Boutique Box - Your Style by Catherine

The Power of Intelligent Style™

Sun, 18 May 2025 19:15:00 +0000

The reality is women can't afford not to care.

"While only 5% of leaders say that they consider appearance a key factor in executive presence, 83% say unkempt attire detracts from a woman’s executive presence." -- Center for Talent Innovation

Who determines what 'Executive Presence' is, anyway?

Intelligent Style gives women a framework to create a presence that creates connection and communicates capability, without sacrificing their authentic self to merely 'fit in.'

Intelligent Style Activates Influence

"Sometimes you have to get out of the way of yourself to be yourself. Presence if first about how we show up internally. But, more importantly, it’s about how we show up to connect with others.” - Amy Cuddy, Presence

Style is a communication tool. It communicates to others who you are and creates the opportunity for connection and conversation.

It also is a tool for you to leverage to communicate to yourself: who am I and how do I want to show up?

What you wear reinforces the answer to that question for you.

And, regardless of the environment that you work in, it is SO important that you have space to bring your self into the environment. As an example, perhaps you have a really flow-y and free bohemian-esque personality and style, but you work in a very corporate environment that requires business formal every day. You can't just dress the part for the environment. Wear the suit, but bring YOU into the equation via your accessories, the colors you use as accents, the blouses/tops you wear under the suit.

Intelligent Style Impacts your Performance

In 2012 Adam Galinsky conducted a study at Kellogg's School of Business that considered the idea of dress for success and the concept of embodied cognition (learning through experience). He had groups of MBA students wear white coats to take cognitive tests. One group was told it was wearing a painter's smock, one was told it was wearing a doctor's lab coat, and, of course one was the control group. In every instance, those wearing the 'doctor's lab coat' outperformed the other groups.

Galinksy found they 'showed up how they believed a doctor would.'

In other words, what they were wearing impacted how they perceived themselves and thus, how they performed.

What you wear matters. To YOU.

Intelligent Style Empowers your Confidence

Fashion and the trends are about fitting in. Style is personal. Intelligent Style is BELONGING.

Intelligent Style is innate, authentic, and aware.

When your external presence matches your inner sense of self-assuredness, you tap into your innate confidence. And then your confidence in your presence reinforces your confidence in your self.

Ultimately, it's not how you look, but how you FEEL. This is what creates authentic connection.

The Q's to Ask Yourself to Embody your Intelligent Style

Who are you?
How do you want to show up?
How do you want to feel?
How do you want others to feel in your presence?

Ready to embody your Intelligent Style? Sign up for our on-demand workshop, Power Up Your Presence:

3 STEPS TO POWER UP YOUR PRESENCE

The 3 Core Values of Intelligent Style

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 15:36:29 +0000

Style can feel superficial, especially for women who've been working to be seen as more than how they look for most of their lives.

“From a young age, I’ve used my clothes to tap into my inner self-assuredness when going into situations when I was way outside of my comfort zone. I remember walking down the aisle in my first communion dress. I remember my first day of a new school in a new town in 5th grade. I remember every day of sorority rush at a school 2000 miles from home where I didn’t know a soul.

It wasn’t about how I looked in those moments. It was about how I felt.” – Boutique Box CEO, Catherine Cassidy

Our WHY as a company is simple: We believe it should be easy for women to find clothes they love that fit. Style is a powerful communication tool – it creates connection with others and it connects us into our authentic power and presence. We call this Intelligent Style™.

Intelligent Style is an external representation of your inner self.

It strips the masks, the personas, the ‘shoulds’, the shame, the costumes we wear to be ‘taken seriously,’ to fit into a mold, to avoid bias, to avoid being sexualized.

Intelligent Style is freedom to be you.

If you’re downplaying any part of yourself — your gender, your culture, your personality — you’re not bringing your full self and your best work to your team. You’re operating with a handicap.

And we recognize that for women it actually takes a lot of work to get to this place to feel totally safe to be seen. Even then, you may not feel totally safe AND YET you’re brave enough to be vulnerable to be seen. This is why we’re so passionate about supporting you in creating your Intelligent Style.

