Susie Hasler did the in MoonWalk London with Styled by Susie team

Styled by Susie

Don't miss our 'Styled by Susie' giveaway and your opportunity to win a Personal Stylist Experience. Find out more details here.

I’ve been running my business, Styled by Susie, for 10 years this year. I grew up in the era of Trinny and Susannah, Gok Wan and all the makeover style programmes which I devoured. I always used to watch them thinking, “I wonder what they’d put me in… I wonder what I would do…”. It all started from there, I did a personal styling course and when I trained, the only personal stylists around were high-end and there was nothing for the likes of me who shopped in your more standard, everyday shops.

So that is what I wanted to offer, an affordable, high street styling service, and that is what I’ve been doing ever since. I want to empower women to know it’s not all about striving for body confidence. I think as a woman, body confidence isn’t always attainable, I want to give everyone the option of style confidence. No matter your size, shape or age, you can find a style that you love and feel confident.

I think if you feel confident in your clothes, you’re more likely to go to that job interview, you’re more likely to go to that party, you’re more likely to go to that group and make a new friend there. Clothes have such power over our confidence, and that is what Styled by Susie is all about.

I think a lot of women are waiting for permission to try something or be told that there not too old to wear something or the wrong shape for something, you can wear anything you like. If it makes you feel confident, then wear it! It’s such a shame that it's more difficult to find something if you’re plus-sized. That is why we offer both in-person and online services. I have a lot of plus-sized clients and there are so many options online! We want our services to be attainable.

I think we put limitations on ourselves and we need to break free of them and wear what we want with confidence. It’s liberating.

What I’ve observed over the last 10 years is that women ultimately want to be nurtured. We spend our time nurturing everyone else and we don’t have anyone nurturing us. Having those three hours on a personal shopping trip, you have someone saying “this looks good on you, this suits your shape” and nurturing you for those three hours, it can be transformational, I’ve seen it!

People get stuck in a rut and there is so much choice, you can almost get overwhelmed. So many people walk in to a shop and walk out again. They don’t know where to start we narrow down that process and make it simple and fun.

The Personal Shopping Experience is really relaxed and not intimidating, and that’s why we have people coming back time and time again. With the cost of living going up people are becoming more frugal, it’s important to help people with what to buy and how to make their money go a little bit further.

I work with a lot of clients who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and at various stages of breast cancer, so it is a cause very close to my heart. We’ve worked with ladies that have had mastectomies and all sorts of body changes. We’ve seen it all and we’ll help anybody.

Taking part in The MoonWalk London

As part of my business I run a membership group that people can join if they want access to get a more VIP experience to our services. The VIP Facebook group has around 700 people in it and one of the members, Tracy, had a great idea last year that a few of us should sign up and do The MoonWalk. None of us had met before in person, so The MoonWalk was the first time we met. We did the whole MoonWalk together, chatting the whole way and really bonded with each other.

It was so lovely, I think when you’re doing something like The MoonWalk you have really good conversations. When you’re walking or driving, you don’t have that face-to-face contact, and you end up being more honest with each other.

I was surprised how difficult I found The MoonWalk, years ago I ran the London Marathon and I thought, if I can do that I would be fine walking one. I don’t know whether it was because it was through the night or maybe because I’m a bit older. I did really enjoy it though, the atmosphere was amazing and I feel like I’ve seen parts of London I’ve never seen before.

At the start of The MoonWalk we bumped in to Johnny Vaughn which was so random. I think he may have been coming back from a football game and he was just standing there by the traffic lights cheering us all on saying “go on girls”.

The MoonWalk London was definitely something special and I think about it all the time. I’ve got the bra that I wore in my bedroom and I look at it really fondly with so many great memories from the event.

We’re definitely going to do it again and going to try get an even bigger group together! I didn’t really know what to expect the first time, so I wanted to do it with a smaller group. Now I know what to expect I want to get a bigger group together for next time!

Thank you for sharing your experience with us Susie. 

Don't miss our 'Styled by Susie' giveaway and your opportunity to win a Personal Stylist Experience. Find out more details here.

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month register your interest for The MoonWalk London, The MoonWalk Scotland or The MoonWalk Iceland, make a difference to those with breast and other cancers! Or make a donation today!