Melbourne, Australia · contact@sculptedinshadows.com
Wardrobe
What to wear,and what it does
A guide to garments, not to bodies. Every piece below is described by
what it does in a photograph, so you can choose by what you want to show rather than by what
you have been told to hide. Nothing here is required, and nothing is a test.
Three things that matter more than the piece
Wardrobe is planned together before the day, so you will never arrive
wondering. But if you take only three things from this page, take these.
Fit beats price, every time. Anything digging in leaves a line, and a
line across skin is the one thing retouching never removes convincingly. A plain piece
that fits will always photograph better than a beautiful one that does not.
You will move more than you expect. Sitting, lying, kneeling, turning,
leaning. If a piece needs adjusting every time you change position, you spend the session
adjusting it instead of being photographed.
Bring what you already love. Pieces you own and feel good in
photograph better than anything bought for the occasion, because you wear them
differently. Confidence is visible and it cannot be faked in a fitting room.
Bring more than you think you need. We will use a fraction of it, and
having the choice in the room is worth far more than getting the packing right.
On body types, briefly
Guides like this often open with a flowchart asking whether your
stomach or your hips are the widest part of you, then assign you a fruit. There is none of
that here, for two reasons. It is a strange thing to ask someone to do about herself before
she has even met you. And it is not how the work is actually done: what changes how a body
reads in a photograph is where the light falls, how the weight is shifted, and which part
of you is nearest the lens. Those are true of everyone, they are handled on the day, and
they are not your job. So each piece below is described by what it does. What you do with
that is yours.
Bras
The most common thing brought to a session, and the piece where fit
matters most, because the chest is usually closest to the light.
Balconette and demi-cup
Cuts straight across rather than curving over, so the collarbone and upper chest stay
open to the light. That area does a great deal of work in low, directional light.
The most versatile piece on this page. It keeps natural proportion rather than
rearranging it, and it works across sizes.
A half cup covers less than a full one. Worth knowing when you choose it, so it is a
decision rather than a surprise.
Push-up
Adds volume and creates cleavage while you are standing.
The thing nobody mentions: padded cups are shaped for an upright body.
A good part of a boudoir session happens lying down, and lying down the cup can lift away
from the chest and leave a visible gap. If you bring one, bring a well-fitted unpadded
bra as well so we have both options in the room.
Underwired
Gives a defined edge and a clean line under the bust. Works at any size.
It only needs to actually fit. A wire sitting on tissue rather than following the
ribcage presses a dent that the camera picks up immediately.
Strapless
Leaves shoulders, collarbone and neck completely clear, which is one of the most
rewarding areas to light in the whole frame.
Worth bringing even if it never ends up in a photograph, because it opens up poses that
straps would cut across.
Soft cups, bralettes and lace
Unstructured and unpadded, so they read as intimate rather than engineered.
Lace and mesh hold onto low light beautifully and create their own texture. Sheer
fabric is far more interesting under a single hard light than under a soft one.
The everyday moulded bra
Smooth cotton and seamless moulding are designed to disappear under a t-shirt, and they
do the same thing in a photograph: they read flat and featureless.
There is nothing wrong with wearing one. If it is genuinely what you feel most yourself
in, bring it and say so, and it gets lit accordingly. Just do not make it the only thing
in the bag.
Briefs
Cut changes the line of the whole lower half of the frame. These are
the ones worth knowing by name.
High-waisted
Draws one unbroken line from the ribs through the hip and down the leg. Very little
else on this list makes a line that long.
It also stays exactly where it is through every change of position, which makes it the
single most useful piece most people bring.
French knickers
Loose, cut high at the back, with a soft hem instead of an elastic edge. Nothing grips,
so nothing marks.
They move. Fabric that moves photographs beautifully, particularly with any air in the
room.
Bikini brief
Sits on the hip with full coverage front and back. Familiar and comfortable, and
comfort is genuinely worth something on the day.
Simple in shape, so colour, lace and detail do the work rather than the cut.
Thong and g-string
The longest uninterrupted leg line available, and no edge across the hip.
Worth wearing around the house for an hour first. Seated and kneeling poses are where
you find out whether a piece is comfortable, not standing in front of a mirror.
Boy shorts
Sit at the waist and read as playful rather than as lingerie. Excellent with an
oversized shirt or nothing on top.
Buy your own rather than borrowing a partner's. The whole effect of them is the fit,
and menswear cut for someone else has none.
One thing regardless of cut. Elastic leaves marks
that take 30 to 60 minutes to fade, and that is shooting time gone. Wear the loosest thing
you own for a few hours beforehand, and bring the pieces in a bag rather than on your body.
Corsets and bustiers
Structured pieces. They photograph with an edge and a formality that
nothing soft can imitate, and they come with real practical trade-offs, so here they are.
Corsets
Laced at the back and boned throughout, so they draw the waist in and create a defined
shape that holds by itself.
Steel boning holds; plastic boning folds and buckles within about ten minutes and the
creases show. If you are buying one, this is the only specification that matters.
Laced tight limits both breathing and movement, and you will be moved
through a lot of positions. Firm but workable photographs better than as tight as it goes,
because a held breath shows in the face and shoulders.
Overbust corsets usually have no fitted cups, so they can slip during changes of
position. Not a problem, just something to expect and re-set.
