New website http://hazelong.com

Sep 11, 2008

Tips on how to Showcase your Clothes!

  • We have been making rounds in the online boutiques locally.. and we can't help but notice that the people running the boutiques here are extremely shy about posing.
  • What happened is.. they take a photo and they cut their head off!
    No face. No mug shots.

    I know this is a worldwide known technique but one of the many reasons why modeling is a profession is that THEY help sell the clothes. but not all of us are model material.. n those who aren't made a wise decision by not showing their visage in the photos because they realized that if they leave their faces in, their products would have worse returns.
    FOCUSING ON YOUR PRODUCTS
  • The thing is.. whether you show your face or not.. the rules remain the same. Keep the focus on the item that you show off. If you see your own photo, you do not even know whether that person is selling the clothes, shorts or skirt or the accessories.. then you have failed in showcasing your item.

For example, this photo. It may look very nice.. but what is the person selling exactly?
is it the pants? the clothes? the bangles? the cap? the scarfs?
you can't tell.. it looks more like a whole set of apparel..
You can use this technique if u plan on selling the WHOLE set. then people might be interested to buy because they are interested in the WHOLE LOOK.

You might even help them out like this :
Placing the prices here encourages your customers to buy the whole set. meaning : you earn more at the end of the day.
if ur planning to wear attractive apparel other than the one ur selling, why not put their prices up too?
You'll never know if your customers might be interested.

If you see this, Bam! you know its the top for sale. Why? because the top is in FULL VIEW.
it is not cropped.
the jeans however, can barely be seen.


Dress for sale here.. no doubt about that.. ring is too small to be seen..
ring and necklace are too small to be taking the attention.
socks too.
again, it is in FULL VIEW.

like this is pants for sale, not shoe... you know its the pants.. and the photo is cropped to only show the pants, therefore there is a MOTIVATION for the crop.
if u crop your face just because everybody is doing it, that's not a motivation, that's not even artistic.

Socks only. cropped just to fit the socks.
the background is in the same colour pallete of the socks too!

Ring for sale!!.. the ring is in FULL BLOWN size. everything else is not visible!
if u have hand accessories, then show only that accessory and your hand.
We always wanna know where and how to wear something.
Same goes for belts..

If the earring is smaller, you might see a very close up photo of only the ear and the earring.
But because the earring is so big and the colour is vibrant, you can do it this way too.
and notice that the clothes is a dull colour so that it dun outshine the earrings.

Face cropped here. but you won't even notice it, cuz you are looking at the necklace which is worn on the neck. therefore the neck and the necklace is in full blown view.


Cap for sale.. cuz thats the only thing u can see plus the head.

Summary :
  • Always have full blown view of the item u sell with the body area that the item is residing
  • play with colours, do not outshine your main item
  • never show more than you should



    TO CROP OR NOT TO CROP YOUR FACE?

    What do you see here.
  • No head.
    How do you feel ?
  • you feel like it is not professional.. why? because most probably the model did not give permission to the shop to show her face.

    or

    the shop cut her face off because they don't like it.
    When you see something like that, u feel uncomfortable.
    uncomfortable is a negative feeling...leading customers away from your shop.

    because no matter how, wherever you go you look at people's faces first. whether you like it or not. i know inner beauty counts bla bla but this is the way the world works.. like it or not.

What about this?
You like it don't you.. because it looks COOL.
it has attitude.
You can try this if you are not comfortable on showing your face..ONLY IF YOUR CLOTHES HAVE SOMETHING NICE AT THE BACK TO SHOW!

You can do this too.. if you don't have a hood.. hide about 80% of your face.
You'll look cool too!
No one says you have to look at the camera.
ONLY IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING NICE TO SHOW AT THE BACK

Hide it!
Here's a secret. No one says you can't hide your face with caps. ( hide eyes and balding hair)
Or sunglasses.. ( hide eyes)
or hoods ( hide hair n ear)
or scarves (hide mouth)
I have an example in my head.. but i dunno if I say it out loud i will get into deep shit or not.
If you surf around the online boutiques enough, you'll start noticing that there are people who do this.
If they have done it well.. it will look like a style of their boutique.. if they didn't.. people will just feel uncomfortable..
Maybe you do not frequent the salons that much, but if you can wear beanies.. caps.. n cool hats.. you can form the theme of the online boutique around that.
like : Hooded boutique
Be creative.
Most important is : show attitude when you are modelling your own clothes. this way, whether you show your face or not... you'll look great!

if you are so worried about looking bad... you won't look good in the end.
have confidence, stand straight.. n just focus on giving your clothes the best modelling they deserve.




just remember one thing... there is no such thing as not being beautiful.. if you are hardworking:
1. fat ? exercise.. don't be lazy
2. short ? learn how to take photos that can make your legs longer.
learn how to pose that can make you look taller
wear high heels... duh..
3. flat chested ? push up bras.. wear a strapless silicon bra inside.. and another bra outside
4. pimples? acne cream to battle.. makeup with more concealer and foundation
5. bad teeth? visit the dentist. get some treatment
6. bad hair? visit the saloon la. go to A Cut Above, they can do miracles there
8. UGLY?? HELLOOO??? ugly means if you have any of those above combined.. fix them one by one ok.
9. small eyes, flat nose and mishappened mouth ? this is just lack of self confidence. don't make us post all the models with moles.. small eyes.. and flat nose

if you are saying you can't be bothered.. then aren't you just plain lazy?
No one is a plain jane. We are all special.
Take charge of your life!