When planning a session with clients, I always ask if there is anything they are feeling nervous or unconfident about. 9 times out of 10, I will hear something along the following lines: “I really would love to have some help planning our wardrobes. I am so lost when it comes to this sort of thing.” Let me say right off the bat, I am NOT a trendy person. This is a topic I have struggled with myself. When I started photographing families, I found I actually had to study the art of what to wear.
(Side tangent: My parents always dressed me in those floral dresses from the late 80s/early 90s with the huge puffed sleeves and big square collars. By fourth grade, I was slowly becoming aware that those were decidedly NOT cool to wear anymore. While the cool kids were wearing baja hoodies or neon Umbro shorts, I was still in my big dresses and lacy socks. Finally I begged my mom to get me a ‘cooler’ shirt from Wal-Mart. It was a bright blue hoodie shirt with graphic shapes doodled all over it. I can still remember Stephanie B. shouting, “Hey look! Christina finally got some cool clothes!” as I walked into my classroom the first day of school. Apparently that moment was seared into my brain for all of eternity, as I am still thinking about it as I write this blog about what to wear–ha!)
I have poured a ton of trial and error into this topic over the past few years, and here are the three main questions that I want you as my clients to ask yourselves as you plan out your family’s wardrobe for your session:
Do your outfits:
A. match the location we will be shooting at?
B. match your personalities?
C. help tell your personal story?
If any of these elements are off, the entire session will feel inauthentic. If we are shooting in an open field, there’s nothing worse than worrying about scuffing the leather on expensive shoes. Or if you have wild kiddos, stuffing them into itchy wool pants and bowties will just be asking for trouble. I want you to walk away feeling great about your session. I don’t want the memories that you make be stressful ones because your family felt uncomfortable with their outfits.
That being said, what you wear IS important. It helps set the mood for your session and can make or break the overall cohesiveness within your images. This is where I come in. Over the course of the next few weeks I will be diving deep into the topic of what to wear. We will start with the topic of choosing a color palette for yourself and your family. We will look into different colors and which ones tend to photograph the best. After that, we will delve deeper into choosing outfits: what fabrics, patterns and textures photograph well, considerations to make for each season, finding balance amongst the different outfits. And finally, we will take a look into dressing for special sessions.
And as a final note, I want you to always ask if you have any questions or uncertainties. As we plan your session together, I want you to feel confident every step of the way. If you feel unsure, just ask–that’s what I’m here for.
I’m excited to delve into this topic a little deeper with you in the weeks ahead. If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for email updates at the bottom of my homepage. I look forward to joining you in the weeks ahead as we discuss more on the topic of what to wear!
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Christina Freeman is a McKinney family photographer and serves Collin County communities including Anna, Melissa, Van Alstyne, Celina, Plano, Frisco, Little Elm, Wylie, Lucas and the greater DFW area.