Now I should let you know that I’m a shopper from way back and before children I’d spend every saturday or sunday out at the shops, finding new clothes, makeup, jewellery or something for the house. But since having children I’m time poor. A trip to the shops now means milk and bread or popping into medicare. I ight pick up a new t-shirt or something basic that I don’t need to try on. If there is a special occassion coming up I might get an hour to myself but that’s it. There is definitely no time to trawl the shops and find a new outfit and even if I did there is no way I would know how to accessorise it properly or turn it into a total look. I also seem to have lost a bit of my identity and sense of body shape. Three pregnancies, four babies and the associated weight gain and weight loss in between has left me unsure of what fits and what I should be wearing. I know I’m not alone.  

This is why a stylist is so perfect, he did the hard work for me. I always thought stylists were for celebrities or people with too much money or that they would select outfits that were too expensive for me. But the greatest surprise was seeing Donny go into less expensive stores throughout the morning to complete an outfit. And another eye opener of the day, stop getting stuck in my ‘safe looks’.  And by having a whole outfit picked out from head to toe it gave me the confidence to do it myself. The stylist will tell you how to dress up or down your outfit, what to wear to suit your lifestyle (aka chasing little people around), styles to flatter your body shape, what colours will suit you and even how to wear them. Notice the trench coat is open – a technique called splicing which makes your body appear longer and leaner.

And so did I enjoy my day? Did I ever! And don’t ask me how I kept this a secret. The very next morning we had a kindergarten morning tea at a nice cafe and I would normally put on some safe black pants (slightly too big) and a tee or tunic top on to cover up but instead I put on a pretty wrap dress and black ballet flats and felt so pretty. At the risk of sounding overdramatic it really has changed my life as a mummy and given me the confidence again to walk into all different types of stores, focus on what looks good on me, shop wherever I want and best of all……………every month from now on I’m leaving the kids with retro daddy and having a shopping day out at Westfield and not limiting myself to certain brands but going with it. I forgot how much fun it is to dress up and I definitely feel like a different person.

This would have to by my best giveaway to date. And all you need to do is tell me why you think you need to be styled by a Westfield stylist. You need to live in Sydney or be willing to get yourself to Sydney to spend the day at Westfield with Donny and myself and don’t forget to leave your email address in your comment so we can email the winner! Entries close             March 2011.