How Personal Can an Algorithm Be?

Personal shopping and styling is an art. Unfortunately, it's hard to navigate a marketplace where robots make it look so easy.

Did one promise to send you the perfect size and most amazing pieces to complement your current wardrobe? Without getting to know you and without seeing what you already have in your closet? Beware.

With the growth of subscription boxes (for make up, skin care products, wellness products, and most of all, clothing), the promise of a 'personalized' monthly box full of products just for you, that you don't even have to leave your house for, may seem too easy to pass up.

While I know it's true that technology has been able to take over thinking in a number of areas—that can't be the case with personal style.

The best personal shoppers and stylists are just that: Personal. I have amazing relationships with my clients and know what they need without thinking about it... because I KNOW them. Personally.

Algorithms can't understand that you need interview outfits because you're changing careers, or that you hate showing your arms, or that you're attending your ex's wedding and want to look amazing. They can't read between the lines when you say you want to look "professional" but mean something different depending on whether you work in finance or at a startup.

Real personal styling involves understanding your lifestyle, your insecurities, your aspirations, and your budget. It means knowing when to push you out of your comfort zone and when to respect your boundaries. No subscription box algorithm can replicate that human connection and intuition.

Just a word from the wise: Beware of even the cutest robots out there!