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How to Style and Pick Wardrobe for Boudoir

Let's talk about working with a lingerie store. Some tips on helping clients repair marketing. I'm gonna show you guys the local laundry story that I was at. We'll talk a little bit about marketing, and we'll readdress it again after the video. So let's watch. Hey, guys, Jen, here I am in Manhasset, Long Island, and I'm at a store called Inside the Arm. Or you might hear some background noises. We go through this tour today. We're letting the laundress or conduct business as we're here. We don't want to interrupt them, but I am here today to teach you a little bit more about lingerie, what you would find in an average lingerie shop and had a work with lingerie stores to market your business and market them as well. Being that I live in New York, I have access to a lot of different lingerie stores from a small little boutique shop all the way up to the major manufacturers. I tend to like to work with smaller lingerie stores versus the larger manufacturers, no matter where you are in the...

country or in the world, mostly because the lingerie stores that produce for the masses in large quantity don't fit as well as some of the smaller laundry stores like this carry. One of the great things with workings with stores like this and I work with a few in my area is that I can refer clients to them, and they can refer clients to me. As a matter of fact. Today, in this story, you'll see some signs around the stores and pictures of women in laundry. Of course. Well, I told the owner, Listen, if you ever want to lend me some Andre or, UM, give it to me and I'll put models in it and I'll take photos for you and we can hanging on the wall. And when people ask who took the pictures, I'll give you cars with your logo on it that you can give women that will refer them to me and give them a little bit of a discount or an incentive to come see me. And in turn, when the client calls me, I will send them back here, and the lingerie store will give them a little discount on lingerie, so it works for the client both ways. Also, don't forget being a boudoir photographer is really about the experience. When people come to see us, it's all about the experience. I want the experience to start off on the right foot when they shop, not just when they come see me. If they go to a large name store big manufacturer, they don't really get the help that they need. That could be trying on the wrong size or finding things that don't really fit them. And they get discouraged. I get emails like that a lot, Jen. I'm really looking forward to shoot, but I just feel fat and grows and nothing fits. What can I dio? Well, now, when I refer them to a store where I work closely with the owner, I can call them ahead of time and say, upsetting a client to you hear her concerns? Can you help her find something that works for her? That's a much better scenario, and it shall come into a lingerie store, try everything on and walk out feeling like a $1,000,000 which is exactly what I want when she walks into my studio. The owner inside the armor was kind enough to allow me to come in and give you guys a tour today and what she has available now right now is sort of the change of seasons. But it's also really great time to start shopping for laundry for any of your clients, because at this point, it's right before Valentine's Day. And that's the height of the lingerie season, of course. So even if you have sessions booked for the spring time, if you know that they're booked and it's around January or February or even after Valentine's Day, when the sale starts, pushed them to start looking for wondering. Now Karen did tell me she's sort of switching things out for the season. But let's see what she has. Because the truth is, if I was going to send a client here right now, I'd want to see what she sees. So let's see what there is. We're gonna go all around the store. So right here is a section I actually really like. This brought I'm in love with It has really beautiful, lacy detail, and I love the colors. This deep red is such a good color for camera when clients like red I often differ, deter them. Excuse me from going for the really bright sort of cherry or apple red. It's tends to look a little weird on camera, and it's going to really affect your white balance, actually. Also, if things start reflecting off of the red makes the client skin look red, it's a nightmare. This darker red is really a nice way to go. This is another great peace because the the laces covering over the red so tones it down a little bit, and it lets us see the lacy detail. If it were all black, we might not see as much these air both great options. This one I would go for with a woman who maybe has a smaller chest because there is no support in the bra. There's no cup or anything. It's just soft, please. This one is an under wire under wires, a really great for lift and support, and has a tiny little bit of padding, and it also so it's a nice choice. I also like how this lace on the top has a little bit of elastic, so I know that it will lay nicely on the breast, and I'm not gonna have any gaps that I need to edit later. One of my favorite pieces in the store is this one right here. I love this. In fact, I might leave with it today. What I love about it is it is a teddy and has sort of that body suit feel. But this is a great I mean, this type of laundry will really bring out a woman's shape and still show off her body. It is kind of sheer, so you might want to talk to your client when wearing something like this about her comfort level, of course, but look at how cute the back is. It will show a little bit of touch here, and it's not terribly expensive. It's about $100 a little over $100. And the truth of the matter is that I love the color. It's gonna be great on camera. It would be beautiful in black also, And if a woman was to buy Braun underwear, it would