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your style just got better with nina piccini · From 9 to Mom

• Catie Fitzgerald: Welcome back to From Nine to Mom. Danielle: Where we discuss balancing the nine to five hustle with the beautiful chaos that we call motherhood. Catie Fitzgerald: And today we have a very special guest, Nina, who is a personal brand stylist for high achieving women. Nina and I, we've known each other about a year now, maybe a little longer. we met here locally in Rochester. We've bonded over doing a lot of the same work, working together and doing a lot of collaboration. And it finally made sense for Nina to do some styling for both Danielle and I, just as we have gotten into this stage. of motherhood, but today we want to talk about all the things style, how it shifts with motherhood and building wardrobes that work. And of course we'll dive into what Nina's done for us. But thanks Nina for joining us today. Nina Piccini: so happy to be here. Thank you for letting me come on and speak with you ladies. Catie Fitzgerald: We're excited because we went through some of Nina's process to do styling. She created us both some lookbooks and we're dive into some of that. But we got them last week and Danielle and I were so excited, even though we didn't respond to you. We both left, ⁓ we left hanging completely. but before we dive into some of it, can you tell us a little bit about you, how you got into personal brand styling and and what you're working on now? Danielle: Yeah, sorry, Nina. We Nina Piccini: ⁓ my gosh, it's a long and winding road. As a 42-year-old woman, I am here to tell you that I've had a hundred different jobs and all of them have always been rooted in helping women feel really amazing about themselves. I grew up, my mom is a hairdresser, and so I just always I grew up with this vibe of like you don't leave the house feeling messy or looking messy. There might be some trauma attached to that. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Danielle: No. My family was the same. We Catie Fitzgerald: Definitely. Nina Piccini: She used to iron our jeans, like we never could be like ragamuffin like. those were real words in my house growing up. Catie Fitzgerald: Amazing. Danielle: Nina, I love that you just used the word ragamuffin, not to interrupt, but my daughter, they wrote us a note home because she told a child they looked like a ragamuffin on picture day. So maybe we have some shared trauma together. So thank you for sharing that word. Catie Fitzgerald: Is that a Rochester term? Ragamuffin is a Rochester term. Okay. Nina Piccini: It might be a Rochester term, I'm not sure. but I No, that's fine. I'm ⁓ look like a ragamuffin. no, but I grew up here. I moved away for a little bit. like I said, I've had a hundred different jobs, but really the styling kind of is Danielle: need to rush the right continue. Sorry, just had to share that you're not alone. Nina Piccini: has always been threaded through my life. I had a style blog that I started around 2009 till about 2016. really started to kind of document my life. I was studying to be an Irish Irish dance teacher to get my Irish dance teaching certification and there's a lot of fashion threaded through all of that, oddly enough. And know, I've always been a photographer and so took my own photos, did the thing and then ⁓ I it was time for a career pivot. I had lost my corporate job and so I went into retail. And so then I was able to style real women everyday scenarios who were shopping in the stores I worked at. And I learned a lot about the difference of being like the influencer versus like styler, stylist. so then I don't I started like styling my friends and doing this thing kind of on the side, and then I'm a self-taught marketer and a self-taught photographer. Like I took some classes in in high school, but I use all of that now to kind of help inform how I help women impact their personal brand, whether it's through photography or wardrobe styling. I you know, now, but most recently I worked for a luxury photography studio in Rochester, and I used to see Countless women coming in for all different kinds of photo shoots, oudwar, family, brand, and whether they elected to be there or they didn't. There was this thread of like not really understanding what photographs well, what they should be wearing, colors that look good on them, silhouettes that good on them. And there's like, I think just this confusion of like what people like on themselves. and what they like in general. And so I was like, this is a real thing that women need and I think I can help. So that's kind of the long story of help. