Trisha, a fashion expert and Omiru.com founder, helps women resolve their figure flattery issues no matter what their size or shape.
Trisha's Story
"I've always been drawn to clothes, ever since I was very little."
I have always had a creative bent and come from a long line of really creative people. My father was very good at drawing and my grandmother was a seamstress. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit those talents, but in a way I combined the two into my love of clothes.
For better or for worse, my parents always let me pick out my own clothes, and some of my worst fashion moments happened in elementary school. I distinctly remember the first day of fourth grade - in the '80s. It was a rough time fashion-wise for everybody, but I distinctly remember skin-tight leggings, oversized T-shirts - and that T'shirt clip, of course.
"Eventually, I grew out of the '80s. Thank goodness!"
My love of fashion stayed with me as I got older, and it matured, thankfully. During college, I took business classes during the day and night classes at the fashion institute. I learned everything from pattern drafting to draping to fashion sketching to collection development, and after I graduated, I actually worked as a designer for a short time. I quickly realized that my love of fashion was really about helping other people. I knew I could do that through design, but I could do it even better through fashion advice.
"My goal is to make style accessible to everybody, regardless of age, income or personal architecture."
I started a style web site called Omiru.com, and our tagline is "Style for All." It's inspired largely by the fashion challenges faced by women of different shapes and sizes - myself included. I am sort of a walking fashion challenge. I'm short. I'm five feet tall if you believe my driver's license, and I'm shaped like a teenage boy, basically. I have no waist, small bust line. I've got big arms.
The most common problems I see on Omiru are figure flattering problems. Someone will come in and say, "I'm short-waisted," or "I have big arms," or "I am looking for something to fit my tummy." Those sorts of questions are the ones that we get on an almost daily basis, and it's great because we are able to answer those questions and help those people. We also open some of them up to the Omiru community, so we get readers coming in and talking about their solutions to problems as well. It's great that everybody has something to add, and two or three heads is always better than one!
"Fashion is not something you're born with. It gets better over time."
For me, learning about fashion involved a lot of trial and error, starting from when I dressed myself in elementary school until now. Along the way, I'm happy to say that I've tried out a lot of different styles. For men and women who are trying to figure out what they like and what looks good on them, I would encourage you to do the same. Don't be afraid of the dressing room. Try on things that you know you'll like, but also try on things that you might not like. That way you'll learn what patterns and what styles work best for you.
To me, the best fashion comes at the point of intersection between what you love and what works on you. Make that compromise, and I promise you'll come out looking and feeling great.