Today, we’d like to introduce you to Leslie Firkins.
Hi Leslie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have always had a love of clothing and arranging things in general to create beauty or a specific mood. I had grandmothers and an aunt who were always sewing *something*. I loved fabrics – the colors, the texture, the patterns and I had so many ideas growing up about what I wanted to see and how I would change things.
I remember looking at magazines and scanning for trends, ideas, and shapes. I recreated or put my own twist on a look with what I had access to as a kid and a teenager. When I was in high school, I was really lucky to be offered a job by a really great local photographer with a full studio. They did lots of portrait photography and commercials. Back then, everything was filmed. If you were an assistant, you had to have the shot set up and really look at all the details closely. Right before we started shooting, we would often take a Polaroid to see what we had missed, if the set was any good, etc., rather than waste a whole roll of film. Those days really taught me a lot of lessons. As a teenager, I already had my own style and ideas, but I also had so much to learn.
In college, I was hired by another photographer on campus when I grabbed a lightboard and held it at a good angle for a shot they were taking. Again, I got lucky. I had been hired to be a photographer’s assistant, but soon, while on shoots, I was recruited by a wardrobe stylist who took me under her wing as an apprentice. My first job as such was Fashion Quarterly for City Pages in Minneapolis. We shot at the Loring Cafe on one glorious sunny day, and I was hooked. I loved the energy and the power of feeling like you were helping create something, and I have always loved being a bit of a project manager and director.
Later, even as I was busy raising my young kids, etc., I somehow always had a hand in styling and planning events, helping stores with display, and doing a little apparel buying here and there (part of my family was now part of a retailing world). I loved it all.
After being at home with my two teens during the Covid lockdown, I was overdue to get dressed up and leave the house on a much more regular basis. I needed to be doing something creative. I didn’t know it at the time, but when I went for an interview for what I thought would just be a part-time associate at Anthropologie and ended up being asked to be a Personal Stylist for them, it would change my life.
I worked within the Personal Styling Program for a few years – I loved it. However, I kept getting asked if I would help some of my clients outside of those walls. Finally, I took the plunge and decided to start my own styling business.
Another gift that came to me was my friend of 30+ years reached out and told me she was opening a boutique in her hometown. Would I want to come and give some opinions, maybe go to market with her and lend a hand? My dear friend Julie is someone whose taste, career, and candor I have always admired. I KNEW this would be both a success and another great learning investment for me. It’s been so wonderful to see Swan and Bower Emporium do so well and bring folks joy.
I couldn’t say YES fast enough, and it’s been one of my best decisions. It keeps me fresh and gives me a perspective on what’s happening in trends and what will be available for clients and it allows me to use my mind in a different way as well.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I can’t complain too much at all. I had several years where I really needed some great flexibility – one of my children needed a lot of medical care growing up, and I was committed to being there.
This career has given me when I needed it and also given me the space when I needed that.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I love dressing women in different stages of their lives. Most of the women that come to me are entrepreneurs, busy creatives or just going through some change in their life – whether it be career or personal.
I am known for really being able to help a woman see how to dress her unique shape in the tone of her very own personal style. Often, women say they don’t have any style or don’t know what that is. They just haven’t taken the time to ask the right questions, or been posed with the right options to evaluate what that might be.
The truth is, we all know when we FEEL good, and that’s the outcome I want for the folks I help.
I am most proud of my level of service. I think I go above and beyond, and I really invest in my clients. I legit CARE about them. I celebrate a little inside when I see them look at their reflection and smile. There is such a simple joy in that self-discovery.
So maybe we end by discussing what matters most to you and why.
Genuine kindness matters to me. Acceptance and inclusion. How I make people around me feel.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.stylematch.co
- Instagram: @LeslieLovesPockets