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Well, and I think it ties perfectly into I think where Danielle and I were thinking of like, we're going into summer, we're moms, we both have full time jobs, we're traveling, we're going to events, we're doing local, you know, networking and that. And we feel like we have so many versions of ourselves. And that was like a big reason why we're like, maybe we need to do the lookbooks because it's hard to go from like drop off to be sitting on a, you know, a business meeting. Nina Piccini: Yes. No totally. Yeah. Danielle: Yeah, the transition part is hard. And I think too you become a mom, your body changes everything changes, right? Like over and over again. We're constantly changing. And I found that the what excites me, and I know we're gonna talk about the lookbook more, but working with a personal stylist, having you work through this with us, is that I have so much overwhelm and decision fatigue in my life already. ⁓ then I walk into my closet and Katie, you are just here. So you can attest to this. I gave Katie clothes because I'm like I I never wear these. Like I don't they're beautiful brands. It's not even like they're not great clothes. I'm just they don't suit my body. Katie's much taller than me. What am I doing with these jeans that are tall enough for her? They clearly are not right for me. But in the moment they felt comfortable and we just hold on to so much. Like how do you encapsulate a wardrobe and make that decision fatigue minimized while still being able to play all the different roles in the in an instant. And that's like the biggest piece I feel. Nina Piccini: Yeah, it's it's truly like helping women find pieces that translate into all sectors of their lives. I love that like a drawstring or like elasticated waist pull on pant is having a moment right now because I'm like, Wear that to work, wear that to mom in, chase the kiddos around, like pants, shorts, they've all got elastic waists. I'm like, this is wonderful. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah, amen. Danielle: Yeah. It's beautiful thing. Catie Fitzgerald: It has been like the best thing. But I think let's dive let's dive into the lookbooks because we wanna talk about the process of it. So when will you talk about your process when you a lookbook? What's that process from from start to delivery? Nina Piccini: Yeah, well, you know, you when a client books a lookbook with me, they just purchase it. And a lot of times there's no interaction with me at all. I might not know them. I happen to know the two of you decently, so it was maybe a little bit easier for me. But in the questionnaire, when you book, there's a part where I want you to send me a Pinterest board, and that's really the only indication of who you are that I'm getting. So it's really important that. Danielle: Zo. Nina Piccini: That is like kind of on point. And then there's like a long question area where I ask you to tell me three to five things that you're wearing all the time and or you love to wear all the time, whether it's you know, like Katie, I think you said you were like defaulting to leggings a lot. and I think in that I was trying to give you some suggestions that weren't legging outfits so that you could. feel inspired to maybe not pull those on because I think that there's a couple other pairs of pants that are just as easy to wear and look great with everything else you could wear with leggings. aren't. And like there's nothing wrong with leggings and athleisure, but I think a lot of times because of the decision fatigue, not even just moms, but like high achieving women that have high power jobs and just a lot on their plate, that's a lot of decision fatigue. And so when we can kind of like make decisions easier. Danielle: Yeah. Nina Piccini: And so really kind of the process. I go through, like I said, I knew a little bit more about your two lives because we know each other. ⁓ so like Danielle, I knew you needed like some more corporate leaning attire that could also translate into like your casual life and your life with your kids. And Katie, I know you already are kind of like more of a sporty casual. Danielle: Yeah. Nina Piccini: vibe happening so I tried to really like lean into those vibes. your Pinterest boards also told me that, so which great. ⁓ Danielle: Well, yeah. When do you I have a question about Pinterest boards? And but before I say that, I will say that answering the questionnaire, it was so easy. It was really, I thought it was gonna be a lot harder. It was very easy. But even just answering those questions of like, what are the five pieces I always go to and what am I wearing? It made me think about like what am I always reaching for? Like what am I always putting on my body that's clearly like good or bad? Like those are those are the pieces that I need in my wardrobe. Everything else is kind of fluff there. But so I thought that was cool on our end too, feeling it was easy to do, but also made us think. But when it comes to Pinterest boards, I'd had my Pinterest board. I know Katie, you had had your Pinterest board. I added more for the sake of like the styling piece of it. Do you suggest that women have a Pinterest board for like each this is where I struggle. Like I'm going to a festival. Okay, like a music festival. next weekend. I'm going Vegas this week for an aesthetics conference. Two very different vibes. I wanted to give you some of the festival looks because I would wear those out, but like I didn't want to put them on my board because I also don't want didn't want you to make me a whole board of like thing not that you would, but like you do separate boards. Like how do you compartmentalize that? Or should we not? Nina Piccini: Well, it depends. Don't look at my Pinterest because it's a hot mess. Express. But I've started to kind of organize it a little bit. So I have a board for myself that is what I when I find something that I feel fits my three words that I use to help direct my personal style, I save it there. Then I have like that says, I own this. And Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Danielle: Yeah. