ClosettCandyy: Empowering Women Through Fashion
By Faith Casselman
Photo credit: Photos by Riley
Meet Jesse Whale, the style consultant and visionary behind ClosettCandyy, downtown Kingston's trendy consignment shop.
Jesse has built her brand on a notion all too relatable for women. She believes that clothes should be an expression of your authentic self and make you feel confident. She empowers women to discover their personal style and embrace who they truly are by wearing clothing that makes them feel good, not what beauty standards and trends say they should wear.
Ladies: you know that feeling you get when you put on your favourite dress and heels after your beauty routine? You look great. You feel great. And all of a sudden, you feel like you could walk into any establishment and command attention immediately. That’s the feeling Jessie helps her clients attain. Not just once or twice a year, but every day.
Many people use shopping and fast fashion as a means to self-soothe. If you’re a woman reading this, you’re likely no stranger to the concept of “retail therapy”. But the thing is, the dopamine hit from shopping doesn’t last long. It’s a quick fix for a much bigger problem: women don’t dress for themselves, and as a result have no sense of personal style.
Women dress the way influencers and the fashion industry say they should dress. This leaves women feeling even more lost and confused about what actually looks and feels good on them. It can even hurt women and their self-image, because simply put: trends in fashion are not one size fits all, literally.
Because women are on the hamster wheel of updating their closets with the latest trends, they miss out on the opportunity to discover their own unique style with pieces that make them feel, well, diabolically confident (that is the goal, after all).
“ClosettCandyy exists to help you embrace and love who you are today. Not after you lose the weight, or get your hair done, or any other excuse you've given yourself. I want you to wear what you want, regardless of what others think.” Preach, Jesse!
“We shouldn’t be dressing for other people, or for the ever-changing world of fashion, we should dress for ourselves and invest in the classic capsule items that are versatile and sustainable.”
Jesse’s no stranger to the struggle of self confidence and mental health, either. As we sit in the cozy back nook of her shop before she opens the doors for the day, Jesse gets candid with me about the struggles she’s faced on her journey of self love.
It’s clear by the time I’m finished my coffee that Jesse is the true definition of “authentic self”. If you follow her on social media then you know exactly what I mean.
Jesse is an open book when it comes to sharing her journey with her audience on social media. She shares her good days and her bad days- and that’s what makes Jesse (and her brand) so damn relatable for women. This is undoubtedly why she has one of the most loyal followings in the region, and why she can rely soley on social media to connect with her customers and grow her brand. She’s proof that when you’re vulnerable and authentic, it pays off in a big way.
But let’s rewind and go back to how ClosettCandyy all began for a sec.
Since Jesse was a young girl, she’s been playing dress up and using clothes as a means of self-expression. It’s no surprise that this playfulness is reflected in her style today- from polka dot dresses to fedoras and cheetah print, Jesse doesn’t put herself in a box when it comes to how she expresses herself through clothes.
When she got her first job, it was in retail. She discovered her passion for empowering women to buy clothes that they felt good in instead of persuading them to buy higher priced items.
Flash forward to the early 2010’s when Jesse moved to Kingston to study marketing communications at St Lawrence College. She was looking for a creative outlet apart from her studies and that’s when ClosettCandyy: the blog, was born.
If you were an internet girly in 2014, you know just how cool it was to have a fashion or lifestyle blog. And if you kept up with the local Kingston blogger landscape, you would have known that ClosettCandyy was the blog to keep up with if you had any interest in fashion. Jesse would post her elaborate creative photoshoots showcasing her outfits and sharing tips on how to style your own wardrobe.
She never dreamt that one day her blog would transcend into her very own consignment shop on Brock Street and a brand with over 7000 loyal followers. In fact, it wasn’t until she helped her friend in college clean our her closet for fun that she started thinking her passion project could be a real business. Today, the "closet audit" is part of Jesse’s style consulting business model.
The audit is part of Jesse’s Personal Style Transformation Package, just one of the style consulting services she offers. Here’s how it works:
1. The client takes a quiz so that Jesse can better understand their style goals.
2. Jesse goes to the client’s home to perform a closet audit, helping them decide what to keep, donate, and toss. Because clothes have such an emotional hold on us, it isn’t always an easy job to get women to part with items that simply aren’t serving them anymore. This is where Jesse earns the title “style therapist”, for sure.
3. Now that the client is left with pieces they feel good in (and are in good condition), Jesse takes time to style the pieces into outfits that feel put together and ready-to-wear for any occasion.
4. Lastly, if there are capsule items that are missing from what the client already owns, Jesse takes them shopping to stores she recommends to fill in the gaps.
In the end, her clients walk away with a renewed sense of pride and confidence in their wardrobe. And for Jesse, that’s what it’s all about, “Investing in your style means investing in yourself and your confidence.” She continues, “We shouldn’t be dressing for other people, or the ever-changing world of fashion, we should dress for ourselves and invest in the classic capsule items that are versatile and sustainable. It's a step in the right direction towards feeling like your very best self, but it's also an exercise in patience and understanding. You just can't build a functional wardrobe overnight, trust that it's going to take time.”
In addition to style consulting, Jesse also hosts style workshops for private parties and corporate gatherings, a unique offering that’s not only entertaining, but provides value to guests or employees. And of course, you can always pop into ClosettCandyy at 94 Brock Street to shop her selection of gently used clothes or her very own blends of fabric sprays.
