OOTD Sans Cliche: How to Make Original Styling Videos
Were you one of those kids who picked out the next day’s clothing the night before? Or did you assemble yourself 10 minutes before the bus left? Either way, as a YouTube creator, you have utter control over your online presentation of daily outfits. Read on for some advice relating to Outfit Of The Day videos, or OOTDvice.
Getting dressed before class or work in the morning can be enough of a challenge without considering lighting, title cards and key background music. Of course, you’re hopefully not filming these things in the crunch time before any actual obligations!
As with any video, it’s best to have a general outline of the piece’s purpose. Even if it’s just casual pajamas, figuring out a specific idea for the outfit to work around will help you stay focused. Whether it’s poolside coverups or preppy business, finding this idea will also help you market the video to different audiences. Such planning will also inform the title, thumbnail, and description, because “Garden Gal For Rainy Day” sounds less vague than “#OOTD,” leading to more clicks. With these themes, you can explain why you chose each piece or let the ‘fit speak for itself.
On that note, decide upon a relevant environment for the background of the video. A relatively clear background works best whether you’re indoors or out. This ensures that the clothing is the focus of the shot. Lighting and palettes overall are key in OOTD videos, since it doesn’t matter how neat the outfit is if the rest of the frame clashes. A little bit of color theory goes a long way in these cases, like matching warm-toned clothing with golden lighting.
For more public shoots, it’s also great if the background is relatively clear of other people! Nothing’s more mortifying than getting caught in the selfie by strangers. Shot lists are also really helpful in these videos: decide when to zoom in for details of the clothing or pull out for a focus on the body.
Practice before filming to find the best angles for the outfit, too, because the Canon might have different perspectives than your bedroom mirror. Make sure your filming partner understands your angles, too! If you’re filming alone, a tripod and viewfinder are perfectly handy.
With all this noted, let’s check out some high quality examples of styling videos from a couple of successful creators.
Jenn Im’s Back to College Video
Having recently launched her own fashion line, it’s no surprise that Jenn Im has mastered the style video. In this example, she prepares a week’s worth of outfits for the first few days back at college; these “back to school” videos are always fascinating when created by people far beyond their educational days, but that’s beside the point. Strutting around campus, she cleverly uses the scenic backdrop of UCLA for the video (go Bruins).
It’s also demarcated for college students by the more mature stylings and by her mentioning the logical restrictions of high school dress codes. In terms of production, Im has her typically slick editing with the relevant clothing item and brand displayed for their establishing shots, followed by variations between detail and body shots as her voiceover explains the rationale behind the ensemble. She interacts with the environment, and always has great angles whether she’s static or moving.
Christine’s Uniform series
In this series, Christine Mai Nguyen finds the balance between being fashionable and conscious by creating outfits of fair trade or “ethical” clothing.
Existing largely in response to the trends of hauls and fast fashion in lifestyle vlogging, she uses pieces over and over again — very easy to see from a quick scroll through the playlist of 80 videos. This is perhaps more Outfit of the Month rather than Day, since the goal of the series is to find comfortable, durable clothing that looks neat in many situations without becoming tiresome. She uses a neutral background in a designated filming space in her apartment, complementing the generally neutral tones of her outfits. Since the pieces are usually basic and thus easy to wear, it’s also simple for viewers to replicate their own conscious outfits. These videos have a more informal feel, since she talks directly to the camera rather than use voiceover, but that works dandy given the message of the series. For each piece, she explains why it works with the rest of the outfit and why it works in longevity.
What are you wearing?
These videos are all clear examples of content where the creator’s personality and vision shines through in their clothing and execution. As with any video, the most important thing is that you have fun making it! If your character is clear and present in the content, then your viewers will have more fun watching.
