If You Love Yourself...

you'll unload that extra baggage from 2008 I've been begging you to get rid of. You owe it to yourself to bring your A-game whenever you can. Love your closet. Love yourself. And because the Style Therapist is full of so much love, I'm offering a Valentine's Day Special. If you book a CLOSET DETOX by February 22, you'll receive 2 full hours of Style Therapy for $65. That's a 13% discount!! And for those of you who aren't ready to give up those old smelly, DNA covered college sweatshirts and those MC Hammer pants—I'm not giving up on you yet!

Birthday Wish/Birthday Present

Birthdays only come once a year, so it's imperative that the wishes made are important ones. It is my wish that you all bring your A-game: when you go to the bodega for a quart of milk, when you have a presentation before the board of trustees, and when you bump into your crush at Danceteria. Despite the recession, there are options.

If you were born between January 20 and February 18, you get Aquarius 30% discount off of a CLOSET DETOX—a phenomenal deal that Oprah, Jennifer Anniston, and Christie Brinkley can utilize. If you fall under the other eleven astrological signs, no need to fret. There's the popular CAPSULE COLLECTION service that many people have found incredibly helpful. With a wardrobe foundation, the possibilities are endless. We've all brought our C-game long enough. The C-game is average. It's the year of the ox. It's time to be above average!

Blame Sex and the City

As was the case with a lot of women who experienced their early twenties during the early Noughties, Sex and the City (SATC) was one of my favorite programs. Out of the four characters, we could all relate to at least one of them on some level. And those clothes, those wonderful clothes. Costume designer Pat Field realized how important dress was to the development of these characters. Remember how Miranda dressed during the first season as opposed to the later seasons? She and Charlotte, for a time, dressed in a near-stereotypical manner. The former clad in sterile all-black, and the latter in wasp waist enhancing dresses with a bow or ruffle planted somewhere.

Many of us were heavily influenced by the SATC philosophy of having fun with personal style. I was no stranger to the oversized flower corsage on my coat lapel during early 2001. And Carrie Bradshaw helped to usher in the vintage craze. Very few people indulged in used clothing before she made it acceptable. If they did, they were either high-end collectors of Courrèges and Rabanne or grungy types who had a steady rotation of flannel.

However, some have taken their personal style too far. Whatever your aesthetic is, it's imperative to edit. Thankfully, we're in the middle of winter and people are desperately trying to make it to the inside of their destination. There's basically a sea puffy black coats, black gloves, and black tams. It's during the summer where things really get egregious. There's a profusion of over-styled young women roaming the streets in shorts and stilettos. Their idea of juxtaposing different prints, styles, textures and labeling ends up looking like a hot-messed mish mash of madness. These girls fail to realize that the styles they're emulating are from television—a hyper-reality. The styles were meant to entertain and inspire, not be taken literally.

This February marks five years since our quartet of friends bid us adieu. The film that premiered this past summer brought with it a few more validated trends: belted waist, graphic print dresses, and statement jewelry. These have been lasting sartorial movements amongst those in the know, but SATC validates the styles to a global audience. While there have been some major guffaws on the street level, the show did teach a lot of us to take risks and push our fashion limits. The Style Therapy message is to figure out your own style organically. What works for YOUR figure, coloring, lifestyle; etc. Just because it looks cute on Carrie doesn't mean it works for the rest of us.

Phyllis Hyman: Accentuate The Body You Have

Happy New Year beautiful people! It's 2009 and it's time to stop looking like a sweltering, hot mess. I can't begin to stress how many people have said they won't do a CLOSET DETOX because they have to lose a few more pounds. But an even more egregious type of behavior is trying to conceal what's obvious. We can diminish a paunch with a billowy blouse or play-up an A-cup with chicken cutlets, but there are some things that can't be changed, so let's embrace them.

Phyllis Hyman, the late, underrated singer who left us too soon, understood this. At 6'2" in heels, she was no shrinking violet. In addition to her heels, she wore towering crowns, huge chandelier earrings, and was a friend to the plunging neckline. As a plus-size woman, she also understood the concept of scale. Her clothing and accessories were on a grand scale because she, herself, was larger than life. Dainty diamond studs and a tiny string of pearls would have been lost on this Amazonian diva. And a woman with a petite frame would be overwhelmed by the pieces Ms. Hyman was able to pull off.

Embrace your body now. Dress the body you have NOW! NOW! NOW! And dress it well. No excuses! New mommies, I know your bodies are changing. Weight fluctuation, different cup sizes, elastic-waist pants—you have it rough, because you got a new body practically overnight. But I continue to stress, don't put yourself or your style on the back burner. You buy your baby new clothes and give them several costume changes during the course of the day. You're still in your crummy sweatshirt from last week. Is that fair to you? Play up your new assets and if you want to get back to your original body, inject your wardrobe with some good transitional pieces.

If you think you're too short, too tall, too fat, or too skinny—get over it! Learn to play it up and as always, bring your A-game! Remember my story of the little girl with the fake toes? If she was bringing her A-game at age 8, there's no reason why you have all twenty of your digits and you're not bringing it at 30.

Style Therapy New Year's Resolutions

As 2008 comes to an end, it's time to set some realistic goals regarding your wardrobe. Here are some tips to help you along the way:

1. I will not buy an item simply because it's on sale.

2. I will not get caught up in the number on a label. A size 2 by one designer can be a size 12 by another. I will not be a pawn to anyone's vanity sizing.

3. I will not buy an item I have doubts about in the hopes that it will grow on me. Fungus grows.

4. I will not keep clothing in my closet that I haven't worn in over a year.

5. I will detox my closet before buying another item. I'll either do it through Style Therapy or on my own.

6. I will try on EVERY SINGLE THING I purchase before leaving the store.

7. I will not allow pushy salespeople to force me to buy something so they can get their commission.

8. I will not hold onto an item I don't wear just because it's by a high-end designer.

9. I will not hold onto items I don't wear just because I got them at a steep discount.

10. I will not twirl or constantly stroke my hair.

11. I will not buy or wear any counterfeit items.

12. I will not buy any clothing that's too tight in the hopes that I'll fit into it after I lose a few pounds.

13. I will only buy colors and silhouettes that flatter me.

14. I won't get the Rihanna haircut, because it does not flatter me...even though I wish it did.

15. I will not allow my cousin Peaches to dress me. He doesn't know what he's talking about; and he's rather tacky.

16. I will make 2009 my most stylish year ever by following these simple resolutions!

TV Style Icon: Janet Wood

Janet Wood. Dedicated florist and steady tenant on Three's Company. With the revolving door of blonde flatmates (Chrissy, Cindy and Terri), Janet managed to retain her place in the Santa Monica apartment she shared with Jack Tripper. In Season 1, she had a modified Dorothy Hamill cut that was popular at the time. The next year, they put her in some overalls and gave her a perm. In the 1978-1979 season, her hair had grown out a bit and she was wearing styles just a notch below roomie Chrissy Snow. But by the turn of the decade, Janet had a fierce coif and outdressed the bouncy Ms. Snow. Wearing her Gloria Vanderbilt or Calvin Klein jeans with flesh toned stilettos, she'd done a complete sartorial 180.

For the remainder of the show's run, the football jerseys and coveralls from the early seasons didn't resurface. Her look continued to evolve, as personal style should, and she personified early 80s mass style. Pat Benatar is a close second, but Wood comes out on top.