How to Look Good Clothed by Dressipi

I’m excited to welcome Dressipi, a London-based fashion start-up, as part of our Raise your Game series. Run by Sarah McVittie and Donna Kelly, Dressipi was set up to help ordinary women find clothes that make them look and feel fabulous.

Says Sarah, ‘Our idea was to create a fun and simple service where you could find all the clothes and brands in one place, and where every single item you saw was selected personally for you, based on your own style and shopping preferences (shape, size, lifestyle, colour, trend, budget etc). Like having your own personal stylist on tap.’

How it Works
Dressipi uses a carefully defined set of algorithms that calculate not only your personal definition of looking fabulous (your fashion fingerprint) but also finds your best size in any brand with no need to scan or measure.

Donna adds, ‘The name is from what is at the heart of the service – a perfect recipe to dressing well. As we all know, dressing well is not just about doing or wearing what your friends or various celebs are wearing, it is about dressing to suit your shape and your lifestyle all within the budget that is appropriate for you. We work with high profile stylists who make sure that everything featured on the Dressipi site is right for each individual customer.’

The user experience
Dressipi is targeted to all women who like to look good but don’t necessarily have the time or confidence to trawl through hundreds of sites to find what is right for them.

Firstly: The not so confident female shopper (either a life change, new mum, never really got fashion) who wants to feel like she is chatting to her best friend and not being hounded by the sales assistants or the overtly fashiony.

For people who are less confident, Dressipi delivers the following:
— A step by step to creating your own fashion fingerprint.
— Fabulous recommendations that are “Perfect For You”.
— “Ask A Stylist” feature – no question is a stupid question and we have already solved thousands of personal fashion dilemmas.
— Weekly bespoke Dressipi emails (Your Perfect Little Black Dress, Your Perfect Pair of Jeans, Your Perfect Trend Item etc).

Secondly: The more confident shopper – Dressipi edits down the massive choice of fashion specifically for her.

How to go from Fashion Faux Pas to Fashion Fabulous

Natalie Theo (3rd from left), Dressipi’s senior stylist and former Daily Mail fashion editor earned her fashion credentials at Conde Nast launching Russian Vogue and Greek Vogue, interviewing everyone from Yves Saint Laurent to Karl Lagerfeld. Follow her at The Fashion Chronicles. Here she gives tips on going from faux pas to fabulous in 3 easy steps:

‘Fashion is just like everything else in life. Once you accentuate the positive the negative blurs off into the horizon. Whether you’ve just had a baby (or two or three) and are looking to salvage some of your former fashion glory; or trying to keep chic (and almost sleek) through your pregnancy, or looking for that confidence-boosting outfit that will ‘wow’ your friends on a night out, it all boils down to the same thing…understanding how to use fashion to create a diversion to your assets and balance out your proportions.

1. Know your shape.
This is the foundation of a fabulous wardrobe, no matter how simple it is. At Dressipi we don’t do fruit. We do everything. I get so many women writing in who think they are bigger than what they are. Then there are all those women who hide their figures under tents because they hate their tummy, or think their boobs are too big. It’s not about hiding it’s about highlighting. Big boobs need a soft touch of skin on display – easily achieved with a v-neck, or a wrap neck. You can magic away your tummy with an empire line that creates definition up top and falls softly over the hips and waist to disguise…everything.

That’s why we ask you for as many measurements as possible. After all, it’s a proportion-balancing act (like daily life). Worried about bums, tums, thighs, ankles, boobs, you name it, we’re soon introducing a section to our site that will let you tell us what you want to hide and what you want to accentuate.

2. Find your style.
Some people were born oozing style. Lucky them. The rest of us – well – part of the fun is the trial and error bit. Thankfully we can now do this from the comfort of our own homes, laptop in hand minus daunting shop assistants. That’s what we are all about. The most important thing to remember is that style means feeling comfortable in what you are wearing.

No, I am not talking about baggy tracksuits, old comfy jeans and unflattering
slouchy tops. I’m talking about finding a fashion uniform that is you, no matter what the fashion magazines or your friends say. It’s the little touches that count, like a more updated jeans style (no we’re not going to force you into skinnies, but if you want to know how just ask) to freshen up your wardrobe, or a hot-off-the-catwalk print scarf, to dress up a simple t-shirt and blazer combo for the school run.

3. Don’t be afraid to push the boat out.
Once you understand your body shape and have found your style comfort zone, the fashion world is your oyster. Which means that every now and then you might as well have a little bit of experimental fun with something that you never really thought was you. So please use our free ASK A STYLIST service and we’ll be happy to launch you on your fashion path of discovery or simply solve your “I’ve got nothing to wear” dilemmas.

Visit www.dressipi.com for your FREE fashion consultation

Photos: (top) Winners of “Dressipi Best Dressed” competition and (above) Dressipi team from left to right: Sarah McVittie, Donna Kelly, Natalie Theo, Selina Mills, Nicki Black and Tara Kavanagh-Dowsett