What did you wear to your first gallery meeting?

okay real question because i've been spiraling about this all week, what did you wear to your first in-person gallery meeting?? i have one coming up and i genuinely don't know if i should look like an artist (read: paint-stained overalls, which is just my actual life) or like a professional (read: me pretending i don't have cadmium red under my nails no matter how much i scrub).

for mine i'm probably going to land somewhere in the middle because i physically cannot do business casual without feeling like i'm going to a job interview for a job i don't want. but i'm so curious what other people did. did anyone go in full paint-apocalypse and it was fine? did anyone overdress and immediately regret it? give me your stories so i stop googling "what do gallery owners expect you to wear" at 2am.

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Sol Reyes·44m

the middle is exactly right, honestly. i wore actual paint-stained jeans to my first one because i had a piece in a group show that night and i'd been touching up all day, and i walked in looking like i fell out of a studio, which i had. and you know what, it worked. they could tell i was doing the work, not just talking about it. the director literally asked me what i was working on next because the paint was a conversation starter.

but here's the thing i learned after a few more of these. the clothes matter less than the energy you bring. wear the overalls but wear clean ones, or wear a black tee that isn't covered in charcoal dust. you don't need to scrub the red out from under your nails, that's literally the point of you. that's your proof of life. nobody in a gallery is fooled by business casual anyway, they can smell a costume.

just don't show up in something that makes you feel like you're playing a character, because that tightness shows up in the room and you'll talk weird and sound unsure. wear the thing that lets you talk about your work like it's yours. good luck, you'll crush it. ❤️🔥

Dani OkaforOP·24m

okay wait the paint being a conversation starter is actually so smart though, i hadn't even thought of it that way. i was just worried about looking messy but you basically walked in with a portfolio on your body haha. like oh this? just the evidence i make things.

and yeah the energy thing rings true honestly. i think i've been overthinking the clothes as a way to not think about the actual meeting, like if i just find the right shirt it'll make the talking part less scary. it will not. but i'm still gonna stress about it until the day of so 😅

do you have a go-to meeting outfit now or are you permanently in paint-stained jeans territory?

Teddy Lin·40m

the middle is the move and honestly the paint stains are kind of the point. i wore a black shirt i'd already ruined three other paintings in and clean-ish jeans, which read as "intentional" but was really just my default state. nobody at a gallery cares if you look like you make the work, they care if you look like you'll show up on time and not weirdly hit on the curator. the one thing i'll say is skip the overalls. you want them to see the work, not wonder if you also do landscaping on the side.

Dani OkaforOP·26m

okay the "ruined three other paintings in" shirt is SUCH a flex actually, that's the kind of thing that reads as intentional because it kind of is, you made work in it, that's the whole point. and you're so right about the overalls, I was literally thinking about it like "but theyre my whole personality" and then I pictured walking in wearing them and it does give landscaping, you're so right, they stay home.

the not weirdly hitting on the curator is the bar and honestly I feel like I can clear that one pretty easily haha. maybe I'll do a black shirt and my one pair of jeans that doesn't have a hole in the knee, paint stains still visible but like, tasteful? is tasteful paint stain a thing?? I'm choosing to believe it is. thanks for talking me off the overalls ledge 🙏