me and I am not approaching it in the right way...

Indecisive tell me what I should be looking for when shopping please ????

That was supposed to be a happy face

I'm not sure. I came out as 14.5 Yang and 4.5 Yin, yet I was told I'm natural gamine, which is much more central.

I think that if you already have confidence with clothes it is good, but despite having the style day I find it very hard to go clothes shopping.

I loved mine! I'm a dramatic gamine and a very obvious one at that - my consultant said he knew as soon as I walked in the room.

It hasn't been groundbreaking - I was dressing right about 85% of the time anyway, but it has been good for tweaking, helpful with new purchases and useful to understand why some things that should suit my body shape (hourglass) don't work on me.