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RUDENKO PHOTOGRAPHYBOOK
GUIDE | AMSTERDAM

What to Wear for Headshots: Ideas from Real Sessions

By Aleksandria Rudenko | Updated 6 November 2026

Smiling close portrait of a woman in a black V-neck dress, her hands together at chest height, a tree trunk behind her, a headshot in a Rotterdam park

What to wear for headshots? Clothes you would wear on a good workday, in solid colors near your face, with a neckline you feel at ease in. One layer you can take off, such as a blazer or a sweater, gives you a second look, and your own glasses can simply stay on. In the real sessions below, that meant a black dress, a teal suit, an orange sweater and a floral shirt. Each one worked because it looked like the person wearing it.

This guide is for anyone planning headshots for LinkedIn, a company website, a team page or the press. Every photo comes from a session in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague or Leiden. Headshots like these are part of my business photography in Amsterdam, and before every session I share outfit suggestions, so you can leave the planning to me.

At a glance

Colors
Solid colors near your face; one pattern at most
Neckline
Crew neck, V-neck, turtleneck or an open collar, whichever feels like you
Layers
A blazer, jacket or sweater you can take off for a second look
Extras
Your own glasses; the jewelry you wear every day
Outfits
One or two; a second adds variety
Session
Headshot Photoshoot, with outfit suggestions from me beforehand; for a broader set of you at work, the Branding Photoshoot

Solid Colors or a Pattern?

Solid colors keep the attention on your face, which matters most when a headshot shrinks to a small profile photo. On an office headshot day, around fifty colleagues took their turn in front of the same sand-colored backdrop. A bright orange sweater, a green sweatshirt and a beige knit each looked calm and personal there, because nothing competed with the face.

Man in clear-framed glasses and a bright orange sweater, seated with his hands clasped, smiling calmly against a soft backdrop
Man in thin glasses and a blue and white floral shirt, hands on his hips and grinning at the camera in front of a light backdrop
A solid orange sweater and a floral shirt, on the same backdrop
Close headshot in light summer wear: a smiling woman with long dark wavy hair and a rose tattoo, a white top with a thin rainbow stripe

A pattern works too, as long as it is the only one. One colleague wore a floral shirt with plain dark trousers, and it simply looked like him. A web designer kept to the same rule in her branding photos in summer and winter: a white top with one thin stripe of color, later one bold animal print over a dark top, never two prints together.

What Neckline Works in a Headshot?

In a close frame, the neckline is often the only part of the outfit you see, so it does a lot of the work. Every kind worked in these sessions: a crew neck, a V-neck, a turtleneck, an open collar. The best one is simply the neckline you wear on a good, ordinary day.

Young woman in a black bouclé jacket with gold buttons over a burgundy turtleneck, one hand in her pocket, a standing headshot at the office
Man with salt-and-pepper hair in a gray turtleneck and dark blazer with an elbow patch, arms crossed in a calm office headshot
Two turtlenecks: burgundy under a bouclé jacket, gray under a blazer
Headshot of a smiling woman seated on a felled tree trunk, her white collar open at the neck, hands on her knee and a park path softly blurred behind

In a park in Rotterdam, a landscape architect wore a white blouse with the collar open at the neck. Later she changed into a black V-neck dress, the frame at the top of this guide. Both necklines framed her face without any fuss, as her headshots in a Rotterdam park show.

From experience

I choose the backdrop once I see what you wear. A black sweater went in front of pale frosted glass, a white shirt in front of gray-green panels, a black blazer against fresh green leaves. Light against dark and dark against light: that is how a face stands out, even in a small photo.

A Jacket On, Then Off

One layer you can take off gives you two looks without a second outfit. For his LinkedIn photos along the canals, a new consultant wore a black blazer over a gray band-collar shirt. We made both: with the blazer and without.

Headshot of a man with a soft smile looking straight into the lens, black blazer over a gray buttoned shirt, dark windows blurred behind
Without the blazer, in a gray shirt and dark trousers, a man stands with his hands in his pockets by a bollard on a quiet cobbled street
With the blazer, then without

A knit does the same job. On a cloudy August day, a newcomer to Amsterdam started in a black sweater. Once the air turned warm, he finished in a charcoal T-shirt. Both looks are in his headshots on a cloudy day.

