Loading blog content, please wait...
Booking a Custom Pick for the First Time, Nervous You'll Do It Wrong There's no wrong way to send that first message. That's the part that trips people ...
There's no wrong way to send that first message. That's the part that trips people up, honestly. They sit on it for a few days, second-guessing whether they have the right details, the right words, the right anything.
You don't need any of that figured out before you reach out. The whole point of a stylist is that you bring the messy real-life version of what you need, and they do the sorting.
The bar is lower than you think. A stylist can start with something as loose as "I have a work thing next week and nothing feels right."
From there, the useful details are the ones you already know off the top of your head. Your usual size, the kind of day you're dressing for, whether you run warm or cold, one or two things you know you don't wear. That's a real starting point, not a half-baked one.
You don't have to name fabrics or describe a "vibe." If you can only tell us what you're getting dressed for, that's enough to build around.
Here's what changes once you've done it once: you realize the stylist expects to go back and forth. The first set of picks is a conversation starter, not a final exam you either pass or fail.
Say the first top isn't your thing. Great, that's information. "Love the color, hate the sleeves" tells a stylist more than a page of description ever could, and it makes the next round sharper.
Nobody on our end is keeping score of how many times you say "not this one." That's literally the job. You're not being difficult, you're helping us aim.
A lot of first-timers hesitate because they think booking a custom pick means signing up for some big overhaul. It doesn't.
You can ask for exactly one outfit. You can ask for two tops that work with the jeans you already own. You can ask for something for one specific event and nothing else.
Small requests are completely normal and often the easiest to nail.
Starting small is actually a smart way to test the water. You get a feel for how it works before you ever hand over anything bigger.
The most common worry I hear is some version of "what if it doesn't fit." Fair. You're trusting someone else to read your body over a screen.
So we don't guess in the dark. Telling us a brand and size that currently fits you well gives us a reference point, and if you're between sizes or a piece runs snug through the shoulders or short in the rise, that's exactly the kind of thing worth mentioning up front.
If something still isn't right when it arrives, that's what exchanges are for. Nobody expects you to keep a piece that doesn't work.
If a blank text box is the thing stopping you, keep it plain. Something like: "Hi, first time doing this. I'm a size medium in most tops, I mostly need casual stuff for daytime, and I've got a dinner out in two weeks I want to feel good for.
Can you help?"
That's it. That message has everything a stylist at RubyClaire needs to get moving, and it took you thirty seconds.
You can always add more later. The details tend to come out naturally once the picks start showing up and you react to real pieces in front of you.
The reason first-timers stall is they're treating this like a form with right and wrong answers. It's closer to describing a problem to a friend who happens to be good at clothes.
You wouldn't rehearse before texting a friend "help, I have nothing to wear Saturday." You'd just say it. Same energy works here, and the stylist fills in the rest by asking questions when they need to.
The pieces that come back are hand-selected for the day you described, not pulled from a generic list. That's the difference between this and scrolling a hundred product pages hoping something clicks.
Once your message lands, you're mostly waiting and reacting. The stylist reads what you gave them, pulls pieces that fit the size and occasion, and sends them over for your yes-or-no.
You look, you react, you tweak. Maybe everything's right the first time, maybe you swap one thing. Either way the loop is short and the pressure is off your shoulders, which is the whole point of not doing it alone.
And the second time is even easier, because now the stylist has a read on you. But the first time still only asks for what you already know. Your size, your life, and the day you're dressing for.
Send that, and you've done it right.