Your style isn't just about looking good. It is about feeling right. Our personal styling services combine classic principles with a modern eye and always put you at the centre of the process.
Style Should Make Life Easier
Personal styling is not about somebody telling you what you are allowed to wear. It is not about following every trend, dressing like somebody else or replacing everything you already own. Done properly, it should make getting dressed easier.
I’m James Hutchison, founder of Tasker & Shaw, and alongside being a tailor I am a trained personal stylist and image consultant. Styling has always been an important part of the way I work because even the best-made garment is only really successful if it feels like you. My job is to help you understand what works for your body, your colouring, your lifestyle and your personality, and then give you the confidence to make better choices for yourself.
Some clients come to me because they have never really thought about personal style before. Others know exactly what they like but struggle to bring everything together. Perhaps your body has changed, your career has moved on, you are dressing for a new stage of your life, or you have simply looked at a wardrobe full of clothes and realised that none of it feels quite right anymore. There does not have to be a dramatic reason. Sometimes you just want getting dressed to become simpler.
It Starts With You, Not the Clothes
The first thing we do is talk. I want to know how you spend your time, what you already enjoy wearing, what makes you feel confident and what regularly ends up hanging unworn in the wardrobe. We can look at colour, proportion, fit and the shapes that work best for you, but just as importantly we look at the reality of your life.
There is no point creating a wardrobe for an imaginary version of you. If you spend most of your week working from home, travel constantly, attend formal events, meet clients every day or simply hate ironing, those things matter. Good personal styling is practical. It is about finding the point where looking good and actually living your life meet.
I will always give you an honest opinion. Sometimes that means suggesting something you might not have considered. Sometimes it means explaining why a particular shape, colour or combination is not doing what you hoped it would. And occasionally it means telling you that something you already own is absolutely fine and does not need replacing. The aim is never to persuade you to buy more. It is to help you buy better and wear more of what you own.
Building a Wardrobe That Works Together
One of the biggest frustrations people have with clothing is owning plenty of individual pieces but never feeling as though they have anything to wear. Usually the problem is not the amount of clothing; it is that the wardrobe has grown one purchase at a time without much thought about how everything works together.
Styling allows us to step back and look at the bigger picture. We can identify the colours and shapes that work best for you, spot the gaps that are making the rest of the wardrobe difficult to use and think about how new pieces will work with what you already have. A good jacket should not need a completely new wardrobe built around it. A pair of shoes should work with more than one outfit. The best purchases should earn their place.
That philosophy sits naturally alongside the way we approach tailoring at Tasker & Shaw. Whether we are discussing a new suit, a shirt, a pair of handmade shoes or something already hanging in your wardrobe, the question is always the same: will this genuinely work for you?
Styling and Tailoring, Together
Personal styling is woven into every Tasker & Shaw tailoring consultation. When we help you choose a cloth or decide on the cut of a jacket, we are not doing it in isolation. We are thinking about your proportions, colouring, personal style, where you intend to wear the garment and what you will wear with it. That is one of the things that makes our approach to made-to-measure different.
But you do not need to arrive wanting a new suit to benefit from styling advice. You may simply want help making sense of your wardrobe, developing your personal style or working out what you actually need before buying anything else. Styling can sit alongside tailoring, or it can be the reason you come to see us in the first place.
There is no pressure to become more fashionable and no list of rules you suddenly have to follow. The aim is much simpler than that: to help you understand what makes you look and feel your best, so you can get dressed with more confidence and considerably less fuss.
Let's Talk Style
You do not need to arrive with a Pinterest board or a carefully prepared list of everything you dislike about your wardrobe. You certainly do not need to know what your “style” is already.
Come in and have a conversation.
Tell me what is working, what is not, where you feel stuck and what you would like to change. We can take it from there.
Personal styling appointments are available through Tasker & Shaw in Carlisle, Newcastle and London, with our travelling service available for clients elsewhere in the UK.
Ready to get started? Book your consultation and we’ll begin shaping your garment around you, from fit and cloth to the finishing details that make it yours. It’s relaxed, no-pressure and there’s no obligation to order.