Thea Wood and The Business of Finding Your Style Formula
Austin Woman Publisher Melinda Garvey undergoes an enlightening style transformation, thanks to the chic eye of style guru Thea Wood.
“Fashions fade but style is eternal.” Nobody could have said it better than late couture king Yves Saint Laurent. And what a mantra to have in a time and age fashion trends and fads come and go as quickly as the latest app updates.
While dressing stylishly is challenging enough when you’re young, the task becomes even more daunting after you hit 40. With so many colors, patterns and shapes to choose from, you could easily find yourself in a never-ending style crisis. Even though it may be tempting to rely on your tried-and-true favorite pieces (We know you can’t let go of that sequin jacket from two decades ago.), what if we told you that you could create a perfect wardrobe with colors and styles that directly reflect who you really are, empowering you to levels you didn’t think possible? Does it sound tempting? Do you think it’s unachievable? Think again because Thea Wood’s Signature Style Program was created with that exact purpose, and with you in mind, a woman that is powerful, confident and unique, but who has yet to find that signature touch that would make her look unique and unmistakable wherever she goes. Want to be convinced that it can work? Read on.
THE Program
Wood’s Signature Style Program was specifically created for women experiencing a major life transition, or women who are ready to start one, say a change of career or starting your dream business. It also targets women who are overcommitted, to a fault. Think of busy, successful women like our own Melinda Garvey, who, besides being a multi- tasking wife and mother, is also the publisher of Austin Woman and ATX Man magazines.
Garvey was going through her own personal style crisis, as she felt that her wardrobe no longer reflected who she is. In other words, it was time to make a dramatic change and embrace what is new with both her image and her body.
Wood promptly came to the rescue to help Garvey achieve all her stylistic goals by providing a comprehensive style consultation and the inevitable closet makeover. But the changes began even before Wood stepped into (and raided) Garvey’s closet.
The Makeover Step by Step
Step 1 Knowing Who You Are: Personality Assessment
Before Wood got into real action, she handed Garvey an insightful personal questionnaire designed to obtain a clear picture of Garvey’s personality, lifestyle, style preferences, challenges and overall goals. The questionnaire covered topics that ranged from music to favorite restaurants, to more personal questions, such as the strengths and personality traits that truly helped reveal Garvey’s inner self.
Once Garvey had answered all the questions, Wood was ready to determine the visual message that Garvey wanted to portray to the world, as well as Garvey’s true personal energy, which turned out to be yang. (According to Chinese philosophy, yang is the active, positive and masculine force that moves the universe.)
Step 2 Discovering Your True Colors: Color Design and Harmony
Garvey’s makeover finally started with a thorough consultation that lasted about three hours. During this consultation, Wood provided a custom color analysis for Garvey in order to discover her signature true colors based on her skin, eyes and hair.
Garvey quickly learned that colors are really our most powerful introductory card, and wearing the wrong shades can easily play against you and perpetually project a less-than-desirable impression. And since, according to some studies, we are judged on our appearance in seven seconds or less, who wants to take chances with it? Not Garvey.
Step 3 Know Your Shapes: Body Architecture Analysis
During the same preliminary consultation, Garvey also learned about her unique body shape. The analysis was based on her face, bodylines and proportions, as well as her unique bone structure. Truly, she was measured from head to toe.
Wood explained that, as time passes, women experience myriad shape fluctuations that are directly related to giving birth, lifestyle habits and the simple passage of time. And even though we are aware of these changes, we don’t necessarily reflect those changes in our wardrobes. To put it simply, we might be wearing things that fit our former bodies more than our current ones.
“No wonder I never have anything to wear,” Garvey said at the time.
Once both the Color Design and Harmony and Body Architecture Analysis were completed, Wood then created a customized portable color fan for Garvey, with the help of Creative Creations, a company based in Colorado that provides color solutions for image consultants. This customized fan is given to all of Thea Wood’s customers, and its purpose is to guide them in making the perfect color choices for clothing, hair, makeup, nail polish and even home decor. This fan is also used to help clean and restructure clients’ closest.