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Danielle: That's good. ⁓ Nina Piccini: Literally clothes that I know I own I haven't thought of before. So then I save it there. Then I started like a spring, and some people do spring, summer, autumn, winter boards, but I kind of just find that I don't ever look back at them if I do that. so baseline I might suggest like an I own it board because I feel like What do you go to Pinterest for? You're looking for some kind of inspiration to get dressed in that moment. I don't want to look at a bunch of stuff that I don't have. Especially if you can't look at an inspiration photo and say like, I like the shape that thou those pants are wearing. I have a pant that looks different but is a similar shape. Danielle: Yeah. True. Nina Piccini: And start to like pick things apart, which is another thing that I work with like my one-on-one clients on. I'm like, okay, what is it about this inspiration photo that you actually are drawn to and you like? Because it might not be the exact pieces themselves. It might just be like a certain styling element or the shape that the clothes are making, or the way that they, you know, tied something around the neck instead of the waist or, you know, whatever. Yeah, so it's really a personal preference, but yeah. Catie Fitzgerald: I like the idea of finding things because of the items that I told you that like I go to is my Adidas sneakers. Like I have them in the two colors. You incorporated them to the lookbook, which is amazing because that's what I wanna wear. Like that I like them, but I do find like outfits on Pinterest. Like I have done that search before of like outfits with like the Adidas court sneakers. And I them, but it's smart to like put them into a book like that. But I wanna go ahead. Nina Piccini: I make ⁓ so sorry. I just want to say like even before I buy something new, if I'm even questioning whether I can make it work this weekend, I just bought these like chunky sandals and I looked in Pinterest while I was in the store. Cookie black sandal outfits, and I was like, ⁓ yeah, I can I can style these, that's fine. Catie Fitzgerald: Ha ha ha. Danielle: I can make this work. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah, right. No, it's smart. I've been finding myself like looking at it for events and things, like trying to put different things together. But yeah, it's smart to think about what we have. So when you were making ours, what were some of the the things that you were trying to achieve for both of us in in those? Nina Piccini: Well, I'm always I wouldn't be a good stylist if I didn't try to stretch you and have you start to think about your clothes and the pairings of them differently, right? So I think Katie, for you, I threw in there like a couple things that have a little bit more feminine details than I think you normally wear. But I I was like, Well, she's either not gonna take this or Catie Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Nina Piccini: She might be like, that's interesting that I could wear like a more feminine kind of like peasant top with Adidas like shorts and my sneakers and look cool and still kind of feel like myself. So that's usually my goal is to give you more ideas so that you can get more wear out of your clothing and like have some formulas in your brain already so you can have that ease of dressing every morning. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. And I think that's like something that mm for a lot of moms, like thinking of working with a stylist, they're you're like, wait a second, like I have a baby that's spitting up on me 247. So like how am I gonna like incorporate new things? it can be really overwhelming. So that's why we go to the default outfits. But that's where like these I feel like are helpful because you kind of recreate what those default outfits are a little bit. but about Nina Piccini: I was just gonna say there's there's sometimes some fear wearing the clothes. And so that definitely is when helping women, especially moms, we're looking at trying to help with ease, repeatability, and to combat the fear of wearing your clothing. I'm someone who does have any human children and I still walk around with a tide pen in my bag. Like I don't wanna be fearful of wearing anything, but Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Nina Piccini: The moment we can kind of like make dressing easy, make it repeatable for you and combat that fear, then it helps you feel great every day. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Yeah. so in I'm gonna talk about mine first, Danielle, but I I really and we're gonna share both of our lookbooks so you guys can see because I feel like if you guys are somebody that listens to our podcast, you kind of get mine and Danielle's personalities. and I feel the only thing that like scared me or I like, I don't know that I would like buy that was the top you're talking about, like that more like peasant. Danielle: Thank you. Yeah. Catie Fitzgerald: looking like that top ⁓ well actually you know what? Danielle: But Nina, we went shopping and she bought a peasanty type. That little brown top you bought and wore looked so good on you. Catie Fitzgerald: I did. I guess it's kind you're right. You're right. I'll have to send you a picture of it. It was a little more feminine than I usually go. other one was, and I think Danielle and I both struggle with this and we've talked about it a million times. So you need to like either comfort us. We we both hate button down tops on ourselves. Like we both hate ⁓ and we don't know if it's because we have big boobs and we just don't like the fit. Nina Piccini: Yeah, Danielle: You need to help us. 