How to shop like a Fashionista – Personal Chef Style

Posted & filed under My Stories.

So, there are a few things you should know about me….I love to cook and bake, some would say I am even decent at it. BUT I cannot brew a pot of GOOD coffee to save my life, thank the Lord for Keurig! I am obsessed with jewelry – the cheaper, more costumey, the better! I am petrified of birds. And, most importantly I HATE to shop, I mean hate, hate, hate to shop for clothes. Now that you know all that, I think you will find the humor in this story – enjoy!

In addition to just plain hating to shop, I also have zero sense of style – I need to look at magazines, Pinterest or the mannequins for inspiration, no way can I just “pull” a look together – and I do not have much time. The funny thing is, every day I am in different stores shopping….produce stores, specialty shops, Whole Foods, Wegmans….9x out of 10 I am either dressed in my chef coat or in my all black Eat Your Heart Out Edibles Uniform, and I can be found running frantically through the store looking for that “one” ingredient to complete my shopping so I can get into my client’s home and get cooking! The point is how “not cute” and 26 years old I look during work hours. However, I discovered that is not the case for the rest of the clientele at my local Wholefoods and Wegmans!

I should have learned the hard way last year – I was sorting through the avocados when this beautiful brown leather satchel purse caught my eye from across the produce section – next to the broccoli to be exact. So there I am with a cart full of organic veggies, in my chef coat with a mile-long shopping list in hand, as I walk over to this very well-groomed, put-together woman. I tell her I LOVE her purse and have been looking for one just like it and asked her where it was from. I had never heard of the brand before, but the name reminded me of “hermit” (as in hermit crabs LOL). After work that night I Googled “hermit purses”, only to find that it was not hermit but Hermes Paris, annnnd the purse cost over $2,000! HA! So that was the last time I’ll ever ask about anyone’s clothing or accessories at Wegmans…or so I thought.

A whole year has passed where I have secretly taken style notes of the classy ladies in my local super-markets. I would often find myself writing down “looks” on my shopping list to go home and try to recreate. Pretty sad, I know, but hey, you can’t say I do not make the most of my time perusing the canned goods aisle. But it happened again, just last month as I was searching for gluten-free Tamari….I saw this adorable dress on a customer in Wegmans. I mean I loved it, it was plain, simple and classy, and perfect for me to deck out with jewelry, and I just needed to know where it was from. I debated putting myself through the excitement/let-down cycle again, but I have thick skin and so I went for it! This time the response was not as bad as last, I even knew the name of the store – J Crew. Again I went online, only to find the dress cost $120 before S&H, annnnnnd that it was sold out. Bummer. BUT then my genius mom told me to look on E-bay; lo and behold, there it was for $89. Honestly more money than I thought it was worth, but I really wanted it, so I went ahead with the purchase.

After two weeks had gone by, I realized I had missed a message from the vendor telling me that as she was packaging the dress for shipment, she had found a tear under the armpit and did not want to sell the dress to me damaged. I was so disappointed. Lucky for me though, my amazing mother just so happens to be an amazing seamstress and she told me she thought she could fix the tear. $95 in savings later, I have a brand spanking new (with tags) J Crew denim shirt dress, in my size, the tear is barely noticeable and I have already worn the dress three times! BOOM, that’s how it is done!

Chef Angela and Mom

Out for the evening with my stylish Mom!

Next time you are in need of a new wardrobe and have no time to shop, just take a look at your surroundings for some inspiration. You just never know where style may linger – maybe even at Home Depot!

J Crew Dress

Personal Chef Fashionista!

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2 Responses to “How to shop like a Fashionista – Personal Chef Style”

  1. Ann Scherman

    I love your website and how you market yourself. The food looks great and the pricing reasonable. I need to make a major change in diet due to a health condition. My name is Ann Scherman and I will be calling you the week of April 20th. If you get a chance, please feel free to give me a call at (732) 600-7764. My e-mail address is a.scherman@yahoo.com. Look forward to speaking to you.

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