!!Just four weeks ago we began this journey together. One that most likely you’d never been on.

We’ve talked about your life, lifestyle, daily rhythms, what’s appropriate for your work or your kiddos.

We’ve talked about your style, your style chemistry, what inspires you, who you connect with, what inspires you, how you want to feel.

We’ve talked about your heart, what your insecurities are, where you’re unkind to yourself unnecessarily with your silent words.

Then we’ve taken all of that knowledge about who you are and what you want and merged it with all of my style knowledge on the how’s and why’s of this thing we do every day.

After today, we will have covered ten principles that illuminate how we can look the most effortlessly chic, and be the most empowered over these inanimate objects that have such power over our joy or self-confidence.

Plus we got practical, setting up your home for success, clearing clutter, streamlining and systematizing little by little all of this stuff called a wardrobe.

And finally, perhaps most importantly, we took action in getting creative.

Every week, you heard your fellow bettys talk about how challenging the challenges are. But y’all kept showing up. You set aside the time for yourself, you keep staring at the closet even as it grew

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dark outside, you didn’t give up even though you hated the first few outfits, you took pictures even though you were unsure.

And you made discoveries. Ones that were hanging right there all along, had already been bought and invested, and now they’re seeing the light of day and shaking off the dust or the tags. You’re wearing these discoveries into meetings and parties and showing off your creations you crafted by making the best use of what you already had.

Love, I hope all of that makes your heart bubble up the way it does mine!

Your daily beauty and self-confidence is something most women are only scratching the surface of and you’ve peeled back layers you may not have even realized were dimming your joy all these years.

Before we close this final chapter together, I want you to get clear on what you’ve learned. It will never be as fresh in your mind as it is right now, so tell it to yourself again.

!Q: What have you learned over the last month? What were the most powerful takeaways from this journey that you’ll use on a daily basis or have changed you for years to come?

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Make It Happen: Don’t skip this step. Head over to the Treehouse of Trust and share your answer. This gift will help remind others of gems they might have forgotten about, and make what you’ve learned here more palpable and muscle memory for one another going forward.

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!The final area we want to organize are our shoes and those miscellaneous drawers like pajamas and workout clothes.

!Step One: For your miscellaneous drawers, as always, all I want you to do is designate a side. Have a drawer over-flowing with old tees to workout in? In a month you'll know which half of those you can toss. Have 12 pairs of pjs jammed in that drawer? See which ones you're wearing in the next month and get honest about how many pairs you really need. One month from now even your "miscellaneous drawers" will have so much more breathing room!

!Step Two: For your shoes, you can designate a side. Or you can employ my cotton ball trick. Pop one in each shoe {this will cost you a dollar at the drug store} and you’ll soon be able to easily identify which ones haven’t been sported.

!And if you're holding onto shoes but not wearing them because they're uncomfortable ... as a NYC girl who walks everywhere, I feel your pain!

Make a pact with yourself from here on out to walk around the store again and again to see if shoes are really comfortable. Buy a half size up if you're unsure. Go back to a brand you know is comfortable on your feet for a second pair in a different style or color.

If you really need more time with them at home to be sure they’re comfortable, steal my stylist trick on photo shoots: Put masking tape on the bottom while you walk around at home so dirt and markings don’t scuff up the bottom. If you’ve realized they’re uncomfortable and the tape sticks when you remove it, use Goo Gone to clean up the bottoms before you return them.

Commit to shopping smarter because I can't stand one more client showing me her darling shoes with glee and then immediately declaring she never wears them because they're so painful!

!!

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As for shoes you already own, here’s a few of my tricks for making them more pain-free:

• Baby powder: Keeping your feet dry prevents the sticking and rubbing that can lead to blisters.

• Liquid band-aid: I put this on when I feel a shoe pressing somewhere to create a barrier before I walk around all day.

• Runner’s stick: This looks like a mini-deodorant and prevents the chafing that leads to blisters.

• Moleskin: When it’s warm outside, this sticks better than band-aids {that always sweat off }. Be sure not to stick it to an open blister, but putting the sticky side on your skin where you feel a pinch before a blister is a great long-lasting cushion.

• In-soles, cushions, heel grips: It can be worth it to get a few types and try them in a variety of your shoes to see which ones need which.

• Gummy dots: These small circular gel pads are great for creating space between my foot and a shoe where I feel it’s going to pinch or rub. To find out where the issue is before I leave the house, I’ll walk around in the shoes for 20 minutes, take them off and see if there’s any red marks. Those are the spots to employ any of the above before you leave the house!

!As a final organizing note, for any area of your closet where you hit a wall with “I don’t have any space to organize them the way you’re saying,” take half of them and put them under your bed.

