It all started with an e-mail newsletter. A headline caught my eye about the world's first personal digital stylist at Stylegist.com. As someone who has spent many a morning staring at a closet full of clothes and agonizing over what to wear, my curiosity was piqued.

To me, technology should make life easier, so a virtual stylist would help me choose what to wear in the morning. I used my search engine to see what style-savvy sites are out there. Here are some worth checking out, plus a primer on how to become your own virtual stylist.

1. Stylegist.com
www.styleglst.com
From the home page of the Stylegist.com website, you can take a virtual tour of the program. Visitors who sign up fill out a form selecting the physical features that best represent them to create their own virtual model. Once that is done, you can start creating your own outfits based on one essential item you've chosen. By the end of the tour, I was looking forward to trying out the service; however, the site isn't accepting new applicants. It's in beta format, so stay tuned -- it will be available in 2007.

2. My Virtual Model
www.mvm.com
All you have to do is enter your personal characteristics before trying on some outfits. There are a variety of participants, including online retailers, like Sears, and websites, like iVillage (www.ivillage.com). I chose H&M first since I enjoy shopping for the latest trends at this popular retailer. Even though you can't purchase the clothes directly from the Canadian H&M website, showing the different apparel on my model displayed the clothing in a way that you just can't see on a hanger.

Next I scanned the "sexy, fun sleepwear" at iVillage. Calvin Klein offered some cute styles and you could actually buy them online! For outfits you want to purchase, be sure to check the Help section of the e-tailers' sites to confirm they ship to Canada and at a reasonable price.

3. BeautyBodyStyle.com
www.beautybodystyle.com
The program you can download from this website promises "a journey of personal style discovery." Based on a very extensive set of measurements, the software will help you determine which styles to embrace and which to avoid based on your body type. There is a free virtual makeover available for download if you want to check it out, but the full version will cost you US$69.95.

Hot tip: Take advantage of the free stuff. Avoid fashion faux pas by sending questions to a real personal stylist; read the free tips, such as how to dress for a job interview; or sign up for the Style Basics 101 newsletter.

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