What you look like on a jumbotron

I'm always telling you to consider the context and the background of the setting you'll be speaking in (all black on Charlie Rose, bright sunlight at a state fair, etc) but sometimes it can be hard to picture what that will really be like.

Here's some video of Rep. Tammy Baldwin speaking at a black-tie dinner for the Human Rights Campaign. Or rather, video of video of her on large screens above the crowd. She wore purple:


You can barely see her standing on the stage, but you can certainly see her on the screens. Not only is the image large, it's repeated right next to itself. As much as I'm an advocate for prints, this would not be the right time! I think she chose well with a satin wrap around blouse with a subtle sheen.

The most pattern-y pattern of all?

Senator Hutchison spoke on the Senate floor last week in support of the Cornyn amendment. She wore a black jacket with a pattern:

As you may recall, we have seen this problem with patterns on television before. But this one is particularly dizzying. And if you're one of my readers who doesn't usually click the "play" button on these posts, let me clarify that this jacket is black. There are no colors in this pattern.

It's difficult to tell from this footage, but I suspect this effect is the result of not just pattern but also texture, which can also bend light in a way that is confusing to a camera lens.

Haley attacked by stripes

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley visited a Bosch facility in her state last week. She wore a striped blazer (sorry, the sound on this isn't great):


Oh my there is a lot going on with this jacket. We're not having our usual "patterns on television" problem, but it's making me dizzy just the same.
 

• The stripes are variable widths and have serrated edges, which makes the pattern much busier than a smooth edged, even width stripe would be.  The stripes on the sleeves are also not matched up with the stripes where it joins to the body, which is additionally jarring.

• The lapel features silver studs about the size of a nickel, adding an additional set of focal points.

• To this she further adds her usual jewelry: a cross and a US/SC flag pin.

All these details just completely take over. It's really hard to look at anything else.

Animal prints on television

We've talked about prints on television quite a lot, and it may seem sort of arbitrary what "works" and what ends up all wavy looking. But consider what happened when Rep. Barbara Lee made remarks last week on the House floor in honor of Black History Month.  Here she is on c-span:




And now here she is again, with video uploaded to YouTube:



A dramatic difference, isn't it?  As the video quality breaks down, so does the pattern on her jacket.  She looks great in HD, but not in you average web video.  Same camera, same footage, different results.

Patterns on television, busy background edition

Rep. Jan Schakowsky was on PBS NewsHour last week to discuss the budget deficit. She wore magenta plaid:

This bold plaid and oversize collar might be distracting no matter what was behind the Congresswoman. But the bright city lights in this background are particularly problematic in combination with this print. The only place we're not looking is her face, unfortunately.

Her best choice for this program might have been a light gray jacket paired with a magenta blouse under it.

The man with the tan

Even though we know that women in politics get more scrutiny of their looks, men are not exempt either. The man of the moment whose looks are being examined is House minority leader John Boehner. Even when the remarks are relatively positive, people just cannot stop talking about his tan. Often speculation about his skin color and its source are even more blatant.

Check out this montage of MSNBC coverage assembled by Politico:


His political opponents have even gone so far as to produce a widely-seen ad that sends the "founding fathers" to a tanning salon to look for him:


With all this discussion, I thought we should look at Boehner directly, in a CSPAN video of a recent speech in Ohio:

In this case, he doesn't look orange, which is the most frequent point of mockery. But his tan does bring his skin color really close to his hair color, and that low contrast is only emphasized by the high contrast between his black suit and white shirt and light tie.

Whenever you're doing makeup for television, you should remember that camera-ready products have a yellow base, because the camera reads skin tone in shades of red and blue. Self tanner, like some foundations, has a red base, so the camera reads the skin tone even redder, or essentially as orange. Self tanner works by creating a chemical reaction with the dead skin cells in the top layer of your skin. This is why you're warned to exfoliate first and avoid heels and elbows, which have thicker layers of dead cells - they would have more interaction with the tanning chemicals and come out darker. So self tanner is acting like makeup, creating a layer of color on top of the skin.

Tanning: Just don't do it.

Blanche Lincoln returns to the field

Senator Blanche Lincoln released another television ad shot in an Arkansas field, with a critical difference from the last one:

This time, we can't see her bra. Maybe she wore a nude color bra, as we suggested. Maybe this shirt is more opaque.  Maybe there was just more cloud cover the day they were shooting. Whatever the reason, we're no longer distracted by her underpinnings.