'Cause I know what you're going with. Catie Fitzgerald: But any t we both like love the outfits. We love how they look and then we put ⁓ on and we're like, We hate how this looks. Like, why does it look Danielle: Like polos, button downs, they've always scared me. I I have one button down, Katie, you know what it is. And it it's Nina, we're talking about Katie's lookbook, but mine was striped and I love stripes. So would wear a striped like shirt, but I'm like, can we like, yeah, we need to talk about button downs in general. Is it because we have big boobs? Is there some kind of childhood trauma that's associated with this? Catie Fitzgerald: Ha ha ha. Nina Piccini: Yeah, you might not be going big enough. I feel like they are very easy to wear if they're a little oversized, regardless of boob situation. Because I have like decent size boobs. I will wear it with like just a bralette underneath and only buttons like one button so that it's very like unstructured. So I think that maybe try to play around with styling it a little bit or like Danielle: Okay. Okay. Catie Fitzgerald: Okay. Danielle: I would do that. Nina Piccini: button a couple buttons and maybe tuck one in and leave the other side kind of hanging out. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. I feel like Danielle, you did that one shoot where you wore a white one and you hated every single picture from it. ⁓ Nina Piccini: Yeah. Well, the white one feels very structured and corporate. Catie Fitzgerald: Right. Danielle: I just feel like it made me look. I wore a lot of button downs in the breastfeeding phase because that was like what you do. But like this one felt and maybe it's material. It was stiff. So it felt like I wanted it to be cute, but it just laid funny and it did not flatter my body at all. But also in Katie, I think yours had this too. I've never layered a button down the way you put it on the board. So I am curious to see. ⁓ Nina Piccini: Yeah. Mm. Danielle: Except in high s I mean a uniform in high school and I would cut the actual shirt off and just wear the like the collar. Remember that? Nina Piccini: Yeah. Wear the collar. How very eighties baby of you. Catie Fitzgerald: I definitely Danielle: was we had uniforms and we it was so hot in our school and I was like, I'm sweating to death. I have to wear a sweater and this shirt. No, my boobs are already like struggling. Nina Piccini: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm not gonna tell you that there's a piece that every single person should have in their closet because I don't believe that. Like I'm not one of those people that's like everyone should have a light button down. No, if it's not your style, it's not your style. I'm a big button-up girl. that might have been projected onto your lookbooks, but I do feel like there are ways to style it for you. Like Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Danielle: Yeah. Nina Piccini: I like to wear mine over just like a tank top and shorts and just like leave it open and kind of almost like a blazer. But again, if it's like very fitted, not gonna achieve the same ⁓ of Danielle: Yeah, that's probably the issue that we like we're thinking of like fit fitted or too oversized, like men's. Like it has to be the right tucked in, like I would do that, I think. Catie Fitzgerald: I know, I think to Yeah. Nina Piccini: Yeah. Catie Fitzgerald: I do like them like open too, like wearing them more open. But I think where it c it stems down to is like and this goes for like any so we're moving away from like just a button up like button up, but like anything really oversized. I'm like, it's making me look bigger. And then like I d also don't want to wear anything super tight because I'm like, mm, I don't love that. And I feel like that's something every mom goes through with like feeling Nina Piccini: No. Danielle: You could take my role or whatever. Catie Fitzgerald: back to normal or just feeling comfortable in what they're wearing. So I don't wanna wear something that's gonna make me look bigger. I also am like, okay, I'm not gonna wear like the most form fitting thing either. Nina Piccini: Yeah, yeah. No, I get that. And you could there's like other things you can do too. So like the one look in your lookbook, Katie, where I styled it with the brown that you like to wear. ⁓ for that I was thinking like if you tied it around your waist. Now of course we're getting into like a warmer season. So this is only gonna work and you can maybe do it with shorts as well. ⁓ Catie Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. Yep. Danielle: Yeah. Nina Piccini: But tying it around your waist helps define your waist and like kind of bring the eyeline in a little bit. So even if you're wearing something that's a little bit flowier or oversized for you, it should kind of like draw the eyeline in. other like tricks to like styling the, know, sweater around your waist that help kind of like