A chemist, turned marketer and finally personal stylist is writing about getting dressed
It’s 7:15 on a Tuesday, and I’m standing in front of a full wardrobe with nothing to wear. I have fifteen minutes before I leave the house, and I’m already decision fatigued. How many times has this happened to you? I bet more than you care to remember... But here’s what I believe. We don’t need more clothes. We need to learn how to make great outfits with the ones we already have.
I know, everything around us says the opposite. The outfit we saved last night, the “new in” email, the trousers everyone seems to own this season. Each one promises that the next purchase will fix it. I don’t think it will. Getting dressed was never meant to be this complicated.
Recently, I styled a friend’s mum. Her wardrobe was full, but she wore everything the same way, and some pieces just sat there because she didn’t know how to wear them. One of them was a pair of ME+EM trousers. I paired them with her blouse and did one simple thing: I tucked it in. That was the moment. The trousers suddenly came alive, and she was so excited. She didn’t need anything new. She needed to see what she already had.
At this point, I think I should introduce myself. I’m Margarita. I’m Greek, and after studying chemistry back home, I moved to gloomy Manchester for a master’s in polymer science. Since then, I’ve learned to dress for four seasons in one afternoon.
Polymer science sounds far from fashion, but it isn’t. Your jumper is made of polymers. So is your “vegan leather” jacket, and the stretch in your jeans. After that I spent eleven years in beauty, first developing products and, for the last three, marketing them. It taught me two things: what actually goes into a product, and how good the words on the label can sound.
Clothes were always the thing I loved most. Growing up, I loved playing dress up, and I was the one dressing my mum, not the other way around. Last year I finally took the leap and trained as a stylist. Then, this September, I started Styled Humans, a styling business, alongside my full time job.
Which brings me to the title. I’m not quite a geek, so I won’t bore you with formulas and polymer theories. And I’m nowhere near an It girl... nobody sends me the latest bag, and I happily repeat outfits. I sit somewhere in between, and I think that’s a useful place to write from. I care how things look, and I can’t stop asking why.
Here’s what you’ll get. Some weeks I’ll break down why an outfit works, so you can repeat it with your own clothes. Some weeks I’ll look at what your clothes are made of, and whether the price is worth it. I’ll go through one iconic design at a time, starting from Clare Faulkner’s The Fashion Classics, and tell you where to find your own version now. I’ll share brands worth knowing beyond the ones everyone else wears.
Getting dressed should be the easy part of your day. Let’s make it that.
