Clothing Choices for Professional Looking Headshots

Clients often wonder what to wear for their executive headshots – I create executive headshots for people in and around Boston in a wide variety of industries and roles.  Whether you’re an individual or a business, selecting the right clothing to amplify your brand is an important element. Colors, the type of clothing (e.g, suits, sweaters, type of shirt/blouse) all play a role in what message you’re conveying with your choice of clothing.

Let’s start with some general guidelines:

• For headshots, we’re only concerned with the look from the chest upwards, so don’t worry about pants, skirts, etc.

• Wear something you’re comfortable in, that you like/feel good wearing – something you feel confident wearing

• Fit – be sure your clothing fits well, not too tight in particular. Looser fitting clothing can be “taken in” using clothespins, but tight fitting clothing is more difficult to adjust. Ideally, you want your clothes to look tailored for your body

• Condition – clothes should be pressed or have as few wrinkles as possible, with no frays, holes, or anything that looks worn (unless that’s the look you’re going for).

• Avoid bold patterns as they detract from the focus of the headshot, ie, the face

• Bright bold colors MAY also be distracting – but you can bound the color (eg, a red blouse) with a darker color garment, such as a jacket or a sweater

• Whites/lighter colors make the area they’re covering look larger, so a white top will make you look wider, which may or may not be an issue. White is also less of a formal business color by itself. To achieve a slimmer look, or more formality, bound the white color with a darker jacket or sweater.

• Be mindful of the look of seasonality – wearing a heavy sweater might look great for a headshot for someone in Boston in the winter, but not so much when it’s summertime.

Additional Headshot Clothing Guidelines for Men:

• Avoid a visible white t-shirt under a button-down shirt

• If you’re wearing a button-down shirt and no tie, a button-down collar is generally neater    

Additional Headshot Clothing Guidelines for Women

• Necklines are very prominent in headshots for women – choose outfits that show the neckline you feel most comfortable in for business purposes

• Avoid larger pieces of jewelry, particularly necklaces, unless that’s an integral part of your brand.

The Right Look for Professional Headshots for Individuals/Businesses

In order to select the right clothing, it’s first important to understand how and where your images will be used, who will be viewing them, and what message/branding you want to convey. For example, if you’re looking to start a career, or change careers, first think about the type of role/job you’re seeking, and get a sense of the “norms” (in terms of look) for that position. Software developers are generally not expected to be wearing suits and ties – on the other hand a criminal attorney or television news reporter would be more likely to do so.

If you’re a business and looking to create headshots for your team, you may have different clothing options for people in different roles – all depending on your branding, target audience, messaging as well. A software company that provides capital intensive products for the financial services industry likely would want to convey a level of maturity, sophistication, competence with the headshots of their management team – so jackets, and perhaps ties would support that look. Contrast that with a company that is also a software company targeting marketing/sales teams in e-commerce might want to convey a slightly less formal look with no ties, and jackets optional depending on the role of the individual.

You also may consider different looks for different uses or applications:

• Speaker profile for a conference

• LinkedIn profile

• Website

• Marketing collateral

• Professional Directories

• Social Media

Here are some helpful questions to consider:

• Who is the target audience

  • Business decision makers vs. individuals? Management?

  • Consumer/individuals?

  • Potential job applicants?

  • Business partners?

• What is your brand?

  • Conservative?

  • Friendly?

  • Serious?

• How “professional” do you want to look?

• What message do you want to convey about you or your staff?

  • Diversity

  • Creativity

  • Competence

  • Toughness vs. compassionate

  • Team oriented vs. the strength of individuals

• What is the look your audience expects or would resonate with?

Planning for the Success

The first step for all our clients is a planning meeting to discuss the questions above to help us determine the best look for their uses. We also discuss lighting, background color, the best expressions that will support the look, and so on. For business clients where we’re shooting a number of individuals, we have a headshot preparation webinar where we discuss recommended clothing (as well as hair, makeup, etc.), for the session, and provide written guidelines.

For individual studio headshot sessions, clients are encouraged to bring as many items of clothing as they’d like, and we’ll mix and match to obtain the best looks for their needs. We often find that some outfits work better than others in front of the lights and camera, and the session allows for virtually unlimited clothing changes and options.

Below are several examples of the same people with different clothing looks – think about your initial impression with each. The examples are all “valid” shots but convey slightly different messages.

For more information on executive headshots for teams, download my ebook “Marketer’s Guide to High Quality Team Images” here https://www.barrybraunsteinphotography.com/marketers-guide-to-high-quality-team-headshots

Or click here to discuss your executive team headshot needs.