flatter your body. So if you pull it a little bit up higher in the back on the small of your waist, but then tie the tie like tie the knot lower down by your hip bone. It just creates like a nice like V shape. Catie Fitzgerald: Okay. I like that. Nina Piccini: So, but these are not things that you would naturally know to do if you've never been told to do them before. And if you don't take time to kind of like play around with your clothes in your closet, which a lot of moms, it's really hard to find ten or fifteen minutes to like play in there. But just like we did as little girls, you have to kind of just put things on your body and figure out how they look on you and how how they make you feel. Catie Fitzgerald: No. Yeah. Danielle: Katie, you feel I love a good fashion show. Katie knows this. I think it drives her nuts. Catie Fitzgerald: Yes. No. It's it is funny when Danielle because we were just together and she's like, All right, we need to try every outfit on that we're gonna wear tomorrow to this event and that and I'm like, ⁓ No, I'm going to bed. We're gonna I'm just gonna go to sleep. ⁓ Danielle: I'm like, no, I need you. I need you to tell me. I think I've always been, I love fashion and clothes, like and shopping. Like I really truly do. And I think one of the big things for me, the mistakes that I've made over my life is like and is the trends. And I think right now we're going a little bit away from the lookbook and we'll get back into the lookbook because I do have some stuff I want to share about mine too. But like trends are hard. At this phase of life, let's just say high achieving women and moms alike. It doesn't matter. Like if you ⁓ even women, right? We are not we don't fit in right now in this age group that we're in into either style. Like I either feel like sometimes I'm like struggling, like, am I going to Telbitz and borrowing like my grandmother's out that there's nothing and now tell Telbitz, like when I see the clothes, they're not that far off from my life all the time. But what I'm saying is like you either feel like you're dressing too old for yourself or too young. And a lot of the styles, like we grew up in jeggings, leggings, tight pants, low rise, which are coming back and now I don't want to wear. now the style is like baggy and wide. Like, what is your take on women buying trends? How much should we lean into that? What are the mistakes that people are making around that? Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Nina Piccini: Yeah, so here's the thing. go back in time to when we were kids and teenagers, right? We would get a magazine, there would be maybe three things that we saw in there that were kind of new to us, trending for the season, and was it. Now, today in there's like six different trends cycling at any given time. new ones every week. It's really hard to keep up with. ⁓ Danielle: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes. Nina Piccini: And so always tell clients, like, if you find a trend that you love and it speaks to how you want to show up in the world and how you think of yourself, it's gonna elevate what you already wear or make what you already wear feel more like you ⁓ more in line with the person you're becoming, then yeah, go for it. You also have to consider what's price point, can it does it fit my budget? Is it worth the investment? I don't necessarily believe that fashion is an investment, but there are some pieces that are worth spending a little bit more money on so that you can get your cost per wear out of them. It's really personal preference. I love me a good trend. I don't think I'm spending $1,000 on a trending shoe. I'm trying to find a $50 option. You know? Danielle: So like splurge on your like on the pieces that you're gonna wear over and over again and then and like do you believe in testing out a trend too? Like you said, like okay, find the fifty dollar option, test it out if you're wearing it every day, then Nina Piccini: Love that. That's something that I do for myself. find that if you can it in your price point and you just want to kind of like dip your toe in, you think you might only wear it a couple times, then go it. Look at these are my shoes I have on today for those watching in the video. Jelly flip-flops, right? Danielle: ⁓ we need to talk about those. Catie Fitzgerald: ⁓ yeah. Nina Piccini: I guess spent twenty dollars on these 'cause I was like, I might wear them twice. I don't know. We're gonna give this a whirl. But you can buy those in any price point up to thousands of dollars, which is crazy because they're rubber. Danielle: Ha ha. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Yeah, right. Danielle: It's insane. Catie Fitzgerald: Sure. Yeah. Nina Piccini: It can get really insane. Yeah. I love that you mentioned earlier, Danielle, that you do newly because renting clothes is another really great, like, sustainable and bent like budget friendly way to try a trend. I think I did newly like in the fall and I tried like a fringe jacket, which I did end up buying from newly. But I was like, I wanna see if I can like make a fringe jacket work for myself. So I rented a couple different styles and there we go. I ended up with it in my wardrobe. So Danielle: I loved my French children. Yeah, renting has made my life a lot easier because there's just so much change in those trend pieces. Like, I'm not gonna wear the same outfit. I know it sounds bad, but like some of the conferences I go to are always the same people. But there are items like my lookbook, you put a pair of the satin brown shorts. I have a satin black skirt that has lace on the bottom from Zara that's very similar. And I wear it all the time. But like you can't wear it to sports game. I could wear these shorts with the T to the sports game with my my enclouds that you paired. Nina Piccini: Yeah. Danielle: Here together in transition. So, like I rented them from newly. They're supposed to come today, like a similar style, just to see like how I feel about them. And then if I like them and I wear them, I'm gonna buy. Nina Piccini: And they that's another piece that there's like you can find them on Amazon all the way up to like Kate, which is like a very high-end luxury. Like you can find them pretty much at any price point. So those are great. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah, I think it the I haven't gotten onto the renting of that yet because one, there's like a million different options for those. and I think Danielle would kill me if I didn't use her like referral code for newly. ⁓ But my sister started doing it ⁓ and does like a really good option for moms because one of the questions we wanted to ask you was like, How do we like as moms, like a lot of stuff from pre babies. Danielle: Yeah. Catie Fitzgerald: don't fit us. We hold on to it. But then like a whole new wardrobe at whatever that postpartum weight maybe is, then you're gonna fluctuate depending if you're like if you lose weight quick or ⁓ gain more. Like you fluctuate so many times. Like at one point, I think I had like five different sizes of jeans because I'm like, I don't know which one's gonna like which size which one's gonna fit me today. I don't know. ⁓ Danielle: I told you I do have five different sizes of jeans. Nina Piccini: Yeah. No, I totally get that. It's it's really hard. I would make friends with a really great tailor. Catie Fitzgerald: Good point. Yeah. Nina Piccini: And j c just find something in a price point that you feel comfortable with if you could only wear it for a few months, like maybe never wearing it again. So I'm talking like H and ⁓ old navy, maybe the gap. You're buying anything from those places full price, you're doing it wrong. buy very deep in their in their stock, so you should be able to get something you want if you wait for it to go on sale or when they run a promo. But if you buy something a little bit bigger, no knows what the size is except for you. You know, then if you lose a little bit of weight and you want to get it tailored because you love them, then you can get it to you should have some space. Danielle: Yeah. Nina Piccini: And a good tailor should be able to bring ⁓ in for you. And Danielle, they should bring ⁓ up for you too. If they're too long. Like if you have a very great pair of teams that like, you know. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah, yeah. Danielle: Well, I miss like the limited. Because they would tailor them right there, like the limited would tailor pants. So I would only go there for so long because they would do it for you. But I do use it. I will say that that's like a hack that I've it's not a hack, but like you just said, getting a good tailor and getting things I tend to buy them bigger or longer and have them make them my size because Nina Piccini: ⁓ yeah. You can make a thirty to fifty dollar pair of jeans look like a two hundred dollar pair of jeans just by making sure they fit your body properly. Like the clothes today are not made to fit a modern woman and the changes and fluctuations that a modern woman goes through. clothes that are made today are as a holdover from World War Two when we started making surplus no for real. When we started making surplus clothing cut in generic sizes based on average size people. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah, that's crazy to think about. Nina Piccini: So clothes off the rack are not meant to just like magically fit you. Danielle: Yeah. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. How much? Because I don't know because I don't tailor anything. Usually I have to buy like longs and then I just accept the way they all fit. Because I'm probably somewhere between a regular and a long, typically. How much does it cost? Yeah. Nina Piccini: Yeah, I'm just gonna ready for a petite. So it depends on the tailor. I go to the Simple Tailor locally. Fatima is she's incredible. I a tailoring for length is ⁓ like maybe twenty bucks. And depending on how much you need taken in, it can be anywhere from forty to sixty. But again, if you're buying something that's like a decent quality fabric. Danielle: It depends. Signature, yeah. Catie Fitzgerald: Okay. Nina Piccini: She could do it even if it has some stretch in it. personally tend to try to buy the least amount of spandex in my jeans possible, but that's my personal preference. A lot of women really like stretchy jeans. I you if your jeans are really stretchy, I would wear them a few times and let them stretch out to their maximum stretch potential then go get them tailored because then they're gonna fit you and they won't bag out. Danielle: Yeah. Nina Piccini: further from there. But it just depends. But if you're if you know that