If you don’t miss those shoes or workout clothes in the meantime, well, there’s your answer. If you do, then you’ll be motivated to clear the clutter from the first round, switch it out with the second, and eventually have whittled yourself down into the amount you can own that gives you room to breathe.

And ultimately, don’t you want more room to breathe?

White space is the answer to chic. In home decor, in graphic design, in an outfit that’s not too fussy from head to toe. White space is luxurious. You didn’t have to cram the furniture in a little room, the desperate copy in a small sales ad, every accessories in hopes of looking cool. You have room to breathe. You didn’t have to try so hard.

So when your reflexes kick in and you want to hold onto more stuff because you have regret over the money you spent or fear of not having enough clothes, my vote is to choose grace, breathing room, chic white space.

I don’t think you’ll ever regret that.

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Watch secret #9 here with the password “secret_nine”:

!Another pass at a few of my favorite finds from this secret:

• The chartreuse green dress

• That crop tweed blazer here and here

• Also a very similar example I found for my Mom

• My giant black sweater

• The vintage black dress

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Now it’s your turn:

Which takeaway will make the most difference in helping you to shop smarter? What’s the biggest mistake you realize you’ve made as to why certain items don’t feel as chic as you’d like?

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Next watch secret #10 here with the password “secret_ten”:

!!Now it’s your turn:

What’s one finishing touch you could be better about incorporating? Is it learning a new hairstyle? Investing in a chic handbag? Also what’s the fastest go-to to add chicness on a day you’re in a rush?

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Our other challenges have been about the stuff you’re not sure you love, this one is about what you totally love!

Style Challenge: To get an A as we wrap up class, I want you to give me an F:

• 1 outfit you’d wear to kill on a First Date or date night with your beau {feeling gorgeous, sexy or _____}

• 1 outfit that’s your new Fast Change go-to when you realize you have 10 minutes and no time to hem and haw {feeling effortlessly chic or _____}

• 1 outfit for Final Interviews or Fabulous Events {feeling powerful, successful or _____}

!Bonus Style Challenge: Start With A Kick

Start wearing those shoes that don't get as much love. Make the same effort you do with a skirt you're realizing you never wear. Try to make 3 outfits work with a pair of shoes you haven't worn during Style & Styleability.

!Bonus Style Challenge: End With A Twist

Create 3 outfits this week based around your accessories. Maybe it’s bolder makeup, a new hairstyle or a fabulous piece of jewelry.

!!!!!!!!!

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• One of my favorite TV shows is “The Americans” in which Keri Russell plays a spy. It’s very “Alias” a la Jennifer Garner, but what I love is that while Jennifer’s undercover ensembles were almost always a version of sexy, Keri’s are often mousy or awkward making her a brilliant example of the power of our hair!

• And finally, if there were ever a fairytale to fall into fashion, it would be “Sex and The City.” The TV show is outdated if you start at the beginning, but even popping in one of the movies or if you were a fan of the series thinking back to their characters, consider this as one example of how fashion tells a story.

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!And that, m’dear, is the end of Style & Styleability ... and the beginning of your more empowered journey into personal style!

Your style will be ever evolving. Take part in the next round of Style & Styleability, and I’m sure you’ll see new ways in which you’ve grown and changed. We should always be exploring, creating, taking new risks and spreading our wings. So this process is a gift.

There will also always be more to learn. People study fashion, pop culture, sociology, psychology for their whole lives and continue to have new discoveries.

But the foundations we’ve covered will last a lifetime. The creative stretching we’ve done has expanded you. And while that will ebb and flow, it will never retreat all the way back to where you started. You’ve pushed your vision of yourself and your creativity. And that jumpstarts some marvelous explorations in all areas of our lives and self-expression, from here to eternity.

My hope is that the Treehouse of Trust has been a gem for you. A place to hear that you’re not alone, that we all face the same challenges and that in truth we’re all far too critical of ourselves. I hope you’ve found inspiration there, seeing others grow, and hearing the insecurities and challenges we typically don’t have insight to when we pass another woman on the street. And I hope you’ve been affirmed and grown in your confidence, whether in taking a risk or embracing something new.

And if you’re ever in doubt. If the voices creep back in. When you’re nervous about taking a risk, fully showing up, pushing your boundaries, remember that glorious Marianne Williamson quote.

“... as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same ...”

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Who knew there was that much power in a fabulous dress or red lipstick? Yet I’ve seen it to be true. And I’m thrilled to know you’re now one more person giving permission to your colleagues, children, the woman in line next to you at the grocery store, to shine.

I can’t wait to hear more of your story as a part of Dean Street Society. See you there ...

!

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