Ok! So, I am here to help with what you should wear to get the most out of your session. First, I'm going to give you a list of options that I recommend that are straight forward. Then, I'll explain the purpose of WHY I suggest each of them and go into detail on how to style each. Hopefully after you have read through you can make your decision based off of which outfits speak to you and fall within your amount of outfits for your session. Remember to choose what YOU want, these are just suggestions! You don't have to choose all of the options, just the ones that appeal most to you. Lastly, these are opinions and outfits I have seen people wear and they photograph well so take that into account. Ultimately you should choose what you feel most comfortable and confident in so you love the way you look in your photos! Make sure to read what NOT to wear at the very bottom! Let's dive in! 1. Jeans & Nice Top 2. College Tee & Jeans/Skirt 3. Short Dress & Graduation Gown 4. Long or Short Flowy Dress (Think Movement) 5. Skirt & Top 6. Casual Dress 7. Semi-Formal or Formal Dress 8. Your Sports Jersey or Extracurricular Activity Gear 9. Accessories from Sports like Cleats, Pom Poms, etc. Now lets break down these options one by one. First, I want to preface this with ALWAYS choose outfits based on what your location is! This is so super important to keep in mind throughout the process so everything ends up cohesive during your session. If we are taking your portraits in an open field for instance, a super fancy sparkly dress might look out of place. Also remember to coordinate colors! A lot of you are billies and have red grad gowns. So, wearing orange underneath doesn't always photograph well. Even if your college colors are orange try to stay away from coordinating colors that clash. Jeans and Nice Top. Jeans are always great because they have POCKETS! Pockets mean places to put your hands that allow for some differentiation with your poses. Try to pick between tight jeans and a loose top or baggy jeans and a tight top. We want balance between the proportions so you don't look frumpy or uncomfortable. I will say just because an outfit looks good in person, sometimes it may not photograph very well. The top can either be something simple and plain, have your college colors, or a statement top, but again remember your locations and what will match best. College Tee & Jeans/Skirt. For a college tee I usually like telling my seniors to lean into the traditions of their college with these outfits. A&M for instance, on game days you find girls wearing a maroon top with some kind of denim, usually a skirt, and boots! If you don't know your college traditions that's ok! Just make sure that your top has your college on it BIG and BOLD so we can see what it says. My personal preference on college tops is usually wearing them with leggings because the black makes the shirt pop and they look very clean so we can focus on your shirt, but again thats just my personal preference. Another thing that photographs well are college football jerseys so if you want to spend the money I highly recommend adding a college jersey to the mix! Graduation Gown. I WILL NOT make you wear your cap for your photos if you don't want to because personally I barely wanted to wear it for the ceremony! So only if you want, we will pop that cap on your head! If you choose not to we will still incorporate it somehow so bring it with you! Depending on the color of your graduation gown will depend on what to wear underneath it. Most ladies wear a white dress underneath or black. I like to suggest not wearing a long dress underneath. The problem with long dresses is you can see it peaking out of the bottom and it doesn't look very clean in photos. So, choose a dress that will fall right above the gown or a short dress. You also want to remember to pick something solid or a pattern that's not too distracting. I usually have you keep the gown open and not zipped, so that 5 inches in between is important for what is being seen. Keep that in mind when picking out your dress. For my senior portraits I had worn a short green dress under my red gown and the colors complimented each other of course because they are Christmas colors.... The dress was short and not distracting which photographed well but I do wish I would've chose a different colored dress. Long or Short Flowy Dress is a MUST! If you take any of my advice pleaseeeee take this one, wear the flowy dress! One that has a lot of movement at the bottom that you can pick up and move around! Again, like the jeans, it's something to do with your hands so you aren't just standing there. I know these dresses can be a little difficult to find which is unfortunate. So, if you find one that even has layers and moves a little bit that works too. Or if you have a short dress with movement that you can mess with a little that looks good in photos too! The more movement the better! Skirt & A Top. This one is pretty simple, it's just another simple option. Nothing crazy special about it but it steers away from dresses and jeans. For this option try to go for a skirt that is NOT denim, find some color! Sometimes people coordinate a colored skirt with the color of their college for the top. That is always a fun way to add more of your college to your photos. It's up to you to make this option either a college option or just casual. Make sure your shoes match too because sometimes with all the different outfits this one gets overlooked! Casual Dress. This one is a great way to just have something simple again like the skirt and top. I like things very fancy most of the time but with the dress under your gown and the next dress option being fancy this is a simple option. For this dress think about a dress that you would just throw on to go do an activity that you want to dress cute but want functional. Try to make this dress more casual compared to your dress that you will pair with your gown. You can even add a nice shoe to dress it up. This dress can also be a second opportunity of wearing it with your gown. Semi-Formal or Formal Dress. This dress option is a little more fancy than your dress you are wearing under your gown. Just because I used the word formal and semi-formal does not necessarily mean I want you to wear a dress like the one you wore to formals. Your dress you wore MIGHT fit this category so read carefully. I've said it once and I will say it again make sure this dress matches the locations you have chose for your session! Sparkles don't coordinate with cows in the back ALL the time. Unless sparkle and cows represents YOU (which I am all for and will give you the most amazing photos ever) but if its not you try for something that matches your location. If you want to wear a fancy dress for your spring session in a bed of flowers, coordinate what that dress will look like. Either short or long just choose something that reflects who you are or who you want to be. Something with a cute pattern or a fun detail. Just go crazy with this one but not TOO crazy. Sports Jersey and Extracurricular Gear. This one I know is going to be big for all of you guys so I want to go very deep into making sure we get the most out of your sport/activity. I know your sports are either fall or spring and not everyone gets to keep their jersey. Hence why I offer a spring and fall package so if you want to include both fall and spring sports you can. For jerseys wear jeans or leggings. For volleyball and basketball I usually suggest leggings but I have a lot of girls who want to wear jeans with their basketball jerseys. Jeans look good with the basketball jerseys too, like I have mentioned before I think leggings look very clean, just make sure they are black! If you run track, just like volleyball I know you wear spandex which if you want to wear them you can, I see lots of seniors do that. I don't usually suggest this just because a legging is going to look way cleaner in your photos. Golf and Tennis it's up to you on what you are comfortable wearing just make sure you try on both options to see which one you like better. If you wear leggings I usually suggest a white sneaker or something with minimal color that aren't the color of the jersey. If you participate in Ag and have your FFA jackets I like for you to wear jeans and then a white shirt just so your jacket stands out and is the main focus. If I missed your sport then shoot me a message so I can help you out! Accessories For Your Sports . Your shoes, bows, megaphones, cleats, and anything that represents your sport- BRING IT! We can do something with it! If you happened to not participate in sports or activities but have something you were really good at or enjoyed during high school, shoot me a message so we can chat about how to represent that in your photos. For example, if you were really good at painting and want to incorporate paint brushes or your art work or if you won medals for competitions bring those too! SHOES- I don't usually get your shoes in the frame that often but when I do it's typically the first thing my eye goes towards. For shoes try to steer away from anything chunky. I usually suggest to bring a sandal (if its spring or your toes can handle it in the cold), a sneaker like converse or keds, and then a short heel for your dress. Final note, wear what represents YOU where you are in life right now. I look back at my senior photos and I can see how much I have grown and changed throughout the past few years and I am glad I was just ME in them. Wear something you will feel comfortable and more importantly confident in. This is going to be fun, hope this helped! What To Ditch- Do not wear jackets, even if it is super cold try to not wear jackets unless you accessorize it SUPER WELL. They don't do anything for you in your photos except distract. Try not to wear socks that you will be able to see that would be distracting.