Close headshot in everyday wear on a cloudy day: a man with crossed arms in a black knit sweater, pale frosted glass behind him
A smiling headshot in casual wear on a cloudy day: a man with crossed arms in a charcoal gray T-shirt, black-painted brick behind him
A black sweater first, a charcoal T-shirt later

Glasses, Jewelry and Small Things

A laughing headshot in smart casual wear: tweed flat cap, clear round glasses and a black coat over a striped crew-neck top, the canal in autumn gray

If you wear glasses every day, keep them on, because people should recognize you when they meet you. On the office headshot day, clear frames, round frames and thin metal frames all stayed on. On the Reguliersgracht, a creative producer added round glasses and a tweed cap, and both became part of his autumn headshots on the Reguliersgracht.

Jewelry works the same way: what you wear every day also looks natural in a photo. Think of a pair of red earrings, a fine necklace or a watch you never take off.

Woman with long auburn hair and red earrings in a gray sweater, arms loosely crossed and a slight smile against the warm backdrop
Red earrings with a gray sweater

What to Wear for Headshots in Autumn and Winter

In the colder months, a coat often stays on, so it becomes the outfit. Usually, that is the coat you would wear to a meeting anyway. A long black coat with a paisley scarf, a shaggy beige coat with a mustard scarf: each gave a headshot its season.

Close headshot in autumn wear: a man with curly hair, a red paisley scarf and a black wool coat, a gabled house on the Reguliersgracht soft behind
Close winter headshot in cold-weather wear: a smiling woman in a shaggy coat and mustard scarf, glancing aside before red berries and tiny lights
A paisley scarf in October, a mustard scarf in winter
Author portrait in a camel coat against a dark brick wall, direct eye contact and a calm smile

A writer’s camel coat did the same against dark brick, in the calm portraits he needed for interviews and press. You can follow his whole walk in his author portraits along the canals.

Dressing for Your Work and the Place

Wear what fits your work on a good day, and I will pick a place that suits it. A lawyer in The Hague brought her gown and a teal suit with a black tie-neck blouse. Against a warm stone wall in the March sun, the suit glowed. Her lawyer portraits in The Hague began at the Paleis van Justitie.

Woman in a teal suit and black tie-neck blouse smiling against a warm, speckled stone wall in bright March sun
A teal suit against warm stone in The Hague, in March

For a branding shoot at a therapy practice in Leiden, two psychologists wore soft, easy clothes: a cream zip jacket, a tan polo, a black and white top. Their clothes match a calm room, and that is exactly what new clients should feel.

In the business district, a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves suited the glass towers of a new partner’s headshots in the Zuidas. That is the simplest answer to what to wear for headshots: the clothes of your best workday.

Woman with long dark hair and a fringe smiling in a black and white top against a pale wall, a headshot for the practice
Close headshot of a man with his hand at his chin and a confident look, the long glass front of an office building curving behind him
A therapy practice in Leiden, glass towers in the Zuidas

One Outfit or Two?

One outfit is enough, and two are plenty. As my FAQ explains, a second adds variety, while a third usually takes time we can better spend photographing. Changing is easy: a nearby café’s restroom, or outdoors when the outfit allows.

Walking toward the lens on a woodchip path between tall trees, a woman in a black button-front dress and white sneakers, sunlight on the undergrowth
Her second look: a black dress with white sneakers

In Rotterdam, the landscape architect changed from the white blouse and rust trousers into a black dress; that one change already gave her gallery two clearly different looks. On the Reguliersgracht, one long coat carried three looks, because only the scarf, the glasses and the cap changed.

What Will Your Headshots Be Used For?

Where the photo will live changes what matters most. For a team page, everyone’s own workday clothes are fine, as long as the backdrop and the light stay the same. On the office headshot day, one backdrop held a teal blazer, a plaid shirt and a floral shirt together.

Waist-up summer headshot in casual wear: a smiling woman with a tattoo sleeve, thumbs in the pockets of ripped jeans, ivy and a black iron fence behind

For the About page of a website, a relaxed look in your own style often works best. Would you like a broader set, with your work, your tools and your places? Then the Branding Photoshoot gives more room, as it did for the web designer above.

LinkedIn shows your profile photo as a small circle, so a solid color and a clear face count most there. Its help page explains how to add or change the photo.

Still wondering what to wear for headshots? Discover how my business photography in Amsterdam works, outfit suggestions included.