Before I went to Chicago I hired Bethany Winters to come over and style me.
Bethany Winters
Bethany is an LA mom and stylist. She had just performed in our most recent LA Expressing Motherhood show and I had always wanted to have someone help me put myself together.
I like to look put together. It makes me feel good. I’m just not great at it. It takes a certain skill to pull it all together, in any field.
Me on a typical day. I lived in Hollywood for about 14 years and still, wet hair up in a bun is my go to.
So, I called up Bethany and had her come over to put my newly bought items from mostly Marshall’s and Nordstroms together with some older pieces I had.
My vacuum had just broke and my head was about to spin off planning my family to survive without me for the week. I was sort of mortified at the craziness in my house but it somewhat reflected the contents of my head that week.
Bethany very quickly went through my closet and started pulling outfits together.
From my shoes up to my earrings.
She would then take a picture of each outfit so I would remember what she had put together for each outfit.
She picked out my jewelry.
I have literally never, ever, had an easier time packing then I did for Chicago. She pulled three pretty outfits for show nights and two comfortable dress rehearsal outfits.
This was my favorite outfit she put together for me. My fake leather jacket I bought from H&M a few years back. And the dress is from Free People. I love Free People. I have been wearing them since I was a teenager.
She knows that I want to be able to walk comfortably, feel good and look good.
She planned my plane outfit! And going out outfits. Just by changing a necklace she made me look much edgier for the evening.
It was very fun having her.
If you live in LA and want someone to pull you together go for it!
Below are some questions I asked Bethany as I find what she does interesting and of course glamorous. I am the kind of person for some reason really struggles with getting her look together, even though I have the best of intentions.
Bethany Winters…….
I was working as a nanny for two little boys and their mother was a stylist. I started out doing returns for her on the side, and eventually she hired another nanny so that I could assist her full time. I did so for about three years until going out on my own. I’m a firm believer that the best way to learn anything is by doing it.
I’ve lived in L.A. for twenty years now, which still blows my mind. Having grown up on the east coast, I guess I just assumed I’d be raising my kids there – it didn’t happen that way. I was a production stylist for commercials and also dressed a lot of bands before the music industry kind of collapsed. After my first son was born, I worked for about six months until I realized that If I was going to continue full time, I’d have to hire someone. I didn’t want to, so I stopped working. About a year later, I had just found out I was pregnant with my second son, when I fell and shattered the tibia and fibula in my left leg. I was confined to my bed for 18 months and several surgeries and learning to walk again later, I had to do some hardcore reinvention. I wrote a successful blog (L.A. Stylist Mom) for three years and eventually used that as a platform to relaunch my styling career, this time for private clients. While I miss the excitement of production, this allows me to create my own schedule around that of my kids and for this I’m really grateful.
The amount that I work varies a ton. I have several higher profile clients who, if they have a lot of events surrounding a certain production (press junkets, photo shoots, premieres, etc.) I’ll work several weeks in a row. If I’m working with ‘regular’ women doing shopping, closet revamps or event styling, I’ll work maybe three days a week. I’ll occasionally do weekends in-person, but also do a lot of remote work via computer. I shop for a lot of my clients in other cities, since many are in the entertainment industry and therefore bi-coastal. Summers are usually my slow time, whiuch work out well with the kids being out of school.
They can e mail me directly at bethanyswinters@yahoo.com, on Twitter at @lastylistmom, Instagram at bethanywin or via my website at bethanywinters.com where they can find a list of services that I offer.
YOGA PANTS. While I’ve been known to commit the same crime, it’s cool if you’re actually going to/coming from the gym. As an everyday outfit? Not so much. I tell my clients that it’s just as easy to throw on a pair of jeans and a cute blouse as it is to puy on sweats every day. Truth. Woman (including myself) are also really hung up on “the number,” as in size. Wear what FITS you, not the size you used to be or think that you should be. Lastly – and this is probably more prevalent in Los Angeles – age appropriate dressing. If you’re 40? You shouldn’t be running around in Juicy Couture or the Victoria’s Secret PINK collection. I think women believe that by dressing younger they appear younger – nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing ages you more than looking like a middle-aged teeny bopper.