you're gonna wear a piece more get more cost per wear out of it, then spending up to fifty dollars to get something tailored so that it fits you properly and makes you feel really great, I think is worth it. Danielle: Katie, you my leather skirt? The leather skirt. I spent more on it than I would normally spend. It was from Ever Eve. It's a trend piece, I thought. But I was, I was looking for one forever and they all had too much stretch. Like they did not look good on me. So I bought one. It was probably like 150 bucks, which I would never normally do. wore it constantly. Katie can attest to it. It was like my go-to skirt. I lost weight and I was panicking because I was like, I, this is my skirt. I took it to the tailor for 35 bucks. They took it in, took it up. Catie Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. Well. Danielle: I'm still wearing the same skirt and it's totally worth it. So like I think about the times that I've spent twenty dollars or thirty dollars on something that I ended up like having to buy multiple times. The skirt has more than paid for itself. But I do think it's sometimes hard to know to do that. And then the other thing that that kind of leads into this is how often should be looking at our wardrobe and refreshing our wardrobe realistically? Nina Piccini: twice a year. And that's not to say that you need like a whole new winter wardrobe every winter and a whole new spring and summer wardrobe every time the season changes, but I like to do girls put your clothes away for the season, then you'll maybe not use so much since you Danielle: Okay. I do a little bit like a little bit away, yeah. Nina Piccini: Every spring I pull out. I this actually happens in shifts because it just decided to be summer, spring, summer year. So I do leave a lot of my sweaters out because I will still wear them through this early summer. But most of my winter stuff I put away and then I pull out the spring and summer summer stuff that went away. And I look at it and I'm like, what's the condition of this item? Do I still like it? I put it on my body. Catie Fitzgerald: Yes, sir. Danielle: А тоді Nina Piccini: Can I still wear it with the things that I'm loving to wear right now? then what do I need? Either replacements or what new kind of styles do I want to bring in? And I like to make that audit when I'm doing the swap twice a year. and don't like to cut anything until it's the next season, which sounds crazy because you're storing clothes that you might end up getting rid of. But I just feel like you gotta let it. You might have gotten sick of it or you might not have worn it, but it might be back in style next season. So I'm just like, you never know. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah, that's smart. Danielle: If you help people with that, like if they work with you as your personal stylist, you'll do that with them. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah, you don't. Nina Piccini: Yep, absolutely. Yep. We can do that on the virtual sessions and in my signature edits. Catie Fitzgerald: I think we have to do the rapid fire section that we put on here. So we had a couple of ones that we're gonna and you give us your best best answer. So what's one item every mom should throw away right now? ⁓ say it. Legging. ⁓ half my wardrobe. ⁓ you gotta say it. Danielle: Yeah, we absolutely. Nina Piccini: ⁓ yeah. ⁓ god, your leggings. So sorry. I know. Don't hate me. Listen, please buy a brawl string pant and like a cotton poplin or like a silky fabric. That is gonna replace your leggings. Pair it with exactly how you would pair your leggings. Put a little flip-flop on, put a little sneaker, done. Danielle: Katie? Catie Fitzgerald: I like it. I'm gonna try I'm I'm getting those two pants that are in there for sure. I'm gonna go for it. is the biggest style myth that you want to kill? Nina Piccini: Ooh, I think this just goes back to sizing. Everyone is just gets like really caught up with the size that's in the garment. And again, I just want you to think about how are we wearing our clothes these days? How does it make you feel when you put it on your body? Do you feel pinched and squeezed and is it gonna make you feel fussy? Danielle: That's a great way to it like you want to wanna be fussy. Babies shouldn't be fussy, neither should we. Catie Fitzgerald: Right. Yeah. Nina Piccini: No, absolutely not. Sometimes you gotta be in a fussy outfit, but like that should not be your everyday. Catie Fitzgerald: Right? Yes. Danielle: What so what's the best place to shop on a budget? Nina Piccini: Yeah, I definitely think Old Navy Gap HM loving right now. I'll even say Zara. I know people are gonna cry about it, those being fast fashion brands, but if you go in with the lens of like look at the look at fabrics, you can buy a lot of cotton at Old Navy and gap right now. And while it might not be like the best quality cotton, like Cotton still is gonna last longer than polyester. to HM and Zara for like a little bit more of your trend forward pieces that you're just gonna kind of sprinkle in to refresh and feel modern ⁓ great. Catie Fitzgerald: I think we have to also ask what's the where do you feel like the best value is? So like if you're gonna go to that next level up for a good value still. Nina Piccini: I think Madewell is probably the best. It's one of my favorites that I