Not so long ago I waltzed off to a gig wearing a new ensemble and feeling like a million dollars. Then I saw the photographs. I was horrified!
The stage lighting had made my deep ochre leggings look flesh coloured. I was wearing a tunic length sweater, long enough, but with the direction of the lighting a shadow was cast just below my crotch in the shape of a black triangle. OMG.
Unless you always dress in black, or have resigned yourself to forever wearing jeans and a T-shirt (which rarely works), deciding what to wear or not wear on stage can be a major headache. As it is, in our society and especially for women, how we look just walking down the street causes a degree of anxiety. If how you dress for a gig can actually make people perceive your music as better or worse than another better-dressed musician, the anxiety increases tenfold!
Big stars have personal dressers and camera tests before every tour, so you’d think they would get it right. Not always. But if you can’t figure it out on your own, then you do need something like a personal dresser and a camera test (see “Over to You”).
And you need to methodically analyse what image you want to project without distracting from your music. Consider your musical genre and instrument, your personality and personal style, body type, gender, the amount you move, the look of other musicians on the stage, the nature of the event, time of day and the size, lighting and temperature of your venue.
And finally, look for inspiration. Thanks to search engines there are a million fashion images out there to turn the headache of choosing clothes into something that should be fun and an extension of your creative self.