A couple weeks ago a I attended a great zoom webinar from WIIM on how to bring your own personal style to zoom calls. Shout out to We Are Boosters co-founder Meredith for letting me know about this one! I came away with a lot of good tips to looking good on camera while maintaining my personal style, so thought I would share with a blog post of what I learned (plus it’s been a while since I wrote a fashion blog post)!
Photos by Jessie Wyman Photography
How to Bring Your Own Personal Style to Zoom Calls
The webinar was led by Allison Hamilton-Rohe, who specializes in helping people find their personal style. She brought so many good tips to the table, some I never would have known and others as great reminders.
Style vs Personal Style vs Professional Style
Allison gave us the low-down on the difference between style, personal style, and professional style. Style is what’s trending, what’s fashionable. Personal style is what makes you happy and what sets your wardrobe apart from others. Professional style is ideally a more polished, buttoned-up version of the above, which sometimes has certain dress codes to follow – though that’s gone out the window a bit since working from home.
How Do I Find My Personal Style?
One great tip I got from this is about finding your color palette. Choose 3-5 colors that you love, which also look good on you. Are you more into muted neutrals, or bold colors (like me)? One great way to tell what looks good on you is thinking back to certain compliments you receive consistently. For instance, I often get people saying that red or cobalt blue is my color when I wear them, or that green tops bring out my hazel eyes.
Here’s the pro tip: You know how Pantone puts out the color of the year each year? Well, brands will take that color and put it on most of their clothes that year. So what does that mean for you? If the Pantone color of the year happens to be one of the colors in your color palette, that’s a great year to invest in your wardrobe! You’ll have a ton of clothes, bags and shoes to choose from in your own personal style color.
What Colors Look Best On A Zoom Meeting?
Colors are a great way to make a statement, stand out, and connect on a zoom meeting. If your background is lighter, you can wear more bold colors, and if it’s a darker background you can wear more neutrals and pastels. In terms of personal style, though, the answer is really what makes you feel your best. Do you love bold prints? Then wear that! Are you feeling like rocking red today? Then do that!
How Can I Make Myself Look Better on Zoom?
Three tips on this:
- Good lighting – Invest in an affordable ring light on Amazon, or put your desk facing natural light if you can. Don’t have the windows behind you, or you’ll look super dark on camera. Allison actually had a pretty room divider up behind her on the zoom webinar because her windows have to be behind her desk. So there’s always a workaround!
- Angle of the Camera – Make sure it’s straight on & level with your face, not pointing up or down at you.
- Framing – Keep your head in the center of the frame, not too much space above or below your head.
How Should I Dress for Zoom Calls?
There are ways to show your personal style on zoom while staying professional yet comfortable. You can wear a nice top (Nordstrom and H&M have great ones), a headband, statement earrings, or a necklace. Even if they can’t see your pants, changing out of your pjs or loungewear is a great way to get yourself in a more productive mindset too. There’s a lot of science and research behind the habit of getting dressed and putting effort into how you present yourself.
Final Thoughts On How to Bring Your Own Personal Style to Zoom Meetings
Allison also brought up a good point about how presenting yourself well shows respect for those you’re meeting with. So even though we’re at home, it’s important to keep up with your hygiene, washing your hair regularly, etc.
I hope these tips helped you think about how to bring your own personal style to zoom calls!
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