Ready to create your Intelligent Style? Start embodying the 3 Core Values of Intelligent Style.

BASICS DON’T HAVE TO BE BORING

You don’t need another pair of black pants. But, you do need the pair of black pants that are perfect for you.

Your black pants won’t look like your mom’s black pants or your best friend’s black pants.

And, they don’t have to be boring. What they do have to be is a pair that makes you feel your best and the most YOU you can be. So, they could be simple. But if they make you feel YOU, then they’re not boring.

There are just a few variations on black pants that could do that for you…

And when you commit to ONLY buying clothes you love that fit, you will not only find yourself buying less, you will also find yourself wearing more of your closet.

Which brings us to …

SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE INVEST IN THEMSELVES

“Behind every successful man is a woman.” Indeed! Because the societal expectation of the stay at home spouse afforded men to work without worry of caring for the family or the house. All those ancillary needs were met without their extra time or energy.

And now that men are single longer or, if they get married, their spouses are working as well, men are quicker to invest in something that makes their lives easier, saving time and energy.

Perhaps it’s because women’s wealth and security had been tied to essentially being the property of men for so long before we started creating our economic freedom post WW2 that we’re still untying those knots in our belief systems that keep us from investing in ourselves.

Regardless of the reasoning, the truth is simple: successful people invest in themselves and saving their time and energy.

With style, this manifests in only allowing ourselves to buy the $30 pants from Target that work OK rather than the $200 pants that feel like butter when we can indeed afford the investment piece.

So, let’s reframe the investment …

We’ll have to replace the $30 pair in 3 months (again and again) and the $200 pair will last us years (and likely until something shifts and we give them away rather than throw them away).

“You don’t need a giant wardrobe to have a great wardrobe.” – Catherine to every single personal styling client

What you need is a wardrobe full of clothes that you LOVE and wear. Investing in the pants you LOVE means you don’t have to spend the time, energy and money to buy another pair every 3 months. We call this return on your investment ROW, or Return on Wear.

Beyond style, some ways you can create a support system for yourself, even if that means starting small.

Some ways you could start investing in yourself to save your time and energy:

Pay the small fee to have your groceries delivered
Fluff & Fold laundry service
Cleaning Service for the deep clean, as needed
Boutique Box membership (of course!)

Some ways to invest in yourself when you need to be mindful of your spending:

Create a daily self-care routine that empowers your day (morning journal, exercise, daily nature walks, reading, cooking … whatever it is that feeds your mind, body and soul)
Set a budget for your wardrobe updates and create an action plan to mindfully update with pieces you LOVE
Get a Library card for your book cravings

Which brings us to …

EMPOWERED PEOPLE EMPOWER PEOPLE

“As you let your own light shine, you unconsciously give permission to others to do the same.” – Marianne Williamson, Return to Love

As you own your Intelligent Style, you give permission to the women around you to do the same.

This has happened time and again with Catherine’s personal styling clients. They would step up their style (simply for themselves and their time), and they would notice that the women in their office started stepping up their style, too.

The evolution of fashion and the trends for women through the decades have been dictated by societal norms, shifts in the economy, women entering the workforce and navigating male dominated industries, and as we highlighted earlier, the desire to be seen for more than how they look.

The French word for ‘suit’ is ‘costume.’ And for many people, that is what getting dressed for work is – putting on your costume to get out the door. We dress to fit into a mold of ‘should’ that keeps us safe and doesn’t ‘distract’ from the work we’re doing.

But your playing small doesn’t serve the world. We need your light. We need YOU. Not everyone is Malala. But no one else is YOU.

And as you let your own light shine, you light the way for others to do the same. As we do that collectively, we will see the change we want to see in the world.

Boutique Box can’t solve for every challenge women face in this world, but we can make getting dressed empowered in your unique style easier. The women we support are the ones who will solve for the challenges we face collectively.

JOIN US ON OUR MISSION!

What is Intelligent Style & How do I get it?

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 20:13:39 +0000

When you think about your style...

a) I feel good in general and great sometimes.

b) I feel like I look okay.

c) I feel like I look appropriate.

d) I don't feel like I have one or I don't like the one I have.

e) I feel empowered.

