Dressing Intentionally for Pregnancy and Beyond with Helena Grant

Dressing Intentionally for Pregnancy and Beyond

[This is also an episode of Friday Free Talk on The Tranquility Tribe Podcast on iTunes. Listen here.]

Hey there, Tranquility Tribe!  How much do you know about your style?  Do you have a go-to clothing color? Did you know that the colors you wear can say a lot about your personality?  In this episode, Hehe talks to Helena Grant, an entrepreneur and stylist expert, about the major impact that clothes have on your life!

Who is Helena?

Helena recently celebrated the three-year anniversary of her business, H Grant Style, with a style popup in Boston.  Hehe attended the event and said it was a huge success! However, as Helena expressed, she could not have done it on her own.  For the majority of her time building her business, Helena did everything herself. However, when she began to prepare for her anniversary event, she decided to ask for help with the planning.  And she said that she is so glad that she did – at 1:30am on the morning of the event, Helena’s daughter had an acute asthma attack, and Helena ended up calling 911 and stayed up with her daughter for the rest of the morning.  Luckily, her daughter was okay and the event went on without a hitch, thanks to the hard work of Helena and the rest of her support group. Helena said that the event ended up being the perfect celebration of both motherhood and entrepreneurship as well as a reminder of the value of her village.  

Helena has been interested in style and fashion for as long as she can remember.  From designing dresses for herself with her mom as a kid to helping friends and clients build confidence along with their wardrobes, Helena has always had a true talent for helping others find their style.  Helena has been an entrepreneur since 2009, when she started her own line of handbags. After trying to upscale her handbag business multiple times, she decided to take some time away from her business during her pregnancy.  When a friend pointed out that she had an innate ability to identify and help others curate their styles, Helena decided to pursue that instead, eventually launching H Grant Style on the day of her daughter’s seven-month birthday.

The Capsule Project

Helena is currently working on a project focused around creating capsule wardrobes – structured wardrobes that contain a limited number of intentional pieces.  Capsule wardrobes are built around three base colors and two accent colors and are perfect for people who do not have a huge amount of closet space, are in a transitory time, or want to save time and energy when choosing their outfit for the day.  In addition to teaching others how to build capsule wardrobes, Helena is creating her own capsule wardrobe to truly experience what the project entails.

Helena is also very interested in the psychology and meaning behind colors.  As she describes, natural, earthy tones typically reflect grounded, neutral, and dependable personalities, while yellow conveys feelings of optimism and joy and purple of royalty and ambition.  On the other hand, black portrays a sense of power and elegance while red is bold and confident. Regardless of which color appears the most in your wardrobe, the colors that you wear can offer insight into your personality and mood.

Tips for building a maternity wardrobe

If you are currently expecting or planning on having a tiny human in the future, Helena has some special style tips for you!  As Helena says, the most important thing is to remember that you are a woman first. You can’t control how your baby will affect your body, so investing in wardrobe pieces and accessories that you can control can keep you feeling confident and comfortable in your body.  Helena recommends finding clothes that stretch, such as t-shirt dresses and leggings, so that you can wear them throughout your pregnancy. She also highly advises investing in a well-fitting pair of maternity jeans, because they will be an invaluable staple throughout your pregnancy!

In addition to having a maternity wardrobe that makes you feel self-assured, Helena also reminds listeners that positive affirmations during pregnancy are so important!  Pregnancy is HARD and your body undergoes a crazy number of unpredictable changes, but the fact that you are able to grow and carry a tiny human for nine months is incredible.  Remember that you are still you, even though your body is going through this transition, and keep in mind that pregnancy is temporary. Take care of yourself, keep your brain and body healthy, get plenty of sleep, eat well, and count on your village to help you through!

For all you postpartum women out there…

Postpartum women are constantly overlooked, and the postpartum world is filled with unrealistic expectations and ridiculous body shaming.  In reality, the postpartum period should be a time of celebration! You just accomplished something incredible, and you deserve to be celebrated.  Helena emphasizes the importance of taking time for yourself, especially after giving birth when it can be very easy to sacrifice all of your time taking care of your new tiny human.  She also gives her top fashion tip for motherhood – have a go-to “mom uniform” that makes you feel good while also not getting in the way of all of the incredible things you do throughout your day!

For those of you who are thinking about revamping your wardrobe, Helena recommends picking out about five pieces from your current wardrobe that you absolutely love, think about what you like about them, and compare the rest of your closet to those pieces.  Try to get rid of pieces that don’t inspire the same feeling as those original five pieces, and then look for that feeling in other places to build a closet that makes you feel fabulous!

If you want to learn more about H Grant Style, you can find Helena on Instagram at @hgrantstyle and on Facebook at Closet Boss with Helena Grant.  If you are curious to learn more about your own style, check out Helena’s style archetype test in her Instagram bio, and if you want more tips for building your closet, check out Helena’s Be Your Own Stylist course!

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Written by our Guest Blogger, Kyra Shreeve. She is a Biochemistry, Health Policy, and Music student at Brandeis University.