This ad isn't perfect either. The Senator would have benefited from a last minute check before the cameras started rolling, to smooth out her shirt in the front. I would have also recommended a makeup artist to apply some natural looking color to her lips and cheeks, and to do some additional grooming on her brows.

But at least this time we're listening to her words and not her wardrobe!

Catch a wave

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake released a PSA for her city's annual Back to School Rally. This being summer, she wore seersucker:

The mayor isn't moving, but her jacket sure is - the stripes are waving back at us from the screen. Friendly, perhaps, but also super distracting.

If you're devoting the time and resources to sit down and record a video message this carefully, do some test shots with your clothes and hair before you commit to the final cut.

Patterns on television, part 5

Rep. Candace Miller gives us a new twist on the patterns on television problem: a pattern that looks distorted, but isn't. This is what it looks like:

I'm willing to consider that this pattern might look better in person. But on television, these sharply contrasting colors mixed in an irregular way have become really distracting. The problem is not just the colors themselves, but the fact that this type of pattern makes us wonder, "Is it supposed to be like that? Or is it distorted?"

Patterns on television, part 4

By now you know not to wear houndstooth or chevron stripes on television, right? Right? Well if you're still not convinced, have a look at Rep. Chellie Pingree on MSNBC:

I have to say that I wouldn't recommend this jacket for the Congresswoman on any day, let alone a television day. The texture is rough and the contrast is too sharp for her. But on camera? My, look how the stripes dance.

Just don't do it.

Underpinnings are everything

Blanche Lincoln is entering the last week of her primary campaign for re-election to the Senate, with a final television ad that places her in the Arkansas sunshine:

The thing about sunshine is that it shows everything to the camera. Including, potentially, your underwear. You might know (I hope you do) that the best color bra to wear under a white shirt isn't white, it's nude. What you may not know is that in sunlight, that rule goes for all pastels, not just white. Unfortunately, the Senator didn't. We can see a modest but distinct outline of her undergarment through her pale pink shirt.

Why does a nude color bra work better? Because the white bra is brighter than your skin - it reflects more light through the shirt back at the viewer than your skin does. When the bra matches your skin tone, the amount of light coming back through your shirt is even, and the shirt looks like a solid color. If you find that you have trouble matching your undergarments to your skin color, MySkins offers bras and panties in 20 "nude" shades so you can find the one that works for you. They'll even send a color matching card to you in the mail for free, so you get the right color without guessing.

Carly Fiorina goes soft around the edges

Carly Fiorina recently posted a new campaign video that shows her with a significantly different look than she has shown at rallies in the past:

The soft shapes of the sweater tied around her shoulders, the gentle contrast of brown to peach, even the blending of the colors in her clothes with the chair and the flowers next to her. This is not the Carly we have seen before, in sharp monochromatic color palettes and bold contrast from her surroundings. In fact, it reminds me of Michele Bachmann's Glinda the Good Witch appearance on Larry King a few months ago. If she's going for a softer look, she got it. But I wonder if anyone will buy it? Carly Fiorina is known for nothing if not being as tough as nails. And the floral bouquet is pretty over the top. What do you think?

Outside, hairspray is your friend

Natural light makes us all look great, doesn't it? But when we venture outside for a chance at the sunlight, we also have some risks to contend with. One of those risks is wind. Michele Bachmann learned that the hard way in her National Day of Prayer message:

Rep. Bachmann's usual flip hairstyle certainly already involves some styling products to create. But this is one of those times when she should have made sure she had a last minute check on her look. A little hairspray applied at the part would have done the trick.

Patterns on television, part 3

Secretary Clinton ran in to some problems with the weave pattern of the jacket she wore for her Mother's Day address to State Department employees. She looks all wavy:


You may have noticed, though, that this is the same jacket she wore for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference press conference last week, with the collar unbuttoned:


She doesn't look all wavy here. Same jacket, so what's the difference?  The distance of the camera.  When the camera was close to her for her recorded Mother's Day message, it was able to pick up individual lines in the weave of the fabric, but not so finely that they don't run together as she moves.  For the press conference, the camera was further away, and even zoomed in to put her at approximately the same size in the frame, it doesn't pick up each of those individual lines - they blend together into a more uniform shade of gray.

I still wouldn't say you can wear a glen plaid with the cameras at the back of the room, but it does give you a little more flexibility.

