Most executives walk into a headshot session worried about the wrong things. They worry about smiling enough, about the angle of their head, about whether they look ten pounds heavier on camera. None of that matters as much as what they put on that morning.
The wardrobe is doing 70% of the work before the shutter ever opens. Get it right and the rest of the session becomes a finishing pass. Get it wrong and there's no amount of retouching that will rescue the frame for the front page of a press kit.
What follows isn't a list of rules. It's a way of thinking about wardrobe in terms of what the image is going to do once it leaves the camera. A profile photo on LinkedIn has a different job than a portrait on the cover of a quarterly report. Both can be earned in the same sitting, but only if the wardrobe was chosen for both jobs.
1. Solid colors, almost always
Patterns fight the face. Pinstripes flicker on small screens. Bold prints date a photo to the month it was taken. A solid navy, charcoal, or deep forest green will read clean at thumbnail size and editorial scale, will hold its meaning five years from now, and won't pull attention away from the eyes.
The one exception: a tight, low-contrast pattern (a fine glen plaid, a subtle texture in a tweed) can add depth in a print spread. But never on the first frame, and never if the photo is going to be cropped tight to the head.
The wardrobe is doing 70% of the work before the shutter ever opens.
2. Fit beats brand, every time
An off-the-rack suit that fits the shoulders correctly will photograph better than a designer jacket that pulls or gaps. The camera sees structure first, then fabric. The most expensive jacket in your closet is worth nothing if the shoulder seam doesn't sit on the actual edge of your shoulder.
If you're between fittings, bring two options and we'll choose on set. The wrong jacket reads as the wrong meeting.
3. Bring three shirts, not two
- A crisp white: the all-purpose, never-fails default.
- A pale blue or off-white: softer, reads warmer for hospitality and consulting clients.
- A darker shirt (charcoal, deep blue, or black): for the moody editorial frames that read as authority on a press page.
Three shirts gives us a complete range from a single sitting. Two shirts means you'll be back in six months wishing for a third.
4. Skip the new haircut
If you're going to change your hair, do it two weeks before the session, not the day before. The hair has to settle into its actual shape before the camera will believe it. A fresh cut from the morning of the shoot photographs as a fresh cut, not as your hair.
Same logic for facial hair. Trim three days out, not the morning of.
Two shirts means you'll be back in six months wishing for a third.
The four things that always go wrong
- A tie that's too narrow and too short. Both photograph as a teenager's tie. Aim for the belt buckle and a 3-inch width.
- Pocket squares with too much white showing. Keep the fold low and the fabric matte. No silk shines.
- Watches that compete with the face. Leave the loudest watch at home. Save it for the lifestyle shot, not the head-and-shoulders.
- Glasses with a heavy anti-reflective coating that picks up the studio lights as a green or purple sheen. We can color-correct it later, but we'd rather not.
None of this is mysterious. It's just things you don't think about until the image is in front of you, on the homepage of your firm's website, with no way to take it back.
When you book a session with us, we send a wardrobe note 48 hours out that's customized to what you're going to use the photos for. If you want to skip ahead: bring the three shirts, bring the jacket that fits the shoulders, leave the loudest accessory at home. The rest is direction.