My wife loves to shop for clothes online, and one of the things that she’s into lately is an online styling service called StyleGenie.
What is StyleGenie, you may ask?
You know how people hire stylists to give them a certain look, say, for a special occasion like a wedding or a debut or simply to go to the palengke to buy ulam.
Well, StyleGenie is an online service that does exactly that – essentially, it’s a virtual styling service, and everyone is done online. You pay a certain amount to get a “Style Box”, which contains clothes and/or accessories for you to wear. It can be a one-time order or a weekly / monthly subscription.
Recently they updated their service to distinguish between two main StyleBox types, Love Local and Go Global. A Love Local StyleBox costs P1,499 and consists of local brands such as Moxie, Chelsea, Coco & Co, Lovely Bunny, Revival, and Sebastian & Savannah. A Go Global box costs P2,499 and features global brands like Zalora, Old Navy, Forever 21, H&M, GAP, Uniqlo, Cotton:On, Topshop, and Mango.
You can also choose between a regular StyleBox and a LITE version. The regular StyleBox contains 3 pieces of apparel and 2 accessories, while a StyleBox LITE contains 1 apparel and 1 accessory.
How does StyleGenie work?
Everything is done online without any face-to-face interaction, so you start by filling out a questionnaire for the stylists to know more about you like your occupation, age, and skin tone.
You can even enter your Instagram handle so they can check you out.
Next, you enter your numbers such as height, body type, and body measurements. In this section, you can specify body parts to emphasize or hide, if any.
The last step of the style profile allows you to indicate your preferred brands, colors, and fabric.
You can also indicate the pieces of clothing that your are open to receiving, whether these are shirts, slacks, jeans, socks, or undies.
I was feeling adventurous and I wanted to give the stylists a difficult time, so I chose “Surprise Me” and left everything wide open to interpretation.
Once done, you can move onto the next stage and order a “Style Box”.
How long does it take to receive a Style Genie “Style Box”?
The Style Genie website doesn’t indicate a guaranteed turnaround time, but I ordered mine on August 22 and received the item on September 7, for a total of 13 working days or about 2.5 calendar weeks.
It felt like forever waiting for the box to arrive, so when it did, I immediately opened it and threw the delivery card right away. Big mistake. You are going to need it in case you need your item replaced.
So, what’s in the box?
I received two articles of clothing – a dark blue shirt and grey jeans. I loved both of them and felt like someone actually paid attention when I said I wanted to look like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or Bill gates.
Except there was one small – or rather, medium – problem:
The clothes were a little loose, and I made sure to indicate in my style profile that I prefer fitted tops and fitted bottoms. Because I actually only wear fitted clothes. It’s 2018, not 1998.
I was also quite certain that I chose the correct shirt and waist size.
I could rock it, but I wanted to see if we could do better. I also wanted to see how the return process worked, so I went and filed a request, only to find out that …
How do you return / exchange a Style Genie box?
You need the packing slip to replace the contents of your Style Box. Also, the tags need to be intact to qualify for an RMA (return merchandise authorization).
You don’t need to return the entire package, just the items you need replaced.
In my case, I was happy with my shirt and slacks, I just needed them one size smaller. So I sent them an e-mail explaining the situation. It’s a good thing that I had a photo of the packing slip, though they were kind enough to process the request without it.
So I booked my own courier and addressed the items to their return office in Makati. I got an e-mail acknowledgement on September 27 that they have received the items and were processing the exchange.
I sent a follow-up on October 8, and received a reply informing me that they were waiting for stocks to be delivered. Alright, patience.
I finally got my replacement on October 27. I was really expecting the same set of clothes, just a little smaller. Instead, I opened the package to see a striped blue shirt and khaki brown shorts.
The shirt I can work with, but the brown shorts? I don’t really do shorts unless they’re cargo-style, and I don’t do khaki. I wore those every day in grade school.
On the flip side, both pieces fit me perfectly, so I guess I got what I wanted … kind of?
But whatever, I wanted to be adventurous, and it’s kind of my fault for not being specific enough and leaving my style profile open to interpretation.
Is this what kids wear these days? Millennials, here I come.
I wore my Style Genie set in one of our videos and even took it with me to Boracay. What do you guys think?
What the takeaway from this experience?
I learned several things on my first Style Genie experience:
Make your style profile as specific as possible, unless you really want something different then prepare to be surprised!
Keep your packing slip and tags intact until you’re 100% sure you won’t be returning any of the items.
It takes at least 2 weeks for the style box to arrive, make sure you have enough time in case you plan to wear it on a trip or a special occasion.
Finally, allow me to answer the most important question of all:
I’m a dude, is Style Genie for me?
Real talk: women are more into clothes than men. Although I’m sure there are also men who are into clothes, the fact is that unless you are someone who gets photographed and video-ed (is there such a term?) a lot, most men would rather spend on something other than a stylist to work on their look.
The only time I ever let others bother with my clothes is when I have a shoot, but that’s because it’s part of the job.
However, not many men know how to dress properly. At the very least, most of us are comfortable wearing the same style of clothes day in and day out.
So, if you’re looking for a change of pace, Style Genie might give your wardrobe a fresh perspective.
One other example I can think of is when you want to go for a certain look, Style Genie might be able to help you with that. Keep in mind that you are entrusting your picks to someone who has never seen you in real life, so remember to be very specific and tell them that you want to look like Justin Bieber.