A fashion portfolio website that books as well as it looks, and how to build it
On this page
- What a fashion website has to do
- The pages that earn their place
- Lookbooks, editorials and collections: the Portfolio app
- Images: the lookbook at full size, fast
- Services, rates and the booking path
- Every profile in one place
- Private previews and your own domain
- What changes with what you do
- Templates made for fashion
- The plan that fits
- Build it this afternoon
- Keep it current
A fashion portfolio website is a booking tool that happens to be beautiful. The editor commissioning a story, the brand booking a stylist for a campaign, the bride booking hair and makeup, the buyer looking at a collection: each opens the site to see the work large, check the credits, find the rates and get in touch, in about the time it takes to scroll one lookbook. This is the FolioPage guide for fashion designers and labels, stylists, makeup and hair artists, nail artists, costume designers, jewelry, shoe and accessories designers, textile and knitwear designers, tailors, bridal designers, fashion writers and vintage curators on what such a site has to do, how lookbooks and editorials work in the Portfolio app, credits, services and rates, the booking path, the templates built for it, the plan that fits, and how to have it live this afternoon.
What a fashion website has to do
The visitor's questions come fast: is this the look, who have they worked with, what do they charge, and are they available. The site's four jobs:
- Show the work large, as stories. A lookbook, an editorial, a campaign, a collection, a bridal party: each as a set with its own page, not as loose images in a feed.
- Credit everything. Photographer, publication, model, hair, makeup, styling, season. Credits are how the industry reads a portfolio and how the next booking finds you.
- State the services and the rates, or at least what is included and how a quote starts. A client who cannot find a rate assumes they cannot afford it.
- Land the booking. A form that reaches your inbox, an availability line, and your agency if you have one.
Underneath: the site has to load fast on a phone, because that is where a fashion portfolio is opened, usually from a story someone shared.
The pages that earn their place
| Page | The visitor's question | What goes on it |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Is this the look? | One full-bleed image or a grid of the best twelve, your name and what you do in a line, the way in to the work |
| Work, Looks or Collections | What have they done? | The portfolio index: every story, filterable by kind of work or season |
| A story page | Who made this, and where did it run? | The full set in a lightbox, the credits, the season, the next story |
| Services and Rates | What do they charge? | Services with what is included, rates or starting prices, how a booking starts |
| About | Who is this? | A portrait, four sentences, the clients and publications, where you are based, where you travel |
| Contact | How do I book? | A form, an address, the agency, availability and the cities you work in |
Designers and labels add a page per collection and, if they sell, a stockists page and a shop link. A stylist or an artist runs everything on one page with the stories behind it; the templates for this category come in both shapes, six one-page sites and three with several pages.
Lookbooks, editorials and collections: the Portfolio app
In the Portfolio app each story is an item: a cover, a gallery of every image in the set, a description, custom fields for the credits and the facts, and a category. Categories are the kinds of work a client books: Editorial, Campaign, Bridal, Runway, Personal; or the seasons, for a label. The index shows every story in one grid and filters by category without leaving the page; each story has its own page with the gallery opening full screen and links to the next and previous.
The credits live in custom fields - Photographer, Publication, Model, Hair, Makeup, Season - so every story is credited the same way, in the template's style, and a name that is also a link becomes a link. Featured stories get a flag and lead the index.
Thirty index layouts and twenty-four story layouts are available, including a lookbook index that runs the covers like a book and a plates layout that numbers them. The Free plan holds ten stories and three categories, Pro a hundred and fifty, Max as many as you have shot.
Images: the lookbook at full size, fast
Originals are kept and served for the full-size view; a WebP thumbnail is made for grids; everything is delivered from a global edge network, so a lookbook opens fast on a phone in a car on the way to a fitting. Image size goes to 2,000 pixels on the long edge on Free, 4,000 on Pro and 8,000 on Max, with uploads of 5, 20 and 50 MB; video files (MP4, WebM) upload on Max for runway and backstage. The Free plan's library holds 50 files and 100 MB, Pro 1,000 files and 2 GB, Max unlimited files and 10 GB.
Export at 2,000 to 2,500 pixels on the long edge for the web and keep the print files elsewhere. Gallery sections on any page - more than thirty, from a contact sheet to a scroll strip - open in a lightbox too, for the About page's backstage set or the homepage's twelve.
Services, rates and the booking path
The path from a story to a booking is three sections from the library, edited on the page:
- A services section with what you offer and what a day includes.
- A pricing section with rates or starting prices, and the terms that change them: travel, assistants, kit, usage.
- A contact form that lands in your inbox with spam protection, on the Pro and Max plans, 1,000 submissions a month on Pro and 5,000 on Max. On the Free plan the contact page carries an email address.
Labels and designers have their own sections: drops for a release calendar, sizing for a size guide, stockists for where the collection is sold, and press for the coverage. FolioPage has no checkout of its own; the shop lives where you sell, and a button or the Links page carries the link.