Patterns on television, part 2

We already talked about the many ways in which patterns can be dangerous on television. But there are some patterns that do work. Have a look at Kay Hagan on the Senate floor last week:


This textural pattern works out just fine on camera. What I really like about this jacket is the fit. It stays close to her body without being form fitting, and the shoulders aren't too wide. The contrast seams on the torso also add subtle dimension while directing not-so-subtle attention up to her face. There's so much going on in the jacket, she smartly sticks to a very plain white shell underneath. Nice outfit, Senator Hagan.

Camera readiness: Know your venue

Media appearances are part and parcel of political life, and each appearance takes on perhaps even more importance for candidates for office. To be sure, there is only so much you can prepare for before an interview, both in terms of your look and your words.

But you can think about where you will be, and how you will look in that space. If you're going on the Rachel Maddow Show, you know that you'll be behind a desk, but a clear desk. Pants and skirts matter.  Maddow herself often wears jeans under that same desk, in a cultivated look of defiance.

Similarly, if you're being interviewed by Roll Call for the "Conversation With..." candidates video series, you know you'll be in front of a solid black curtain. You know what you shouldn't wear in front of a solid black curtain? Solid black.  Not one but two recent subjects didn't get that particular preparation note.

First was Suzan DelBene, running for the House seat in Washington's 8th District:



Not only is she wearing a black jacket, she has it zipped up so high, we can't see any color from the top she's (hopefully) wearing underneath. Lowering the zipper could have been a quick fix here. Again, assuming there's something appropriate under there!

Next was Jennifer Brunner, who is running for Senate in Ohio:



Her yellow top definitely helps break up the black, but she still starts to fade into the curtain behind her. This is another case where a great scarf could have saved the day, like this one from Isabel Marant, which also carries a Democrat-themed message. Well, maybe don't put the part about the shoes in front...

Grayson and Bachmann on Larry King Live: Applegate and Glinda debate healthcare?

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I am prone to neither hyperbole or sarcasm in this forum.

However.

Did you see Larry King Live last week, when Reps. Michele Bachmann and Alan Grayson discussed the health care debate? Watch:

Maybe they don't remind you of anything. But I used to be a theatrical costume designer, and I was struck by two very strong visual references for these two characters. Congressman Grayson's black, shiny pinstripe suit, white shirt, bright red tie and

red pocket square folded into points reminded me so strongly of Mr. Applegate from Damn Yankees, I actually had to double check the YouTube address and make sure this clip wasn't some kind of parody. If you're not familiar with the musical, Mr. Applegate is the devil in a sharp suit.

And once my mind went there, well, all hope for serious thought was lost. All I

could think of when I saw Congresswoman Bachmann's soft pink sweater, pearls and flip hairdo was Glinda, the Good Witch of the North from the Wizard of Oz.

Please understand that this is not a political commentary at all, but hopefully a bit of a cautionary tale. Sometimes our clothes can make references, connections or images that we don't intend and might not even be familiar with. Either of these outfits might not have been terribly remarkable on their own, but when juxtaposed next to each other in the classic Larry King split screen, a story was born.

Be careful out there, folks.

Wearing patterns on television: Beware!

There are a lot of "rules" out there about what you should and shouldn't wear on television. In general, I don't like lists of rules. They rarely account for the individual, and everyone's look, style, and strengths are different.

BUT

You do have to be very careful about patterns, no matter who you are. This is not a question of whether something looks good on you (as we saw with Mary Landrieu's flowered scarf). Some patterns actually interact with the pixelization of your image as you move and create weird colors. For this reason, there are certain patterns you should avoid ever wearing on television:

Glen plaid

Houndstooth

Chevron stripes, as Linda Murkowski did on the Senate floor recently:

Maybe eventually HD television will allow these patterns to re-enter our television appearance wardrobe, but for now, restrict them to office-only days!

(Glen plaid image by Kaushik Gopal, houndstooth image by Magnus Overengen)

Loretta Sanchez on flu prevention

Representative Loretta Sanchez filmed a public service announcement on flu prevention for the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. She wore cream:

Shades of white are not usually recommended for television, and this clip show us why. Her jacket seems to glow a bit, appearing much brighter than her skin or her face. It also pops out the highlight color of her eyeshadow in a way that isn't intended. See how we end up looking above her eyes instead of at them? She would also benefit from some brow filler and less activity with the tweezers. A more even shape to her brows would bring our focus back to her eyes.