be just around the same point price, if not more. This is something that's special. It's not something she might wear every day. So this is great for somebody who's like a honeymoon or a bride. She could wear it again on her honeymoon or somebody that's just looking for something a little sexier to sleep in at night instead of wearing her old sweat pants. And we were all joking that you dio, but this is a great option. This is also fun. If it wasn't as sheer for a woman to wear under jeans, maybe a button down or a blazer so it can be sort of what we call a night today look, or a date tonight look, depending on which is which. But this is a great piece. I love the shape on it, and it will look good on so many different types of women. This is a slip that's made by the same manufacturer, I. Sometimes it goes by the word the name shimmies. Also, it depends on what the material is. But for argument's sake, I'm gonna call it a slip right now. This'll would be great for somebody who wants a little bit more coverage than the teddy offered, but still wants that same look in the lacy detail. The one thing I might be a little concerned about this with is the silkiness of the fabric and the reflection depending on what kind of white I'm using to take the pictures. But this is a really nice option. Another piece I want to show you right here, which is similar but different. It's also made by the same manufacturer. But look at how different it looks in pale pink color choices air really important. What will work with the client skin tone coloring, hair color for me, I think I would look really washed out and something like this. But for somebody with a darker skin tone, I would love this on. It's really, really beautiful. Lingerie follows trends just like clothing does. Even though it's something you might not be able to see all the time. It is somewhat trendy, and I'm gonna show you one of those looks right now. This is a great broads, a fantastic color, nice and muted, not too bright blue. And you see these? I don't know what you would call them. Maybe straps or, um, they're sort of like the bra strap material, and they're not attached to the lace. So they lay in a little bit of a different spot on the breast than than the laced up. So it doesn't look as if it's attached, which is nice. This is very popular right now. It's a really, really great look you're gonna see. A lot of clients come in with that. It's important to stay on top of the trends, to know what to recommend to your clients based almost popular right now, this is the same popular look of those bands. But in a slip. What's nice about this is that it's somewhat sheer. It's Lacey, and I could still see a woman's body underneath it. So this is great for somebody who might have some stretch marks that she wants to hide or is a little concerned about her stomach or some cellulite on her bum. This is a really nice option because we can still see her body shaping the outlines of her body without covering her. But still, she feels covered enough to be comfortable. Most hometown lingerie stores will run the gamut between foundations, comfortable robes, pajamas all the way up to very sexy, sheer, even somewhat naughty lingerie. This is a perfect example of that. This is a top and bottom set now because it's winter. The pants are at the bottom is actually pants, but often times it's sold with shorts. Or is a one piece romper actually really like this? Look, this is a great way to start a lingerie session or boudoir session with somebody because they are comfortable and they're a little more covered. But yet it's still sexy. This is somebody I've had clients where these There may be a little bit older that don't want to show is much or just a little more conservative. But don't be afraid. I mean, this is adorable. I love the color. Um, contrast here. I guess you would call it and the little bow and nice little details. This would also be cute. This top with just like a little lacy panty bottom. Give somebody a little more coverage on her stomach, but still show off some skin up top and skin down below. This broad is so cute. Um, I love the color of it, but I have to tell you, if a client came in with it, I probably wouldn't have her wear it. The support is right on. The shape is right, but the fabric on it, I'm not sure how it's gonna translate on camera between the color and the shiny nous of the fabric. Pay attention to details like that. It's OK to tell your client to be aware of more satin. Finish is this is another set that I would be concerned about recommending to a client, mostly because there's no support in the bra and the cups are very small and narrow. What I see here is a lot of skin on the side. When that happens, it doesn't tend to look nice on camera, and it's a lot of editing in the arm pit area, and it could make her chest look much smaller than it actually is. So even though it's cute and it's kind of kitschy and will be fun for something like Christmas or Valentine's Day, we want to be careful and make sure we tell our clients to make sure that their bra fits properly. I know I've mentioned that shiny fabrics are a no no, but what I really mean is more of a reflective fabric. We want to be careful when we're lighting somebody, especially with strobes, that it's not giving us a bright light on the actual fabric. This is an example of something I would do, though this is shiny but not reflective. It's a more of a metallic type of material, but it's actually kind of flat. It's not going to reflect light the way a satin wood or Silkwood. So something like this is a fabric I would work with. I love both of these bras here, but let's talk about what makes them similar and what makes them different. First of all, they're very similar in color. They're both gray. This one, maybe is a little more of Ah Perry ankle or a little purple. But they're both similar in color tones. They would both flatter the same type of skin tone or