Keeping Up Appearances

Looking her best is ASHLEY SEIPPEL’S secret weapon against arthritis.

- Jill Tyrer

Ashley Seippel has pain every day, and there are plenty of days she’d rather just stay home in her jammies. Instead, she dresses and puts on makeup to look her best, then heads out to help her cli­ents look their best, too.

“You have to put your best foot for­ ward. I try my best to consciously do that,” says Ashley, a fashion stylist and wardrobe consultant. And when people tell her she looks great, she tells them, “‘Then I’m doing a good job today,’ because there are a lot of days I don’t feel great.”

Ashley, 30, has a passion for fashion, but since she was diagnosed in 2013 with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), dressing well became more than something she enjoyed – it became a distraction from the pain in her back and hips that helps her cope.

“I find joy in getting dressed up, so when I do look good it does make me feel good,” she says. “Does it make my arthritis disappear? No, but it certainly helps a little bit.”

Second Time Around

AS is not Ashley’s first experience with arthritis: She was diagnosed at age 8 with what is now known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). She took medication and dealt with pain and limita­tions for several years. Then, when she was 12, it went into remission.