hi everybody it's jodi tope at your host of we to me divorce decor warehouse becomes a home imagine waking up and feeling homeless in your own home looking around and nothing feels like it used to we did me helps divorced men women and their kids feel comfortable and happy in their home again as they literally go from weed to be married to single through the uplifting power of color design and other export expert advice first met thank you for having the first well known thank you we met at a women's networking a very powerful women's networking event and i met you only one time at that event because then you stopped going after that i did yes but then we just made such an impression on one another and you had another friend who i continued to be in touch with and then we eventually got back together it was great yeah it was like oh  was that and that's the red that never broke yes yeah and the reason i quit that group was because i moved i moved to bask in red china so i it was too hard to get there anything and it was a really cool thing well the nice thing is that when we got reconnected  so we all had different speakers you were of course taking care of all the fashion and i was talking about divorce and how it impacts kids and the devil and their decor and what i want to say about you is this is where i was super impressed so you decided in the event which was probably the best part of the fact that you were going to do like a runway show and i shot yes but what i loved is every woman and i would say how many did you maybe ten women we had a lot i think it was more now it wasn't more than ten ok you had ten women of every age size height and weight every may i say every freaking woman looked awesome every outfit that came out i'm like oh my gosh it was amazing because you know especially after going through a divorce you could be getting ready to date again you could be going on your first job interview maybe you know you were a char job for twenty was was raising the kids and now you're going back into the work world or maybe you just need to feel good about yourself again maybe you put on a little weight or maybe you lost too much weight and with everything even after divorce is over we talked about it earlier before we started the show is that you cuts you said it is so much on your mind and so much going on and sometimes taking care of yourself is the last thing you pay attention to that you kind of  lose your yourself you lose yourself when you do you do if you don't really know you can fail that a very big thing you know our marriage is a big thing you know you feel even if it's not your fault or even if you don't ask for the divorce you feel like you failed or something huge or so what's cool about what you do is that it's it's instant gratification it is but that's actually my specialty thus the name dressed by lori because i did work in a professional atmosphere of  styling i actually worked with stacy london's company style for hire and learned a lot with her company and a couple of the girls i worked with because of the styling aspect and because my my store is only dresses thus the name dress by laurie yeah it's a great it's a great store for so many reasons we're number one it is the most inviting place to go and i feel like i want to you're welcome i want to hang out  someone at a glass you just make me get like it's not like you want to get in and out you want to just chill take your time and and also the concept that everything is dresses is pretty cool because you know what i don't think women wear enough they don't a lot of women actually do come to my store for because their occasion driven they're buying a dress for a specific event and i try to show them that you put on a dress and you're done yeah  but what's cool about buying a dress as well is you can switch it up to wear for anything you want yes for instance i'm wearing a lace dress today yes and i can put a denim jacket on and make it really really  colorful wrap so what i try to show my ladies who come in is don't be only occasion driven exactly where address more than one yes mind you my it's funny because i've been so influenced by all the dresses you know that  you talk about and that you have in your store that i would say over the last i used to i used to be a person who just wear pants and and once in a while i do that just what you said i would tell you now laurie that most of my closet is dresses and i feel  good and what you said that's another good tip you're done you put the dress on you're done the other way you get the pants you get the should i think about it much a lot going on you grab even when i come i never wear anything but dresses on the show i grab a dress and i would have worn yours but it's in when they walk into a dress store the dress has to fit them perfectly and not everybody fits into the perfect number size i can wear three different sizes simply a store alone so i want women to realize that they can always alter a dress so sometimes you go up a size and you got to do a little shoulder or two right you know before you go to take the waist and you have a little bit because the you know you might be a little bit bigger on the bottom than you are on the top so i want women to realize don't think because the trust doesn't look perfect on you and that is another thing that i do i show them all we got to do is this and look how beautiful they're like oh my god now it looks great that's hugely important because most people don't know that they just put it on and if the shoulder does i think that it doesn't fit but it could but everything else about it could be fantastic yes so