Stacy London Advocates Empowerment Through Fashion
When I first applied for a job at the News & Record, one of the things I worried about was having to wear clothes to work.
Decent, working girl clothes.
At the time, I was a freelancer, and as long as I didn't have to meet someone for an interview, I worked in pajamas.
That was about 10 years ago. But I recently found myself agonizing over what to wear to work for the first time in a long time.
A skirt couldn't be too long or too short. Pants couldn't be too tight or too baggy. The hair had to be styled. I needed accessories. No scuffed shoes. No stains, missing buttons or tears.
My look had to be perfect, because I was going to meet -- and interview -- style maven Stacy London.
The witty, raven-haired, impeccably dressed London came to Greensboro to meet with the VF Jeanswear marketing and merchandising staff. She's working with them on the Riders by Lee brand, which she'll be promoting in an ad campaign that launches in April.
For those of you without a clue -- or cable -- London co-hosts the TLC show "What Not To Wear" with fellow stylist Clinton Kelly. It's a makeover show in which they help transform fashion misfits into individuals with a better sense of what looks best on them.
The premise is simple: Fashion victims hand over their wardrobes in exchange for $5,000 and a trip to New York City to replace it. And they must follow London and Kelly's style rules. Transformations usually involve tears and a stubborn refusal to acknowledge that they dress so horribly.
Three things usually bring them around: secret video footage provided by their own friends and family; a three-way mirror that shows just how bad they look from every angle; and a seemingly endless arsenal of witty barbs about their offensive garb. They are shamed into submission.
So, before my interview with London, I ran a lint roller over my black cardigan and pea coat and inspected myself from all angles before the bathroom mirror.
Watch enough episodes of "What Not to Wear," and you even learn the wrong undergarments can ruin a look. London inspired me to invest in seamless underwear, Spanx and padded bras.
I wasn't the only one giving more thought to what they wore to work that day.
VF marketing coordinator Meghan Davis said she definitely gave her attire more consideration. Her co-workers checked themselves, too. There was a buzz around the Wrangler building leading up to London's visit: what to wear, and of course, what not to wear.
I arrived after her meeting with the VF merchandising department. London posed for pictures with several people. She wore jeans tucked into black lace-up boots, a long cream top, black cardigan and a cranberry scarf.
Then it was just London and a group of women talking style. London was -- like Heidi Klum on a runway -- clearly in her element. Merchandising specialist Kristen McQueen, decked in a black hoodie and jeans rolled up at the ankles, sat atop a conference table facing London. McQueen said she wanted to move beyond how she dressed in college.
London never tires of scenarios like this. She gives advice often, whether people ask for it or not.
Her advice to McQueen was simple and immediate: Lose the velour hoodie and take the jeans to a tailor to be properly hemmed.
McQueen's boss, merchandising manager Glenda Strickbine, was next. London complimented the detail in Strickbine's black blouse but advised against wearing black against "mature skin." Basically, older, fair-skinned women, in particular, shouldn't wear black. London suggests navy and chocolate brown.
No black? Strickbine laughed and said, "I could draw a line through all of the clothes in my whole closet."
It was like a scene out of "What Not to Wear," except without Clinton Kelly and the dreaded three-way mirror.
Then it was my turn.
With heels, I am just a few inches shorter than the 5-foot-7 London, who is not wearing heels on this day. She smiles, we shake hands, and she immediately notices the tattoo on my left wrist. She admires the delicate script of my last name, Firesheets.
She says she thought of getting a tattoo when she turned 30 (that was about eight years ago). She asks if it hurt to get tattooed on the wrist. I told her not nearly as much as the Japanese crane on the back of my neck.
And that's how our interview started.
I should not have been nervous at this point. But strangely, what started out as a mild case of nerves turned into full-fledged, knee-knocking anxiety. I was shaking like a half-starved, aspiring model standing before Tyra Banks.
There was no reason for it.
It has been said that her critiques are carried out "with the tenderness of a darning needle." But London knows the line between constructive criticism and mean-spiritedness. Strickbine said London's passion for wanting to make women feel better about themselves is obvious. You can hear it in her voice, she said. That's why people listen to her.
"There's something to building the identity of a person and helping them define that identity and basically building self-esteem," London said. "Fashion as an industry, I think, can be very dangerous. But style for an individual is, like, one of the most empowering tools that women have available to them."
London always loved fashion. As a little girl, she wanted to be a cocktail waitress because it was the only job she knew of that would allow you to wear fishnet stockings to work. Before "What Not to Wear," she was a fashion assistant at Vogue and a senior editor at Mademoiselle. But she felt out of place in that environment.
She wasn't 6 feet tall, and she wasn't 100 pounds.
"As much as I loved fashion, I always felt like I was trying to shove myself into a mold that, just physiologically, I couldn't fit into," she said.
That changed when she turned 30 and stopped fretting about trends. She started wearing clothes that made her feel beautiful, powerful and sexy.
The mantra she shares with women: Don't conform to trends or someone else's idea of beauty. It's about self-acceptance.
And in their show, London and Kelly always identify and teach women how to play up their best features: hair, eyes, small waist, long legs. These features sometimes are overlooked because the women often see only their imperfections.
London wants women to accept the size and shape of their bodies. Accept their age. Even their gray hair. She does.
Large silvery earrings sparkled against her long, thick Pantene tresses -- London is featured in a commercial for the shampoo company. But her contract includes a clause that allows her to keep the signature gray streak she has had since she was 11. She has always loved it and refuses to dye it. It makes her feel special.
That's what she wants "What Not to Wear" graduates to feel by the end of the show: special.
"I'm lucky," she said. "What I do now and what I've been able to learn on 'What Not to Wear' has been really enlightening. It's not just about making somebody look good. It really is about making somebody feel good.
And we underestimate what style and fashion, in particular, can do for women on a day-to-day basis. Because it's a symbol. ... It's a symbol of taking care with one's self, respecting one's self, being kind to one's self."
Women tend to forget this when they're juggling families and careers.
By the end of my interview with her, I start to feel special, too. She compliments my cabernet-hued suede satchel and the teal top under my black cardigan.
OMG, Stacy London liked my tattoos and my handbag!
I left feeling like "America's Next Top Model."
And she almost convinced me that maybe I don't need to dye my gray hairs.
Almost.
Contact Tina Firesheets at 373-3498 or tina.firesheets@news-record.com
Taken From News-Record.com
