Yahoo Finance Amy Schumer's Stylist Leesa Evans on How Clothing Can Build Confidence
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Picking out an outfit is something that every single person does every single day. And sometimes it can be tough. We've all had those mornings: five different sweaters lying on the floor surrounded by a few pairs of pants, and somehow, none of it seems right. But we have to catch our train to work, so on goes the first outfit we tried on initially (somehow, it always ends up being that first outfit).
We caught up with Leesa Evans, personal stylist to Amy Schumer and other Hollywood elites, on how clothing can help build our confidence, instead of taking us down.
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"Whenever I'm working with someone new ... the process is starting with, 'Who is this person?' ... and, 'When was the last time they felt truly confident?'" Evans told InStyle of her styling strategy. "It could be when they were wearing jeans or when they were wearing a sophisticated suit or dress. I find that ... when feel good, regardless of age, economic level, size, gender, ... we have this feeling that anything is possible. We sort of walk around with our shoulders back, great posture, a big smile on our faces, and that's what I'm trying to get at, what was it that inspired that person on that day that they can remember to feel that good."
VIDEO: Amy Schumer's Stylist Leesa Evans on How Clothing Can Build Confidence
After working with Evans, Schumer, for one, felt a huge change in her life, describing her fitting as "really emotional" and helping teach her to be comfortable in her own skin. "What Amy said is pretty common," Evans revealed. "I find that people do get emotional. It's deeply psychological ... because your life has gotten a lot easier."
"It's something that we all do; we all have to get dressed every day ... Everyone thinks 'Oh, well, it's just getting dressed. We should all be able to do it easily,' but somewhere along the way it became complicated and it's exciting to see it get simplified and become easier again," she said. "And I think that's part of the emotion that comes up, that, A) you like how you look and B) it was easy to get there. And that's suddenly where it's like, 'Yeah, I can see that this is going to make my life better, wow.'"
@alexanderwangny @alexwangny thank you for the beautiful gown @amyschumer looks & FEELS so good! 👌🏼
A photo posted by Leesa Evans (@leesaevansstyle) on Jan 8, 2017 at 5:36pm PST
According to Evans, figuring out your proportions, your body shape, and your silhouette can help you find pieces that will make you feel your best self. "You tried on a pencil skirt and you're like 'Wow, I feel strong and beautiful.' And then you're like, 'This shape reminds me of a skinny pant, a cigarette pant, a dress that's in that same pencil shape, a coat that's narrow.' You can recreate that narrow long shape with so many different pieces that you might already have in your wardrobe," she said.
"That's how you start to understand the shape that makes you feel good, in order to make up that silhouette that's individual to you and then to recreate that silhouette into your daily uniform," she explained. "Fabric and color are really secondary to shape. Shape is everything, and shape is what makes up our individual proportions that make up our silhouette."
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A photo posted by Leesa Evans (@leesaevansstyle) on Sep 16, 2016 at 3:40pm PDT
And figuring out how to stay on-trend doesn't need to be an ordeal, either, it all comes down to finding our basics. "All of our basics are different because it's all based on our proportions, so when you get it's so easy to pick up a trendy piece here or there each season because it's always going to go with our basics," she said.
For example, this past season we traded in our skinny jeans for a trendy flared crop. "It was an easy for people to pick up, because you already all the pieces around it that made it look simple and chic and individual."
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Evans even said that simple outfit compliments don't necessarily have to do with your outfit, but how you feel in the outfit. "Someone might say, 'Oh, you look incredible. You look great,' and then two or three comments later they're like, 'And that dress is amazing,'" she explained. "But it wasn't the first thought because the truth is the dress was just supporting you feeling great." We hear that!