skin color. But there's a couple of differences here. One is this is a little bit shiny, and I actually kind of like it. I think it looks really nice on this broad, and I think it would look nice and camera. But what I love about it is that it has an under wire in here, so it gives more support. This brought here, although I also love has no support in it whatsoever. So I think both of these would probably flatter a smaller chested girl better than a girl with a larger chest. But if a girl is concerned about having some support, if she's had a baby or she's lost some weight and she wants a little more lift, I would go with a broad leg this because it has the under wire. One of the things that I love so much about this store is that they give complimentary bra fittings. They actually have a sign up about it. This is so important, you guys, I can't tell you how many clients wear the wrong bra size. It's awful. I had a client coming, ones that said to me, I don't know what's going on. Gen. Every time I try and abroad all the fat hangs out on the side and I said to her, Speedy, that's not fat, That's your breasts So this happens all the time. What I told her was, after your shoot, your job is to go get a broad fitting, and she came back to me to see her picture. She said, Jed, not only did I get great pictures, but I got bigger boobs, too. She was wearing originally a 34 a and she was really a 34 C, so make sure that your clients get a good bra fitting. That's also what I love about your hometown lingerie store versus the larger stores at the larger stores. They have a lot of turnover in their employees, and they're not always trained properly. It happens that often times people are given the wrong bra size, so it's not just their fault. Also, I'm starting to see that some of the large name lingerie stores are changing their sizing a little bit, just like in jeans when they started lowering the sizes so you might have really been a size six. But you could buy a size two in this brand. Of course, you're gonna buy that will. Lingerie stores are starting to go the opposite way. They're starting to make cups, and size is a little bit bigger. So you think you have a bigger chest even when you don't. It's kind of screwy, and it makes it hard to shop online, and it makes it hard to know in which brand what size you are. So please make sure that your clients are going somewhere that they're going to be treated very carefully and that their size properly. This is one of my absolute favorite finds in the lingerie store. Now you're probably thinking what you're talking about. It's not sexy. It's not pretty, is not Lacey, but it is an absolute must. I recommend these to my clients, and this is why they do not show any panty line whatsoever. So when a client is concerned about having a little more coverage under something sheer, or they wanna wear something under a slip or something tight fitting, this is a great option because it won't show any lines. Nothing digging into their skin, no skin rolls, nothing for us to edit. In addition, it might be something you want to keep a few of in your studio. What if a client doesn't have the right wardrobe, but you have a body suit or a bustier or something that she can throw on? But she doesn't have underwear to go underneath. It will throw her one of these. Put the body suit on her and the problem is solved. It's sanitary. They're clean and a so far as the lines are concerned, and they're just a really great overall fit for everybody. I also love a piece like this. It's a slip, and it may not look sexy, however, How great would it be if you put a little lacy bra under it and sort of pulled it down over the bra so we could see a peak of lace underneath it, or the laundry underneath it again? This is wonderful for a woman who wants to show off her shape but doesn't necessarily want to show skin. I would much rather something like this than a baby doll or something with a lot of fabric that's covering her body. Let her feel and be covered without losing the shape of her gorgeous body. Behind me is a line of accessories that you might want to consider keeping in your studio or have your clients bring with them things like double stick tape, chicken cutlets, um, nipple covers and things like that. Now, if you don't know what chicken cutlets are, I do covered in my lingerie guide, However, I'll tell you really fast. It's just sort of inserts that you put in your broad to give a little more lift. Just be careful when you're shooting with them. They tend to sneak out of the bottom of the bra, and they're a pain in the butt that it out later in my shooting in small, boring spaces segment. Actually, Brooke, our model used these nipple covers underneath one of the beautiful teddies that she wore. She didn't want to be too exposed, of course, on Creativelive, and I don't blame her, but you could barely see them. So definitely check out that segment and see what they look like. One of the lines I love the most is hanky panky. They have a lot of really fun things and not very expensive. Something like this is only about $66 on. It's super sexy. Now you can wear this with underwear and bra underneath it for more coverage or where it as is. I mean, look at the back of this. Yeah, I love that. That's gonna make for a great toe shot. And it's fun. It's trend. Do you see? We have these bands again that we've been talking about before on the bras. They have, ah, bra like that as well, and they're not very expensive. This broad's only $49. That's a great it's less expensive than your standard lingerie stores on these air. Very forgiving. They're stretchy. They're not super concerned. About size you don't have to worry about is that 34 sees at a 38 d thes air, really, really giving. And I love them. This is a style that a new trend, and I absolutely love it. I have a few of these myself, these air, long line bras. They are kind of like a really short Gusti. I think of it that