Inspiring Conversations with Kelsea Neal of Your Closet Coach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelsea Neal.

Hi Kelsea, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I was a kid, I had the privilege and freedom to wear whatever I wanted, but I didn’t have the resources to buy whatever I wanted. My shopping trips were limited to the sale racks and by the time I was a teenager, I didn’t fit into “standard” sizing. Finding things I actually liked AND that fit me was almost impossible, so I created garments for myself! My journey of self-expression through clothes began at a very young age. I made the first outfit for myself from scratch when I was 9 and fell in love with the craft of sewing. After many twists and turns, but always with a focus on beautiful garments, I’m now using my 20+ years of experience in the fashion industry to help ambitious humans discover their authentic style and find confidence in their closet.

Learning to sew opened up an entirely new world of creativity and freedom that I’ve never left behind. I fell in love with the process of manipulating fabric into something beautiful, useful, and unique. My mom started teaching me to sew and when we hit the limits of her knowledge, my aunt stepped in. I continued to buy patterns and teach myself more complicated techniques through trial and error. To this day, when I need to ground myself, I create something with my hands, usually out of fabric.

My professional journey in the fashion industry began at 17 years old. I got a job with a designer in Northern California while still in High School. She took me under her wing and gave me invaluable real-life experience through attending fashion weeks, trunk shows, fabric shows, and seeing the realities of running a fashion business.

Although I LOVED fabrics, sewing, designing and everything that went along with making clothes, at that time, I still only thought of sewing as a hobby. I didn’t see it as a career until I had a couple years of college under my belt. It was in an Engineering class that I realized, “I don’t want to engineer bridges or buildings. I want to engineer clothes!”. Eventually, I moved to Los Angeles to complete my Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Fashion Design at California Design College.
My career ended up flourishing on the more technical side of the industry. I found my niche in working creatively with designers and then translating their visions to the people who actually executed them technically. My patience, personability, and tenacity to get things done right proved to be the magic sauce to succeed in that dynamic and challenging role.
After many years of creating absolutely gorgeous and luxurious items for wealthy clients and red carpet moments, I wanted to do something more impactful with my gifts.
My passion is helping people feel their very best in their clothing. In the early part of my career, that meant making fantastic clothing. Now I help people discover what it is about clothing that truly makes them feel confident, and create that reality within their own wardrobe. For me and the clients I work with, it’s no longer about the clothes themselves. It’s about learning about ourselves and being true to ourselves every day. Clothes are just the catalyst; the mechanism by which we can find our power.

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?
The fashion industry is not as glamorous as it seems from the outside. Of course there are moments of glamour, praise, and recognition, but those are tiny specks of glitter in a sea of immense pressure and the unrelenting requirement to be perfect. It will consume your entire life if you let it; and I let it.

By nature, I’m a people-pleasing perfectionist. Fashion is one of many industries that thrives because of women like me. We will sacrifice anything to be the best at our job and “make it work” no matter what. Burn-out is real. And I’ve been-there-done-that multiple times.

A few moments that exemplify the reality of this industry are: working until midnight on a Saturday night to finish linesheets in time for market week; pouring my heart and soul (and savings) into my own collection only to find that I did not have the skill to actually sell my clothing; getting off of a sleepless international flight and going straight to a trade show; literally bruised and bleeding after hand sewing on a 50 pound dress because it wouldn’t fit in a sewing machine; the list goes on and on . . .

After much therapy, self-reflection, and growth, I realized I could still do what I love and make a real impact, but in a way that is energetically sustainable.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In my business, Your Closet Coach, I help incredible humans discover their authentic style and find confidence in their closet. Every single person deserves to feel beautiful, worthy, valuable, sexy, powerful, and confident in their clothing every day.
The seemingly simple task of getting dressed actually has a huge impact on our mental health and it’s something we don’t talk about enough. We’ve all worked on knowing ourselves better through therapy, self-help books, podcasts, or coaching; but have we ever stopped to think that clothing and the way we present ourselves to the world is part of truly knowing ourselves?

As a culture, we are obsessed with fashion and style. Celebrities are built up or torn down by how they dress. Social media has set a very high bar when it comes to fashion; we see perfectly styled influencers in immaculately curated photos in an endless feed on our phones. And our reality doesn’t match up. So we default to something safe, easy, acceptable, and boring in the way we dress.

You might want to be more expressive with your clothing, but do you even know where to start? What do you actually want to wear?

I always begin by asking my clients, “How do you want to FEEL when you get dressed?” The conversations and work we do together follow different paths depending on the person. But it ALWAYS includes playing dress-up!

When was the last time you really played dress-up or experimented with your clothes during a time when you weren’t rushing to put together an outfit and run out the door? Gifting ourselves time to discover what we like, what we don’t like, and how we want to adorn ourselves is extremely valuable and SO much fun!

I host The Dressing Room every Sunday at 6 pm Pacific online via Google Meet to answer questions, and broadcast to Instagram Live. The Dressing Room is a place for community, fashion, experimentation, and self-discovery. I start with a specific item or category of clothing that I’m experimenting with, but my favorite part of The Dressing Room is helping real people with real questions about style, clothing, and how they’re developing their self image through clothes.
You’re welcome to join me in The Dressing Room. It’s a fee and gender-inclusive space.
In addition to Your Closet Coach, I continue to create things with my hands under the label Viola Moon and create custom projects of all kinds for lovers of unique and beautiful things.

With Viola Moon I get to indulge in my love of beautiful and luxurious fabrics. I turn scraps that would normally be thrown away into gorgeous flower pins for hats, shoes, lapels, etc..

One of my most favorite recent projects was embellishing some plain white cowgirl boots for myself. What begins as a process of creative expression almost always turns into a covetable piece of art-meets-fashion.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I’m most excited to see how the industry continues to evolve in the way that people shop: what they buy and how they buy it.

Thrifting and buying second-hand has gained popularity over the last few years and I think that trend will continue. This is fantastic for personal style because there are so many more options at a thrift store than there is in places that stock “current” inventory. The economy will most likely have an influence on the continuing trend of second-hand shopping. When financial resources are sparse, people spend less on brand new clothing and purchase more second-hand. Although this isn’t great for clothing brands, it’s fantastic for style and true self-expression!

Obviously, we’ve been buying increasingly more online than in-store over the last couple of decades. The experience of shopping online is going to continue to evolve and improve.

I hope that the way people shop continues to evolve in a way that encourages blurring the lines of “trend” and “style” and empowers people to truly wear what they want.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yourclosetcoach.kit.com/thedressingroom
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/your.closetcoach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563338102527
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/your-closet-coach/

Image Credits
Claude Jones