If you're not there yet, our goal is to get you to (e).

The ultimate question about style for women is 'where do you start?' When everything you do is going to be looked at under such a discerning (double standard) lens, whether you're just starting out or already ascending in your career, style and 'dress code' is ambiguous in the workplace.

So, what is a woman to do?! Develop your Intelligent Style!

Defined as: [A person's] style is so embodied and [their] closet is so well curated that getting dressed for any occasion to feel empowered in their style is innate and effortless. They don’t even have to think about it.

Intelligent Style creates connection. You get dressed to connect to your inner power and to connect to your audience for the day ahead.

So, how do you develop your Intelligent Style?

Step 1 // ISQ: Intelligent Style Quotient

Courageous, Committed, Connected, Consistent, or Confident. Your style is always evolving.

Your ISQ tells us where you're at in your evolution to Intelligent Style and being completely confident in your Intelligent Style. ISQ is like EQ. It is learned. Knowing where you're at gives you the roadmap to get where you want to go.

Step 2 // Style Inspiration creates your Mood Board

Designers create a ‘mood board’ before creating a collection. This is the essence and the colors, prints and textures that inspire the collection. This is their style inspiration – and it’s not necessarily people.

Think about this for yourself: What are the favorite rooms in your house? Your favorite places you've visited? Your favorite pieces of art? Your favorite pieces of furniture? And why? Is there a theme or any kind of common denominator.

With this, we start bringing your inner style out to create that external representation through the clothes you wear.

As Boutique Box member Julie P. marveled at how we delivered “clothing [that] fits and [she] wouldn’t have picked them out for myself”.

Step 3 // ROW: Return on Wear.

Take the price you paid divided by the number of times you’ve worn it and you get the return on wear for your investment.

It can feel difficult to create an effortless appearance without buying an exuberant amount of items. Intelligent Style helps you recognize all the potential one item can have. When you have a closet curated intentionally, each new piece immediately creates multiple outfits and can even be worn across many occasions, just styled differently.

Boutique Box client Mary Anne R. was so excited that “[she] was able to immediately create 3 new outfits out of one piece Boutique Box sent me!”

Mary exemplifies the goal of Intelligent Style. Creating a simplified wardrobe that allows you to have a better understanding of your clothing; also reteaching your brain to visualize opportunities for pieces of clothing depending on the occasion.

Step 4 // Closet in the Cloud

We ask to start getting a picture (pun intended!) of your current closet so we can see what you have now to see how we can guide you to bringing your Mood Board vision of your style to life.

What you love to wear vs. what you want to wear tells us a lot about where you're at in your style evolution.

One thing Catherine learned in her years working with women executives 1-1 to curate their Intelligent Style is that you need to start in their closet and where they are -- there is a lot of intelligence in what you've already bought for yourself. Then, piece by piece, you elevate their style with pieces they wouldn't have found on their own, but that are a perfect fit. If this step of a Closet Inventory is skipped, you end up buying more clothes that create more clutter than clarity because you didn't take the time to plan and be intentional. (Hint: Boutique Box does this for you!)

Step 5 // DTC: Direct to Consumer

Speaking of pieces, Boutique Box collaborates with DTC designers, which means they’re not focused on growing their sales through wholesale channels (department stores, boutiques, etc.). They’re focused on selling directly to you. The brands we work with are also creating with you especially in mind (rather than mass market). Additionally, you won't find them in a department store.

This means the retail price is aligned to the value and quality.

As Shelley W. proclaims, “If you’re not loving & wearing over 50% of the clothes you own, take the money you would normally throw away on clothing anyway and hand it to Catherine. You will gain confidence, learn new skills and develop a wardrobe you love.”

Well, thank you, Shelley! We're biased, but we agree with you!

The Intelligent Style Framework leverages Boutique Box founder Catherine Cassidy's 14+ years of working with women getting dressed for work and creating tools to guide them to bring their style to life on their own. Every client always had her style within her, and Catherine guided them to see that. Boutique Box was founded on this idea. And, that the hardest part is finding the pieces that bring your style to life. You know what you like. The problem is the time it takes to find it.

