If you've booked a family portrait session, I would recommend spending a little bit of time to think about what each of you is going to wear, and don't just think about yourself! You want all of you to complement each other. An easy way to think about this is to think about the location you're going to - what sort of colours would you find there?
I'm going to use this shoot with the Beckenham triplets to give an example, as we spent some time figuring out the outfits. As it was autumn we decided we wanted mustard/yellow to be one of the main colours. Denim became another because they each had an item of that colour in their wardrobe. We also added burgundy accessories, one because it was a bit chilly and two because burgundy and mustard work well together.
Even though they're triplets, it wasn't about them matching completely, but what they were comfortable in, catering to their style. Instead of them all being in jeans I thought it would work better to have them in different styles of denim. Jeans, pinafore dress and a jacket, but they're each wearing a mustard coloured top.
Even if you just ignore the beautiful young ladies in the photograph and look at the background there are so many different colours. Green, brown, yellow, orange, and the sky is obviously blue. All of these colours have tonnes of complementary colours such as burgundy, pale pink, dark blue, grey is always a safe one. I wouldn't incorporate too much black, or at least not have a full black outfit. With one person it's fine, but with all of you it will look a little too dark. But if black is your favourite colour and that's your style, go for it.
For more of a winter style I think these guys did a great job, dark denim, navy, brown, burgundy, mustard and pale pink looks great on little Alice for something a bit brighter. She also apparently insisted on wearing her sparkly shoes (which are actually very similar to what I wore to prom — great taste!) Which although might not have been the most practical for a forest and got a tad muddy.
I hope that this was a little helpful to all the families out there that might struggle when it comes to styling! If in doubt, just keep it simple and be careful with patterns clashing! Maybe stick to one person having a pattern and the rest are in block colours. If you decide to all be matching then you're not going to have this problem.
Most of all, have fun with it, don't stress. If you have a session with me I'm totally fine with you sending me what you're thinking of wearing to get some peace of mind! I'm no fashion guru or styling expert but I'm happy to help.
Let me know if there are any other topics you would like me to cover in these blog posts!
Lucy x