it's good to i'm reviewing your tips in my head so it's good to know that and also women are hung up on numbers right as they are and  but you know i have a report with every woman that walks into my store so when you're very honest i am honest and i'm not going to lie to her and if something does not look good on you with a look after our i don't do that and appreciate that and they  and that's really really important i like these tips i like that you can repurpose the same dress and have the lace on and dress it up or down again people don't always they don't always think that they just think it's one occasion you can't wear it again  you really can do many many things and like i said i was very impressed with the runway and seeing all the different ages that's another thing do you think there's such a thing as an age appropriate outfit or do you think it has to do it the person well that is another tip i think there is you have to be age appropriate but you could i mean do you look at you you have a beautiful sexy dress and i'm eighty seven ye you should wear a dress that gets your body and put your personality as well but you do have to be age appropriate i really believe that it's about that's where you come in yes because not everybody knows what that means and they may think they know what it means and that can be a little bit sad when their own they are going oh dear what were they thinking yes and that's you know that's why it's important to have like a professional come in in take you into the room and get the trust going between you and then try different things well i have my own trust story with you and i love this story so i you know of course have to have an excuse to buy a dress from you so i went in to say hi and i'm looking around and there's so many things i love so good for your body type that's just what you said and and i said laurie yellow and yet you said trust me just put the dress put the dress on thank you all right will i try i do trust you because i've seen you dress multiple women on a runway and they look amazing i put the dress on what did i do i came out i'm like oh you were like a little kid this is so good i'm spinning around i was like i was like twelve years old again in my mom's closet you know trying things on i was so happy and it just again you know it's always about everything that we do is about how we feel not really how it looks it's it really is about how you feel in the dress how you feel in your room or your space it's all about that and all i kept thinking was i just felt so happy in the dress it was sunny or it was you know i worn it multiple times now and i get compliments on it all the time and i ended up wearing it on a very special trip with my second and i and he loved it because like it's amazing to us yeah and i've done the same thing that you suggested where that i've more worn it multiple ways i've dressed it up or down  the collar that you chose i mean color that the neckline that you chose it was just like very it was very easy to either do something really cool and big or nothing at all or something really long it seems like no matter what i did it worked so i that's the point yeah and that's another question i do ask my clients when they come out of the fitting room with a dress on and they'll go and that's the first question i ask how do you feel yeah how do you feel in that dress well i feel really pretty ok well let's just do this little thing let's do the sloping and now and now you've got you're done you're good to go and it must be a do you get a lot of this to get a lot of women that are maybe coming in for they're just starting to date again yes yes that must be  issue is very important they'll tell their story tell my story and we have a connection and then we just go from there and have some fun that's the way it always works is through the connection because we all have stories you do have a story and it is important for people to feel like they're not going to be judged and that they can have a story too and it's ok and i try to do that with my clients as well because you know i walked in their shoes as well so i get it and who am i to judge anybody's so it's really important to not feel like you're walking into one of those dry stores you know where they make you feel absolutely horrible about yourself and if you're not spending a certain amount of money get the hell out you know that kind of thing that's not us and we have a very versed higher price point where if you do if you are not countable with spending three hundred three fifty for a dress we have a dress for one hundred twenty eight yes and that's where we'll go yes i will just make you comfortable in on our specs and what ends up happening is you end up doing it we're buying more anyway because you're so happy about this and the things that i like about you is the new you choose outfits or was one  sticks in my head the very most i don't know why that is but i don't know maybe i connected to the health issues as well but she really was so excited and you opened up eyes potential for her because she said the same thing she was  never would have picked this i would have never chosen this and there she is in that dress with all that fabulous detail it was it was beautiful so that's the one thing you're welcome that really sticks in my head and you know that's how i guess we started to connect more and then i ended up where you could tell your story how i ended up working with you in your house while i got stuck on color i wanted to remake my my master bedroom and i just got stuck on color i just didn't know where to go so i asked jodi to come and help