Nothing To Wear???

By Alisa Leonard

OK…so enough of this crazy weather! One minute I’m ready to go out in my sandals and shorts and the next I’m back to throwing on my staple black winter coat. Blah! However, despite the constant teasing, I believe that spring really is just around the corner. So, mes amies, let’s breathe a collective sigh of relief and shed these dark and dreary clothes! Of course this means its now time to turn our attention to that all-important seasonal task — spring cleaning. Before you blanch entirely (because the past winter already has you looking pasty), today I’m talking about a wardrobe cleaning fest! And Clothes=Fun.

It’s the universal plight of women everywhere: bloated closets stuffed with decades of fashion hits and misses and the proverbial cry, “I have nothing to wear!”

Enter Oprah show guest gurus, Jesse Garza and Joe Lupo of Visual Therapy, a luxury personal shopping service (um, excuse me, that is awesome). Their approach to fashion and personal style is this: for better or worse we are what we wear. That may sounds harsh but look at it this way: don’t you always feel better and more fabulous in that favorite outfit that you look absolutely stellar in? “˜Nuff said. Why have only one or two stellar outfits instead of a whole closet full? Why not step out every day thinking, “I look fabulous! I feel fabulous! I am fabulous!” Think it can’t be done? Well, allow Joe and Jesse to prove you wrong.

Now, you’re probably thinking, “that’s nice but we can’t all have amazing personal shoppers and stylists”…(shout out to all you girls who can). Yet, there is a way to have some Jesse and Joe in all of our lives. Their new book, Nothing to Wear?: A 5-Step Cure for the Common Closet, is like having the guru Visual Therapy duo at your disposal. Lucky for us , the book just hit the shelves in time for the much-needed spring overhaul.

How can you achieve this magical wardrobe, you ask? It’s simple: Nothing to Wear? is like having your own personal style workbook from “the fashion SWAT team” themselves, guiding you to your most fabulous self. For Jesse and Joe, style is as much about bringing the internal you in sync with your external image as it is about fabrics and colors. Did you read that? Stop. Go back. Read it again. It’s about authenticating yourself, style-wise. The book is a step-by-step guide to defining your style, “editing” your wardrobe, discovering what’s missing and pulling it all together.

Excuse me, but where has this book been all my life? It’s as if Jesse and Joe have gone inside every woman’s head, heard the questions and felt the anxieties, and put into print the answers to your fashion conundrums. Through a series of quizzes and questionnaires you learn how to find your own fashion personality (they’re fun, and come on”¦who doesn’t like answering those little questionnaires about yourself?). The book is designed to be an interactive “workbook,” to help you achieve harmony and authenticity in your style and closet!

Some of my favorite aspects of the book: Sections on clarification (establishing our style icon), help in letting go (um, yes, my biggest problem…look, I tell myself in the mirror — book in hand ““ it’s time to get rid of that hideous printed blouse and the sequined tube top), and a guide to value shopping — how to spend wisely.

My favorite piece of advice from J & J? “If an item does not look good on you in the store, it won’t look good on you at home or anywhere else”….Yes! Jackpot! Who among us hasn’t stood in front of a store mirror, tugging at an ill-fitting piece of clothing, but we buy it anyway because we think “well, its probably just the lighting…” No! Do your fabulous self a favor and get this book.

Joe and Jesse are the only two men to which I’d say “change me, please change me!” Their whole approach will change the way you see fashion, style, and yourself — for the better. Darlings, it’s time to strut your amazing selves right into spring!