Who wouldn’t love having someone pick out a bunch of cute clothes and send it to them? Lucky for us, we live in a world where we can pay a service to actually do this! How does this work, you may ask? It’s actually pretty easy.
For most personal styling sites, you just go to their website and fill out a quick style survey, including your different clothing sizes. Then, you’ll receive a box in the mail with different clothes for you to try on in the comfort of your own home. Just think, with these personal styling services you may never have to try on clothes in a badly lit dressing room again. But, the question is are these services actually worth the money? We’ve asked around, and here’s what we’ve found out.
StitchFix
As far as personal styling sites go, StitchFix might be one of the most popular. When you join their subscription service, you get to take a style survey asking about your preferences when it comes to fashion. This way they can send you pieces you would actually wear.
Kristen Perrone, a senior at Siena College, started using StitchFix because the clothes she was finding in stores wasn’t matching her style. It was her mom who told her about StitchFix. “I decided to try it out and was pleasantly surprised when I liked it as much as I did!” she says. “I usually find the items they send pretty fitting of what I like.”
For a $20 styling fee per box, you get 5 clothing pieces. Here’s the deal, though, if you want any items of clothing in the box, you have pay for it in addition to the styling fee. If you don’t want any or all of the pieces, you can send it back without having to pay for them. If you do choose to buy all items in the box, you get a 25 percent discount. Like Kristen, though, you can set it up so you don’t receive a box every month if that’s not something your budget can handle. Instead, she receives a box every few months. With this set-up, Kristen finds StitchFix is definitely worth the price.
Related: Five Awesome Subscription Boxes You Should Check Out
SuitableYou
Like StitchFix, SuitableYou is a subscription service that sends you five pieces of clothing based off of what you tell them in your style survey for a $20 styling fee plus the price of the clothes you choose to keep. The discount for keeping all the clothes in your box is only 20 percent here, though. But to make up for that, they also will give you a 10 percent discount for only keeping three or four items.
HC’s associate editor Iris Goldsztajn tried their service for the first time a few months ago. “It was honestly a fair price, with mid-range clothing and a fast and efficient service,” she says. “I will say it’s not for everyone – if you’re particularly picky, you should probably just stick with shopping for yourself!”
So if you like experimenting with your look, then this service is worth a shot.
Trunk Club
With Trunk Club, you’ll also receive a subscription box with five items of clothing in it. Unlike the other services, though, there is no styling fee. After you take the style survey online and talk to your stylist even further about what you like, you’ll receive your box and have five days to try on the clothes. The items you choose will have a $25 try-on fee applied to them. Rachel Medlock, the blogger behind Wayfaring Rachel, has tried a bunch of different online styling subscription services, and she finds Trunk Club to offer the best bang-for-your-buck.
“You can easily communicate your budget to your stylist,” she says. “Some of the more affordable brands carried by Trunk Club (like Topshop) are still very much on trend and of good quality. Most people use a styling service to get professional advice and a curated selection, rather than digging through rack after rack to find something that works for their body. Trunk Club has plenty of affordable brands that still give you this benefit.”
Rachel also says that Trunk Club is good for at styling younger people, along with understanding that our style will evolve over time.
“The service has pushed me to try trends I wouldn’t have picked for myself, but I’m also confident that as I change my style Trunk Club will be able to change with me,” she says. “For college students this could include more interviews, fancy dates, work clothes, etc. in the next few years.”
Trunk Club keeps track of all the items you’ve purchased, Rachel says, so your stylist will create outfits based on the purchases you’ve already made. Sign us up!
When it comes down to it, these services are a lot of fun if you have some money to blow and a desire to try out some new clothes. Let’s be real, being able to shop and try on clothes without leaving the house is the dream.