Conversations with Sally Wielgus

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sally Wielgus.

Hi Sally, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My career in fashion started when I was still in college, interning in public relations for brands like Calvin Klein and Nanette Lepore in New York. I got to help style models and celebrities for events, red carpets, magazine shoots and advertising campaigns, which was a pretty incredible introduction to the industry.

After college, I moved to New York full-time and spent the next several years working in buying, merchandising and e-commerce for companies including Ross Stores, Fab.com and ASOS. I loved the creative side of fashion, but I also loved understanding why things worked—proportion, merchandising, consumer behavior, trends and why one piece could completely change an outfit.

Then I met my husband while he was serving in the Navy, and life took a different turn. I made the decision to put the career I had been building on hold so we could be together and eventually start a family. After moving around for his career, we came back to North Carolina when he left the Navy and settled in Greensboro with our two daughters.

Being back here—and becoming a mom myself—made me start looking at fashion through a completely different lens.

I kept seeing women who felt like they suddenly didn’t know how to dress themselves anymore. Friends whose bodies had changed after having babies. My mom and her friends becoming more self-conscious as they got older. Women convinced they couldn’t wear something because of their age, their body type or some fashion “rule” they’d heard somewhere.

And I hate that.

Our bodies are going to change. Our lives are going to change. That doesn’t mean we have to stop having fun with clothes or lose the part of ourselves that wants to feel chic, sexy, cool or a little edgy.

That realization eventually led me back to styling and to starting Restyled by Sally. My approach is a little different because my first instinct isn’t to send someone shopping—it’s to go into their closet. Especially when everything is so expensive, I think we’ve been conditioned to believe the answer is always to buy something new. Most people already own far more possibilities than they realize; they just need to learn how to see them differently.

I think of styling almost like teaching someone to cook from a recipe. In the beginning, follow the recipe. Let me show you why the proportions work, why I paired those pieces together, why I tucked this instead of that, or why changing one shoe suddenly makes the whole outfit work. Once you understand it, start messing with the recipe. Eventually, I want you to throw it out completely because you know what works for you.

That’s really the point. I don’t want to change someone’s personal style, and I definitely don’t want them to feel like they need a stylist forever. I want to give them the tools to stop overthinking getting dressed.

I also don’t put much stock in fashion “rules.” Trends are suggestions. Rules are suggestions. Take what you like, leave what you don’t, and please don’t retire something you love because someone decided women over a certain age aren’t supposed to wear it. Getting dressed is supposed to be fun. We’re making outfits, not performing surgery.

I initially started styling clients locally, but being a stay-at-home mom with two young girls made it difficult to give clients the time and flexibility I wanted to give them. Instagram became a way for me to take what I was doing one-on-one and share it with more women while still being present for my girls. So for now, I’m continuing to grow that community and my virtual business, with the goal of returning to more full-time personal styling as my daughters get older.

And having two girls has probably made all of this mean more to me. I want them to see a mom who takes care of herself, feels good in her own skin, has fun getting dressed and isn’t afraid to express herself. I want them to grow up believing confidence isn’t something reserved for a certain age, size or stage of life.

If I want that for them, I think it’s important that they see me wanting it for myself, too.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Definitely not. When I decided to put my career on hold and move with my husband for the Navy, I found myself starting over professionally every few years. Remote work wasn’t really a thing yet, and we weren’t living in places with many opportunities in fashion. For a while, I felt like I was working just to work and really missed having a career I was passionate about.

Now the challenge is mostly time. I have way more ideas than I have hours to execute them, and with two young kids, my family is always going to come first. I table things constantly. I also say no to a lot of opportunities and brand partnerships because I’m pretty protective of what I share and don’t want to promote something just because a company is willing to pay me.

Some days I feel really good about the balance, and other days I feel like I’m doing everything at 60%. I’m still figuring it out.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a wardrobe consultant, stylist and content creator, which basically means if you have a problem involving clothes, I can probably help. I do everything from full styling and closet organization to packing for trips, dressing for events, or figuring out why you have a closet full of clothes and somehow nothing to wear.

What I specialize in—and what I hope I’m becoming known for—is restyling. Before I tell someone to buy something new, I want to see what they already own and figure out what else we can do with it. A lot of that comes down to fit and proportion, but also mixing things in ways you might not immediately think of: feminine with masculine, delicate with edgy, oversized with fitted, classic with modern, new with old. I don’t think personal style needs to fit neatly into one category, just like I don’t think age, body type or becoming a mom means you suddenly have to dress a certain way.

I practice the restyling part with my own wardrobe too. You’ll see me wear the same things over and over again. I take really good care of my clothes, keep things for years and genuinely enjoy figuring out new ways to wear them. If I’m telling people they can do more with what they already own, I should probably be doing that too.

I’m also pretty conscious of not buying or sharing something just because everyone else is. Honestly, sometimes the more I see something, the less I want it. I’m absolutely inspired by other people and occasionally jump on the bandwagon, but I never want my closet or content to feel copy-and-paste. At the end of the day, it still has to feel like me—I don’t want to give myself the ick.

The things I’m most proud of are usually the little things—someone sending me a picture of an outfit they put together using my advice, getting stopped by someone who follows me, or having a brand or opportunity come along that makes me think, okay, this little thing I’m building might actually be going somewhere.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Probably to stay true to who I am and care a lot less about what other people think. That applies to life, but especially to clothes. You can put someone in the most objectively “perfect” outfit, but if they don’t feel like themselves in it, you can tell. On the other hand, when someone genuinely loves what they’re wearing, their whole energy changes.

Confidence is really the most important part of personal style. Wear what you want, wear what makes you happy, and own it. People respond much more to how you carry yourself than whether or not they would have chosen the outfit themselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://restyledbysally.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/restyledbysally/

Image Credits
Becca Kate Photography