Get Set Grow! Shelley Kelly Style
Name: Shelley Kelly Style
Founder: Shelley Kelly
Est: January 2017
This month, we feature Shelley Kelly Style. Shelley is a Personal Stylist, she works with women in Devon to help them feel incredible, every day. She also offers a professional hand with wardrobe de-cluttering and personal shopping.
We asked Shelley to give us a little background on the business:
I have always been interested in fashion and friends tell me I have a real eye for putting a great outfit together. Studies have proven that how we dress affects not only our behaviour but the behaviour of people towards us. I wanted to help women harness that awareness for good, increasing their self-esteem and confidence in the process. I wanted to use my experiences of managing my own mental wellbeing to help women understand the link between what they wear and how they feel and vice versa. It’s not just about looking great but feeling incredible too.
I came up with the idea of turning a passion into a business on New Year’s Day 2017. I had hit 40 and, of course, gave some thought to what I wanted to achieve during the year. I just started thinking bigger and bigger, and got more and more confident, more and more inspired, thinking “Yes, I CAN do this”!
Talk us through the day to day running of the business, and how things are going so far:
Client feedback about the change in the way they feel about themselves, more so than how they look is hugely satisfying. Yes, we create cracking outfits, we buy great “£-a-wear” investment items, but more than that, clients say they are more confident, less self-critical, feel more in control and that this rubs off on all aspects of their life. I can see it immediately in their faces - they feel ready to take on the world! And it’s not always about buying a whole new wardrobe of clothes. In fact, there’s a real movement, at the moment, rejecting our disposable “fast fashion” behaviours, in favour of a more considered, slowing down of our consumer habits. I coach people in living more with less: a pared down wardrobe that really works for them and their lifestyle. The value of each piece is carefully considered in terms of how often you’ll wear it, not just the initial cost. It’s a modern day challenge to feel ‘stuffocated’ with the amount we have, especially in our wardrobes.
And finally, what are your plans for the future?
‘To be effortlessly stylish. To feel well put together.’ Those are the dreams of my clients so they’re mine too. My business is about fashion but also about understanding human behaviour around getting dressed. I want to share that with as many people as possible as I see the positive impact it can have on our mental wellbeing. It’s a set of lifelong learning skills around our motivations, personal branding, non-verbal communication, consumer habits and so much more. Yep – all that through clothes! My goal is to expand the business for men as well as women. Using my background in HR, I’d like to work with organisations to understand and drive their branding through dress codes which are appropriate for their business. Think about “business casual” for example – what does that even mean for men and women?
To get in touch with Shelley Kelly, drop her an email to:
[email protected], follow her @shelleykellystyle on Instagram and Facebook
Or pop onto her website.
