What you wear has a big impact on how you will be perceived by your viewing audience. However, unless you are in the business of selling clothing, you want your viewers to spend more time looking at your face (and hearing your message) than staring at or being distracted by your clothes in your video presentations.

What you wear has a big impact on how you will be perceived by your audience.

Wardrobe Tips for Women: Who Wears the Pants?

Consider wearing pants with a long hem. Pants tend to make women look more professional and businesslike on video – compared with short skirts and dresses – especially if you are seated while presenting or interviewing on video.  Short skirts and dresses do have a tendency to ride up – you want to avoid tugging or pulling at your clothes as it will draw attention to the area. If you feel uncomfortable or self-conscious –  it too will show on-screen.

If you prefer to wear a skirt or dress, unless you are deliberately trying to sell your sex appeal to a male audience – make sure the hemline is on the knee (or slightly above). How much skin you show is up to you of course – but you need to carefully consider whether it adds or detracts from your message.

Beware of sleeveless dresses or tops too, as they tend to draw the attention away from your face. Also, without the right makeup applied, your arms can appear to be a different color than your face.

Make a Shape

As I have mentioned previously, the camera tends to make you look bigger and heavier than you really are, so choose clothing that makes you look taller and emphasizes a narrow waist wherever possible.

• Tailored shirts and tailored jackets with collars all help to provide shape and accentuate your feminine figure.

Watch your neckline! If you are filming front-on to camera realize that when you lean forward you can actually reveal more than you intend to! Unfortunately, I see this far too often in online video, and in my opinion it undermines the credibility of women who are selling business products or educational courses.

Bonus Skin Tip: With regard to skin exposure – if you want to show your arms, then cover up your neckline and vice versa. Showing both could look like a lot of skin exposure when operating within the confines of the cameras framing. If you want to show great legs, then cover up your top half and vice versa.

Wardrobe Tips for Men

Men generally have an easier job of dressing for the camera than women. My clothing rule of thumb for men and women is: “Dress like your audience does, but 10% better”. Your audience needs to identify with you, but you also need to look somewhat aspirational and authoritative.

• A shirt with a collar looks better than a t-shirt, unless of course your target audience expects to see you in a t-shirt
• As with women, tailored shirts and jackets can help to add height and emphasize your shoulder to waist ratio.

Men, if you are being filmed seated, make sure your socks are pulled up. We don’t want to see your hairy legs poking out from under your trousers!

Have Nicely-Styled Hair

Get a good haircut. Shorter hair generally looks more businesslike. If you have long hair, make sure you style it off and away from your face – this will prevent your hair from casting shadows across your face, especially under bright studio lighting.  Also spray your hair it to settle down those fly-aways.

Bonus Hairspray Tip: to avoid weighing your hair down with product, spray your hands first then run them over your hair.

Now get Filming!

Remember that the camera “sees” things differently than the human eye. You want your clothing to reinforce your personal brand and your message – not detract or distract from it.

I’d love to hear from you! Post in the comments below, what your biggest challenges are when it comes to presenting on camera – or with creating your own Video Presentations? If this is all new for you,  tell me what you found most helpful with this article and how you will implement it in your next video?