Fashion has become synonymous with clothing, but it’s so much more than that. Fashion is the way we choose to present ourselves in the public sphere. It’s a desire to differentiate ourselves through association with a social tribe, announce our place in society, and show off our accomplishments. These things have always been wrapped up in fashion, but today even more so thanks to the likes of Instagram.
We’ve always lived in a visual world, but this has been amplified by today’s social technology. For many, Instagram is the lens that leads directly to the runways. It’s the VIP pass to the best fashion parties, behind-the-scenes snaps, and off-duty stylings of the models we so admire. But it’s not just a case of point and snap. Instagram images take work and require meticulous planning. They call for attention to detail, careful editing, good lighting and brilliant styling. Don’t believe us? Just ask those who do it best…
1. Margaret Zhang
Margaret Zhang is a 22-year-old Australian fashion blogger extraordinaire. A writer, stylist and law student, she’s the face behind Shine by Three, which was recognised by the Business of Fashion BoF 500 Index as “shaping the international fashion industry”. When it comes to Instagram she tells BuzzFeed:
Don’t over-edit
Only ever use apps to enhance and avoid the internal Instagram filter. Use Snapseed for weird shadows, Luminesce for strange colours, and VSCO Cam for colour correction.
Shoot in the morning or afternoon
Good lighting is everything and when you shoot in the middle of the day, you get strange shadows. Opt for times when there’s no direct sunlight – the morning or afternoon.
Get a great rug
Your outfit requires a great backdrop so invest in a photogenic rug. Put the hero clothing item in the middle and make everything fan out from that.
Get up high
To ensure you get every piece of an outfit in, get up high using a step ladder, table or a chair. Just be careful not to topple!
Fill in the gaps
When laying out multiple items, put in the key things to match your colour scheme and then fill in the gaps with nondescript items.
2. Chiara Ferragni
Chiara Ferragni inherited a passion for photography and fashion from her mother. She decided to use this passion to create The Blonde Salad and now collaborates with major fashion houses and designer brands. She’s also the creative director of her namesake shoe line and an avid Instagrammer with more than 7 million followers. She tells Instyle:
Replicate your favourite look
Looking into the camera creates a special eye and soul contact and when it comes to face positioning, everyone is different. Take a look at the photos you love of yourself and try to replicate that look over and over again.
Pose sitting down
If you’re trying to take a picture of yourself and get your whole outfit in the shot, pose sitting down. You’ll be able to get a closer angle and still see your shoes in the frame.
Have fun
The best pictures come naturally so don’t think too much. Have fun in your pictures and do what feels natural.
Related: Check out the 20 Australian Fashion Bloggers You Should Be Following
3. Sydne Summer
Sydne Style aims to inspire fashion lovers with aspirational and achievable styles. She chooses outfits you can easily create at home and breaks down current runway trends to ensure you’re always looking avant-garde. She’s only 5’3, but you’d never know it thanks to her permanent stiletto fixtures. She tells theOutfit:
Ask for help
Everyone is so accustomed to taking photos now so it’s not a big deal to ask a stranger to take a photo of you. Generally speaking, pick a girl, as she’s more likely to understand what you mean when you ask, “can you please make it head-to-toe?”
Nail your accessories
When an accessory is the hero item, tap the accessory on your screen. This will focus on the accessory and slightly blur out the rest of the photo. Make sure you have natural light shining on your accessory too.
4. Michelle Scanga
Michelle Scanga is the Managing Editor of Who What Wear, which currently has more than 2.2 million Instagram followers. Who What Wear is fashion and style decoded and is the fashionable friend that everybody wants. Catering to trend-setting fashion lovers between 18 and 34 years old, Michelle suggests:
Strategically place clothing
Go for an effortlessly-cool set up by posing outfits in a somewhat relaxed order. For an eye-catching element, intentionally place a bit of colour at the top of your clothing pile. Alternatively opt for perfectly symmetrical outfit shots.
Choose a great background
Think outside the box when it comes to choosing a background. As nice as your bedroom might be, it doesn’t make for an exciting Instagram feed when it’s used as the backdrop every time. Keep your eyes out for backgrounds with lots of colour or a unique pattern that will make an outfit pop. Take photos when you find them and create a stock of locations that you can call on when planning shoots.
Take it from the top
If you’re attempting a selfie of you and your friend, forget the cheesy smiles and take your pic from the top. Stand close together and shoot from above to get both stylish outfits in the frame. Reach up as high as you can.
5. Lauren Conrad
Lauren Conrad is your front row VIP pass to all things lovely and chic. A purveyor of a certain kind of lifestyle, her Instagram and online editorial destination is not exclusively fashion these days, but she still knows how to post a great Instagram outfit. She suggests:
Get the right crop
Instagram posts don’t always have to be square and the occasional horizontal or vertical shot can really spice up your feed. There’s a reason why the 35mm film camera’s negative has a 2×3 aspect ratio – landscape images are simply more appealing to the eye. Try using Whitagram or Afterlight to size a horizontal image for Instagram.
Don’t always aim for the middle
A centred photo can look great, but too many of them and your feed will look boring. Split your image into thirds both horizontally and vertically and place your subject along these lines or at intersections.
Be silly
Fashion shots don’t need to be about forced pouts and abnormal sultriness. If you’re not showing YOU, what’s the point? Have fun with your selfies, make silly faces, try on funny hats and just enjoy hanging with friends as you snap each other’s style.
6. Milysan Troche
Milysan Troche of MyHauteCloset.com has 124,000 followers on Instagram thanks to her fashion-forward outfits. Starting out on Instagram, her popularity grew so fast she created her own online platform, but for the most part, she still sells much of her luxurious goods through Instagram. Her advice for Instagram is:
Post compelling imagery and corresponding hash tags
Your images need to provide clear insight into your perspective but hashtags will help others find you. The right hashtag can put you in front of millions of people but this will only benefit you if you have compelling imagery.
Make the most of apps
There are so many apps to help improve your images, so why not use them? There’s labelbox for labels, Camera+ to sharpen images, and diptic which allows you to add more than one image to a photo.
Post daily
Posting an image or two a day will keep your followers interested and will grow your following. Don’t overpost though or you’ll become annoying. Twice is enough.
7. Aimee Song
Aimee Song is a fashion and interior design blogger who primarily uses YouTube and Instagram to offer great fashion, DIY and design inspiration. The face behind Song of Style suggests:
Mix fashion and lifestyle
Aimee likes to start her day by enjoying a coffee. When taking a picture of her coffee, she’ll jazz it up with a purse, sunglasses and a bejewelled hand holding the coffee. Much more interesting than just a cup, and a great look into everyday life.
Keep up with pedicures
Shoe shots are important and to get a great one, you should sit down, stretch your legs out and take the shot from above. But angles and positioning only go so far. If you’re pedicure isn’t up to date, it could spell disaster.
Be bossy
You’ll likely need to call on strangers to take multiple shots of you and the more direction you give them the better. Don’t be afraid to position them in the angle you want them to be in and keep going until you get what you want.
Start snapping
Snapping shots for Instagram is a real art and it pays to learn as much as you can about the art of fashion photography if you’d like to see your following grow. The above tips clearly work wonders for the successful Instagramers above, but there’s a plethora of tips and tricks out there you can try. Play with themes, mix textures, be eye-catching, experiment with angles, keep it simple, be organised, and you will see your Instagram images go to the next level.
Why let your style go to waste by keeping it to yourself? You’ve already got the bulk of it down, now all you need to do is finetune your photography skills, build a stock of great backdrops and learn a few hashtags to get yourself in front of others.
Good luck!