Everyone asks the same question first, usually a week out, usually at midnight: what should I actually wear?

The honest answer is that clothes behave differently in a photograph than they do in a mirror. A mirror shows you a flat, front-on view in even indoor light. A camera sees you moving, in directional light, against a background you did not choose. Those are different problems.

Start with the location, not the outfit

The setting sets the palette. A park at golden hour throws warm amber light across everything, so cool greys and stark whites tend to fight it. A city street at dusk does the opposite.

Pick where you want to be photographed first. The wardrobe follows from it.

Colours that tend to work

Muted, desaturated tones — sage, rust, dusty blue, cream. They hold detail in bright light instead of blowing out.
Deep jewel tones for evening or indoor sessions, where there is less ambient light to compete with.
One clear focal colour, with everything else quieter. A profile photo has to read at thumbnail size before anyone taps it.

What to avoid is narrower than people expect: tight repeating patterns (they shimmer oddly at some distances), large logos, and neon, which reflects onto skin and tints it.

The best-dressed people I photograph are not the most fashionable ones. They are the ones who forgot what they were wearing twenty minutes in.

Texture reads better than pattern

A camera flattens things. Texture is what puts the depth back — linen, knits, suede, raw denim, anything with a visible weave. A plain linen shirt will almost always photograph richer than a busy printed one, because the texture catches light at different angles across the frame.

The same applies to layers. A jacket you can take off, sleeves you can roll, a scarf that moves — these give us something to change halfway through without a full outfit swap.

Movement matters more than fit

Most of my favourite frames happen while people are walking, turning, or laughing at something off-camera. Fabric that moves — a long skirt, a loose shirt, an unstructured coat — gives those moments something to do.

Stiff, heavily structured clothing looks sharp standing still and slightly awkward in motion. If you have to choose, choose the thing you can move in.

A short checklist

Bring the outfit you feel most like yourself in, plus one that feels slightly more dressed up. Two or three changes give you a varied set rather than one look repeated — which matters when the photos are going on a profile. Steam everything the night before; wrinkles are far more visible in a photograph than in person.

If you are still stuck, send us the location and two options. We will tell you which one the light will like better. That is genuinely part of the job — it is built into our dating app profile photo sessions, and you can get in touch any time before yours.