Personal Stylists

Why: No time to stay on top of fashion trends, let alone shop.

When Susan Evans Reisetter heard on Entertainment Tonight that Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry use personal stylists to furnish their wardrobes and finish their hairstyles, she thought, “Why not me?”

Reisetter, owner of the Minneapolis PR firm Evans Larson, is hip to trends, but, she admits, not a skilled shopper: “I would walk into a department store saying I need a suit for tomorrow, and buy it because it fit.” Unsure about asking for help (“because as a woman I feel like I’m supposed to know this stuff”), she nonetheless started calling friends who knew personal shoppers and closet organizers, and was finally referred to local stylist Gwen Leeds.

“Middle-aged women are redefining themselves,” says Leeds, who’s been a stylist for fifteen years. “We don’t want to look dowdy, we still want to look fashionable—age-appropriate fashionable. Our bodies have changed and what used to work doesn’t necessarily work anymore.”

Leeds went to Reisetter’s home and did “feng shui of the closet.” Reisetter recalls, “I had a lot of skinny clothes that weren’t even in style anymore.” Next, Leeds sent Reisetter shopping for spring wardrobe essentials, and then the pair went shopping together. To help Reisetter with hair and makeup, Leeds brought in Rhonda Jackson.

“They said, ‘Who are you? What are you comfortable with?’ ” says Reisetter. “It wasn’t, ‘You’re going to have to wear low hiphuggers now.’ ”

Reinsetter says she has learned to assess what she has and needs, and what works for her. “I can’t tell you how much money I’ve saved. I realized I was shopping without a real good understanding of what I was trying to do.”