Wardrobe mistakes that ruin headshots.

Wrinkles and fold marks, the ones nobody notices until the photo.

The mistake: a wrinkled or creased garment

Studio light is unforgiving in a specific way: it flattens color and exaggerates texture, so a wrinkle that is invisible under a soft lamp at home shows up clearly under it. Shirts pulled straight from a drawer, and anything that traveled folded in a bag, are the usual culprits.

The fix: steam or iron your outfit the night before, hang it rather than fold it once it is pressed, and bring a small travel steamer or a lint roller with you if the drive is long. A minute of steaming solves what no amount of posing can hide.

The mistake: brand-new clothes with visible fold marks

A new shirt straight from the packaging often carries sharp fold lines down the front and across the sleeves, from being packaged flat. Those lines photograph as clearly as a wrinkle does, sometimes more so, because they are perfectly straight and obviously not part of the design.

The fix: wear anything new at least once, or steam it thoroughly, before it goes anywhere near a camera. If you bought something specifically for the session, try it on and let it hang for a day first.

Fit problems: collars, sleeves and things that pull.

The mistake: a collar or shoulder seam in the wrong place

A collar that gapes at the neck, or a shoulder seam that sits an inch past where your actual shoulder ends, reads as an ill-fitting garment even if the rest of the outfit is fine. It is one of the most common gaps between an outfit that looks fine on a hanger and one that photographs well.

The fix: check the collar and shoulder line specifically, not just the overall silhouette, when you try an outfit on ahead of time. If something pulls or gapes, a different size or a quick trip to a tailor solves it faster than trying to pose around it.

The mistake: fabric that pulls or strains across the body

A button that strains, a hem that rides up when you sit, or a sleeve that binds when your arm moves are all fit issues that only show themselves in motion, which is exactly what a posed session involves.

The fix: move in the outfit before the day of your session, not just stand in front of a mirror. Sit down, raise your arms, turn at the waist. The full mechanics of fit and how a garment should sit on camera are covered in the guide to fit and tailoring on camera, and it is worth a read if you are unsure whether something fits the way it should.

What shows under the outfit: straps and lines.

A visible bra strap, a bright undergarment line beneath a light-colored top, or a slip that peeks below a hemline are all easy to miss in a bedroom mirror and obvious in a photograph. None of these require a wardrobe overhaul, just a five-minute check before you leave the house.

• Match strap color to your outfit, or choose a strapless or convertible option for anything with a wide or open neckline.
• Check light-colored fabric under bright light specifically, since undergarment lines show more under studio lighting than they do at home.
• If a hemline or slip is a known issue with a particular garment, wear it once around the house first to see how it behaves when you sit and stand.

All black with no texture, and matching the background by accident.

Solid black can be a strong, flattering choice for a headshot, but flat black with no texture at all, no weave, no subtle pattern, no difference between the top and any layer over it, tends to lose all shape under studio light and read as a dark void instead of an outfit. A small amount of texture, a different fabric for a jacket versus a shirt underneath, or a slightly different shade keeps black readable instead of flat.

A related problem is color that happens to match the backdrop you are photographed against, which erases the line between you and the background entirely. Since backdrops vary by session, this is one of the easiest mistakes to walk into without realizing it. Black and white have a guide of their own, wearing black or white in photos. Bringing a couple of outfit options gives us room to switch if a color turns out to blend in more than expected.

Trend pieces and over-accessorizing.

A strongly trend-driven piece, a specific cut of collar, a print that is unmistakably tied to a particular year, can date a photograph you are hoping to use for a long time. The fix is not to avoid personality entirely, it is to let a trend show up in something easy to update later, like an accessory, rather than in the main garment.

Over-accessorizing is the same idea from a different direction. Large statement jewelry, several rings, a busy scarf and a patterned top all competing at once split a viewer's attention four ways before it ever reaches your face. The fix is simple: pick one point of interest, a single necklace or a pair of earrings, and let everything else stay quiet.

Glasses glare, and the half of you nobody planned for.

Glasses that catch studio lights as a bright white reflection are a common and completely fixable problem, usually solved with lighting adjustments and small changes in head angle rather than by removing your glasses. The full explanation of how this works lives in the guide to glasses in headshots.

The last mistake is the simplest to avoid and the easiest to forget: dressing carefully from the waist up and treating the rest as irrelevant. Even for a tight crop, what you wear below changes your posture, and a session can include standing or seated frames where more of the outfit is visible than you expect. Wear real shoes, real pants, and an outfit you would be comfortable in if the crop turned out wider than planned.

For the full decision on color, neckline, fit and pattern that these mistakes all sit inside, what to wear for headshots is the place to start, and the broader list of what makes a headshots session work, beyond wardrobe alone, is covered in dos and don'ts for headshots.