Karen Dean, stylist and founder of online boutique Wink to the Wardrobe, firmly believes that what we choose to wear reveals a lot about who we are: “I think our style choices are ultimately an extension and reflection of ourselves, our character, our mood, how we see ourselves, and sometimes how we want to be seen by others. Also, if we feel good and authentically ourselves on the outside it boosts our confidence and how we feel about ourselves on the inside”. We wanted to know more about Karen’s style philosophy and how she has used a lifelong love of clothing to create a thriving online business.
Talk us through the evolution of Wink to the Wardrobe.
It was an organic process. After a career working in fashion magazines and having had two children who were growing up fast, with a bit more time on my hands I started my Instagram account @winktothewardrobe offering styling ideas and tips. I then trained and qualified as a Personal Stylist and started offering styling services, namely wardrobe editing/styling, colour analysis and personal shopping. My online boutique, of the same name, was launched two years ago and runs alongside my styling services.
And do you have plans for where it will go from here?
Hopefully the business will continue to grow and develop. It is still quite early days with the boutique so that will evolve, and I plan to build on the unique concept of my wraparound services where I offer style services as well as boutique pieces – including preloved.
I love nothing more than helping women on their style journey, especially in the tricky menopause/post menopause/empty-nesting years. I’m a strong believer in going for your dreams and embracing opportunities at any age. For me it’s about No Age – not just Pro Age.
Where do you source the clothes in your boutique?
From all over really. I’m always on the look-out for exciting labels and independent designers, especially new brands. I source mainly from trade shows in this country and occasionally abroad.
It’s important to me that the clothes tick certain boxes: great quality, well priced, stylish (of course), that they will suit a range of body shapes and style preferences, and importantly, that they are versatile to maximise wearability and cost per wear.
What makes what you offer unique?
My business is a unique wrap around shopping and styling experience, where you can get various styling services. I have stand-alone services such as wardrobe editing, colour analysis and personal shopping, but also offer two mini style services, Style Chat and Style It which are video chats built into the boutique at a very reasonable cost. They are designed for people to ask any general styling questions and/or to get help incorporating boutique purchases into their existing wardrobe.
On your website, you cite the statistic that many of us only wear 10% of the clothes in our wardrobe at any given time. Why might this be, and how can we avoid future purchases suffering a similar fate?
I would say the most common issue (which we are all guilty of, including me) is holding on to clothing that no longer works for us and often hasn’t been worn for many years. That might be for a number of reasons: perhaps a change in body shape/size or a different lifestyle. They could be worn or damaged and/or held on to for sentimental reasons. Some of those pieces could be put away in a box or similar in another cupboard or even under the bed, so you are still keeping them, but they aren’t in your go-to wardrobe, where ideally everything is currently worn and works for you now.
For future purchases, one of my favourite tips is The Power of Threes: before purchasing an item consider if you have three other items in your wardrobe that it will go with, and if you can imagine wearing it to three occasions.
Karen, you look like you have a straightforward body type to dress, but for many women it isn’t so easy – are you able to offer meaningful advice to women with different ages/shapes/sizes?
Absolutely. As a personal stylist that is a key part of my job, and I enjoy working with people of different ages, heights, lifestyles, budgets, sizes, body shapes and style preferences. We are all beautifully unique.
Finally, how would you sum up your brand ethos?
Fundamentally, to help women at any age and stage in life to dress to feel more confident, empowered and happier in themselves and their choices. To consider the whole person, personality and lifestyle, as well as their body shape, and to encourage clients to embrace fashion, have fun with it and consider how pieces work together.
To browse Karen’s online boutique, visit winktothewardrobe.com and see more of Karen on Instagram @winktothewardrobe