Intelligent Style emboldens women to be their most authentic selves; so they can feel comfortable in their own skin, rather than using clothing to hide it.

We take your Intelligent Style Profile and connect you to the pieces from our designer partners that we know you'll love.

Intelligent Style is innate, authentic, and effortless. It also saves you time, energy and money.

If that sounds empowering for your closet & time, you’re invited to learn more and get your invite for the Boutique Box Membership.

If you lead a team, consider booking an Intelligent Style workshop to support your talent -- we give women back their time while empowering their presence & amplifying their impact.

Learn More Now!

What the HECK is Business Casual?

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 22:20:55 +0000

In some ways, the uniform of a suit makes it easier to 'be appropriate.'

Even before Covid changed everything, the ambiguity of business casual for women created another level of stress in the endeavor of getting dressed for work.

While the nuance of navigating business casual can feel daunting at first, it also offers you an opportunity to be more creative and define for yourself your personal brand.

Style is a powerful communication tool.

Leverage it to embolden yourself through your day and create authentic connections with others.

Business Casual, defined: A step below a suit, but a step above jeans and a tee shirt.

Business Formal will tend to lean more toward minimalistic and conservative. Business Casual is open to interpretation, but offers women the opportunity to wear more colors and accessories. Generally, business casual will incorporate flowy blouses, day dresses (maxi/midi), slacks, casual pantsuits, solid/patterns shirts, and skirts. Regionally women interpret the definition of business casual differently. Depending on the weather norms and regional trends, it can be seen that D.C, NYC, San Francisco, and Miami share vastly different business casual styles.

In LA, Business Casual can mean jeans and a blouse.

In DC, you’re still wearing trousers or a skirt and maybe still a blazer, but just not quite a formal suit.

So, how does one navigate the nuance between the cities and the communities they’re connecting in?

A few #IntelligentStyle guidelines:

It’s always better to be overdressed than underdressed.

So, when in doubt, step it up a notch. If everyone is wearing jeans + a blazer, and you’re wearing cute pants and a blouse, you’ll still feel really good and aligned to the style cues of the rest of the team. But, if everyone is wearing something a bit more elevated than the jeans + a blazer you’re wearing, you may feel initially a bit uncomfortable.

You do YOU

That being said, to create connection you need to acknowledge the audience and environment you’re in and dressing that and start with how you want to feel.

In new environments and with new audiences, creating connection by meeting people where they are helps to build the relationship. This doesn’t mean having to sacrifice who you are and your style. For these settings, start with something you absolutely want to wear that will make you feel emboldened.

If you’re the consultant coming into a team, you have the space to dress differently because they’re bringing you in to BE YOU and think differently. If you have total confidence and feel emboldened in your style, that energy can overcome the difference in dress code.

Focus on FIT

Please note: Size is irrelevant. If you look in your closet, you probably have a pretty broad spectrum of sizes. Please let that help you let go of an attachment to being a certain size. FIT is what matters. Fit is what will make you always feel your best.

What does great fit look like?

You can see your shape (the wrong size can make you look bigger than you are)
There is no bunching – a key indicator that a piece is too big
There is no bulging or pulling – a key indicator that a piece is too small
You accentuate your favorite ‘assets’
You dress for YOU, not hiding or playing small

Leverage these three guidelines to create your business casual.

Some Intelligent Style Business Casual inspiration:

Remember, the essence of Intelligent Style is YOU. So, take an outfit as inspiration for how you can make it your own.

Boutique Box curates your ideal wardrobe, one piece at a time. With #IntelligentStyle, you're ready for any occasion. Ready?

Get Started Now!

Clothes as a Catalyst for Confidence

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 16:47:04 +0000

"Catherine is a ray of sunshine, but she is painfully shy."

"Catherine is a ray of sunshine, but she is painfully shy." - My Kindergarten Report Card

And so started my self-study of confidence.

Throughout my life, I have used my clothes as armor. Not in the sense of protecting myself from others, but to embolden myself.

