Every portrait session begins with the same email: *What should we wear?*

It's a reasonable question. It's also the question most likely to make a session feel stiff, dated, or unlike you. So here is our honest answer, built from a decade and a half of seeing what photographs well and what ages badly.

The one rule

Wear something you would happily wear again, to something that matters.

That's it. That is the only rule. Everything else is suggestion.

What ages badly

Trend pieces age the fastest. The matching plaid shirts, the color-coordinated family-of-five in varying shades of mustard — these look current for about eighteen months, and then they look like a time capsule of a trend you didn't even like that much.

Logos and bold graphics age second-fastest. They pull the eye away from the face, which is the entire point of a portrait.

Neon, pure white, and pure black all fight the sensor. They go either blown-out or crushed, and the detail you wanted in the fabric disappears.

What photographs well

Solids. Muted tones that echo the season — warm earth in autumn, cool sage in spring. Texture: linen, knit, raw denim. Layers, because they give the camera something to do and they give you something to do with your hands.

Clothes that fit the way you actually move. Not the outfit you bought for the session and have never worn — the one you've worn enough that it's forgotten about on your body.

For families

Do not match. Coordinate. Pick a palette of three or four related tones — say, oat, clay, forest, and cream — and let each person choose within it. A family in matching outfits looks like a family trying to look like a family. A family in a coordinated palette looks like a family.

What to bring

A second option, in a different weight. A cardigan if you're in a button-down, a jacket if you're in a tee. You will not use it most of the time, but on the day it's needed you will be glad you have it.

Comfortable shoes for walking between locations. We will photograph your feet less than you fear.

What not to bring

A new haircut the day before. A spray tan. Anything that makes you feel like a version of yourself you have to maintain. The camera will see it, and the portraits will feel like costume.

Bring yourself, in clothes you chose on purpose but not in costume. That is what we will photograph, and that is what will still look like you in twenty years.