me and you went in a totally different and i would have gone in we went more to grace and muted colors and then we put a bright up it breaks everything up and i'm like that makes sense except so that's the first thing i did and as soon as we did it even my husband was like thanks to he said that to me and i didn't know that i know that it's funny but we went ahead and did it and i'm but it what's so funny is that we were both shocked at the color choices we made for each other me with my yellow dress and you with your wall color in your bedroom and that's just that's what it goes to show is that you know you can you are so you are so good at what you do i'm so good at what i do but when it comes to other things you really do it is takes a village you know you know you your friends out there to help you pull things together what's the trust like isn't it is the trust it's really all about the trust me it's all about and it's all about the color to me color is i always say this it's an instant mood altering tool whether you put a color on your skin or around your face you know how sometimes you must do this all the time and that's what i was worried about the yellow us to is that going to make me look like is going to suck the color out of my face and i don't look strange with yellow and all it did was inhance i remember you saying you say look your eyes look green or you didn't and sometimes it's a look stick yeah you know those little tweaks yannick all the difference in the world but that's where your eye is tuned and trained in that area you were able to pull of that together and figure out how that goes are there any more and you were tips for anybody watching like say what would you do in a case where somebody has gained a lot of weight versus someone's lost a lot of weight is there something special or different to do in that case when and you know that maybe it's going to change but i would think that they should feel good at the moment so it's ok you know a lot of what bullshit when i lose another ten pounds of b n yeah i can't tell you how many women i think and i'll say you know let's just say for today you got to feel pretty today that's right so we'll find the right trust for her and it might take you know sometimes you have to be a little patient to sometimes it's not the first second or the third tryout sometimes you've got to have ten dresses to try out yeah and you need a little patience  that's what i need to talk some of these ladies through that it's ok to be kind to yourself now please wear the i've gained ten pounds or lost ten pounds and then they feel like a million bucks gives them a little bit more self esteem going forward yeah so maybe they will lose that ten parents that they wanted to lose yet is the catalyst for it all i think that's where people i get the same thing with with spaces sometimes this i had this one client and she said oh but i'm only going to be here for a year well so what does that mean you're not going to enjoy your space for a year i don't even not sure why i called you i don't know maybe we shouldn't do anything until i move and you know what it's just like what you said you were living in the space now you're living in your body now you should feel comfortable in your skin you should feel comfortable and in your surroundings and you know it's almost like i get the same tip you are getting is that you know embrace the now we don't know what the tomorrow is going to hold we really don't know we can't hold on to the past because it's gone and the future is just terrifying sometimes so i just you know if you just think about what where am i now do i deserve to wake up in a space that makes me feel good do i deserve to put that incredible yellow away there's no reason away the people that go through those transitions have waited a long time maybe they've been in a really unhappy marriage for twenty years and it is finally your turn you said something earlier you know women we have trouble embracing ourselves in the now it's like we've when you're a mom especially everything is everything gets put everything is put on hold but as i was looking for everything gets put on hold and you are the last person to get anything so once you're out and you and you have time for yourself you're like wow you almost feel like you don't deserve it yeah you know you been downtrodden or it's been a difficult time like you said you're going through this divorce  know it's a very difficult time so you're not you're not thinking i deserve this no you're not up you do but you do that's right let's we should stress that that that's the time when you need the new dress that's the time when you should have somebody just take care of you that way so you don't have to think about it because i have clients sometimes that will say oh my gosh oh my god you're wearing it now you know i mention you and they'll say i really should just us again you don't have to go shop because the first thing they'll say to me is i don't want to go shopping for clothes i hate it they hate it a lot of willing to don't want that in that going into there having somebody who's thirteen waiting on you who has a perfect body and are like really it's very dili get away from me and spit on you now just go away i want to grown up woman who's going to understand that i have childbearing hips and that you know maybe my breasts are sagging after you know whatever i'm this  to embrace that and know how to make everything look good and that's what i think is so different about you in your store and you know what in the pot the bottom line is you have that experience we're you know we're like fine wine