It’s session day. Kids had a good night sleep, your hair is looking marvelous, not to mention how wonderful it was to prioritize taking a shower, and the hubby is, albeit reluctant, but being gracious because he knows what this photography session has meant to you. You begin the parade of preparations, tummies full, fingernails clean, outfits on, and a feared moment of dread ensues. You suddenly don’t like the family wardrobe. Too matchy. Not matching enough. Does this clash? Should I wear different shoes? I thought we agreed on this shirt? But Mom I don’t like these pants!
I can see why the appeal of photographers who offer a design consultation. You may be thinking, “Yes, please, because I don’t own anything that these Pinterest spreads are touting, and an olive colored jumper for my three year old, along with a white, flowing silhouette of fabrics for myself, sounds like an absolute dream.
That it may be, and having the individual with an artistic eye choose your wardrobe is rather boutique, but here’s the deal.
That magazine worthy cover image may not be a reflection of your family. Not because your family doesn’t merit making the front page, but because your photographs should seek to embrace who you are; not merely an image of what you only wish to project.
By all means, if you run regularly through sunlit fields in a long, draping gown, we should go after that image. Or if you rather love the artistry of whimsy and elegance, your family would most certainly make beautiful models, and your collection of photographs a dazzling display in your homes entryway. I will admit that I rather love these images myself, but most often I see them on strangers over an Instagram feed, and such photographs only tell me that they make great models for what is the current trend.
Though when you admire and pass down images expressing a moment in time, you pass along an opportunity to see who someone was through the expression of color and comfort.
So we are, it would seem, back to Pinterest for some inspiration and whatever we have in our closet. That is, unless I can be of some help.
I rather love interior design. Not in a professional sense, but merely the corners of my home where I have been able to apply my artistic expression in a no pressure format. I have always been drawn to charcoal grey, natural wood elements, and the simplicity of white. I shop patterns, whether pillow or duvet cover, the way I eye clothing: with much hesitancy. Not very much appeals to me, but when I see a pattern I like, I envision the multiple scenarios under which it would thrive. My investment now matches my practical side as well as my allure towards pretty things.
So to take a nod from the world of interior design. Let’s talk paint swatches.
These happen to be Sherwin-Williams color sample cards, but they work marvelously for clothing palette inspiration. Now granted, you don’t need to go exclusively solid colors to pull off the palette you are drawn to.
Although what often happens is that a family picks one color and then dresses everyone to have that shade of blue or burgundy or whatever the one color was. This most certainly works, but can easily lend itself to a rather unnatural wardrobe; one that looks like you were trying too hard to match without matching.
Just as an interior design will work from a palette of color to design a room, consider selecting a clothing palette. Paint color samples are an easy way to see what color palettes your eye is naturally drawn to, but of course you may use your own personal wardrobe as inspiration for your color palette as well. What colors do you find yourself gravitating towards? Paint color samples, such as these below, can then help you determine what palette of colors actual compliment one another, rather than being a random selection of your three favorite colors. They also may inspire you to steer away from simply selecting one color in multiple shades.
The aim in dressing your family for a lifestyle session should be to create a palette where you would feasibly see yourself walking together in public on an ordinary day, and someone might comment on how marvelously, yet naturally, coordinated you look, rather than being able to tell that you were attempting something.
This is what a color palette can accomplish, and the best part is, you don’t need a wardrobe consultation or clay colored jumpers that only speak to the trends. You are telling a story, and no person better to write the pages than you.
Which Sherwin-Williams color sample card are you most drawn to? The correlating brush strokes simply match the paint samples that are being promoted, but as you can probably tell, they would look marvelous as your lifestyle session wardrobe.
