Reconnecting with your body, soul and the earth through sustainable styling with Kerry Wilde

WORDS BY CLOTILDE MOULLEC

15 Apr 2021

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This blog is part of our sustainable styling series, where we speak with different styling innovators about their story, their creative process and the different tips and tricks to sustainably styling your wardrobe. Today, we speak withKerry Wilde, sustainable soul stylist.

After working in fast fashion for more than 20 years, and seeing the true side of fast fashion’s supply chain, Kerry realised that the industry had deep systemic problems. When coming back to the UK, she felt disoriented, not understanding why western countries weren’t speaking about the terrible things happening on the other side of the world.

While starting to think this, she also had a spiritual awakening, which manifested in a physical way. She would feel dizzy and sick before going to factories in China or India that were in dismal condition and realised that the corporate world and fast fashion had disconnected her from the earth and its core values. She thus decided to dismantle the system that she had learnt throughout her whole life around fashion and went freelance, setting up the Art of Slow platform and now works on reconnecting women with their bodies, sustainability and clothes.

Kerry in a soul styling session

This approach is also inclusive and liberating for all because it doesn’t matter your size, shape, form or skin color. So how can you start on the road to sustainable soul styling? Here are the first steps to starting on your journey using Save Your Wardrobe to help you:

1. Stop buying, pause for a minute, unplug from fast fashion.

Everything you’ve ever thought about your body, your clothing, your taste, your style… Pause and take a step back. When we step back, that is when we can see things for what they really are. Especially if you are in a buying cycle, you need to detox from that addiction, and making that pause will really help you.

2. Have a deep long look at what you have been buying.

The next thing you should do is to see where you are in terms of clothes, be very honest about what’s there. What are the clothes telling you? Are they telling you stories? Kerry teaches adornment ceremonies, where women bring the clothes that are the most ‘precious’ to them, those that hold the most emotional and mental value. When the women brought these clothes, sometimes stories would come out, showing the emotional attachment to the garment.

Kerry during an adornment ceremony

The second part to this step is asking yourself why you bought these pieces, is there a reason why you previously felt you needed to buy black clothes? Or why are you buying clothes that are not practical for your lifestyle? You might be buying clothes that should be worn on the beach in Malibu when really you live in the English countryside and you will never wear this piece. Be honest by looking at your lifestyle against the collection itself.

3. Inquire into these pieces. What is the brand? What are their values? Who made the fabric of the brand?

Kerry has a brand directory and each time a client has a certain brand or would like to have a certain brand, they look together at the values of that specific brand. Is this the energy that they want to carry with them?

For instance, if your clothes were made by a fast fashion brand and slave workers were working on the fabric, it is going to carry bad energy. The energy of the whole supply chain is going to be present on the fabric and in your clothes.

4. Connect and feel your body.

Try on the clothes that you have in your collection, and take the time to acknowledge how you feel in the clothes. Don’t just look at yourself in the mirror wearing clothes, put your hands on your body and feel the messages coming through.

Again this links to the energy of the garment. Once you wear a garment, it is like your second skin. If the frequency of the garment doesn’t mesh with you, then you might not be wearing the right clothes. Here, we don’t want to simply see how the garment looks but it’s also a deeper connection.

6. Know what pieces you want, what suits you. You can now start building a range of clothing that really reflects who you are and your values today.

At this point, your wardrobe should reflect you and your values, not the person you would be once you’ve lost weight or you in ten years’ time. Sustainable soul styling’s goal is also to get you comfortable with your body because the sizing system in itself is fluid. We’re shape-shifting all the time!

Once you have pieces that fit your values and are packed with positive energy, you will be able to feel radiant and feel your true expression through your style. Kerry mentions that whether it be herself or clients, this also has a ripple effect on life. Connecting to your body, your clothes and sustainability have led to self-love for them and being able to speak their truth or having improved self-worth.

A lot of Kerry’s clients have also told her that they now have the tools to fight against any urge they might have had to buy impulsively. The pieces they wear are linked to their self worth and most of them thus dress conscious now.

If you would like to learn more sustainable soul styling, want to get clarity on your style direction or are looking to do some sustainable soul styling sessions, Kerry is inaugurating her Art of Womxn program, which will teach you how to reconnect with yourself, the earth and clothing, making you look radiant without spending more money.