I remember what I wore for every milestone that was far beyond my comfort zone: first communion, first day of a new school in 5th grade (twice!), going to a bar for the first time when I visited USC, sorority rush, interviewing for my first job out of college (it was the same suit, obvi), interviewing for BCBG, giving my first design presentation, backstage at NYFW, sharing my story onstage in a performance piece (pictured above), speaking at Inside Edge, speaking at Rock the World, hosting my first style salon, etc.

Some people remember life events by sporting events and the national news of that day. I remember them by what I wore.

Using clothes as a catalyst to connect to my inner confidence, I empowered myself to step into these uncomfortable and challenging situations.

Feeling confident in my presence got me into the room, pushed me forward for the opportunity.

There was a time where I felt bad about being shy; like there was something wrong with me. But discovering this report card many years later in high school made me realized by accepting it, I'd created a powerful tool for myself to move through situations outside of my comfort zone.

So every time I inevitably stepped out of my comfort zone again, I got more comfortable there.

I don't consider myself shy anymore, though I do have my moments. And as an entrepreneur, I joke that I live my life outside of my comfort zone.

Clothes are a catalyst for confidence. (There are also studies that have proven this to be true.)

Even if you're lucky enough to never ever doubt yourself, think about a big event you had recently and what you wore.
How did it make you feel? Why did you choose that outfit?

The key for clothes to be a catalyst for confidence: they have to make you feel more YOU.

Let me underscore -- this is not about fitting in, the trends or what's 'appropriate' for work.

My story of style is peMy career has had me focused on this one question: How can I make it easier for women to find clothes they love?

My Fashion career started on the sales floor of Nordstrom after my Freshman year of college. Working in the Individualist department, I was helping professional women find pieces they loved, and that they wouldn’t have picked themselves, to make it easier to get dressed for work.

In looking back, it was witnessing them experience the feeling of personal power in wearing these pieces that hooked me into the idea of creating this experience at scale with Boutique Box.

It was my time as a merchandiser at BCBG that led me to launch my own business to solve this problem because I felt there was a massive disconnect between customers and designers, creating overwhelm for the customer and waste for the designer. This problem seemed most challenging for women getting dressed for work. So, I started my first business, Ustyled, to eliminate the disconnect by solving the problem for this customer.

For 10 years I built that business, working with hundreds of women between 1-1, workshops, speaking and online programs.

What I came to realize is that Intelligent Style™ comes down to two things:

The tools to do a bit of inner inquiry to connect to your inner style
Ease to find the pieces that fit + feel good to empower your style

And thus, in 2018 I pivoted and closed Ustyled to set about and launch Boutique Box.

Intelligent Style™ gives you the tools to do the inner inquiry. Boutique Box gives you the ease to find the pieces you love. A great wardrobe doesn't need to be a giant wardrobe. A great wardrobe is a wardrobe you WEAR, mixing + matching + playing with how you want to show up for you.

The bottom line: everything I do is considering how best I can serve you in style and success. If there is anything we can do for you and/or your team, please let us know!

With style and substance,

Catherine

Founder and CEO, Boutique Box

Get Started Now!

The Power of Color

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 03:55:57 +0000

What does your favorite color say about you?

HINT: There are no wrong answers!!

-1- What is your favorite color?

This may or may not be a color you wear often. Some colors you love maybe aren't great colors for your skin tone. This still tells you a lot about the vibe you want to bring into your closet.

-2- Go into your closet. What color(s) are prominent?

If they're not the same as your favorite color, it could be indicative of either your current feeling OR just that you like to keep things simple. Maybe it could be fun to bring pops of your favorite color into your wardrobe through accessories and details.

A quick and dirty breakdown of what colors communicate ...

Yellow: Confidence, intelligence, happiness and BOLD presence that encourages inclusion.

Red: Power, strength, determination, love, and a dynamic assertive energy that inspires passion.

Pink: Femininity, friendship, compassion and welcoming openness.

Orange: Joy, adventure, creativity, determination and attracting success through inspiration and action.

Gold: Wisdom, wealth and illuminating high quality.

Green: Harmony, freshness and freedom, abundance, and a balanced approach to endurance.

Blue: Depth, stability, trust, loyalty, wisdom and intelligence with creativity and confidence to boot.

