The Rivka Experience

Cindy hosts her friend, Rivka Grubb who works with people who want to look and feel their best.  Cindy interviews her to find out what a consultation with Rivka is like. Watch the video to learn more.

Video Transcript:

Cindy: Hi. Welcome to Saturday with Cindy. Welcome to all those who are new and here for the first time and all my customers and fans who've been hanging out with me on Saturdays for a long time now. So today we have a very special show, Rivka Grubb. She has been aiding and assisting and helping and encouraging people with their wardrobes for many years and I've told you a little bit about her and all of you wanted to know a lot more.

Well, she's going to be here today and you get to meet her and she's going to share tips and viewpoints that you may not have thought of before. She had her own segment on "Inside San Diego" discussing a myriad of subjects pertaining to wardrobe, weddings, back to school, how to pack, dressing for pregnancy. She has dressed ABC news anchors, the founder of "USA Today" and a long list of stars and celebrities and she herself has walked the red carpet. So get ready because we're going to have a lot of fun with the one and only Rivka. Okay, here she is.

Rivka: Hi.

Cindy: We've got Rivka and we've got her for an entire Saturday with Cindy and I'm so excited. Look at this stack of cards. These are all questions. So we're going to start now. All right. I've been dying to ask you this. What's your title?

Rivka: You know, I don't like titles. People have been trying to give me titles for as long as I've been doing this, which is a long time and they want to call me a wardrobe consultant, an image consultant, a closet cleaner-outer, a color lady, all those adjectives that people come up with. But what I do is I work with people who want to look and feel their best. That's my title.

Cindy: Oh, I love that. And I actually got to see that happen once, which we'll tell you about later. All right. Next question. How did this career come about?

Rivka: This career came about from my mother and my father. My mother is a French dress designer trained in Paris and my father was a furrier. And when I was a little girl when I crawled around the floor what I saw was pieces of fur, silk, batik, cotton and I noticed that I was creating new and improved outfits for my dolls. And that's how my career started. My first makeover was a doll.

Cindy: So now you're grown up. Are you still crawling around the floor with fabric pieces?

Rivka: Sometimes.

Cindy: So I'm curious. Who is your clientele? Who actually hires you to do this...to have this Rivka Experience?

Rivka: Well, it's really an interesting question because I have clients who are as young as 7 and I have one client who is 97. So I ran the gamut between young people all the way up to a 97-year-old woman, who I'm still dressing.

Cindy: Wow. I want to meet her.

Rivka: You do, you do. She's fabulous.

Cindy: So what do you like about doing this? How does it turn you on?

Rivka: My favorite thing is we're in the dressing room together and I put an outfit on someone. And they turn around and they look in the mirror and they say something like, "I would never have picked this out for myself, but I love the way I look." Sometimes they cry. To me, that it is the satisfaction of the day with my client.

Cindy: Okay. How would you describe what you do in one sentence?

Rivka: I change people's lives forever. She said one sentence.

Cindy: And now I'm thinking about...yeah, I haven't had the full-blown Rivka Experience yet. We're working up to it and she's doing me these little favors. We ran into TJ Max and by the time we walk out I have clothes that I thought I'd bought at Prada and, you know, all the big designer stores. It's quite remarkable. It's the Rivka Experience.

Rivka: That's the way it is.

Cindy: It's magic. She really did change my life forever. And it's so interesting because it's not just my wardrobe. My life has changed because she helped me have the outside match my inside. So I'm going to cry. Okay. So with all this, I think this is the point we're getting to is what is the difference in getting dressed and being well dressed?

Rivka: Well, you know, I always say that it takes just as long to put on a wrong pair of pants as it does to put on a right pair of pants. So if you're going to get dressed anyway and spend the time and the money on your clothes, the clothes might as well be great. So there are many ways to do casual clothes, all kinds of clothes, that you could look good in and the idea is to look good all the time.

Cindy: Now, is there anyone out there who could argue with that? All right. So this is a sticky one. I get responses on Facebook and from all my customers and fans around this and that is I really want to know your viewpoint on this idea of dressing your age.

Rivka: If you have worn something in the 60s, don't wear it again now. Wear something that's more current. I find when people dress in a certain era, it ages them. So I say just stay with current fashion.

Cindy: Now, I was looking for an ageist attitude in there and as you know I'm like Madam Pro-Age. I think what a lot of women that I've heard from get confused about is feeling like they're being dictated to and it's like, "Hey, I am who I am and I'm going to dress the way I want." Sometimes there's a little piece in me, and I know that there is in all of us, that says, "Well, I don't want to wear longer skirts because I'm older. Maybe I want to wear a miniskirt and I'm 55 or 60 or whatever." So how do you deal with that?

