Ringing in the 2009 New Year with Clinton Kelly!

HAPPY NEW YEAR my Savvy Friends!!

Several of you have asked me to share more on my "consultation" with Clinton Kelly a couple months back, and though he couldn't make it to the little New Year's soiree we had here in the 'hood, I figured we could celebrate in spirit with him by raising our right hand and solemnly swearing to uphold Savvy Shopping & Saving habits in 2009.

Admittedly my original blog about Clinton was a little shorter than what I had first imagined. I don't know what came over me. I'm usually a pretty good photographer when it comes to candid quick snaps, I'm half Japanese after all, but not this time!

Maybe it was his 6'4" tall frame and sparkly blue-eyes that stunned the camera, maybe it was his sassy comments about tapered mom-jeans, or maybe it was his gushing compliments to us moms (he spent a week at his sister's house with his nephews and was exhausted) or maybe it was just a bad camera day - you know, like a bad hair day? Whatever it was I have but a couple more pictures of my stylist to share with you with a couple more fun tidbits from the "consultation".

One of the funnier moments of the evening is when he answered a question from a stay-at-home mom. What was she wearing, you ask? A gray frumpy sweatshirt, white t-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes. Her excuse for not wearing something better was that all she did was take her kids to preschool, as if that was going to win brownie points with him. The funny thing is that Clinton pointed it out, "But you knew you were coming HERE and you wore THAT?" Of course we all laughed. I mean, c'mon, you are just setting yourself up for ridicule by Clinton if you come wearing a sweatshirt and baggy jeans and tennis shoes!

Then he pulled this little woman on stage. Again, what was she thinking coming to see Clinton Kelly wearing THIS? You can tell she was laughing at his little zingy comments. The great thing is that he ended by telling her that though the green t-shirt she was wearing looked a little worn, the color looked really good on her.

This is what I love about what he and Stacie London do with What Not to Wear. They build people up. You can honestly tell that Clinton feels that women deserve to treat themselves better by wearing clothes that make the most of what they have. It's never about being a size 0 - it's about looking good in whatever size you wear NOW.

Clinton shared that he started in advertising before the fashion industry and that the women you see in magazines are not "real". They are images created by a whole team of experts whose sole job is to make the product or idea they are selling PERFECT. He went on about how it's one person's sole job to not only airbrush out any wrinkles but even pores. Teeth are whitened & straightened, waistlines made smaller, breasts made larger until the person no longer looks real. He went on to say that these are not the images we should be using to compare ourselves against because the model in the original picture doesn't even look that good in real life...and she knows it!

That's about all I have left to report, though one little tidbit I didn't share and it was from our last "consultation". Clinton pointed out that women have a terrible habit of being very vocal about what they hate about their body. He doesn't think we should ever talk about ourselves in that manner. Sure everyone has different challenges or areas of their body that they have a harder time dressing. When asked what his was, he said that he has a big butt. Seriously!

Now, both times I saw him he was wearing a sports coat which he says he uses to cover it up. Well, I can't say that I was spent a lot of time looking at his butt (I'm a mom of two little girls, c'mon!) but from what I can tell it's just one of those things that's not "perfect" in proportion in the eyes of a man who works in the fashion industry. Still, it was nice to hear that even the "pretty people" have their own issues and imperfections. It's what makes us a part of the human race.

So as you make your way into 2009 I will leave you with this picture that I found on Clinton's website taken by Brian Winckler. It's Cowboy Clinton, and it made this Nashville Girl (by way of Southern California) laugh. I mean, there's even penguins! And you know how I feel about penguins, especially Madagascar penguins. Till we meet again, Shop Savvy Y'all and...HAPPY NEW YEAR!