Style Thief Fashion Podcast · Erin Stoll

Episode 31: What Your Stylist Wants You to Know with Paul Julch of UrbSuburb Style

·1 hr 26 min·5 clips

Paul says “it’s a people job, not a clothes job,” and calls style work “deeply personal” and vulnerable.

The conversation starts casually. Erin introduces Paul Julch of Urbanite Suburbanite Style, laughs through the pronunciation check, and mentions the technical trouble around the podcast setup before they settle into stylist mode. Paul feels at home here. The useful part arrives when they talk about what stylists hear when clients say they cannot shop in a certain store. Erin names the shame loop. She remembers blaming herself, especially her body, when clothes failed her instead of asking whether the store, fabric, or cut was the problem. That is the turn. When a client says a store never works, she listens for the story inside that sentence and asks what actually happened there. Then the advice gets practical. For in-person shopping, she has usually pre-pulled pieces, checked measurements, and chosen items around what the client wants. Still, she will not promise a win. The point is to stop expecting every fitting room armload or online order to pay off. Loosen the grip a little. Some pieces will work, some will flop, and a store visit with nothing to buy can still teach you something. The episode also gets into how online shopping changed the learning process because brick-and-mortar stores are not as useful as they once were. Erin compares that with her retail training in the Lerner, Express, and Limited family of brands, now called New York Company, where staff learned what was coming in, how fabric behaved, and how pieces were meant to fit. That knowledge is mostly gone now. The episode gives listeners permission to stop treating bad clothes as evidence against their bodies and start treating shopping as information.

As heard by us

Style advice that treats failed try-ons as useful research.

Paul Jolch and Erin Stahl keep the conversation friendly and practical, with the main point staying clear: clothes are easier to buy when fit is treated as information rather than a judgment on the body.

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Why you'd press play

You want style advice that survives a fitting room.

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