What colour should I wear for a headshot?

Solid, mid-to-dark colours: navy, charcoal, black, deep green, burgundy, or a soft colour that suits your skin. Avoid neon, which reflects onto your skin, and avoid matching the background exactly, which makes you blend into it.

Should I wear white in a headshot?

A white shirt under a jacket is a classic. On its own it works on grey, navy or office backgrounds, but on a white backdrop it can merge with the background.

Can I wear a pattern in a headshot?

Large, soft patterns can work. Small, tight ones such as houndstooth, fine checks and thin stripes are the ones to avoid: they pull the eye and can show a shimmering moiré effect when the photo is shrunk to a profile picture.

Can AI change my outfit in a headshot?

It can, at a small cost. In our test, all twelve outfit swaps left the face slightly less like the original selfie than the headshot was before the swap: a small, consistent drop, nowhere near looking like someone else. You also end up with a photo of yourself in clothes you don’t own.

DIY guide

What to Wear for Headshots

Wear solid, simple clothes in a colour a shade or two darker than your skin, with a neckline that frames your face: a blazer over a plain top, a collared shirt, or a fine-knit sweater. Below, the same two people in six outfits, so you can see what each does to the photo.

Updated 2026-10-19. Every person pictured is fictional, generated for our likeness test, and every headshot was made by the same retouching you get here.

The rule that covers most cases: solid colours, no logos, no tight patterns, and something you’d wear to meet a client.

Six outfits, same person (woman, mid 20s)

Navy blazer, white top — Fictional person. Each outfit is an edit of the same retouched headshot, so the face, light and crop stay constant.

White button-down — Fictional person. Each outfit is an edit of the same retouched headshot, so the face, light and crop stay constant.

Six outfits, same person (man, mid 20s)

What each outfit does

Six headshot outfits compared
Outfit	Verdict	Why
Navy blazer, white top	Verdict ·Works	Why ·The safe choice for business. Dark jacket, light layer at the neck: your face is the brightest thing in the frame.
White button-down	Verdict ·Works	Why ·Clean and works on any background except white, where it can merge with the backdrop.
Black crewneck	Verdict ·Works	Why ·Simple and modern. Black is strong contrast, so it suits deeper skin tones and darker backdrops especially well.
Small busy pattern	Verdict ·Avoid	Why ·Tight patterns like houndstooth pull the eye and can shimmer on screens when the photo is scaled down.
Neon green tee	Verdict ·Avoid	Why ·The first thing anyone sees. In real light, a saturated colour can also cast onto your chin and neck.
Graphic tee	Verdict ·Avoid	Why ·Lettering and prints compete with your face and date the photo.

The night-before checklist

Iron it or steam it. Wrinkles across the shoulders show more in a headshot than in a mirror.
Check the fit at the shoulders and neck: that’s all the camera sees.
Pick one neckline that frames your face: a crew, a shallow V or a collar. Avoid very low or very high.
Keep jewellery small: studs or small hoops, one necklace at most.
Glasses you wear every day: keep them on, so people recognise you. Clean the lenses.
Match it to where it’s going. Law, finance and medicine: a jacket. Tech and creative work: a sweater or a plain tee is fine. Acting: plain and fitted, and nothing that dates.

Changing your outfit with AI: what it costs

We tested whether an AI edit can change your clothes without changing your face. It can, but each swap costs a little likeness. Across all 12 outfit swaps, the face matched the original selfie at an average of 0.85 on our face check, against 0.89 for the same people’s headshots before the swap. The lowest single swap scored 0.84, still above our 0.60 bar. That’s one reason we keep your own clothes: every change to your photo is a chance to change your face, and some models we tested added blazers and glasses nobody asked for. How we measure likeness.

Questions

What colour should I wear for a headshot?: Solid, mid-to-dark colours: navy, charcoal, black, deep green, burgundy, or a soft colour that suits your skin. Avoid neon, which reflects onto your skin, and avoid matching the background exactly, which makes you blend into it.
Should I wear white in a headshot?: A white shirt under a jacket is a classic. On its own it works on grey, navy or office backgrounds, but on a white backdrop it can merge with the background.
Can I wear a pattern in a headshot?: Large, soft patterns can work. Small, tight ones such as houndstooth, fine checks and thin stripes are the ones to avoid: they pull the eye and can show a shimmering moiré effect when the photo is shrunk to a profile picture.
Can AI change my outfit in a headshot?: It can, at a small cost. In our test, all twelve outfit swaps left the face slightly less like the original selfie than the headshot was before the swap: a small, consistent drop, nowhere near looking like someone else. You also end up with a photo of yourself in clothes you don’t own.