Being 'that mom' who gets noticed

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By Karen Goldberg Goff

For many Washington women, personal style evolution follows a linear course - the office dictates what you wear to work, then once small children arrive, the highest priority becomes whatever is washable.

Eventually, though, new jobs, new body types and a new attitude call for new clothes. That's where Joyce Neave comes in. Mrs. Neave is the founder of That Mom (www.bethatmom.com), a wardrobe consulting and styling business. She says she helps moms realize their style potential for whatever is on their schedule, whether it is play dates, presentations or vacations.

"I am filling a niche that was just aching to be filled," Mrs. Neave says about the business she started in April 2007.

Even though That Mom is young, Mrs. Neave's eye for fashion goes back a long way. She has a degree in art and worked for several retail stores, including the tony-but-now-closed I. Magnin at White Flint Mall. For years, Mrs. Neave was the go-to person when her friends needed shopping advice.

"I'd like to say I started wardrobe consulting at around age 5," she says. "I would dress my sisters and my animals."

Mrs. Neave, the mother of children ages 12, 10 and 8, says she got the idea for her business as she was complimented often on her pulled-together look.

"When the kids were in preschool, I never left the house without makeup," says Mrs. Neave, 41. "I didn't want motherhood to kick my butt. Everyone else was in sweats, and they would ask me, 'How do you do that?'

"Women will say to me they don't know what is in fashion anymore, that their body is completely different after having children and that they don't have the time to shop. Some compensate by wearing baggy clothes; others give up on the idea of fashion because it seems too overwhelming."

A consultation with Mrs. Neave starts at $300 for a two-hour closet analysis. Clients try on everything in their closet, and Mrs. Neave tells them whether it works, and, more important, why it doesn't.

"It is supposed to be an education," she says. "This way, when they go back out shopping, they can look at the differences."