New Consulting Business Brings a Focus on Fashion to Downtown Plymouth

After more than five years in business as a fashion consultant in Los Angeles, California, Lena Porter has come to Plymouth. 

DRESS, Porter's fashion consulting company, celebrated it's new Forest Avenue location with a ribbon cutting ceremony last week. 

Porter moved to Plymouth, her husband's hometown, last summer. 

"I've always had a home office for my business because I'm either in a client's closet or at a shop," she said. "So the reason for the Plymouth studio is that I've had a lot of requests to do group style sessions, or workshops, that's what this space is supposed to help with."

Porter plans to host small groups of women to do different topic workshops. The location will also serve for client appointments, if the person does not wish to have them in their home. Porter consults by appointment only. 

Porter grew up in Michigan, surrounded by her grandmother's custom clothing business. She actually started out after college working in corporate branding with uniforms and the like. 

"I wanted to work with individual people," Porter said. "I like working from business to business, but it was all mass produced clothing and it doesn't look good on everyone. Then I learned you could actually be certified as a personal stylist."

Porter is certified in color and body analysis.

"Not to sound cheesy, but it's looking at people like a work of art," she said. "Saying, okay, how you walk, how you talk, you're coloring, you're shape and determining the best fabrics for you and the best styles that are most flattering. I became certified in that and launched myself as a stylist. That's really how it started. Then I moved back to Michigan and continue to do it here. People are just people - everybody wants to feel confident in what they're wearing."

Porter will hold a Happy Hour event for Men's Wardrobe Styling at Sean O'Callaghan's on Friday from 6-9 p.m. which will feature clothes on display, both custom and ready-to-wear. Guests will also be able to have their measurements taken or set up an appointment. 

To find out more information about DRESS, or to schedule an appointment, visit dresslp.com.