“What should we wear for our photoshoot?” is the most frequent question I get from families before their shoot. I always advise to coordinate without being matchy-matchy but how do you do that without going down the rabbit-hole of Pinterest boards and Google image searches? I’ll be sharing the real life experiences of different families over the next few weeks so keep checking the blog for great advice.
Meet Veronica, a working mom who spent many years in fashion retail sales before making the transition after kids to sales in a more predictable office environment. While working in fashion she appeared regularly on local television shows (The Mom Show, CityLine, BT, eTalk) and shared style and fashion advice. So it was only natural that I ask her how she managed to not only show up on time and looking great in a coordinated wardrobe of her choosing.
Even though we were shooting in the summer when the weather was more predictable, Veronica wanted the look to be classic and not seasonally specific. That meant no tank tops, shorts or sandals and also no glitter, loud prints or super-heroes. Her goal was to look natural and together without looking cliche or contrived by keeping it simple with elements of colour.
Ok, easy for a fashion professional to say right? Here are the actual steps of her thought process:
1) Start with the “toughest customer”.
Veronica knew that the classic striped shirt was the only non-super-hero tee her two and a half year old son would wear without a fuss. That shirt became the jumping off point for the rest of the family’s wardrobe.
2) Add some colour! The second toughest customer was her six year old daughter who luckily loved the stylish and comfy dress as much as mom did. It was the pop of colour and also fit all of Veronica’s criteria.
3) Denim goes with everything. Veronica’s denim shirt dress was selected next. She wanted to keep the parents in relatively muted colours so that the kids would stand out. Dad was the easiest and was agreeable to anything.
Veronica is a big fan of the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) rule and advises to not over-accessorize. If you look in the mirror and suspect it’s too much then take it a down a notch.
I’m a big fan of this look — let me know in the comments if this advice is useful!
