Is Your Wardrobe as Old as Your First Born?

One of my favorite pastimes? Style spotting, better known as people watching.

The human connection to clothing is so powerful. It's our armor, our first layer of many. Clothing can even give away how old your children are.

Now , everything's a first for me. I still can't tell you exactly where I am on any given day. When someone said "Barbra meet you downtown" I had to clarify downtown Hermosa not downtown Los Angeles.

The Grove up in L.A. when it first opened was my "normal" getaway from celebrity-obsessed Hollywood. Dean Martin singing while water dances on cue? Done and done. The first time I visited the happiest place on 3rd and La Brea, there were families coming to commune with one another. More strollers meant less hipsters. It was refreshing to just "be."

I feel the exact same way about my new home Hermosa Beach.

My first style-spotting location in Hermosa happened by accident. While visiting online date-turned boyfriend tennis coach Adam Burt on Pier Ave I found myself anonymously scouting out the mom scene without even realizing I was doing so.

I could tell you how old her oldest child was by her chords and CVS crocs even if said mom was picking up her youngest.

Clothing never lies. It hides the secrets we want to keep,  right? Maybe from one mom to another. I happen (not my choice) to not be running after toddlers to tweens. Instead I am your fashion fairy godmother who in a few hours becomes your confidante back to the world of "you" pre-baby(s).

Let me see if I am getting warm—you gave up silk the very first time your labor of love spit up on you. If it isn't head-to-toe cotton, you don't own it. Hell, you'd swaddle yourself if it would protect you from liquids and projectiles saved for horror movies. Poltergeist baby back to love child anyone?

When is the last time your husband saw your beach blonde hair out of a ponytail? You are at work the minute that ponytail goes up—in the trenches. No longer wearing dangling earrings as a job hazard,  you'd like to keep your long locks without having them torn out by powerful teeny hands.

Did you used to love fashion but now it's only something you dream about? What if you never made the connection to clothing? It takes a lot of courage to ask for help when you begin to start all over.

What I mostly notice around town is a lot of old clothing. As Pier Ave becomes the next Manhattan Beach Blvd. Like it or not locals. Some of you will get the memo and embrace the change and some of you won't.

I always say "I am only supposed to work with men and women that desire something different." If you like your dated funky beach self, you probably aren't reading me any way.

I am loving what's happening with new spots like . Cannot wait for the upscale tequila bar right in the thick of it all on Pier Ave. 

An aspirational lifestyle, yippee! Sweats and phoning it in attitudes be gone. Flip Flops and beach attire always welcome but perhaps one night when the moon is right you may want to wear a kitten heel and take your hair down. Yee haw!

Your city is evolving to its more chic beach self and this Hollywood to Hermosa Beach stylist is ready when you are.

I would LOVE to hear from you. Are you a mom drowning in your wardrobe? Write to me what's going on for you in question form and I will answer it in one of my next posts.

Tennis anyone? Want to hear some funky tunes while moving your feet on the court? Try Adam's cardio funk tennis—it's tennis for the whole family or drop the kids off for the week, courtesy of Gilt City.

xx

Barbra