About Nikki and her new book
UNLOCK YOUR STYLE
Personal style is a funny thing, isn’t it? For starters, it’s well … personal.
Which means what YOU like to wear may not be the same as what I like to wear. But do you know what?
That is a very good thing.
Imagine if we were all walking around dressed EXACTLY the same. Cookie cutter versions of ourselves greeting us at our local cafe, at work or on the school run.
BOR-ING.
Celebrate our differences, I say. Show them off. Wear them on our sleeve … or dress, coat, pants or statement necklaces.
When I left my previous life as a fashion journalist and magazine editor for a regional Australian newspaper, I could not have envisioned just what would unfold.
My former personal styling business grew from nothing. Actually, that’s not true. It grew from a handful of beautiful business women, friends who knew me and knew that I wasn’t going to make them wear anything that would leave them anything short of confident.
They let me into their wardrobes (this is such a personal thing) and they let me guide them to make new clothes shopping choices. I’m incredibly grateful they did because what started with a handful of people grew into a client list that reached more than 150 before I stopped offering one-on-one sessions at the beginning of 2012 to concentrate on helping women on a wider scale through this blog.
Those 150-plus women proved to be the best kind of market research that anyone could hope to have access to.
Because I’m here to tell you nothing you don’t already know already … no two women are the same.
The common denominator among these women – and many more through this blog – is that they were all looking to re-discover their style. They knew it was in there, they just didn’t know how to unlock it.
The other huge thing I’ve discovered is that it’s really difficult to fathom how to unlock your style when you reach a new stage or age when the only fashion cues around you are magazines aimed at (much) younger women on (much) higher budgets.
I am in my mid-40s and I refuse to wear denim cut-off shorts on the grounds that my legs are so not made for them but I also refuse to be pigeonholed into a style of clothing that others suggest women of a certain age should be pigeonholed into.
Style does not come with a use-by-date.
Style is dressing to suit your shape, your personality and your lifestyle.
It’s about owning your style. And not giving two hoots if someone else doesn’t like it. They don’t have to like it because it’s YOUR style.
Style is about getting up each morning and putting on an outfit that makes YOU smile. Even if it’s just one piece in that outfit that causes even the smallest upturn in the corner of your mouth … because God knows we all have THOSE days.
The feedback I’ve received over the past six years is that getting to that end point – that point where you exude confidence from knowing you’ve created a wardrobe and beauty routine that works – can seem like a difficult place to reach.
Unlock Your Style
And that is how Unlock Your Style will help.
The book (you can read the back story as to how it came about here) will take you through a step-by-step process to unlocking your style.
I start with our mindset. It’s not about dressing for a certain age. It’s not about waiting for the next 5kg. It’s about feeling good right now. Today.
I share my style stories – perms, scrunchies and taffeta frocks are very much up for discussion.
And I give you concrete advice and help on how to edit your wardrobe so it works for you, how to shop for clothes that you’ll actually wear and feel fabulous in and how to gain that all-important change-room confidence with every purchase.
On the beauty front, I dish out my skincare, makeup and hair tips – all with a busy woman in mind. We don’t have time for fuss but we want to feel pretty damn good.
Unlock Your Style is not about bombarding you with so-called style rules. It’s about helping you feel confident in your style choices – because when you feel confidence in those choices you can face whatever that throws at you.
This is a book for a girlfriend, a sister, your mum – any woman in your life who is looking for a boost.