Rivka: If it looks good, wear it.

Cindy: So no restrictions?

Rivka: No restrictions.

Cindy: Love that. Okay. Onto the next. I thought that was going to be much more difficult. So who do you think a woman should dress for?

Rivka: I think a woman should dress for herself and for herself only. And when a woman does that she will reflect that, "This is my style. This is who I am." So when she comes out everybody else gets it as well. So you dress for you. You dress to feel good. You dress to look good for yourself only.

Cindy: Delicious. Love it, love it, love it. Okay. Is it possible to look put together in the most casual clothes and casual instances? And I'm going to, like, come up with something specific because I always say living here is like glorified camping and we are running around dirt roads and driving our golf carts around and everything. And I always feel, like, kind of shlubby, you know, when I throw on my shorts and my t-shirt and tank top but at the same time it's the most practical thing to wear. So how would one choose their clothes that fit that category and still feel put together without looking silly and being dressed up?

Rivka: Well, one thing that I know is that even if you wear shorts, there are pretty nice shorts out there. So you don't have to throw them on. You can put on some nice shorts. You can put on a nice t-shirt. You can put on some nice sandals. And you would look good casual going to the grocery store, running around the roads, going to a doctor's appointment. And my viewpoint is that wherever you are, wherever you go, wherever you live, you can look good all the time.

Cindy: I like that idea. I'm going to work on that most definitely because I come home after a day and I look in the mirror, it's like, "Holy smokes, good thing I didn't go to the grocery store."

Rivka: And just remember it takes the same amount of time to put on a nice pair of shorts as it does a shlubby pair of shorts.

Cindy: Do you think I needed to hear that again?

Rivka: Just thought I'd repeat that one.

Cindy: I love it. So when I go out to buy that nice pair of shorts, what I end up thinking is they're dressier than my shlubby ones. So how do you differentiate that? If I'm going to go get shorts that I'm going to knock around in that are nice, how does that differ from the dressy shorts?

Rivka: Well, I do think there's a difference between a dressy short and just nice shorts. But nice shorts can be worn so many times, so many places and always really, really look good. So my motto is, "Just wear it."

Cindy: Okay. Beautiful. And do you think that jean shorts are appropriate or fun or great for any of your clients?

Rivka: If they look great on you, they are.

Cindy: It's so simple. I always want to make it so complicated. Wow. Wow. Okay. Excellent. Thank you. What is the biggest don't?

Rivka: I think I'm going to have to go back to don't wear something that you wore 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. So I think the don't is stay current not trendy.

Cindy: Okay. That's interesting. I'm the type that likes to keep the same thing in my wardrobe for a really long time. "Oh, they're dictating that I have to do the latest thing, I have to go buy a new wardrobe every six months for the season and all that." So how do you differentiate between trendy and current? Current to what?

Rivka: Trendy is something that lasts something between five and eight minutes. So if somebody says, "This is popular," and you go, "Oh, not anymore." So they are very short-term fashions that are mostly made for very young women I would say between the ages of 17 and 24.

Cindy: Okay. And some of you are listening. Some of the 17 and 24-year olds.

Rivka: And if you're 17 to 24, rock out the trends especially if they look good on you. Trends do not always look good on people.

Cindy: Got it. Beautiful, beautiful. That's what I wanted to know. All right. So what's the biggest do?

Rivka: The biggest do is that you again, going back to dressing for yourself, so the do is before you walk out the door, you look in the mirror and you go, "I look great. I feel great." And that translates everywhere you go. 

Cindy: Fabulous. And I have been doing more and more of that myself since I've been around Rivka, and she's given me these pointers. And I'm calling out my wardrobe and getting rid of all those things that look really, really good on the hanger, on my friends. And I don't know if I got them because I want to try to look that way but I hadn't been looking at me. I was just looking at the style, the color, the thing itself and not looking at it on me. So after 63 years of experimenting with all of this, I finally get what Rivka is telling us. And it really makes sense and it also feels really good because you're not dictating anything other than be you, be who you are, be the best you and I love that. It's so in alignment with my message. I love it.

Rivka: It is. It is yes.

Cindy: Thank you. All right. So you've already given us lots and lots of tips.

Rivka: Yes, I'm not done yet. Are we done?

Cindy: Oh, we are not done.

Rivka: Oh, okay.

Cindy: We aren't even close, baby. This is going to be a long Saturday with Cindy. So, well, I think my tendency right now, I want to be the good interviewer and you know, "What are three basic tips?" But just a really good handy tip while you're dressing, while you're shopping or...have at it.