the older we get the better you get right well it's been a lifetime of work it's really been a lifetime and after my kids moved out of the house at fifty five yeah i finally open my dress pretty so that's another thing i would like to say is that it's a it it's never too late to say it it's never late it's never too late it's very very true i started this business about i'm fifty seven and i started this business four years ago so good for us is right i know it's great and that's that's why i like having friends like you on because i think it's really important to inspire people that are watching it's really not very inspiring to see somebody who's not lived a life tell you how you should live a life it's not very inspiring because what t they you know it's right and it's important so i would think do you think that besides being good to yourself that's like the number one i said i don't even know how call it a tip from you but do you think the second thing is  into your lifestyle right as well that's true too so if you're on the go and you do this this is what i am so i think it's so cool that you are a navy blue lace dress here it's awesome you got the funky knack less you got all this stuff going on and then if you wanted to rip off a necklace and put the pearls like you said in the shoes these are really good tips i hope you guys are paying attention these are really really good tips where the same thing happens with the space in terms of things fitting so i'm going to i'm go like everything you said to what i do so for me to sometimes i have clients that will say i have to have that couch from my old marital home and on thinking well do the math if it doesn't fit i don't care how much you like it just like i don't tell maci like the dress if it doesn't fit you can't have it because then you won't feel good you'll never wear the dress and your room will look ridiculous so it is all about feeling good so sometimes you know i say to people one of the biggest tips is you know measure everything you know your sizes and know what what items you want to bring into your space if they don't fit it's can actually come easy and it just takes it off the board for you don't have to be worried about it the second thing i like to talk about like i don't know if yours is second but mine for me in my case in a room is color color especially when people are going through a rough time really has psychological impact and i say this all the time on how people feel it's mood altering of course right yeah no i agree i agree with you cannot escape that so if you have something on if i added a dress on that was a color that i did not like i would not even feel it would matter that it fit me well it is i would like  for me color hits me and that's why i was so freaked out by the younger jessica and now it's one of my favorites so i always tell people also if you had to pick color if you're not sure in a space and then we can talk about how to pick color for your what you're going to wear but i still people if they're a little confused about how to pick color just look around i'll look around at what they're have if they have a scarf on that's pretty or they have a vase that they like i say well you know hey you have that cuff do you happen to like cobalt blue and perry went all together oh i love those colors can't you build a room around them so if you're maybe afraid to do a perry wrinkle wall say they say you're not that brave so you get a very color like we did neutral colors in your room and you punctuate your couch or your bed with the perry winkle pillow and the cobalt blue and maybe you get a rug that has those accents in it i think i would assume the same thing applies to clothes right yes if i say if i say to you my gosh laurie i love magenta but maybe an entire magenta dress on the would be wrong and your advice would be to well let's try this let's put it on here and see how it looks and maybe you'll love it and maybe you will love it and if you don't we can always move on from there run that's what i do we could get something else that has a little magenta a little and match of those and then the lipstick important and it is funny how the person's lifestyle into consideration their journey whatever their journey is whether it's a combination of health and transition and whether it's divorce or not  doesn't matter you take all of that in and everyone talks to you just like they talk to me you spoil your guts without even trying because you feel that comfortable in your store and that comfortable really it's about you not your store but it's really about you and you are  what the things that you put in your store so you or your dresses are kind of a reflection of who you are and you know spanning all those women that are out there these are the things that i think make you feel good and i and i think that's why your story is you and in honor of color and and how important color is in our lives so this well let me say i know how and my show every time your house needs to be comfortable reflecting your personal style and fitting you well on melbourne avenue three zero four melbourne avenue downtown melbourne my phone number is nine seven three two one eighty six two zero six and we also have a website w w w dressed by the laurie dot com and you guys know how to reach me jodi toeplitz way to me dot com w e the number two m e's dot com or nine seven three nine eight five four three eight six and if you can't remember lori's number you can call me and if you can't remember line you can call her she knows it thank you so much jodi toeplitz we need to me divorce decor warehouse becomes a home thank you