The Scoop: Wishi is an online personal styling service that helps folks discover their personal style and find clothing items they love. The service was co-founded by fashion experts Clea O’Hana and Karla Welch to make personal styling more accessible. Wishi customers take a fashion quiz and then are matched with a personal stylist who helps them create the wardrobe they dream of.
If you’re anything like me, getting dressed for a date – especially a first date – is an undertaking. The clothes we wear can say a lot about who we are and what we care about, whether they represent our cultural backgrounds or personal values. On a first date, clothes go a long way in making a first impression. And, as they say, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
It can be difficult to form a sense of personal style. Discovering what kind of clothes reflect your personality and instill a sense of confidence is a process, and having some guidance along the way as you develop your personal style can be helpful.
Wishi is an online styling service that makes finding your personal style easier than ever. Wishi offers clients one-on-one guidance from stylists, personalized mood boards, and style boards, among other sources. We talked to Clea O’Hana, the co-founder and CEO of Wishi. She told us all about the service, its story, and the importance of clothes in developing confidence.
“The way clothes affect us is pretty subliminal,” Clea said. “If you love your outfit, if you’re happy with it and feel like you look good in it, it puts you in a good mood, and you just exude confidence. It’s all about the energy that you’re putting in– and putting out.”
Great Style Is For Everyone
Clea co-founded Wishi with stylist and creative director Karla Welch. Both come from diverse backgrounds in the fashion industry and beyond. Before founding Wishi, Clea worked at Belstaff and Net-a-Porter, two large clothing brands. She told us she always had a passion for fashion, along with helping people discover what kind of fashion made them feel their best.
By the time of Wishi’s founding, Karla had established herself as a styling consultant for an elite list of celebrity clients. She’s worked with the likes of Tracee Ellis Ross, Justin Bieber, and Matt Damon. Her looks have appeared in Tiffany & Co marketing campaigns, on the red carpet, and on the cover of GQ.
Karla is the creative director for The Welch’s Creative, a creative studio located in Los Angeles. The Welch’s Creative has worked with Levi’s, Prada, Hanes, and Dockers, along with an impressive list of celebrity clients.
Karla’s work in the elite fashion industry got her thinking. She wanted to make the services she provided to her clients more accessible and give people the opportunity to experience hands-on personal styling. Inspired by the importance of clothes in personal expression, Karla felt there was much to be desired for the average consumer. Soon, Clea met Karla, and the rest is history.
Together, Clea and Karla looked at the current landscape of clothes shopping. They noticed that online shopping stripped most of the personal touch from clothes shopping and inundated shoppers with far too many options. Clea said an essential part of cultivating personal style is having an understanding of your own body, needs, and closet. Gaining that understanding and then operating within it can be difficult.
Wishi is for busy people who love fashion but just need a little help creating their own style. Wishi’s team uses their fashion expertise and personal analysis to help clients create wardrobes that they not only love but make them feel amazing.
Wishi Opens New Fashion Doors
Wishi offers a few styling packages that customers can choose from based on their needs. Regardless of which package a customer chooses, they start the Wishi onboarding process with a style quiz. This quiz covers the basics that Wishi needs to know to make the best fashion suggestions.
First, customers will choose which package works best for them. Wishi Mini is great for people looking to add a few pieces to their closets and includes chats with a stylist, a personalized mood board, two style boards, and wardrobe revisions. Wishi Major includes everything in the Mini package, plus three more style boards, styling advice for the clothes you already have, and beauty tips.
Wishi Lux is the most comprehensive package and includes everything in the Major package plus a call with your personal stylist, eight style boards, two season capsules, access to a virtual fitting room, and unlimited chats with your stylist.
The first question on the quiz covers gender expression. Customers can let Wishi know whether they’re going for a masculine, feminine, or androgynous look when it comes to their clothing. Next, they’ll answer a question about their body type. Clea said any and all body types can find something wonderful on Wishi, and the service caters to people of all shapes and sizes.
Customers will then share their feelings on different styles of clothing. This is the fun part of the quiz. Customers flip through mood boards that feature different styles, like minimal, feminine, boho, and more. They’ll answer whether they love the style, hate the style, or feel open to it. Next, they can tell Wishi about their favorite brands.
Wishi makes a few recommendations for a personal stylist based on your answers to the quiz. Customers can browse the stylist’s profiles and learn about their work. Once they find a stylist they feel they can vibe with, the styling process begins, and they’ll be presented with personalized clothing picks in no time.
AI Makes Finding Personal Style Easier Than Ever
Clea was excited to talk about the new tech Wishi is rolling out to help people express themselves through their clothing. “The AI tech has been five years in the making,” she said. “Our number one goal is pairing users with the right inventory, and using AI simplifies that process and makes it way faster.”
Wishi uses technology that Clea calls “human-supervised AI.” The AI tech has two facets. The first is at work when customers take the style quiz. The AI uses the results from the style quiz to match them with a stylist. The other aspect of the AI gives recommendations to the stylists, who can take the recommendations and make them their own.
Wishi is a great resource for anyone, but it could be an especially helpful tool for dating folks. Going on a date often pushes people to consider what they’re wearing in a way that they usually don’t. Clea shared some tips and advice for daters who are trying to step up their fashion game.
“With dating nowadays, you want to look good, but there’s also that fear of looking like you’re trying too hard,” Clea said. “You’re looking for the balance of looking put together yet effortless.”
Wishi helps clients think about the fashion nuances they may not know about. From the right colors to the right hemline, there are so many facets that go into making an amazing outfit that inspires confidence. Most people don’t know about all the small details that go into making a stellar outfit, and that’s why having the input of an expert can be so helpful.
“When it comes to confidence, obviously, an outfit isn’t going to fix all your problems,” Clea said. “But feeling good in what you’re wearing and feeling proud of how you’ve put it together– that’s an underestimated tool for building confidence.”
