Hi all, Personally, I like to look well-groomed (duh), but slightly different from everyone else they'll be hearing and seeing that day. I generally wear a light lilac short-sleeved turtle neck with a black wool skirt that's embroidered with beautiful pastel flowers in a wool yarn along with a few beads here and there to set things off. The skirt's also got a bit of a frayed edge at the bottom. Now comes the part that I've gotten different opinions on (never from judges or anything, but from classes): I personally like to wear black moderate-height sandles, making sure that my toes are nicely manicured and such. Of course, I live in LA so sandals are more acceptable year-round than in other parts of the country. There's one school of thought that says that your feet should look the best of everything you have showing because if you're auditioning on a stage and the judges are fairly close to that stage they're not going to want to be staring at your old, beat up shoes. There's another school that says to *never* wear sandles. I think it may be because not everyone will make sure they're feet are well-manicured, or maybe there's a stigmatism about sandles being too casual. And of course, the safe way would be to simply wear nice looking, plain pumps. I've gone both ways with the shoes (sandals or pumps), but it's usually been dictated to me by the weather at the time. Frankly I've never noticed the judges even looking at my feet, so I doubt it's as big a deal as people like to make it out to be.
Now, from the other side of things, as an auditioner, I didn't generally find what people were wearing to be a factor in whether or not I was considering them for a role. That is, unless what they were wearing was really distracting. I did notice during the day everything from practically formal wear from some people, to downright casual wear in jeans and a leather jacket. Interestingly, it was generally the men who were more casually dressed. The only thing I really remember as standing out was that several of the men happened to wear shirts that perfectly blended in color with the curtain they were standing in front of. But that was just a matter of coincidence. Nothing to be done there.
So, in conclusion (because I know this has been way too long): As long as you look clean, well-groomed, and nice I don't think that what you wear is really as big a deal as we're often led to believe. What matters the most is showing that you know your music thoroughly, that you know what you're singing about and that you'd be the best person for the role you're auditioning for.
Laura
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