
To me, fashion is a way of expression; it's a language in itself, and it gives us the freedom to explore who we want to be and how we want the world to see us. I just love how, through the way we dress, we can recreate ourselves over and over again, exactly in the way we want.
Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved fashion, and it was never a matter of if for me, but rather when I was going to fully dedicate myself to fashion.

My journey as a Personal Stylist started when we (my husband, our two teenage sons, and I) moved from Madrid to Amsterdam 7 years ago. In Madrid, I had a "normal" corporate non-fashion job but was doing fashion blogging outside of work. For me, leaving the corporate world resulted in a great opportunity.
Arriving in Amsterdam, I felt the world was mine. I could finally do whatever I wanted to and dedicate myself to my passion.
I quickly became friends with my former business partner Angela, with whom I started Fashion and Repeat in 2020, initially as a preloved reselling company. Therefore, the name Fashion and Repeat, which I have decided to keep, even though it doesn't really say anything about my styling.

As everything evolves, so did Fashion and Repeat over the years, and we slowly steered away from preloved clothing and into the styling world.
I trained as a Colour Expert and Personal Stylist at the London College of Style, and it was like everything just fell into place. While taking the course, I felt like I almost already knew everything, and the feeling of finally being where I belong was really strong.

Together, Angela and I were a dream team, and we absolutely loved working together. The pros of having a business partner are that you share the work with someone, and on days when you perhaps lack energy and motivation, your business partner is there to motivate you. The cons, though, might be having to adapt to someone else's style and preferences and not being able to do exactly what you want. Angela and I are really different both personality-wise and style-wise, and that is also why we complemented each other so well.
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When Angela and her family decided to return to the UK, we were both devastated. What would become of Fashion and Repeat? We couldn't envision life without our business and without each other, having grown accustomed to seeing each other almost daily for a few years.
Slowly, I started getting used to the idea of running the company by myself, and I was actually quite excited to finally be able to do things my way and to put my own stamp on the business.
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Transitioning from a duo to "only me" required some rebranding, and all of a sudden, I found myself in the middle of mine. Questions like what makes me special, what makes me stand out, and what differentiates me from other personal stylists were keeping me awake at night.

Now, having run the company by myself for over 2 years and having had the best year ever in Fashion and Repeats' history, it is clearer to me. My main goal as a Personal Stylist has always been to help people feel good about themselves.
Personal styling is not about following the latest trends and making everyone look the same, but rather about helping people find and embrace what is unique and special about them.
What I love most about my job is having the opportunity to actually make a difference in people's lives. Whether it is helping someone who feels like they've lost their style and don't really know what their style is or what looks good on them, or simply revealing someone's best colors, there is always a before and after when working with a Personal Stylist.
For me, it's especially helping people reclaim that confidence of theirs that gives me the biggest joy. So many people are held back by their own lack of confidence and often erroneous misassumptions about themselves and how they look or should look. Being able to help people fall back in love with themselves is priceless.

Ideally, our outer self should represent our inner self, and when this doesn’t happen, that is often when we start feeling like something isn’t right.
I meet so many clients who have put themselves on hold, waiting to lose weight, change jobs, or whatever, before they start investing in themselves. Making people see it is about the here and now and understanding how they deserve to feel good and confident about themselves is very emotional. And now you may wonder, how do I actually manage to make them see this? Often, my color, shape, and style analysis, also called Personal Style Assessment, is very eye-opening and can really work as a reset.
Finally seeing ourselves with other eyes, how we shine in our right colors, and how different our bodies can look when we wear clothes in the right shape can be a fantastic confidence boost and make people dare to be seen. Not having the feeling of wanting to hide anymore is a great release and almost like being set free!

And there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to style. Whether it's a Wardrobe Edit, Colour Analysis, or a shopping session, my work is rooted in truly understanding my clients and what makes them light up, or how they want to feel when they walk into a room. For some clients, it's a sort of rediscovering themselves, and for others, it may be refining a style they already have and love but want some fresh perspective on. The beauty really lies in the individuality of each person I work with.

So, anyone who thinks personal styling is superficial is so in the wrong. It's not only for people who are chasing the latest trends (although it can be, and there's nothing wrong with that) but actually mostly about authenticity and confidence. It's about stepping out of the "shoulds" and "musts" and into our own power because style isn't superficial; it's a way to communicate with the world without saying a word. It's our own personal branding, and it's an act of self-care and self-respect.
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I firmly stand behind my phrase "Why hide when you can shine" because we all deserve to shine in our very own special way. I don't believe in forcing a set of expected looks onto people, but rather want to bring out what is unique in each person. That's what personal styling is all about: bringing out the uniqueness in each person and making them shine!
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