way. It says, if you took a boost and you kind of cut it here, the's bras that come down maybe even a little lower, sometimes down towards a rib cage thes air great for a lot of different women. Um, big chested, small chested alike. I really love them. The one thing you need to be careful of is where the broad ends. If a woman is concerned about her stomach and it ends around her rib cage, it might create a skin roll there that you don't really want to see, and she certainly doesn't want to see. So just be careful about where the broad ends when you recommend these, but I love them because they're really a modern take on a vintage style. I love views. They are so much fun. These are what I like to call girl hand cubs. They are more delicate, fun, feminine way to play up a little bit of sexiness without going super crazy. They you were each of the lace on your wrist and then it ties together so it looks like handcuffs. And how sexy is this? I absolutely love it. And you know what? They're only $10. This is something that you, your clients, good bye, or you can purchase and have in your studio. So when you post pictures with girls wearing these and your clients, your potential clients I love those You can go. Come on in. I have them in my studio. You can use them. This and many lingerie stores also sell swimwear. One of the items that caught my eye when I first walked into the store today was this swimsuit. I love it. It has a boost, a style top, and it's really nice and fitted on the bottom. Something like swimwear is a great option for boudoir, especially if it's a two piece or if it's something like this, that really gives a nice lift. Think outside the box you guys. Laundry is not the only answer for boudoir. I've done boudoir in clothing dresses, big sweaters, jerseys, men's shirts. Think outside the box. Like I said, this would be great on anybody that wants a little more tightening in the stomach coverage and yet show off her beautiful chest. Besides the swimsuit, everything else we've seen today has been fairly neutral in color, solid in color and not too many patterns. This is a great example as to why something like this is not a bad outfit, but the pattern is too much for me. I think a girl would get lost with this pattern. I'm not saying avoid all pattern, but I want to make sure that the pattern is not going to distract from the woman. Because this pattern is printed on lace. It becomes a little bit like I'm not really sure where to look on it. So I would suggest something like this more in a solid color or a pattern without the lace underneath or just laced without a pattern. Okay, that's a tour of my little local hometown store where you guys think of that. Helpful. All right. Great. So I do recommend you go into your lingerie stores, especially if you work with the store pretty closely again. I work with this store and a store in Manhattan to fit my clients. When I make a mood board for my client, I will send it to the store, and I will tell them a little bit about the woman that I'm shopping. I'm having come into shop. They will. The store in the city gives a private shopping sessions. They will close the store and only open it for this client, which is wonderful. That's not true for most stores, but this store happens to be really small boutique shop, and she knows what I like. And she knows what I'm looking for my clients to be in and what I'm looking for for camera purposes. And my clients get a really great experience there, and they also give my clients little discount. Full stores give my clients 20% off, so it's an incentive to go there. Couple of notes about laundry is that I try to make sure that the laundry I send them to buy is not terribly expensive. I wanted to be sort of in that mid range zone. Like I said, 50 to $100 is a really good, comfortable place for me. Once it starts going over that, I feel like the client's gonna spend the money and the laundry and not on the photos. So I get a little bit nervous. I'm not going to send them to, like, Agent Provocateur or these really high end places. As much as I love those looks, I don't want them to blow all their money online right now. Have any left for May? I did make a couple of notes this time because I forgot all my points last time. Um, for you were cow. Um, I want you to make sure that when you're researching lingerie brown since your clients are gonna be buying online that you make sure you know which brands are fit true to size. Because remember what I said in the video that their lingerie stores are changing their sizing up. Have you Have you ladies noticed this at all? Like all of a sudden, you show up and you're like, Wow, I was a C cup last time. Now Mady. I'm rock, you know, But it's really I don't know. They're just changing the sizes so much, unfortunately, that I want you to sort of do some research and find what's true, decides so that when you do, send your client to shop online will have less problems again. There's really nothing worse than when a client is. Oh, my gosh, I feel fat and disgusting. There's some stories that I tell them to avoid because I know that this is a problem. Um, and I don't want them to walk out of there going. I tried on a size whatever, and I'm not that. And I feel awful about myself. So as much as I can, I get them accustomed service. Since you can't do that, we want to make sure. So do any of your clients ever returned the lingerie? Is that okay thing to do? Okay, well, that's like a loaded question. Um, sometimes clients will buy things, are a little out of their price range and keep a tag on it and say, Well, I'll return this later. Some items. I'm OK with that. Other items like bottoms. I probably wouldn't do that with I usually let the know ahead of time. Don't bring anything that you don't plan on keeping. God forbid the tag gets snapped off or it's in our way, and we need to remove it for the shot. Just be really, really careful about that. I mean, it has