How to Use Fashion to Feel Empowered According to Stylist Malia Anderson

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Sonoma stylist Malia Anderson shares some of her top tips on how to use fashion to feel empowered and look fabulous. Click through the gallery for details. 

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Wear Your Confidence: Anderson, who runs her styling business out of a Railroad Avenue studio in Santa Rosa, says many people are confident on the inside, but they’re not “showing up” in how they dress. They are sticking to ill-fitting outfits “that don’t reflect who they are or their status in life.” Anderson says her aim with clients is to “bring that out and show it to the world.” (Photo: Yvette Bracket Photography)

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Try It On: Anderson’s secret to making a change? “You’re going to have to try on a lot of clothes and buy the piece that works for your body,” she says. But shoppers, she says, have to venture past what the stores want them to buy (what’s on the mannequins) and head toward the items that make them feel great. (Photo: Yvette Bracket Photography)

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Evaluate How You Want to Show Up: Anderson likes to reevaluate her wardrobe around her birthday (on the last day of the year) and during the fall to gain inspiration from the “richness of options” the season has to offer. Anderson considers fall the spring cleaning season for the wardrobe, saying it’s a good time to “take stock of who you are and ask yourself, ‘Is this who I want to show up as?’” She adds that it’s good to try something different and new during this time. (Photo: Yvette Bracket Photography)

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Innovate/Get Influenced: As we spoke, Anderson was experimenting with wearing a camo outfit, a departure from her typical feminine style. She planned to add some sparkle: shoes and a bag to “girl up” the outfit. Anderson gets much of her inspiration from social media influencers, the “regular people” whom she credits with stirring up the fashion industry. She turns to Instagram to  “see how influencers are rocking the brand.” Without them, Anderson believes the fashion industry would “still be giving us the same watered-down garbage we’ve seen for years.” (Photo: Yvette Bracket Photography)

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Walk Past the Mannequins: Anderson recalls a time when she “accidentally” became a runway model. She was working in her behind-the-scenes capacity at a show when a model didn’t show up. Anderson went from having an “Are you serious?” moment  at the thought of stepping in, to being hooked the as soon as she finished her walk on the runway. When she began her work as a model, she says, “Producers didn’t want me there—There were no plus size models in the 90s.” But people would ask her after shows, “Where did you get that outfit?”... (Photo: Yvette Bracket Photography)

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...When she told them “this mall,” they were surprised, saying they hadn’t seen the item. “Because you looked at the mannequin. I looked at the piece and made it work for me,” she would say. You have to walk past the mannequins. (Photo: Yvette Bracket Photography)