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Friday 9 February 2018

Lolita Blog Carnival: What Makes A Good Wardrobe Post?

With wardrobe season having come to an end, this feels like a good time to discuss what, exactly, makes for a good wardrobe post. On the surface it's simple; good photos equals a good post! But what, other than the obvious things such as having the photos in focus and lit well so you can see what's actually in the photo, makes the difference between bad and good, and good and great?

I feel like there are three key features that make for a really good wardrobe post:
  1. Consistent presentation
  2. Unique photos
  3. A well curated collection
So what do I mean by each of these? Allow me to elaborate. Bear in mind that these are just my own opinions, of course, so take everything with a grain of salt.

When I talk about consistent presentation I mean taking photos of all your items in the same way, with similar presentation. If you display your dresses on a mannequin but pair then picture your blouses all folded together that's inconsistent and to me, feels lazy. I'd almost rather a post like this just be the dresses! Similarly, this also means that you angle and crop your pictures in the same way as much as possible. Make everything looks like it was photographed the same way as much as possible

Here's an example from my 2017 wardrobe post: different items, fairly (though not perfect) consistent presentation.


As for unique photos, try to do something to stand out a little. Sometimes, this can be simply taking super gorgeous photos! Here's a link to one of my favourite posts this year. Several things made this post stand out. Obviously, the photos are well done, but what makes it unique is the collage layout with pretty font and filters. The detail shots also help make this something out of the ordinary.

Another example of this is what I did in 2016. I made flat lay outfits for each main piece and paired the images with close-ups of the coordinate.


Lastly, a well curated collection means exactly that! Display all the aspects of your wardrobe, and show them with pride. After all, it's a wardrobe post, not a collection of dresses post. Maybe I'm a bit alone in this, but I love seeing the supporting items more than the main pieces a lot of the time so I get disappointed when this part is left out of glossed over. To an extent, you need to have a good wardrobe to make a good wardrobe post. Though I also strongly believe that this is a great way of being active in the community and tracking your progress in the fashion so I'd never advocate anyone not post due to the size or quality of their wardrobe, but generally speaking a bigger and more cohesive wardrobe is "better" (more well received).

One of the supporting acts of my wardrobe...

Of course, the technical matters are important as well, though they're pretty obvious so I don't want to go into them further. But, for the sake of thoroughness here they are:
  • Photos that are in focus and not grainy
  • Consistent and accurate lighting
  • A background that is either plain or complementary to the wardrobe
  • Clothes are ironed and displayed neatly
Those are my thoughts on the matter! Do you agree with my points or not?

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2 comments:

  1. While I mostly agree with you on consistency of presentation (the mannequin example is great, although personally I'm not fond of posts where main pieces are photographed in pairs or groups, though I don't mind that for other items), I feel like people put so much pressure on themselves when doing wardrobe posts that asking everyone to add every single category of pieces can add to that pressure. I also love seeing people's whole collections, after all a wardrobe is more than just your dresses and seeing blouses or accessories helps you visualise how someone wears those main pieces, but photographing those is almost twice as much work as dresses. So that's where I cut others some slack, even though I'd much prefer to see everything myself as well.

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    1. You make a good point, I prefer seeing main pieces on their own too! And yes, better any wardrobe post than no wardrobe post (and they are soooo much work indeed!) but hey, this is about what makes a wardrobe post good in my eyes, and I like to see all the things!

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