Every profile in one place
The Links app publishes a links page on your own address: Instagram, the agency page, the shop, the booking link, the press kit, in one column under your name, for the link in every bio. Five links on the Free plan, unlimited on Pro and Max. A stylist's or an artist's CV - the publications, the shows, the training - fits the Resume app, which publishes it as a page with a matching PDF for the agency that asks for one.
Private previews and your own domain
- A story before it runs. On Pro and Max a page can be password-protected and hidden from search engines, so an editorial under embargo or a collection before the show is seen by one editor or one buyer, with a link and a password.
- Your domain, your name. Pro and Max connect a domain you own and remove the FolioPage branding from the page; the design editor sets the fonts and the palette site-wide, so a site can be as spare or as loud as the work.
What changes with what you do
| If you are a | Lead with | Sort by | The section that matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion designer or label | The current collection, full width | Season | Collections, stockists, press |
| Stylist | Six editorials in a grid | Editorial, campaign, personal | Credits on every story |
| Makeup artist | Faces, close | Editorial, bridal, beauty | Services and rates, the form |
| Hair stylist | The work, then the chair | Editorial, bridal, salon | Rates and booking |
| Nail artist | The sets, in a grid | Style | The links page and booking |
| Costume designer | One production, in stills | Production | The story pages with credits |
| Streetwear label | The drop | Drop | Drops, sizing, the shop link |
| Jewelry or accessories designer | The piece, worn and alone | Collection | Collections and stockists |
| Textile or knitwear designer | The fabric, close | Collection | Galleries at full size, licensing |
| Fashion blogger | The latest story | Format | The Blog app on Max and the links page |
| Bespoke tailor | A finished suit and the workroom | Garment | Process, rates, the form |
| Bridal designer | One gown, full | Collection | Galleries, appointments via the form |
| Sustainable brand | The material and the maker | Collection | About, sourcing, stockists |
| Vintage curator | The current edit | Era | The links page and the shop |
Each of these deserves its own guide, and they will follow in the Guides section, one at a time.
Templates made for fashion
Nine FolioPage templates were built for this category, six one-page sites and three with several pages, all with the Portfolio app switched on and sample stories in place. Three of them show the range:
Preview any of them live on desktop and on a phone. The pace and the ground are what you are choosing; the stories will be yours within the day.
Fashion portfolio templates
The full set is on the Fashion templates page. Fashion photographers have their own guide on the photography page.
The plan that fits
- Free builds the site and shows it: ten stories, three categories, fifty files, a folio.page address. Enough for a first portfolio. No card, no time limit.
- Pro, $12 a month or $108 a year, is the working plan for a stylist, an artist or a small label: a hundred stories, a thousand files and 2 GB, images to 4,000 pixels, a domain you own, no branding, the booking form, and password-protected previews.
- Max, $24 a month or $216 a year, adds video for runway and backstage, 8,000-pixel images, 10 GB, unlimited stories, and the Blog app.
A label with film and a blogger go to Max; everyone else moves to Pro on the day the rates go on the page. The pricing page has the full comparison.
Build it this afternoon
The order that works, assuming the stories are exported and the credits are in a note.
Choose the stories and name the categories
Eight to twelve sets that show the work you want booked for, and three to five categories a client would say out loud.
Export the sets
2,000 to 2,500 pixels on the long edge, one folder per story, the credits ready to paste.
Pick a template by pace
Full-bleed or grid, light or dark, one page or several. Preview on a phone, then click Use this template and the site is built with your account.
Build the stories
Cover, the full set in order, a line about the story, the credits as fields, a category. Flag the best as featured.
Write services and rates
What you offer, what a day includes, the rate or the starting price, the terms.
Set up the links page and the form
Instagram, the agency, the shop, the booking link; then the form with three fields and your availability.
Check on a phone and publish
Open three stories on a phone, set the SEO titles, publish, and put the address in every bio and on the comp card.
The longer version, with the schedule by the hour, is the guide on how to build a portfolio website in a day.
Keep it current
- Add the story the week it runs, credits and all. A fashion portfolio is read by its dates.
- Update the rates each season and the availability line each month.
- Retire the oldest story when a new one is stronger. The index stays the size an editor will scroll.
Can I list my rates?
Yes. Add a services or a pricing section to any page and edit the items on the page; a button can point straight to the contact form.
Can visitors view images full screen?
Yes. Story pages and gallery sections open images in a lightbox at full size, and the full-size view serves the original file.
Can I credit the photographer, the model and the team on every story?
Yes. Custom fields on each story hold the credits - photographer, publication, model, hair, makeup, season - shown in the template's style, and a credit with a URL becomes a link.
I am a fashion photographer. Is this the right page?
Photographers of every kind have their own guide on the photography page, with the templates built around galleries and series.
Can I show a story before it is published?
On Pro and Max, yes: a password-protected page, hidden from search engines, sent to one editor or one buyer with a link and a password.
Put the lookbook where it can be booked from.
Pick a fashion template, build the stories with their credits, and publish on a free address this afternoon.
Start freeOther fields have their own page in the Made for section, and every general how-to lives in Guides.