Do You Need Help Getting Dressed?

Fashion consultant Alice Selverian says one of the biggest mistakes women make is wearing clothes that don’t fit well.     

“If you don’t buy clothes that are tailored properly for your body, you spend so much time feeling negative about yourself,” says Selverian, smartly dressed in classic black trousers and a cap-sleeved blue and white blouse.

A woman’s fashion image conveys her identity, her selfhood and her personality.

But for modern women juggling a matrix of hectic careers amid kids’ little league practices, sometimes fashionable styling falls to the bottom of the closet. 

That’s when Selverian steps in.

“Those clients that seek me out have become unhappy with their wardrobe,” Selverian says. “My job is to get them feeling good about themselves again.” 

For eight years Selverian, 38, lived in Manhattan—the couture capital of the United States—and spent most of that time running the fashion marketing department of Parsons The New School for Design.

She grew up in Longmeadow, MA, and graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in apparel marketing. (She later received a master’s degree in apparel merchandising from Philadelphia University and now teaches fashion retailing part-time at Drexel University.)

While living in New York, she did a little personal consulting and found she really enjoyed outfitting clients and watching them develop their own bevy of style. 

Two years ago, Selverian met her husband, Stephen, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, while both were visiting a showing of the American-Armenian painter, Arshile Gorky.

“I ended up moving here for love,” Selverian says, smiling. They settled in Voorhees, near her husband Stephen’s childhood home, after the couple married a year ago. 

When meeting with new clients, Selverian will ask a mix of simple questions: Which of your body parts do you find most flattering? Do you have a feature you’d like to enhance? What do you think your style is?

“I try to layer in a person’s comfort with what they do in a day,” says Selverian, who dresses women—and a handful of men—in Burlington and Camden counties. She also has clients in Pennsylvania. 

People like to be curated and shown by an expert what is on the hip side of fashion, Selverian says. “I’m another pair of eyes looking at your wardrobe in an objective way.”

Selverian says the businesswoman who’s running a company will have different clothing needs than a stay-at-home mom running errands with babes in tow.

Eschewing flavor-of-the-month fads, she prods her clients to don clothes and accessories that are more long-lasting, and that convey polish and completeness.

After doing a run-through of a client’s goals, Selverian sets to work, buying pieces at Nordstrom, Macy’s, on the Internet, or any stores her client might prefer.

Selverian says she's sensitive to her customers’ budgets, being careful not to undermine someone’s finances. 

“I’m a definite bargain hunter at heart,” she admits.

Great-detailed jeans—especially this spring’s vibrant colors—are a must for today’s modern woman, Selverian says.

“Today we wear jeans during the day, but they work well into the night,” she says.

Selverian knows today’s active women desire comfort, but casual doesn’t mean stodgy. 

“Sweatpants and sneakers can be replaced with edgy tights layered with tunics,” she says. 

One client, Winslow Township resident Laura Bishop, says Selverian helped her pare down her wardrobe and “pull out 10 years worth of clothes” that were “just too dated.”

Bishop says her adult daughter noticed the chic transition right away.

“Alice gave me more bold accessories, like big gold bracelets and earrings,” says Bishop, the owner of a public relations firm. “I now consider new things when I shop that previously, I would have overlooked.”

First-time 30-minute consultations by Selverian are complimentary.

“I usually put together a look-book of ideas for someone," she says. After that, her fees begin at $85 an hour, with combination packages available. 

“Clients have told me that after their closets have been decluttered, it’s easier to get dressed,” Selverian says. “And in the process, they’ve saved money, too.”

For more information, Alice Selverian can be reached at 646-262-6723, info@aliceselverian.com, or visit www.aliceselverian.com.