Rivka: Great. So I do have a couple of tips and one thing that we haven't talked about yet, which I find to be very, very important when you create a wardrobe is that you wear clothes in the right color palette for you. Very, very, very important. Colors are energy. As you can tell, I've got some energy going on over here and Cindy's got energy going on over there. So colors create energy. One of the things I do recommend is that people get their colors done.

If black is not your best color, I always use that as the example, then when you go shopping don't even bother looking at black pants, black tops, black shoes, black purses. Waste of time. So get your colors done. Know what the palette that works for you is. And that is one of the most important tips I could give someone. Get your colors done.

The other tip I have when you're shopping or dressing yourself, ask yourself, "What time of year is it?" Important for dressing. The other tip is to ask yourself, "Where am I going?" And the other tip is what time of day is it? What time of day is this baby shower I'm going to? That will have you dress appropriately to the time, to the occasion. You will feel good, you will look good and then you will bring that to the party.

Cindy: So I have a question. What is the Rivka Experience? What's actually happening from start to finish? Just a little run through.

Rivka: If you decide to hire me we call that the Rivka Experience. What happens is that I will interview you prior to our shopping time to find out what your goals are, why you want to look a particular way and ask you to give me some adjectives that would describe how it is you want to look. Sexy, smart, fun, reliable. The adjectives just go on forever. Then I also request some goals as to why you want to look that way and how that's going to make a difference in your life.

And before I physically meet you I will, in the given store that we pick, pull an entire wardrobe for you to try on and decide on what you like, what you don't like, what you can use in your life and try on just a bunch of stuff and really see what matches the adjectives that you gave me. So the way I dress you is by the way you told me you wanted to look. And this takes a couple of hours of trying stuff on and investigating the colors and the looks and where you'd wear them. And by the end of our time together you will have a full working wardrobe to go anywhere you want, including the Academy Awards and the White House, including Whole Foods.

Cindy: Wow. I saw it happen. I was with her. I had the honor...

Rivka: That happened.

Cindy: ...of assisting her while she was doing this for a dear friend of mine who is now a dear friend of hers. It's amazing the bonding experience that goes on because Rivka is not just dealing with clothes and colors. She's dealing with all of you, the entire person, and it really is quite remarkable. I was there for one of the breakthroughs when this lovely friend of mine looked in the mirror and all of a sudden she saw herself, she saw her beauty and she was fighting it tooth and nail all the way. And I had to keep my mouth shut if you can imagine that.

Rivka: I made her do it. It was in the contract.

Cindy: Exactly. Man, it took me everything. Very, very special. So the first question that popped into my mind is, "Oh, am I going to just look the same every day?" How do you look different having this consistent palette?

Rivka: Well, first of all, I think that you do look different every day no matter what. And if you start mixing and matching what's in your wardrobe currently you will find that it looks different and you'll say, "I never put this blouse with my green pants. I always put them with my off-white pants." And once you start playing and being creative with what is already there you will find that it never looks the same twice.

Cindy: Oh, that's great and seeing how you dress, I mean, you look different every day. I mean, I can't wait to see Rivka because I'm going to get to see what she's wearing. And she's shown me her closet and there's a very specific palette there, so that is really cool.

Rivka: It's the engine.

Cindy: It's the engine.

Rivka: It's the engine.

Cindy: It's the engine. So it is true that the spark plugs and the pistons, and they do look very different from each other.

Rivka: And they do look different from each other, but yet they all work together. And you'll also never find some strange piece hanging around not belonging to the engine like that pair of pants you don't want to get rid of. We don't want that. We want it to be a perfectly working engine with no pieces that you don't know where to put.

Cindy: This is the answer to my dreams. All right. Now, the most important information. How do we find you?

Rivka: You can find me. I do not hide.

Cindy:Rivka is located in Lafayette, California. That is the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay area.

Rivka: So I will give you my email address and I invite you to write me, ask me questions. I love talking about fashion. I love talking about you. So you can write me and I welcome any email you send me.

Cindy: And we've also listed her email below so you will definitely be able to get ahold of her. I'm feeling so much gratitude and so much joy finally having been able to share Rivka with all of you. So, thank you.

Rivka:Thank you. Thank you, everybody.

Cindy: So there you go. I honored my promise that you would get to experience Rivka. I can assure you it is only the tip of the iceberg. Having actually consulted with her a little bit myself and there's more to go, I'm definitely going to do the whole thing. There is so much more there to glean, learn. It's almost like a personality transformation. There were epiphanies. There were emotions. There was fun. There was laughter. And so much more information.

She's got many, many years behind her having done this. Thanks so much for participating. So much fun and I will see you on another Saturday. Bye for now. And please let me know what you think. Write below. Place your comments. Go to Facebook. Love to hear from you. Okay. Thanks. Bye.

How to get in touch with Rivka:
Email Rivka at: rivkagrubb@juno.com