Step 4 Raiding The Closet: A Signature Style is Born
Perhaps the most fun part of the styling process is the day when Wood and client meet to restyle her closet. And in Garvey’s case, that was precisely the highlight of the experience.
Like most women, Garvey had a considerable amount of clothes and shoes that she no longer wore, but had forgotten she even had. Some of her other pieces were worn only once or, even worse, had never been worn at all. She also had an outstanding number of shirts, and a lack of appropriate bottoms.
Wood proceeded to create a wardrobe audit, during which she walked Garvey through the “love it, leave it or alter it” process, a kinder, gentler version of TLC’s style show What Not to Wear.
Even though the experience wasn’t as scary as the popular television show, the process was still not easy for Garvey, who had a considerable number of favored pieces that wouldn’t let go. Ultimately, she opted for keeping the pieces that really helped her project a new image while still maintaining some of her most beloved items.
To fill in any newly acquired voids, Wood also created a personalized shopping list for Garvey, with new items that would complement her renovated closet. (Think: a closet staple such as a vibrant red blazer.)
“Because we all need one of these,” Wood concluded.
The extra elements
Style Guidebook
Thea Wood’s program includes a comprehensive and customized Style Guide Book that’s all about her client’s new visual image. It provides detailed style advice, with the customer’s unique image in mind. This includes colors, shapes, patterns and even most desirable haircuts based on the client’s face shape and body proportions. The book is filled with images and information that will help users navigate their next shop- ping trip. It serves as a permanent guide they can refer to time and time again.
Pinterest Boards
Wood additionally creates a customized Pinterest board for each of her clients, with pins that support each customer’s new visual image. But since privacy is always a concern, client names are never disclosed on the boards. In Garvey’s case, the board (shown below) is filled with preppy themes and nautical patterns.
Psychological Consultation
For the personality assessment, Wood works hand in hand with Dr. Louise Menlo of Compass Settings. Menlo helps create the About U Report and participates in the psychological assessment with clients in the Signature Style Program.
Learn more about Dr. Louise Menlo and her services.
Captain Of Her Ship
Style profile for a petite, rectangle body type who is just shy of an hourglass shape. She likes nautical and preppy influences, owns a women’s magazine, is an outgoing, friendly go-getter, likes to minimize thighs, add height, and have fun!
“These espadrilles are perfect for Texas summers and work well with the nautical/ preppy styles this style profile client loves.”
“Maison Scotch lightweight print scarf is a smaller print that looks almost like a texture. For short necks, tie it like a sailor’s tie, low knot hanging vertically with a collared top.”
“A fit-and-flare hides the thighs yet creates an hourglass, as long as the waist is visually cinched with a dark belt that doesn’t add volume. V-neck is best!”
“A white leather tote is perfect for spring/ summer and blends well with your color pal- ette. Petite women need to be mindful that their totes aren’t too big, which can make your silhouette look wider and shorter.”
“These oblong posts by Kendra Scott mimic a rectangular face shape with a scale that helps keep the neck looking longer and slimmer.”
“This Alex and Ani ‘cross wrap’ expandable wire bangle reminds me of the nautical Southern cross. An exciting accessory that you can dress up or down with just about everything in this profile.”
“Long trousers like these dark-wash jeans with heels slim and elongate thighs.”
“A slip-on bootie is a comfortable, casual weekend choice. Try to avoid horizontal straps around the ankle (which shorten the leg) and wear with straight-leg or bootleg pants.”
Meet Thea Wood, the face behind Thea Wood Signature Style.
Thea Wood’s relationship with style and fashion began serendipitously after she gave birth to her son. Tired of concealing herself behind maternity clothes, even after eight months postpartum, she strategically shied away from cameras that would perpetuate a look she no longer felt comfortable with.
She knew something needed to be done to regain the confidence that seemed lost between a new set of priorities and responsibilities. Ready to make a swift career change and style makeover, Wood met with Dr. Louise Menlo, a psychologist at Compass Settings, a career consulting company based in Austin.
