We talk to Michelle Pozon, who spent 23 years as a designer and then sold her own children’s clothing brand to become the Closet Guru, helping women fall in love with both themselves and their wardrobes as a personal stylist in Paris.
What made you decide to become a personal and “spiritual” stylist?
“Spiritual styling” was something I had done all my life, but I never imagined that it would be something I could make a career out of! My medium is clothing, my work space is the closet and my tools are the principles of Feng Shui and mindfulness. I teach women how to connect to their vision of beauty and express that confidently and consistently.
After selling my children’s label Eva&Oli, I found myself helping my friends with their wardrobes and then helping friends of friends just for the fun of it. Helping others is always a sure way to get my mind off of my own troubles. And, when I feel stuck, I go into my closet to see what I can create, clear out, or organise better.
The act of creating and making space is meditative for me, and finding new ways to wear my clothing is a challenge that I enjoy. While this was true for me, I was amazed when my methods caused a stir in others, as well. I believe that our closets hold our fears and aspirations.
They are mirrored in every purchase we keep, hide and wear. I show my clients that we have everything we need already. Everyone I work with learns that they can dress to their own tastes, make more with less, and create a new wardrobe with what they already own, season after season, year after year.
Why did you wait until you did to make the change?
What I do is like breathing to me, it is pure instinct, so explaining what I did, as if there was a standard recipe, was difficult. And, as no one that I knew of was doing what I did, I wasn’t sure how to promote myself.
How did you make the change? What or who helped you?
A friend challenged me to attend an entrepreneurial meet up, and introduce myself and what I do. When I got up, introducing myself as a spiritual stylist to a room of women who did not know me, I in effect made a commitment to share my gift with those who need what I offer.
My “mission” touched a chord with several women that day, and I was asked to share my story in the book “My Paris Story – Living, Loving and Leaping without a Net in the City of Light”, an anthology of women living their dreams in Paris.
How did your family and friends react?
My family rarely understand what I do, but accepts that this will probably always be the case! Friends were supportive and complementary or confused, but kind.
How has your life changed having gone down this path?
I am living my purpose: to lead a beautiful life, mirroring the beauty I see in every woman I meet, inspiring their own self discovery and beautiful behaviour in the world at large.
What advice do you have for women considering a similar life change?
Listen to your gut, your inner child, your higher power, that voice in your heart. Give yourself the love and compassion that you need, because no one else can give these to you, in the exact way that you seek.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known in your twenties? What would you tell your twenty year old self?
Trust the timing of your life. Relax into your “ride” and lean into your life – the joy, the pain, the highs the lows. All of it, because what you resist persists until you explode. Love yourself exactly as you are, and be OK with yourself wanting things to be the way they are not.
Do you have a mantra that has guided you more than any other?
“The awe, inspiration and talent you recognize in others are but a reflection of the same thing in you. I highly suggest you do not seek the approval or recognition of those you admire but instead cultivate in yourself that which you see in them…”–Jackson Kiddard. I also have a couple of favourite fashion tips: “Be the person you want to meet” or, to quote Marc Jacobs: “Clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them.”
Which woman do you most admire and why?
There is no one woman that I admire most. I have been inspired and moved by so many. I would say that the first woman I remember being inspired by, was Lady Diana. I was 12 when she first came on the world scene. She seemed so out of place and fragile, yet I had a feeling that she was always trying to do her best and be kind.
Her kindness always touched me. Her humility and how she connected with everyone. What I admire most, is that she did not put on airs and showed compassion and connection to everyone she met. She acknowledged that she was not brilliant in any way, and she used the “gift” of her celebrity and status to make the world a little bit better.
Is there anything people consistently misunderstand about you?
They think that I lead a glamorous life, or that my passion is about fashion. they think that my services revolve around shopping and following the latest trends
How can Mutton Club readers find out more about what you do?
They can visit my website michellepozon.com
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Last Updated on January 26, 2023 by Editorial Staff
