Bold prints, high heels, a piece of jewelry from someone we love, they can make a difference in our day and eventually in our lifestyle. With her style curation service Pstyled, Yasmina explores the links between what we choose to wear and how we feel…
Yasmina decided to start Pstyled about 3 years ago. In 2017 when she was 25 years old, she was in Cairo working with the family business, and was experiencing a deteriorating mental health. As a little girl she’d always been fashion forward, and she realized that as her health was deteriorating so were her fashion choices, she was wearing oversized t-shirts, sweatpants, very different from the colors and multi-textures she was used to wearing. She had a wake-up call, when one family member pointed out that she had changed, yes, she was thinner, and was experiencing hair loss but her loved one also told her she wasn’t dressing the same. That day Yasmina decided to make it a point every day to care how she was dressing, she started wearing nice cuts, brands she loved and realized her behavior was also starting to shift. ‘Being the nerd I am’ she laughs, she starting looking through books, research, articles, and realized there was a proven link between our fashion choices and the way we feel. So, she went back to university, and got her Master of Science in Applied fashion psychology at the London College of Fashion. And then she was ready to launch Pstyled. On her platform, you can book your appointment, for a ‘pstyling’ session. First, she will tell you about the world of Fashion Psychology, talk about how to dress for your body type, your style, your favorite icons and the things you like, then she will go into lifestyle, how an outfit change can impact a mood change, and ask you to think about where you want to be in six months ‘the more we visualize it with details, the more likely it is to come true.’ Within a few days, you receive your Pstyled Report, with everything about your body type, the colors to choose for your complexion, and more importantly curated outfits and advice targeted to reflect your personality.
Let’s say for example you have a low energy day at work, Yasmina would recommend for a person with an extrovert personality to wear bright colors or patterns to get that boost back, ‘like a coffee,’ it will activate the nervous system, while an introvert would opt for soft fabrics, in pastel colors to sustain their energy level. After a session, Yasmina accompanies you as your personal stylist for six months to ensure a smooth shift. Pstyled just recently partnered with Quintessentially a luxury lifestyle service, a new outlet for Yasmina where she can offer a different experience to their members. The young entrepreneur is always adding new insights to her research and also loves to learn from interaction with her clients, ‘it’s a growing field so it never feels outdated and it’s a time when we are talking about wellbeing’ so when she finds useful information even unrelated to fashion she incorporates it in her research. Yasmina is not a huge advocate of shopping and approaches it thoughtfully, she tells us ‘we already own 85% of what we will wear,’ and would go for a piece if something will add to your wellbeing, such as if you’re on a trip with the family on an island in Greece and a piece found in a lovely concept store will bring back the beautiful memory of that moment, ‘there is an emotional attachment between the trip and the outfit.’ She explains that association is essential, nostalgic dressing can maximize your wellbeing for example, wearing that top you wore at a concert you loved, then you can pair it with something from your wardrobe. She looks at your closet to create her report, some items will go to charity, and gets to know her clients’ goals and objectives, then unravels how a piece will affect your mood and wellbeing. She tells us that it makes a difference to get dressed with intention, ‘it might sound trivial but it is about taking this mundane thing we do and do it with intention, dress to feel good, it’s a self-care tool that we have and can access to help us feel and do better in life.’
