Whether you want to leave a casting agent with a breathtaking recording of your read at an audition or you’re simply trying to up your TikTok game, wearing the right colors can go a long way.
There is no one best color to wear on camera, but there are plenty that can look amazing in certain circumstances as long as they complement your coloring.
If you’re not exactly sure how to match colors with your hair color, eyes, and skin tone, a good rule of thumb is to choose something with high saturation such as jewel colors. Sapphire blue, emerald green, and ruby red, for example, are amazing choices.
They’re not too soft and muted or harsh and loud against a multitude of backdrops, and they help to prevent powerful lighting washing out your face.
As pleasant and understated as they are, pastels should almost always stay in your wardrobe. On camera, that understated beauty becomes drab and unremarkable. Furthermore, they can really siphon the color of your skin, leaving you to appear sickly and gray.
Exceedingly bright neon-style colors are another way to detract from your natural pizzazz on camera. They can give you a somewhat anemic tinge, and unless you’re auditioning for a role as a hospital patient, you’ll want to look as healthy and vibrant as humanly possible.
You’d also be forgiven for reaching for your black tees and jeans when you score an audition for your dream role, but avoiding black on camera is one of the best things you can do to enhance your recorded image.
Granted, black is slimming, but what it sheds in pounds it adds in age. That’s right, folks. Black emphasizes shadows and dark spots on the face which, on camera, can make you look more tired and older than you are.
The chances are you’ve had very little sleep due to nerves brought on by the audition and plan on hitting the caffeine pretty hard before crunch time. Well, unless you have a professional makeup artist on hand that can adjust color, accounting for the shadowy symptom of black garb, we’d recommend avoiding it altogether.
If you really do look phenomenal in dark colors, navy is a much safer option as it won’t cause so much of a shadowing issue.
Perhaps you’re preparing your own set for a photo or video shoot. In this instance, your choice of clothing needs to work in harmony with the shade of the backdrop.
If the backdrop is quite pale, colors are going to appear louder than they are, whilst the opposite is true if the backdrop has a darker hue. Contrast is key in this situation. Don’t allow yourself to merge with the scenery.
What Clothing Looks Best on Camera?
We often consider how certain outfits will be perceived by other people, but when you’re preparing for a stint behind the lens, it’s a whole different ball game.
While the very nature of being on camera is to draw focus, try to resist wearing your head-turning items of clothing, especially if you’ll be under harsh lighting. Picking simple fabrics is the best way to buff away excess shadows and create a sleeker body profile.
Another serious consideration should be to appear time-neutral, by which we mean you want the recording to appear timeless. Wearing that thrift shop waistcoat may make you feel like a dandy, but it won’t look current on film.
You can also lean too far in the other direction and choose something too ‘of the moment’. Even if your style is 100% on fleek, trends can change in the blink of an eye, and now your once cutting edge appearance on camera is more of a fashion relic. Choosing something modern with a timeless vibe ensures that footage of you is always relevant.
One of the strongest pieces of advice we can give you is to avoid clothes with logos or large text. These will draw focus from your lovely face and detract from your performance.
The same is true with patterns to a certain extent. Feel free to dabble with them in a subtle manner, but you don’t want them to pull focus. They should be used as accents rather than the main event – think a plaid shirt under a block color sweater.
One last piece of advice is to not venture too far outside your comfort zone. True, you want to wear something that looks flattering on camera, but if you don’t feel good wearing it, that’s going to translate on film and negate any positive effects the clothing has.
Ultimately, confidence is more important than wearing the most strategic clothes, but if you can put together an outfit that’s both camera-kind and makes you feel like a million bucks, perfect! That’s a winning combination, and you’re sure to make a lasting impression.
