Despite my focus today being on helping women entrepreneurs grow their biz, I still love playing with clothes. In fact, the two go hand-in-hand because I think looking the part is SO important as a woman in business. To celebrate the start of Autumn in Australia, I had the absolute pleasure of styling two wonderful women, Amy and Judy, in conjunction with Diana Ferrari.

Often known for footwear, Diana Ferrari has a great range of clothing that's often overlooked. (FYI I haven't been paid or compensated to write this post about Diana Ferrari. I just wanted to mention that in the interest of full disclosure... Hello, Barry O'Farrell!!)

To me it's the "go-to" brand for a woman with a "real" body shape. It's true-to-size (this means there's none of the alleged "size 4's" floating around the shop, usually designed to ninja trick you in to buying more clothes).

Plus I love that it's a one-stop shop, with shoes, clothes, bags and accessories. There's also workwear, weekend wear, jeans + evening wear. Price-wise it's not the cheapest label in the market but still accessible, and one of the better value-for-money brands out there.

I had two gorgeous volunteer models (who were so gallant, letting me just barge in to their lives to play dress up's). Judy & Amy, while different shapes and sizes, have each recently lost approx 30 kgs. Yes. WOW. These ladies are AMAZING.

I had so much fun styling them for their new shapes, with thanks to our friends at Diana Ferrari's Westfield Eastgardens store, and my amazing assistant stylist Rosa Caruana.

Judy (left) and Amy (right) before we hit the store

Judy in the Tess Shift Dress

What I love about this shift is that it's easy & comfortable. It shows off your shape without needing to be fitted and tight, and the little gold detail across the neckline means you don't have to fuss too much with accessorising (plus I'm a sucker for navy).

Amy in the Joelle Pencil Dress

Amy's been used to wearing looser clothes, so putting her in a pencil dress that hugged her more than usual was very brave of Amy. But she totally rocked it and the little peplum helps to camouflage, while the waist detail flatters your waist.

Judy in the Leila S.S.S.H.H. dress

Judy is one hot mum + business lady in this SSSHH dress. The in-built shaping technology and other new-fangled stuff that I can't recall the name of, gave Judy a gorgeous tiny waist and smoothed everything out! Plus the printed pattern & clever side draping helps to camouflage traditional problem areas.

Amy in the Sofia dress

Amy looked AMAZING in this dress. The visual trick of having black side panels to produce a slimming effect just never fails. The little black band helps to create a waist line, and the textured, structured fabric skims over curves rather than clinging. (And you have to love that clutch!)

Judy in the Amiel pencil dress

To finish the session, I had to see Judy in this blue shutter style dress. Not only was the colour amazing, the flat shutter detail is a great way to flatter. It showed off her amazing new shape and the radiance on her face was a highlight. LOVE.

Amy in the Krystal dress

OK, does Amy look gorgeous or does Amy look gorgeous?? Sexy, floaty and elegant. Grecian style dresses tend to flatter any body shape and Amy - you knocked it out of the park.

And that's a wrap for this session folks! See you in the shops + a big gratitude shout out Amy & Judy.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Amy & Judy, our amazing volunteer models, Rosa Caruana who assisted on the day.

*** All clothing, shoes and accessories from Diana Ferrari ***

Dressing For Curves - Autumn Winter 2014

Let’s age gracefully(ish) together!

@wendymak_stylist