Dressing for TV and Video Success

So what’s the best way to dress if you’re going to be on television or on video whether you’re a guest on someone’s news program or your own video.

There’s no one best way.

There are some guidelines I want to give you.

The number one guideline is are you wearing something that doesn’t confuse people and helps them figure out who you are what you’re about.

Is it consistent with your message and what you’re about.

So if you’re a dairy farmer wearing a business suit may look a little odd even though you may be a business person running a ten thousand person farm it still is confusing to people.

If you are a value traditional value investor mutual fund manager and you’re wearing flip flops and a tie dye shirt that can be confusing to people.

But if you’re a musician flip flops and a tie dye shirt maybe a 100 percent with what you’re about.

So you need to ask yourself Who are you What do you want people to think of when they see you.

They shouldn’t be confused.

I sometimes work with bankers and they’ll wear a traditional conservative suit.

But I also work with fashion designers.

They don’t want a boring suit they need something that demonstrates their color creativity and their latest fashions are artists.

Artists don’t want to look bland and boring.

You have to figure out what works for you.

Now if you’re in a lot of organization a government agency something that isn’t particularly in the arts.

Chances are you don’t want people focused on what you’re wearing.

You want something that is somewhat traditional for business in your area.

It may be a suit and tie or women’s business suit.

It might be a business casual look but it’s not calling a lot of attention to itself.

There are some things I would avoid if you’re going to be on video.

Stripes can jump around dance around remember you have to think about how does this look.

Not just on a big high definition TV screen but a computer monitor.

Also how is it going to look on someone’s cell phone when they’re watching.

Certain things can look great on a high definition television but on a cell phone if they’re watching it on YouTube can just get blurry.

So that’s the problem with stripes unless they’re particularly bold.

Other things that cause problems pattern small patterns Paisley herringbone.

They just jump around they get blurry it gets fuzzy.

I would avoid small complex patterns certain colors are a problem.

Bright red can do a called bleeding you’re moving and it’s still sort of over here pixilated pure white can be a problem unless it’s your own production like mine and I want a clean simple look.

But if you’re wearing clothing with white a white shirt can make it harder to properly light your face because the camera will think the White is light and it will dark and other things.

So in general I would avoid wearing white clothing all black can be a problem.

Now you may be looking at me saying well that’s all black this has black in it but it has a lot of white in it too so there’s still contrast you can kind of see where my arm starts my body stops.

If you’re wearing a pure black outfit unlike in real life or black and have a slimming effect Black can make you look heavier on video because it all blurs together it’s harder to light and you can look like just sort of a blob from the neck down.

Plus it’s more likely that you blend into the chair because so many chairs are black.

So in general I would avoid black on TV.

Keep in mind these are general rules of thumb.

It’s not the end of the world.

If you’re out somewhere and someone wants to do an interview with you and you’re wearing black it’s not the end of the world if you’re wearing a white shirt.

Former Presidents Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan two U.S. presidents typically always wore white shirts when they were in the Oval Office didn’t seem to hurt their careers.

So keep in mind these are general guidelines that will give you a little extra edge but they’re not ironclad rules.