A First Impression
With online profiles from professional to recreational, your headshot portrait is often as important as your first handshake used to be. As a professional headshot photographer, my number one question from clients is, "What do you recommend wearing?"
The answer comes after I ask the question, "How do you show up to work with your clients or colleagues?" As your first impression, you should wear what you would to a face to face interaction.
And then I recommend comfort, and colors next - usually the colors you are most attracted to wearing are your comfort colors that make you feel good. Some people have fabric types too that help them feel more confident. Dressing for comfort is a key to having a successful photo session.
The next key comes when I listen for more input from clients about how they want to appear. This usually comes naturally during a consultation to plan their session. If, for example, they want to appear older or younger, modern or traditional, details like the cut of the collar on a blouse or the color of a dress shirt can make those impressions.
Let me how you some examples!
Career professional, with modern style.
Modern Career
For a modern and classic look, a white blouse with a flattering v-neckline has a timeless feel.
Career Professional headshot, the jacket levels her look up to corporate style.
Corporate layer
Adding a blazer jacket levels up her look to a more corporate level headshot.
Headshot: Corporate look with a button dress shirt and jacket.
Corporate look
For this client, he needed a corporate leadership looking LinkedIn profile portrait. Wearing blue brings out his light green eye color and worked with a favorite blue blazer.
Headshot: Summer short sleeved button up for social profiles.
Casual personality
A favorite summer shirt, this look is great for social profiles as he wears this to visit with family and friends.
Business Owner Style!
Business Owner
This business owner, provides creative solutions and strategy for email marketing content. Her layers of vibrant blue with stripes add creativity and a little edge with an a-symmetrical necklace.
Social friendly portrait: ready for a message to share.
Social Fun
For this look, the very same business owner paired a pop of color with her earrings and a classic gray sweater. This is perfect for social media posts to share a message without being too busy and definitely fun.
Feminine and fun, this young CEO shows her sense of style.
CEO with flair
She wore a classic cardigan sweater and blouse that had a flattering neckline to showcase a vintage necklace.
For public speaking on profiles, she wore a more classic cut blouse for this look.
Public Speaker
She also does public speaking, so she wore a different blouse for a more streamlined v-neck in a bold art print with a simple, elegant necklace.
Design Firm Business Owner fun with branding color.
Business Owner in Branding Color
For a professional look as the owner of a creative web design agency, he chose a pop of color from his logo brand. The rest is classic professional with a black blazer.
Social look with a favorite teeshirt and jacket.
Social Personality
He let his personality shine through with an artful tee shirt and modern jacket!
What to Wear For Your Headshot Portrait
To recap from these examples, here is my best advice - 3 keys to finding the perfect headshot portrait outfits:
- How do you typically show up to a meeting with a client, colleagues or boss? If you work in landscaping, wearing a suit and tie will seem out of place, so wear clean overalls and a well fitted tee shirt in a strong color, for example. Or, if you're in the corporate world, dress as you would for an interview or meeting with your boss.
- What you wear should feel good. You're not rocking the runway at fashion week with clothes pinned to your body, you should feel good and wear clothes that help you feel confident and comfortable! This helps choose color and fabrics if you need to shop for some new clothes.
- What impression do you want to make? Sometimes how you always show up is not the first impression you want to make OR you have never thought about your wardrobe this much. Not to worry, I am happy to make suggestions on ways to help you appear more professional, older, younger, fancy or modern. It's all about the cut and style of the clothes you choose to wear.
Trendy clothes come and go each season, and you only need to update your headshot when you're ready to update your look. Let's make a plan for the right outfit to last. And, I'm always happy to refer clients who may need more support to a color consultant or even wardrobe stylist. Helping you shine is my job, even if that means building a small brilliant team!