Male Executive Portrait
For a male executive portrait, there are a few basic rules that I tend to offer as guidance.
- If you’re wearing a suit, stay away from suits that have a very fine pattern in the weave.
This usually means Houndstooth, Herringbone, or extremely fine Pinstripe. Stick with a solid color – basic blue, black, gray, or charcoal. The reason is, today’s imagery is created and most often viewed, digitally. Digital cameras and computer monitors are not fond of very fine patterns and create something called a “moiré pattern.” They have a difficult time reconciling angled lines within those patterns. Most solid colored jackets are fine, but patterns? Not so much. - If you’re going a bit more casual and just wearing a shirt, always go with a collared shirt, ideally, something like a long sleeve button down, but if you look great in a pullover and that’s the way your clients will often view you, go for it. You really want to maintain some consistency in what you wear for your executive portrait and what you wear in front of your clients. For instance, I would never tell an electrician to wear a suit and tie, just as I would never tell a tax attorney to wear a logo’d short sleeve pullover. Again, stick with solid colors, the more patterns in the clothing, the busier it looks.
Female Executive Portrait
For the female executive, we make the following “suggestions.”
- Like their male counterparts, you should dress appropriately for your line of work. If you are typically seen by your clientele in a business suit, wear one. And like the men, stick with solid colors. Avoid sleeveless dresses unless you accompany it with a jacket. Regardless of how trim, firm, and buff a woman’s arms are, they always complain about seeing them – SO DON’T SHOW THEM!
- Prints, plaids, stripes, and polka dots are pretty much a no-no, UNLESS it has to do with your brand. And if it does, let’s discuss it and how important it is for your executive portrait.
- Collared blouses are encouraged. Another thing I hear over and over by women is how much they hate their neck. Let me tell you something straight up… THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR NECK! But if the perception by you is that you are predisposed to hate it, you will likely be successful. Let’s show very little of it and not have to worry about it! 🙂
Those are just a few simple guidelines that I tend to offer when asked. They’re not hard and fast rules, just suggestions based on a few years of creating an executive portrait every now and again.