This Meal's on Me
Orientation day! Slide into the best seat in the restaurant and come chat with me.
Hi! And welcome to The Corner Booth. The best seat in the restaurant, of course. With every other person and their mother making Substacks, I am fully aware that you are choosing me like someone who decides where to eat in NYC. There are so many options. There are too many options. I want to create one that can stand out as different.
Let me know what you’re ordering! Today, I’m getting the Triple Decker Club. Meaning, what I want to do with this newsletter is three things:
Styling: I'm going to give a taste for my styling appointments. These appointments are like a shot of serotonin for me. My clients and I connect about things that supersede trends or fads. As shoppers, there is so much clutter to push through when figuring out what to invest your money in. Trends are constantly turning over, and we need to realize what we actually feel good about and like ourselves in. I hope to help my readers meditate on what personally feels good to them.
Silhouette System ™: Connected to point 1, I created the Silhouette System ™ early this year. Putting aside all of the trends and popular notions of what looks good, I believe we all have a particular style silhouette in which we feel the most comfortable and confident. These silhouettes can be broken into three groups: the Column, the Pyramid, or the V-shape. I like to visualize these silhouettes as trees because they are grand, powerful, and beautiful in different ways. They also live just like us and adapt and change as they grow.
This is how we can picture the three style silhouettes:
The Column is shaped like a Cypress Tree and is the style silhouette of the person who feels best with a fairly even silhouette from top-to-bottom. An outfit example would be a blazer, straight-leg trousers, and loafers or heels. This is a put-together, traditional look, and you can get creative with texture and pattern.
The Pyramid is shaped like an Evergreen Tree and is the favorite of people who feel best with volume below the waist. This silhouette will create either an hourglass shape for their already curvy figure or simply more drama on the bottom. Think of fitted tops with wide-leg pants or A-line skirts, possibly with statement shoes.
The V-shape is shaped like a Palm Tree. The person who favors this silhouette likes wearing things with bulk up top paired with bottoms that are barely there. The pantless trend has been perfect for them. For example, wearing menswear blazers with short shorts or mini skirts could be their go-to. A shoe (not restricted to, but perhaps a heel or simple ballet flat) and leg that seamlessly flows works well for this silhouette.
It is important to know your silhouette so that you can then adapt current trends to your comfort zone, using them as inspiration but still feeling like yourself. You may love an outfit that doesn't suit you when you try it, but knowing your style silhouette will allow you to create a similar look with similar impact, in your own way.
We will dive into this more.
Therapy Walks: On New Year's, I had Covid. I was stuck alone with my thoughts, and I got pretty low. The lowest I'd been since my 7-year relationship ended (Winter 2022), or my beloved Bow passed away (Summer 2023). It felt like something was dying inside of me. I forced myself to go on a Therapy Walk (I think this was the day before New Year, but the days all blended), which is what I call just a walk where I think to myself or talk on the phone to someone close to me (probably sharing my inner thoughts loudly to the entire Upper West Side because I can't gauge how loud I am with AirPods in). Something inside me switched, and I realized I wasn't doing anything wrong but approaching everything wrong. I saw what I wanted from my life and what made me happy. I recognized my passion on that walk -- which is my styling appointments. Nothing changed! If I knew what happened to my brain that day, I would share the secret juice. But I realized I needed to change my mindset and stop feeling bad for how old I am (not old), how much time I've wasted (none), or how small I feel (we're all very, very small, but don't have to be to ourselves).
That sums up my first post. It's a lot of text, and I actually plan on writing less here (we'll see). So, hopefully, I got this diary entry out of my system.
Thanks for joining me at The Corner Booth. Let's do it again next Saturday and make this a regular thing, but order something slightly different each time.
xo
Eliz
Feature image via @nymag