We're at the cutest boutique, and I rarely get the chance to come into a boutique, so
you think oh, these are such original things, you're not all wearing H&M like I am.
That’s where you come in.
That's where I come in.
Rosanna.
What are we doing?
I’m your guide.
I’m your guide for this boutique.
We’re actually pulling for a client today.
We’re pulling stuff for casual weekend wear, which this boutique is perfect for.
A lot of times, the first thing I look at is price point.
We set a budget with our clients.
Before I even start pulling, I have an idea of what brands are going to fit her price
point.
The client who we're searching for today, is probably a businesswoman, like,
in her 30s?
She is, she's super busy, she travels a ton for work, so she is not going to be sitting
here in a boutique going through stuff, so that's where I step in.
I’m going to pull things for her according to her specifications.
And bring it to her home, and we’re going to "shop" in her bedroom.
The entire process starts with her closet, usually the very first step is a closet audit,
Don't you love it?
We really are going through the entire wardrobe, assessing every piece of clothing, whether
it belongs in their closet, whether it fits, whether it's faded, worn.
We don't want to leave anything in the closet that doesn't belong there.
Have you ever had clients that say "Rosanna, I love you, I do not love the dress you got
for me."
Absolutely.
We bring lots of options.
The reason is there's going to be stuff in there that "I don't think I would wear that."
Our job also is — I joke with my clients, to scare them a little bit, push them out
of their comfort zone.
This process is supposed to be fun and make you think about style and fashion a little
bit differently than what you're used to doing.
I’m never looking at a client and saying oh, you know, in terms of judging their body.
This is just a canvas, and we're dressing your body to make you feel good.
Were you always into style?
Always.
You had the magazines?
I did.
I always loved it, and I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I thought I would make a living doing
it, but I did always loved it, and it was something I was always interested in and into,
even when I was working at Fannie May, developing content for websites.
I did not imagine that one of the top personal stylists in D.C.
I would be talking to used to work for the World Bank and then went into journalism and
then this.
You have had a really colorful path.
So many different careers.
However, I will say all of that experience informs what I do today.
I feel like part of the reason my business has continued to grow and thrive is because
a lot of that training that I got during those years doing other types of jobs.
After that, that's when I opened my first business, which was a clothing boutique in
D.C. right in DuPont circle, a little shop, and we specialized in emerging brands.
Expensive to do.
So expensive, I was young, naive, which is a blessing in disguise some ways.
That experience of having that business, again, taught me so much that it helped push my current
business.
Many times your first career, even your third career or endeavor, does not go the way you
exactly planned but can all lead to where you want to be.
Absolutely.
I feel like that's the beauty of where I’m standing today, is I can see that path, how
I did this and I did this, and it all led to this, because this really is what I feel
like my career for life, and I feel so settled in it and so passionate about it, and I can't
imagine doing anything else, but I wouldn't be standing here doing this business without
all that stuff.
We are personal stylists, we're personal stylists for your life, we look at the entire picture
of what you need, your closet, your life, your coloring, your body, everything.
It’s not just about buying the latest and greatest or what's beautiful; it's really
about what's going to fit in your life and what's going to feel authentic to you.