Chic Inspiration – Personal Shopper and Image Consulting

Ella is hands-​down the best personal shopper in NYC — Talk about customer service! Ella Goldin is Awesome. She helped me find the most beautiful gown and boy can she run around and get it all together for you. She had everything from the undergarments to the shoes in the dressing room with about 20 dresses. Not only did I get the gown for the Black Tie event– I also got a dress for my friend’s wedding and at a discount! And it all took just ONE HOUR. SHE DID ALL THE LEG WORK AND I SPENT 1 HOUR BEING PAMPERED!

Fashion is not my forte, nor something I ever really took seriously. I like to look good, we all do, but I never had the eye or interest in taking it seriously. A month or so ago I really needed some new clothes for work so I spent a few hours getting some things, actually I spent a few hours aimlessly walking around hoping to find something that worked for me, wasted my time, and got some lame shirt. The result, I decided to hire a professional, and I hit gold hiring Ella. She helped me clean out my closet which was so helpful, but actually getting clothes was a whole new experience. Perhaps the first time I’ve enjoyed it, and the clothes she picked for me are amazing. If you’ve ever wanted to learn a bit about style Ella is your girl. Oh ya, she also helped me get things at a discount at some places, her services are a no brainer.

I love stylish (but relaxed and comfy) clothes yet I hate shopping. I find having to spend 6 hours in the mall for a couple of cute tops a hellish experience.
Oh how different shopping is when you do it with a pro! I just had my third session with Ella and I will certainly come back for more. The best thing about Ella is that she just seems to know which clothes I will like. When I first met her about 3 years ago, she didn’t simply stick with the kinds of clothes I was used to wearing, but she gently guided me to see how different styles could work even better.
Just an example of how the process works: this last time when I showed up, Ella had lined up about 20 tops for me to try on and I ended up getting most of them. After only about 1.5 hours, I walked away with four new pairs of jeans and about 15 tops. Turns out it’s not shopping I hate, but wasting time. Ella makes shopping a breeze. Highly recommended!

really needed casual clothes for going out — yet, I had had an aversion to shopping (like many guys) and knew it was time to try something different. Ella was great! After we talked for the first consultation, she understood my tastes. Then we had an excellent shopping trip in NYC– it was easy, efficient, and fun — a great experience. I end up with things that I really like and will wear alot. I recommend Ella very highly — she is easy to work with, very knowledgeable, and makes shopping fun!

I felt pretty guilty paying someone to clean out my closet but was so happy with Ella that I have asked her to help me shop a couple of times since then. She salvaged stuff I never wore by pairing it with things I hadn’t thought of and then gave me a very short list of must-​have pieces to fill out my wardrobe. When she has shopped with me, she has saved me money by finding steals I would have glossed over. I read a negative review that alluded to an upfront expensive package. That’s a huge risk to take with any service. I paid for a closet clean and then by the hour for shopping and felt like Ella was fair (which isn’t the same thing as cheap).

I’d finally had it with my closet and it had been so long since I’d been shopping that I was intimated by trying to put together an updated look. Well, thank goodness I found Ella… she was fantastic. After perusing her site, I decided to jump in for a consultation and a shopping day. Ella is confident, professional and gets to know what you are like, can afford etc. Following an initial consult, we met for a shopping day that totally exceeded my expectations. Ella found great new additions for my wardrobe and totally helped me put new outfits together. I will definitely be contacting her again for a spring/​summer update, as this personal service was well worth the time. Moreover, Ella works within your budget, so there were never any big surprises during the process.

I see that someone rated Ella highly. Unfortunately I have had the opposite experience — I absolutely cannot recommend Ella.
I believe that Ella is talented in fashion (I agree with the other reviewer on this), but she unfortunately is a terrible communicator and quite immature as a business professional. I spent over $ 1500 for her services and ended up with very expensive clothes that Ella likes but aren’t quite my style. To make things worse, she was quite condescending and just not fun to work with.
I am kicking myself for paying for a package upfront — I strongly recommend against it because if you end up getting bad service, you are locked in. On top of that, she is now trying to charge me an additional $ 400 for extra time she spent shopping that she didn’t tell me about. DO NOT GIVE ELLA YOUR CREDIT CARD — she went ahead and starting charging me for amounts over the $ 1500 package I purchased WITHOUT MY AUTHORIZATION! I’m now in a situation where I have to dispute unauthorized charges on my credit card with my bank due to her unethical business practices. I tried to rectify the situation with her directly, but she is not apologetic whatsoever, she is actually mean. Simply put, I cannot trust her. I’m going to chalk this up to a «lesson learned.»
I write this review only because I don’t want others to go through what I went through. If you have any questions and want to reach out to me, I’m happy to give you more details. I’ve interviewed other stylists to help me get back on track after the Ella debacle and I believe there are MUCH BETTER stylists out there.
Best Wishes!

I cannot recommend Ella highly enough. I found her services on the web and after reading some glowing recommendations I decided to take the plunge. Ella went through my entire wardrobe, pointing out strengths and weaknesses based on the look I said I wanted to pull off. Once we decided what to keep and what to donate we made an appointment to shop.
The shopping experience was incredible. Ella had prepared a ton of clothes based on what I needed, all I had to do was try them all on. Nearly everything she recommended looked incredible. I felt like a completely different person when we were done.
All of my male and female friends and co-​workers now regularly compliment my look. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to hire her. I will definitely consult with her again this fall. If you are looking for help with your wardrobe/​style I don’t think you can do better.

I recently started a new job and I wanted to cultivate a more professional image. I came across Ella online and was a bit hesitant at first but decided to take the leap and signed up for a closet cleanout and personal shopping. Ella Goldin was an incredible asset in taking an objective look at the perception my new coworkers and professional partners would have of me based on my wardrobe. She helped me determine which of my clothes needed to be relegated to goodwill, which to weekend wear, and which were appropriate for my new job. She then walked me though all the possible combinations of the remainder of my closet, including options that had never occurred to me. This service streamlined my wardrobe and my conceptions of what I should wear to present a specific image. We then went shopping for several important missing pieces. Ella chose the stores we would go to and picked out clothes for me to try on. I let her know the size of my budget, and with $ 500 she was able to completely refresh my wardrobe. I’ve never received so many compliments about my appearance. Investing in these services from Chic Inspiration has given me confidence that my appearance matches the image I want to portray and opened up the space to concentrate on my job performance and my abilities instead of how I look.