When the Rachael Ray Show asked if I would be interested in styling a mother-daughter duo, I of course jumped at the opportunity as I love working with the show and with families. When I learned that mama Patricia and daughter Deonna had lost a combined 250 pounds? I simply couldn’t wait to meet them to be a part of their fashion journey!

I spent an afternoon styling them between two different dressing rooms, as their big reveal happened live on the show.

What I loved instantly about these two ladies was their close bond, and how in watching her mother lose weight, Deonna decided to commit to weight loss too for her own health. In all the before photos, I admired how they were always dressed to the nines, for as Patricia put it: “At any size, there is no excuse for dressing well, head-to-toe.”

And upon first glance after losing a combined 250 pounds, you likely wouldn’t notice anything amiss. But the truth was they were severely altering clothes they wore when they were double their size by sewing, safety pinning and tucking…so much so that they didn’t even know what their current sizes are!

For Mama Patricia during our fitting, I immediately identified her as petite, to which she exclaimed that she had never purchased petite clothing before! This alone made a massive difference in hemlines and sleeve lengths when trying on clothes.

In shoes alone, she had lost two complete shoe sizes! We joked about the woe of having to buy an entire new shoe wardrobe!

For her final look, a high-waisted pant with a belt that cinched her at the waist in just the right spot. For many petite women, they don’t believe that high-waisted pants are possible, but when balanced with either a super fitted top or a blouse that shows a little skin like with this key-hole to open up the neck area, the overall look achieves a lovely balance. I sported for an on-trend, bold patterned leopard blouse, and accessorized with braided hoop earrings, a gold cuff and boldly buckled, pointy-toed, slingback shoe for all the comfort without sacrificing style.

When we placed this outfit on, she said she felt ready to love and be loved, and I knew we had a home run…that and she couldn’t stop staring and smiling at herself in the mirror! “It was so worth all the hard work for this moment,” she exclaimed.

Blouse: H&M

High-waisted pants: Ann Taylor

Shoes and cream, faux-leather jacket: Zara

Earrings; H&M

Bold gold cuff: Chico’s

For Deonna, who is a self-professed fashionista, it was fun to introduce her to new silhouettes to break the mold of what she thought she could wear, as she was still trapped in the mental confines of her old body. For work, she had adopted a basice high-neck, black-and-white color scheme that she faithfully stuck to and was hiding behind.

Embracing this spring’s bold color offerings, I pulled for her this saturated pink, belted dress and she immediately turned to me and said: “Oh, my husband is going to love you.” But when she put it on, and we opened up her chest with that V-cut and the hemline was just above her knee, we started to really see her body’s silhouette shine, and she began to tear up.

As she came to realize, this makeover was not about what her husband would like, but what she could love.

Before even meeting her I knew I wanted to show off her gorgeous feet and legs, and we did so with eye-popping neon sandals that go with any color: cobalt blue, plummy purple, emerald green, sunset orange. when you have feet as sexy as Deonna’s you have to put a neon sign on them and say, “Look at me!” It was fun to have her take on two bold colors, mix things up, have some fun and go where she hasn’t gone before!

Dress: Express

Shoes: Express

Jewelry: H&M

I loved every second of our time together, their love for each other and for their new looks. To see a portion of the 10-minute segment that includes more on their backstory and their stunned reactions to their reveals, watch here.