Dressing for TV: Bright colors and no armpits

Just in time for the live-camera debates, The Hill staff gets and gives advice for dressing for the camera. An excerpt:

The key, says Megyn Kelly, co-anchor of Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom,” is bright colors. She and other Fox correspondents have a style department that oversees their ensembles. “I was a corporate lawyer and my entire wardrobe was black, brown, navy and gray,” Kelly recalls. That might be acceptable in a courtroom, she says, but for TV, “it’s dull and not interesting to look at.”

Now her wardrobe is bursting with “reds, yellows, purples, pinks and oranges.”

As A.B. Stoddard, The Hill’s own TV personality, notes, “Turquoise, purple, red and orange may have gone out of fashion 15 years ago, but they are still the most flattering on television. Banana Republic Beige and chalk-gray are hip but can add several years or make you look nauseous.”

Men have to get it right, too. They “can’t wear a suit that’s purple,” Kelly says, but a purple necktie or one with patterns is good. A blue shirt looks exceptionally good on TV — Bill Hemmer, Kelly’s co-anchor, “has about 30 different shades of blue for ties and they all look great,” she says.

... You can go too far, though. On last Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” Richard Perle, former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, wore a blinding orange tie with a matching leather watchstrap. Didn’t work.

Too shiny is also a no-no. “On women a silk blouse does not usually work,” Kelly says.

And forget about going sleeveless. “I object to seeing any armpits on air. I don’t need to see that.” Who does?

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