Turquoise: Transformation, clarity and a unique imagination for innovation.

Purple: Royal power, wealth and luxury, wisdom with independence, creativity and some mystery.

White: Clarity, light and good.

Black: Depth, elegance and power.

Do the colors resonate with you? Are there any that you want to bring into your wardrobe for what they communicate?

Ready for that Next Level in your life, style and career?

How you show up matters.

Taking your presence to the next level doesn't mean you need a makeover. It does mean you need to think about it differently.

We know you're busy, so we created a quick catalyst with the Your Next Level Workshop. In 35-minutes, Boutique Box CEO Catherine Cassidy guides you through the 1-2-3 to elevate your Intelligent Style to activate and embolden Your Next Level.

UNLOCK ACCESS NOW

It's time to CHANGE your Shopping Experience

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 02:00:00 +0000

"Well, shopping is a disempowering experience."

I made that statement in a conversation with a friend discussing my plans for Boutique Box.

And in that statement is what has always been my end game with my work: to SHIFT the shopping experience for women from disempowering to empowering.

I went to work in corporate fashion because I loved the power of style. For me, style is a form of self-care. Style is how I show up for myself. And, I have never had a giant wardrobe. It's always been intentional, in part because of necessity and a minimalist budget.

However, in my 6 years in Corporate, I quickly saw a disconnect between the customer and the designer.

As a merchandiser,

it was my job to analyze sales data to use for future design and buying strategy. It didn’t take me long to see that our business was driven by mark-down sales. Not only did that not make business sense to me, but it meant that women were buying our clothes on sale because of our brand name.

Likely, the clothes were sitting in their closets unworn and unloved. Bought on sale because they were excited about a designer name on sale, but it wasn’t quite right. So, every time they’d go to put the piece on for an outfit, it never felt quite right. And thus it ended up on the floor or back in the closet.

At least that was my intuition at that time.

And as I worked with clients growing my first business, Ustyled,

it turned out that my gut instinct as to what was happening with those clothes bought on sale was accurate. The majority of pieces that still had the price tags on in a client’s closet was bought because it was on sale, a specific designer and they thought they could make it work.

In working with a client, we’d go through her closet piece by piece, breaking down the psychology of a purchase to get to the place of embodying the WHY behind each piece. Because even if something wasn’t quite right, there was a lesson in it. And if it was a piece she LOVED, there was something to highlight to bring in MORE of with future pieces.

So, even if an item didn’t stay, we learned something from it. Because, as much as I love Tim Gunn, you can’t and shouldn’t try to make all things work (in life, love and clothes).

So, how is shopping a disempowering experience?

If you don't feel your style or life needs represented by what's in the stores, it's not you. It's the system. Buyers are buying based off of what sold last year. Large groups are not understood, so just not represented.

For instance, one client who had a good sense of her style and a fairly straightforward size went shopping at a department store to take advantage of the markdowns. She knew what she wanted and needed (we call this a Wardrobe Action Plan). She spent 3 hours trying on SO MANY pieces and walked away with only 2 that worked. And, when I was a personal stylist, that's how much time (or more) I'd spend hunting to find pieces for a client. So let me underscore for you: It really is that much work.

Add to the frustration with styles, sizes for women aren't standardized, so how much confidence do you have ordering 'your size' between brands? Every brand runs different. Often, even within a brand, the sizes can vary widely. FIT for women is tough and larger brands are designing for scale, so trying to fit the most bodies. Of course, that means most people are left out of the equation.

To find pieces that fit your body, style and life while adding value to your wardrobe (we like to call this 'mix and match-ablity'), it's just going to take time and consistency. Hunt, buy, try, return, rinse and repeat.

Unless you shop with Boutique Box.

We're on a mission to empower women through style.

You do know your style. It's the process that has shaken your confidence.

With the Boutique Box Membership, we have you create a detailed Intelligent Style Profile, build your closet in the cloud with us, and then leverage that to find for you the perfect pieces to add value to your wardrobe. We will recommend 1 or 2 pieces at a time and you let us know if you want to try them. Imagine finally feeling supported in style and having fun with it again!