Menlo, who now also works as the About U Report creator for Wood’s Signature Style Program, helped Wood reconsider her own unique strengths and recognize what truly excited her. She soon realized that fashion, particularly fashion retail sales that supported her financially during her high school, college and post-graduation years, was one of her biggest strengths.
When one of Wood’s friends suggested she become a personal shopper, something finally clicked inside her, and she dived headfirst into the world of image consulting.
“It was like a light bulb went off,” Wood recalls.
She signed up for training at the Stoltz Image Consulting Institute in Fort Worth, Texas, and soon after, she found herself studying with Stacy London of TLC’s Love, Lust or Run and What Not to Wear, and Leatrice Eiseman, the creative director of the acclaimed Pantone Institute.
“Looking back, I was my own first client,” Wood admits fondly.
As a member of the Association of Image Consultants International, Wood continues her training to maintain her first-level certification.
“I now understand the art behind dressing any type of body and how important color and color psychology is in creating a visual message that says who you are and where you’re going, a kind of mantra for my clients,” Wood says.
On What Makes Thea Wood Signature Style Program Unique
“I’m more than a personal shopper. My services provide the tools and knowledge for you to be your own personal shopper so you minimize purchasing mistakes and build a wardrobe of mix- and-match garments,” Wood says. “Studies show that American women only wear 20 percent of their wardrobe 80 percent of the time. If you’re spending $3,000 a year on clothing, that means that $2,400 per year is wasting away. Of course, I provide shopping and wardrobe audit services because both can be overwhelming and time-consuming for a woman on the go.”
On the importance of color
“Most stylists understand the importance of color, but my custom color analysis reveals how to wear colors for a flattering shape and a psychological message that you control. It’s a powerful tool,” Wood says.
Wood’s programs, blogs, social media and workshops are designed to address image issues and give women the positive self-image they need to reach their goals. Wood has been featured in Fox News Magazine, on retailmenot.com, The Fashion Spot and AICI Global Magazine, where she is the managing editor and previous editor-in-chief.
Wood’s additional services include DIY Style Kit, Style for the Camera, A La Carte and Hourly Rates and Group Presentations.
The review
“When we began discussing this feature, I was definitely in a fashion funk. Getting older, my body was defying me and changing in places that I didn’t want it to, and that led to ugly, multiple-clothing change mornings, and I’d still leave the house feeling blah. In a word, my morning routine was complicated. And trust me, my life and work is complicated enough without that being layered on top.
I had met Thea Wood years ago in passing, but got re-acquainted with her through a friend of mine who had been through Wood’s Signature Style Program. I was hesitant at first about someone analyzing my closet (You saw the ‘before’ pics on a previous page.) and more importantly, critiquing my style. But my overwhelming frustration at my situation quickly overcame those fears. And the reality is I had nothing to fear at all. Wood’s program is so thorough and analytical that by the time I got to the stage of emptying my closet and filling it only with those things that looked good on me (more importantly, made me feel good), I was ready to purge.
As you can see by the ‘after’ photos of my closet, I got rid of about 40 percent of my clothes and a fair amount of shoes. The first thing one of my AW staff members asked was, ‘Did giving away all of those clothes make you want to go out shopping?’ The answer is a resounding no. I am so excited to shop in my own closet, now armed with the tools I need to pair the best color combinations, to find the best fit for my body type, to know when to wear dark on bottom and light on top to accent my best features, and to know how to use prints to draw the eye to great features and away from not-so- great features.
During the last two weeks, I can honestly say I feel better about the way I look. I put out my clothes the night before to avoid the morning stress, and immediately after wearing, I hang my clothing up in its designated place in my closet to keep that beautiful, streamlined look and feel. In a word, I have simplified. Ahhhh. And as a side note, lest anyone balk at the expense of doing an intensive program such as this, I can assure you that I have already and will in the future save far more than the program costs by not making the wrong purchases.”
—Melinda Garvey
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