My Never-Ending Crush on Clinton Kelly

I’ve had a crush on Clinton Kelly for years. (No really. Click on that link. If you don’t currently have a crush on Clinton, you will.)

Family viewings of What Not to Wear marathons? A fairly regular thing. (And yes, we love Stacy London, too.)

Impeccable style and know-how of the fashion world? He’s your man.

Adorable and wonderful and just damn awesome? He’s guilty on all accounts.

Clinton has been traveling to different Macy’s throughout the country to share his fashion advice, tips and upcoming trends. Nichole, Margaret and I were invited to attend the local Macy’s Makeover event at the Roseville Galleria. I was tickled pink. (And then fretted about what to wear.)

From start to finish, Clinton was as wonderful and entertaining as you would expect him to be. The first part of the event was a fashion show with women of various shapes, sizes and skin tones that presented some of the season’s hottest trends. There were some fantastic pieces on that runway for work, casual and evening wear. (I’m still dreaming about most of the Rachel Roy items that were modeled.) Clinton’s fashion advice was as good as ever, but my word that man is hilarious. Even when he momentarily loses his voice, he has you laughing as he compares himself to Peter Brady when his voice changes…and then admits to an inner panic attach thinking that his voice really did disappear. He even brought some women from the audience to help them out with their fashion or body issue questions. He handled it with such a lightness and such class, it was really a great part of the show. Even when he was using an audience member to demonstrate the best tips for “booty issue” and shirt lengths.

Of course, there are some great tips that made me think about what’s sitting in my closet at home:

I learned a much more important lesson about jeans:

There were parts of the show that I really felt like he was speaking to me:

But then, even as he was over his time, and he was getting the signal to wind things up, Clinton Kelly made me adore him even more. He couldn’t leave without telling all women that we should stop being so mean to ourselves. To stop talking about how much we hate the various parts of our body. To love the body we have.

And then, even though he was speaking to everyone, he made sure to single out the younger girls and reminding them that the models and women that we see on TV, magazines, etc are not real examples of what a women’s body looks like. Those women are plucked, tanned, photoshopped, whatever…and it’s not real. We should all stop trying to look like those women.

I have my own body issues and trouble spots. I focus on them so much more than I should. Okay, I focus on them always. And as much as I loved watching the latest trends walk down that runway, the advice and tips that were given stuck with me the most. Don’t get me wrong, I now want everything Rachel Roy has to offer, but dressing to feel more confident in the body I have now was my favorite part. It was the pep talk I absolutely needed to hear. So, thank you Macy’s for putting on a great event. And thank you Clinton Kelly for being wonderful and adorable and just gosh-darn amazing. I had a fabulous time.

Disclosure: I was compensated for this post, but the opinions are mine.