Bustiers
Shorter, sitting at or just above the waist, and always built with cups, so they give
lift and structure at the same time.
Far more comfortable than a corset, and easier to move in, which usually means more
usable frames.
A bustier with no built-in cups reads as less shaped than the body actually is. Check
for cups before buying.
Both leave lacing and boning marks when they come off, so they are
photographed earlier in a session rather than last. Many have suspender clips built in,
which saves bringing a separate belt.
One-pieces, slips and robes
The quietly useful half of the wardrobe, and the half people leave at
home.
Bodysuits and teddies
One unbroken line from shoulder to hip, with no horizontal edge cutting the middle of
the frame.
Usually sheer or lace, which builds its own texture and silhouette under a single
light. Many have cups built in.
Often come with suspender straps attached, which add long vertical lines running from
hip to leg.
Slips and nightdresses
Silk and satin catch light along their length and follow movement. The fabric does
almost all of the work, so a plain one is often better than a decorated one.
Bias-cut anything photographs well because it falls rather than hangs.
Robes, kimonos and dressing gowns
The most useful thing you can bring and the least obvious. Held closed, open, falling
off one shoulder, or moving in air, a robe makes more strong frames than most lingerie
does.
It is also what you will wear between setups, so bring one whether or not it is meant
to be photographed.
A length of plain fabric
Silk, muslin, linen or a plain sheet. It costs almost nothing and appears in more of
the best frames than any other single item.
Single colour, no pattern. Two or three metres is plenty.
Stockings, shoes and the rest
Small things, and the place where a little practical knowledge saves
a genuinely annoying amount of time on the day.
Stockings
They lengthen the leg, give the light a surface to travel along, and add a clear edge
at the thigh that the eye follows.
Buy a size up. Silicone-lined bands run tight, and a band that grips
creates a fold and a red line that outlasts the session.
Choose a wide band rather than a narrow one. Wide holds better and marks less.
Try them on before the day. Discovering they will not stay up is a discovery to make at
home.
Suspender belts and garters
They sit at the waist and hold stockings, but their real value is the vertical lines
the straps draw down the hip and thigh.
Do not clip them. Let the straps hang loose. Every change of position
would otherwise mean unclipping and refastening four fiddly fasteners, and across a
session that adds up to a serious amount of lost time and lost patience. Hanging straps
photograph just as well.
Shoes
Heels change how you stand, and they lengthen the leg even in frames where the shoes
never appear.
Bring a pair you can actually stand in. Nothing platformed; a simple heel photographs
better and hurts less.
Bare feet are entirely fine, and a lot of frames never include them anyway.
Jewellery
One considered piece beats several. It should add character, not compete for
attention.
Something you already wear and that means something to you is better than something
bought to match.
The small practical ones
Hair ties belong in the bag, not on your wrist. They leave a mark within minutes.
Remove watches and tight rings an hour beforehand for the same reason.
Bring a bag for what comes off. It sounds trivial until there are three outfits on the
floor.
Colour, fabric and low light
The work here is built on chiaroscuro: a small number of hard, angled
lights and a lot of shadow. That changes which colours behave and which do not.
Black is the reliable answer. It falls away into the shadow and leaves
skin, edge and shape as the subject. It is also the easiest colour to find in every style
on this page.
Deep and muted reads best: oxblood, ivory, oyster, charcoal, forest,
plum. Rich colour holds its character in shadow where bright colour simply goes grey.
Skin is a colour too, and frequently the strongest one in the frame.
Texture beats pattern, always. Lace, silk, mesh, velvet, ribbed knit.
Directional light exists to reveal texture, and it has nothing to do with a printed
pattern.
What fights the light: neon, busy prints, logos, and anything bright
white. They pull the eye straight off you. Optical brighteners in white fabric also flare
oddly under flash.
You may have read wardrobe guides that sort you into a season and hand
you a palette. Under a single hard light in a dark room that framework does very little.
Contrast, texture and how much light a fabric gives back do almost all of it, and that is
decided on the day by where the light is placed.
Everyday clothes, which people underestimate
Some of the strongest frames in any session involve no lingerie at
all. They tend to be the ones that look most like you.
An oversized shirt, buttoned once or not at all.
A heavy knit falling off one shoulder.
A plain white t-shirt, which is far better than it sounds.
Jeans with nothing above them.
A blazer or a leather jacket over bare skin.
Anything with real meaning to you: a shirt you have had for years, something inherited,
something you wear when you feel like yourself.
The same rules apply as everywhere else. Solid colours over prints,
texture over decoration, and fit over everything.
Fine art nude: fabric instead of lingerie
Different genre, different wardrobe. Here the body is treated as
form, so clothing is used as sculpture rather than as dress.
Plain fabric in a single colour: silk, muslin, linen, or a plain sheet. Drape, not
garment.
A robe for between setups, which matters more here than anywhere else.
Little or no jewellery. It reads as detail in work that is about line.
Nothing elasticated for at least two hours beforehand. Hard light across an unclothed
body shows every mark, and this is the one preparation step that genuinely changes the
results. The fine art nude preparation guide
covers the rest.
Fine art nude does not require nudity either. Implied, draped and
cropped work all belong to the same genre, and what is photographed is agreed before the
camera comes out.