Family Portraits: What to Wear

Family Portraits What to Wear, Styling Family Photos, Family Portraits

Family Portraits: What to wear…. WHAT TO WEAR?! It can be tough to make a decision on what to wear to work, so we understand the stress when it comes to planning your family’s clothes for a portrait session. But take a deep breath… we have some helpful hints that might make the process easier on you and ensure your photos come out looking fabulous.

#1 Wear something comfortable

This is our number one tip because there is truly nothing more important. If you’re not comfortable, you will be distracted, so think about how your (insert age) son will feel about the session if he is stuffed in a button up that he hates! We all know little boys usually aren’t the ones who are most excited for the photo shoot, so make the selection process fun for them as well by allowing them to be in clothes they can move around in. Don’t confuse comfort for frumpy people– we aren’t saying to come in dirty sneakers or your favorite sweats. To generate the most authentic session, we believe there needs to be a perfect blend of comfort with style. We like to take things off the beaten path, so wear shoes you are comfortable walking around in. If you want to wear heels or wedges, awesome… but pack some cute flats to change into so you won’t wear yourself out.

#2 Complimentary Palate

Think about a color palate that will be a good complimentary contrast to the locations in mind, for example don’t wear shades of green if you’re shoot will be in a grassy meadow, and mix it up within the family. If you’re struggling with this, try picking out the parents clothes first, then coordinate complimentary outfits for the kids from there. Try to avoid all wearing the same color– variety is great!

#3 Be bold

Colorful photos are beautiful. Unless you are going for a rustic muted feel, for a specific stylistic choice, keep it colorful and don’t be afraid to wear and mix patterns. Check out our 2 color examples below. Example 1 takes “BE BOLD” to the max and sticks with an individual color palate per person, overlapping maybe ONE color, which might sound crazy to some but it works!  The overlapping color in this example is yellow ( or shades of it). We try and use lots of color but keep it tasteful.

Example 1

Family Photos, Family portrait wardrobe ideas, styling family photos

Example 2

OR in Example 2 color is used more as an accent. Think pop of color not color on top of color. No matter what example you lean towards, remember to use color to your benefit. Be thoughtful about what colors look best on you (think about eye/hair color). For example, yellow is a beautiful color on our daughter who has brown hair with flecks of gold, dark brown eyes and tan olive skin…. but it completely washes me out with my blonde hair and fair skin tone.

Family Photos, Family portrait wardrobe ideas, styling family photos

*Ages on outfits are a suggestion and based on the summer/spring seasons

#4 Accessories & Props

Sometimes wardrobe changes aren’t in the cards, so a great way to switch it up is to bring along some accessories. These accessories can be clothing items like hats, headbands, scarves, sunglasses, coats… or props like balloons, chalkboards, football, favorite story book or even your family pet.

A few things to avoid:

• clothing with big words or company logos
• wearing white, it can compete with the background/sky
• try to avoid super “trendy” looks, think longevity
• too many wardrobe changes, less is more with kids & timing

Things to keep in mind:

• stop, and remember to enjoy these moments we are freezing
• be prepared to go with the flow, have ideas and watch them come to life…
• have ideas for locations, it’s always a good idea to start in your home and go from there
• relax, control the controllable and let nature do the rest

More than anything, we want you to have fun! This should be a fun outing with your family– we are just here to capture it (maybe set-up some prime shots). It might be great to have some back-up items of clothing, maybe even a snack for the little ones, in case of disaster or a hungry stomach.

All clothing styled from [Madewell, J Crew, Toms, Baublebar & Anthropologie]

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