Tips on how to Dress for your Winter Photo Session
/How To Dress for Family Photos- Winter Edition
All too often I am asked “what should we wear?”. I love helping my families pick out their outfits for their portrait session, but sometimes it can be a bit of a task trying to do it over fb messages, email, or text. This had me thinking: Maybe I should put together a blog (or blogs) on how to dress your family. I have decided to break this down into a few different articles. I will base some off of dressing for the weather, how to mix & match textures, colors, and patterns, and how to dress for studio sessions vs. outdoor sessions. This post is going to be the winter edition. I think people struggle with this the most since they want to look good and stay warm. Also, if you want a successful winter family photo session, it’s important that your kiddos are warm. Cold kids do not perform as well. Let’s not forget the babies! Babies do not have the ability to get up and run around to keep their bodies warm, so it’s important that your baby comes with more layers than you. A basic knit snow suit and/or a blanket will benefit your little one greatly.
Layers
Selecting clothing for your photo session can be a daunting task. You want everything to be perfect and pair well together. I find this task feels exponentially worse when it comes to picking out clothing for your winter family session; you want to look stylish without all the bulk. Layering is the #1 thing I always tell families to plan for in their winter wardrobe. Not only does it keep you warm in below freezing temps, but it can create a whole new look should you get too warm during your session and wish to remove layers.
Pictured below is one of my favorite outfits I picked out as an example for you all today. This plaid dress is so freaking adorable! With this I would put a layer under the dress (long sleeve t-shirt material) for added warmth without adding bulk. I paired it with this adorable coat and these faux leather pants to give it a little edge but also a different texture. As far as footwear goes, I would do a boot with wool socks (wool is moister wicking).
2. Hats & Gloves
You can wear hats and gloves and still look cute during your winter portrait session. This is a very crucial step in wardrobe planning if you want to keep warm during your session. Why? Because you lose most of your heat from your head and hands. It’s important you protect them, and this step could be the cheapest one you make and will have the most impact. You could go fancy if you wanted to but it’s not necessary. A leather glove or a fur hat (which photograph beautifully) would be a more elevated look but the most cost-effective route would be just a simple knit hat and gloves. These often come as a combo pack. You can keep it simple with just black, cream or brown -OR- you can add a pop of color with these accessories. In the photo below I picked out this very simple outfit but buy adding the pop of color it elevates the whole look. I would add and under shirt, a puffer vest, and brown boots to finish this look.
3. Colors or Nuetrals?
This is up to you! Ask yourself: what look am I trying to achieve? Me personally, I love both looks, but I know that I am a person who really loves color. I have color all throughout my home and would want to wear pops of color in my winter photo session. Color really makes you pop in a wintery scene, but you can get a similar affect with neutrals. You do that by adding different textures. Below are examples of both, and you can easily add hats and gloves to both of these outfits to add extra warm.
I hope this post was helpful to you. Please comment with any questions you may have and I will do my best to help you in any way I can. Be on the lookout for my next blog post regarding how to dress for your Family Photo session.
My favorite shops to purchase clothing from are H&M, Zara, Joyfolie, ASOS, Baltic Born, Lulus, Janie & Jack, and sometimes Amazon (always check reviews!). If you need local, Old Navy, Target, and Marshalls all have good options, too.