happened before, but I usually push my clients away from that. I think returns and larger. You're kind of gross, but that's just me. Um, a couple of other notes that I wanted to mention is that I do recommend my clients bring more than they need. Often a lingerie outfit or any type outfit will look good in camera. I'm sorry. In person and terrible on camera. This has happened to me multiple times, like I'm teaching somewhere. It's films like Oh my God, What was I thinking? Wearing that dress? You know it. It's hopefully is not happening right now, but this happens. You see something in the mirror, right? This is probably happen to everybody. You see a picture go. What was I thinking? Wearing that some things just don't translate in camera. Certain colors, like fluorescent colors or not great super bright red turquoise. They just don't work in camera, so Well, so I always have them. If they wanna wear four outfits, I have to bring six outfits. Like you said before, I o usually haven't bring at least one outfit that's outside their comfort zone so we can push it if we really want Teoh. Um, and also those those girly cuffs that I showed you actually did buy them along with a few other things. It was a very expensive day for May, but those girly cups I used in the hotel shoot. So we're going to see how those look on a real woman, actually, so that's gonna be a lot of fun. Another thing I wanted to mention when we were in inside the armor, one of the sales he will actually used to work for a large name store. And what she told me was exactly this. That the mass produced stores that ones that kind of produce for the masses are actually trained to sell you whatever they have in stock. So how many of you have ever heard this? Oh, you're 34 b. Oh, it's the same as a 36 A. No, it's not. Okay. I'm gonna tell you that right now, but they're trained to sell you what they have. They're in stock. Okay, when they measure you, they're not always giving you the proper information. And so that's why I also it's really important that when they go to these smaller stores to get fitted also, places like Nordstroms has really wonderful on bra fittings. So it's not just a small name store that's plenty Department stores to do it but scouted out like go to a couple stores yourself, ladies and get size and see which one is the most accurate Know who to talk to find a sales person at the stores. I used to have a woman. She doesn't work there any longer, but I had a woman at Nordstrom's I really loved, and I would send my clients to her to get fitted. I would say what kind? Make sure your you see Gabby. She's the one you need to talk to. Do some research and make sure you're sending them to the right place because it makes them feel better. And it's gonna be an easier shoot for you. Is love eso a couple of suggested things to keep in the studio again. Shoes. I used to keep a lot of shoes this year, and I don't keep them in. There is much anymore, but I usually try to keep like a size 7.5 8 It's pretty generic ago. Size 6.5 girl can fit into a 7.5 in a size nine girl can fit into in 7.5. It might hurt, but it'll you know you can kind of squeeze in there. Uh, nude and black are really important. And when I say new, I really mean more skin tone. So whatever that girl skin tone is, she should find shoes that match your skin tone. It will give her extra inches on her body, and it just makes the legs look long and it's super gorgeous and it matches everything. So no matter what color she wears, it will match black. Also blackest classic. So the higher the yield, the better. It don't show up a library and shoes. That's awful, because it's just not, you know, I don't care. Shoes of returnable. Okay, so to go on your questions of return, I don't care if you buy a $200 pair of shoes and they're sexy and gorgeous will tape up the bottom, and then you could return them after a shoot. That's what I want them to wear really high sex issues that they probably can't even walk in. Um, something sheer like we discussed the sheer robe or sheer shirt, something that will give a little more coverage when the clients get a little uncomfortable fabric. I have fabric hanging for my walls. You saw that shot of Brooke where she was wearing the teddy, and she was holding some fabric that gave her a little bit more coverage, so that might help somebody that isn't really wearing the white right wardrobe. Accessories carry a little bit. I have a little bit of jewelry or, like those girly coughs or a little blindfold or something that might be popular at the time. You can keep something like that in your studio and bodysuits. I do keep a couple of those body suits and those underwear in my studios that this way there's sanitary and I know no matter what, I'd carry it in like small, medium large, you know, pretty much fit everybody and worse comes to worse. I have something there for them to wear. Um, and again, Under is under the bodysuit. Like I said, um, one more time, I'm gonna pimp it. I know it's I hate pimping, but I think it's so important. I cover so much more than even this in the laundry guard guy. Julian, I know you said you have it, and you love it. Um, and Lauren has it. I think you know, guys, especially for you, this is so important. And this is something that you could just show your clients and along with the cheat sheet so that even though, you know, they might feel more comfortable reading it, you know, on their own terms are understanding a little bit better. This is super super important. Um, eso again Ask me questions on my Facebook group on Facebook, and I'm gonna give you guys a little call to action. I want to know what your favorite laundry item is to recommend. Tweet me. Use the hashtag Jen's boudoir boot camp. I'm at Food War. No, that's the wrong twitter. I'm at Gen. Rosenbaum. Don't forget Rosenbaum was with Z. Find me to eat me. I want to hear all about you and what you recommend for laundry for your clients.