Get Your Style Fix

Supertech

As a senior marketing director at Young’s Market Company, I make a point to always attend the professional mixers that University of Hawaii hosts. One, it’s great to see what you crazy kids are up to, but two, I’ve also made a lot of valuable connections at those events, both with the other professionals and the students.

One student comes immediately to mind, Rance China, who was extremely motivated to intern with me after I met him at a mixer hosted by his fraternity. He was bright, sharp and so outgoing that he could keep up with my energy (which is rare). His work in media and fashion was a nice complement to his business major, and it’s no surprise we connected at a table full of people in finance and insurance.

We worked together for a while, and I learned that not only is he good at styling, but he also is a full-fledged fashion designer. He’s really good at it, too. He’s had shows at fishcake, Kit & Ace and Honolulu Night Market. He also runs his own fashion and lifestyle blog, Made In China (madeincheena.com).

To learn that this young business professional is talented with styling was like music to my ears. Working three jobs, I basically have time to go from the office to a function to sleep to shower to back to work again.

While my closet for work and play is somewhat under control with uniform pieces that I rotate, there were a couple events I had to attend last year that made me realize I’m in a position where I NEED a stylist. Rance was able to style me for both my performance at the Hawaii Five-0 premiere and a last-minute decision to keep a planned trip to New York in the summer while I was still undergoing chemotherapy. He bounced over to my place with the cutest loose jersey pants and an athletic dress I thought I would never wear that ended up looking great on me.

If you’re one of those people who also doesn’t really know what looks good on you — and if you don’t have the luxury of having a Rance in your life — there is a website that might change your life. It’s called Stitch Fix (stitchfix.com) and it’s basically your personal online stylist.

It’s pretty simple: After you fill out a questionnaire about your lifestyle and fashion preferences, they ship you a box of what they think you should wear. You try it all on and only pay for what you like — otherwise, you can send it back. It’s like a CSA box, only instead of what to eat, it’s what to wear.

I would love to see a local company doing a similar service. Stitch Fix was founded by Harvard Business School grad Katrina Lake as a way to help busy women get their shopping done (currently, the service is available only for women). There are a lot of us who are too busy to spend time browsing clothing racks or who just hate trying on clothes. I would pay an extra little bit to have someone who knows my style pick it out for me.

@SUPERCW

CHRISTA WITTMIER IS “SUPERCW” ON ALL SOCIAL MEDIA. FIND HER ON SNAPCHAT, SOUNDCLOUD, TWITTER, VINE AND INSTAGRAM. BY NIGHT, SHE IS KNOWN AS DJ SUPERCW. BY DAY, SHE IS KNOWN AS SENIOR MARKETING DIRECTOR FOR YOUNG’S MARKET COMPANY OF HAWAII. HER NIGHTLIFE BLOG SUPERCITY RUNS EVERY WEDNESDAY ON HONOLULUPULSE.COM