suggest for my clients and myself. Their denim is to die for and they make the best accessories that are leather, the best access like handbags and shoes. It's feels like a thousand dollar p item for like maybe two hundred dollars and they last forever. Danielle: The best. And they have great sales. They really do have good great sales here and there. Nina Piccini: And they have great yeah, they really do have great sales. I mean it's really, really great too. Catie Fitzgerald: I just inherited two my first two denim pieces from there I inherited from Daniel. They were too way too long on her and they're like ankles on me. Nina Piccini: Yeah. Danielle: But I love them. I just need to go in and get or maybe like next time I'll tailor them. Who knows? But Katie, ⁓ th they look way better on you than me. ⁓ mentioned ⁓ yeah. I just bought jeans from there, Katie. That's where those were from. Catie Fitzgerald: Great. Thank you. Nina Piccini: Madewell is part of the J. Crew family. I mean, J. Crew is actually like kind of having a renaissance right now and it's been a little bit more like preppy. They do have also really great sales. So I would say that that's probably also a step up from the gap old Navy five. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Danielle: You mentioned your style. You have three words. I wish we had another hour because I want to come up with three words for our style, but what are your three words for your personal style? Nina Piccini: Yes. My three words have evolved a hundred times in the last couple of years just because my lifestyle has changed. So first thing I'll say is don't be afraid of evalu auditing, evaluating, and changing. are minimal, sporty, and cool. Danielle: Hmm, I like it. Catie Fitzgerald: I identify with it. Nina Piccini: Well, you need like a cool, edgy vibe in yours and Katie, you definitely have like a classic, sporty of vibe. Danielle: Yeah, we we're gonna come to you. We're gonna work on our three words and come to you and see if you approve. and then what is one thing you'd tell a pre-mom person about like, I guess that's a hard thing to say, like getting dressed, we were not ⁓ before and then we became moms. Like when we get dressed in the morning, what's the thing we should be looking for as we get dressed? Catie Fitzgerald: It's so fun. I know we need to. Nina Piccini: Things that make you feel like who you on the deepest depths of yourself. Because I think the number one thing that I find all the moms around me is that they feel that they've lost a little bit of themselves when they come become a mom and become a caretaker. And the more the more clothes that you can put yourself in that make you feel that again, the more aligned you're gonna feel with who you are and the better you're gonna feel. Danielle: Adding one question because that was a beautiful answer. But there's one piece that I don't feel does that for me. But I also feel like I need to get behind. Kitten heels, are they really back? Because you're wearing them today. Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Nina Piccini: I cannot physically wear high heels anymore. Especially after COVID, but I have neuromas in my feet because I Irish dance for 30 years. That's a whole different thing. But I love a good kitten heel. We call them a bitchy heel around here. They have a little bit of attitude. You look elevated, but you can literally run in them. Danielle: Yeah. Catie Fitzgerald: ki and heels the cheat code. Danielle: Ooh. So you're saying yes, they're here to stay. Nina Piccini: I'm saying yes. They're they're here to step. Catie Fitzgerald: I think I'm gonna g get a pair because I don't wear heels because I always like don't wanna add more height usually. but I think like but I feel good when I wear like if I'm in a business setting, like I you f feel something when you're wearing heels, but Nina Piccini: Just make sure a nice pointed toe is going to further elongate your leg line, which especially for you, Danielle, that's what we want. We want to look long and and tall. So that's gonna help. Danielle: We'll take any suggestions on the comfortable pairs because I tend to wear open toe a lot, but I know that they cut my leg off a little bit. So I want the pointed toe with Catie Fitzgerald: Yeah. Nina Piccini: You're from Target, I'll send you that I love. Danielle: Perfect, thank you. And then we'll share it. Catie Fitzgerald: right. So anyone there that hasn't seen Nina, you you guys probably have because we've tagged her in multiple of our photos. She has taken all of our branding photos for from nine to mom. So if not, make sure you follow her on Instagram. She's always giving lots of trends, tips, ⁓ get with me's. It's awesome. but Nina, anyway else people can find you, book how do they book their own look book with you? Nina Piccini: Yeah, you can go right to my website in the shop, style shop. You can book your lookbook. ⁓ I also have a substack called the style brief. And I usually put two articles out each week. One's like a meteor piece with lots of styling tips, and one is just like inspiration of what to wear the weekend. And yeah, Instagram a lot of stuff too, so follow me over there. Catie Fitzgerald: We'll make sure we link everything up, but thanks for coming and chatting with us. And we'll see you all next time. Thanks. Nina Piccini: So much for asking me.