My Date With Stacy London

A few weeks ago, my friend Laura came into my office and asked me if I liked the TLC show What Not To Wear. Does anyone not like the show? After all, it involves, fashion, helping people make changes to improve their lives, and Clinton and Stacy. I told her that I love the show! She said, "good because Stacy London is coming to speak about her new book at sixth and I synagogue here in DC in a few weeks. Would you be interested in going?" I think I responded with "yes, count me in" before she got through the entire question.

For $35, I got a ticket to the book discussion, a copy of Stacy's new book, The Truth About Style, and I got to spend time at the lovely sixth and I synagogue.

On Thursday morning, I woke up and with the knowledge that I was going to see Stacy London later in the day, I tried on most of my closet looking for just the right thing...I know for a fact that most of the people in that room did the same thing. I also had to look presentable for work so I went with my black blazer, black Benetton top, and maroon pencil skirt, along with my target snakeskin shoes. Perfect. I was ready to face the day.

I had a great experience. It was like watching a super personal episode of What Not To Wear. Stacy talked about fashion, of course, but also her new book in which she writes about her own personal story along with nine other women's stories, and how style helped them overcome emotional and other obstacles that many (especially women) face.

I am only a little ways into the book, but I highly recommend it to all of you. She writes in a comical way, but addresses serious issues that we can all relate to.

Once the book discussion was over, Stacy answered questions and signed everybody's books (with a pink sharpie). Here are some of my takeaways from the question and answer portion of the program:

1. When buying J.Crew, buy a size down in bottoms and for any boyfriend cut, go a size up
2. Buy clothes to fit you, not the other way around
3. All of the clothes in your closet should serve two purposes - functionality and making you feel great - if it doesn't fit into both categories, get rid of it (I went straight to my closet when I got home and added several items to the donation bag after this piece of advice)
4. There is such a thing as "mom shoes" and "Pat jeans" (when you can't tell if they are for a man or a woman)
5. Plaid shirts are huge for men this season
6. Polka dots are huge for women this season
7. Finally, red should be treated as a neutral color - we found this out when Laura told Stacy she only has brown and black shoes and asked what would be a new color to add into the rotation (see picture below for Stacy's reaction to Laura's statement about brown and black shoes)

As for the book signing, Laura managed to ask a real question. I, on the other hand, was starstruck and only managed to get out "I love you. I watch the show all the time." Oy.

I had a great time and I think if you have the opportunity to see Stacy live, you should definitely go. You can see where Stacy will be on tour here.

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