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‹ Photo Notes · 7 prosince, 2014
Today’s topic is a wardrobe of costumes for models. Don’t worry, it won’t be sweetish or tacky (For you it will? Your problem). Some will know it, for others it will hopefully be practical and useful.
Nude photography mostly means staging a photograph, and although the naked body is of course beautiful, we almost never manage without various accessories such as shoes, underwear, blouses, shirts, jackets, hats etc. A partly covered body is often more interesting than complete nudity.
Not everyone, and not always, works with a team of stylists, and not every model brings suitable clothing. Some models do come with a suitcase full of rags and shoes, but it happens that their idea of suitable clothing for a photo is completely different from yours. There are also models who bring nothing at all, because they count on shooting nude or on you dressing them in something.
For these cases it is good to have your own wardrobe: some trunk, chest or at least a box from which you can reach for this or that at any time.
I’ll go broke …
Acquiring your own wardrobe for models will by no means ruin you. A photo is like theatre: you sell illusions. So you don’t have to buy expensive brand-name clothing, and even the size doesn’t always have to match exactly. A photo is two-dimensional and the model is always seen from one side only. Then it doesn’t matter at all that on the other side you pull something tight with an elastic band, a binder clip or perhaps a clothes peg (or a peg for drying films). Likewise the clothing can be unbuttoned or cut open on the other side, nobody will notice. It’s all just illusion.
When choosing outfits for models it is good to keep to two rules (at least that’s what I do).
Timelessness
If you buy this year’s (or even worse last year’s) fashion clothes or shoes, you may get brilliant photos, but after some time it can happen that they will make you cringe or you’ll find them laughable for how fashionable they are. Fashionable, but in seasons long gone. Remember, for example, the crazy fashion of carrot-cut trousers and perms from the eighties.
I consider it much better to buy timeless things. Among shoes, for example, simple closed black pumps on a lower or higher heel, which have held on with minimal variations for decades and you can’t spoil anything with them. Likewise simply cut jackets, skirts, blouses, shirts (men’s too or, given the size, boys‘), stockings, tights, leggings; surely lots of other examples will occur to you.
Simplicity
I hesitated over the word inconspicuousness, but a white men’s shirt with a narrow black tie and heels, for example, is a properly conspicuous costume. By simplicity I therefore mean, for example, caution with striking patterns and cuts. A striking pattern (say stripes or dots) can be brilliant, but it’s good to know that anything striking you can photograph once, a couple of times at most, and that’s it. The striking quality will be all too visible in your photos and nobody wants to repeat themselves much. By contrast, you can photograph a neutral item for years; on your photos it will be an inconspicuous accessory and won’t hit the eye as much.
Among my most favoured pieces are a white skirt and blouse. I’ve photographed them repeatedly for some seven years and they still entertain me. White and black never get tiresome; they are striking and yet neutral (unobtrusive) colours and moreover fit into every fashion season. Both pieces have a fairly simple cut and are of a similar, slightly translucent material that, besides, doesn’t mind creasing, perhaps the opposite. The skirt is larger than the usual size of my models, but it either gets pinned at the back or is let drop low on the hips. The blouse is size S but very variable and you can do lots of things with it.
Sizes
The average shoe size of my models is 38 – 39; downwards size 37 is quite common and occasionally 36 turns up. Upwards it’s no problem to meet sizes 40 and 41. When shoes are small it’s a problem (although sometimes a model squeezes into small shoes and endures it for a while „for beauty“). When they are a bit bigger and closed, you can stuff the toes with a packet of paper tissues or something similar.
For clothing I most often meet size S or number 36; very slim or petite models sometimes have 34. But as I wrote about that white skirt, even larger pieces can often be used.
Stockings and tights come in various size numbering, often a combination of height and weight (my models are mostly around 170 cm and weigh about 50-55 kg). Websites mostly have a size table.
Better not underwear
Underwear, specifically knickers, but also stockings or leggings on a bare body, should be used with one model only (swapping is unhygienic). It’s therefore better to limit yourself to what the model wears or brings, or to buy underwear specifically for one event and afterwards give it to the model or throw it away.
Where to shop?
You’ll find interesting pieces in second-hand shops, but don’t expect success on the first try. Large second-hand shops are good, you can rummage a lot, and in some the price is per kilogram, not per piece. Like props, you’ll occasionally find pieces of clothing or accessories in some bazaars or at the flea market. Accessories are bought well in shopping centres; probably every one has a costume jewellery shop. You’ll find headbands, earrings, beads, bracelets, scarves etc. In outlets or even normal clothing shops you can discover great things for next to nothing in sales; recently I bought for a shoot in the OP Prostějov shop a white tie for 45 CZK and a small men’s waistcoat for an unbelievable 19 CZK. You can also try markets, of which Sapa is clearly the leader in range.
You can also shop comfortably on the internet. A huge selection of underwear, stockings, leggings and accessories (not only for shoots) at low prices is offered by e.g. LuxusniPradlo.cz or Amoresa.cz, where for a few crowns more you also get pumps, hats etc. A large selection of shoes is also offered by SvetBot.cz. Anyone not afraid of shopping abroad, specifically in China, can use Ebay or Aliexpress. The offer is overwhelming, prices interesting and postage from China almost always free. Just keep in mind that the size label „one size fits all“ is best understood as „one size fits all Asian girls“. Our girls are markedly taller, so don’t be surprised if something ends not at the knees but under the bottom. I have long-standing good experience with shopping on Ebay and Aliexpress.
And of course a good source of clothing is the models themselves. On Facebook you can see their clearance exchanges, and sometimes they’ll even bring you something themselves (say, in exchange for another piece of yours).
I almost forgot: a matter of course should be a warm soft terry bathrobe in which the model can wrap herself during breaks.
I wish you a lucky hand when shopping, tolerant partners and a nice Sunday evening 🙂
Visit the next nude photography workshop