What to wear
What to wear for a street style photoshoot
One strong element and everything else quiet — a coat, a colour, a silhouette. Busy prints fight busy backgrounds and both lose. Shoes matter more…
What to wear
One strong element and everything else quiet — a coat, a colour, a silhouette. Busy prints fight busy backgrounds and both lose. Shoes matter more…
In short: One strong element and everything else quiet — a coat, a colour, a silhouette. Busy prints fight busy backgrounds and both lose. Shoes matter more than usual because full-length frames dominate.
Colour. One strong element and everything else quiet. A city background is already busy — a coat in a single saturated colour reads from across the street, a printed shirt does not.
Fabric. Anything with weight and movement: a long coat, a wide trouser, a trailing scarf. Street frames are shot while walking and static fabric photographs static.
Footwear. Visible in almost every frame, because street style is shot full length. It is the one genre where shoes are a primary decision rather than an afterthought.
The thing that ruins frames. An outfit chosen without seeing the location. Grey coat, grey pavement, grey London sky — three tones of the same thing and no photograph.
In the bag. Plasters for new shoes, a lint roller for a dark coat, and a folded tote so you are not photographed holding a carrier bag. Check the forecast: a street session in London plans for rain rather than hoping against it.
People building a fashion feed, a lookbook with attitude, or a portfolio that needs to look like a city rather than a studio.
Location changes the answer: In London: side streets rather than main roads, early morning for empty pavements, and any street with a long straight sightline for compressed frames. Check the sun direction before choosing — a street in full shade at four o'clock is a different shoot from the same street at ten.
Planning pressure to account for: Shooting at midday on a busy road. Choosing a background with more going on than the outfit. And standing too close with a wide lens, which distorts the figure and flattens the city behind it.
Bring each proposed outfit as a complete look, including its shoes and accessories. The final choice is made against the actual background and light rather than from a generic colour rule.
One strong element and everything else quiet — a coat, a colour, a silhouette. Busy prints fight busy backgrounds and both lose. Shoes matter more than usual because full-length frames dominate.
For a one-hour session, plan one complete look and one quick variation such as a jacket, shoe or jewellery change. Two hours can normally support two or three resolved looks. More changes reduce shooting time, so photograph the most important outfit first and treat extras as options rather than promises.
Choose colours that separate clearly from the location and suit the intended use of the pictures. Solid tones and controlled texture are reliable; very fine checks, tiny stripes and reflective logos can distract or produce moiré. Send phone photographs of the options with the brief if you want a decision before the shoot.
Bring the garments on proper hangers, matching underwear, the shoes for every full-length look, a lint roller and simple touch-up products. Pack one neutral backup layer. Steam everything beforehand, but keep a small steamer nearby for travel creases and final adjustments on set.
Send the date, location and what you need photographed.