I showed up to my first corporate gig in a rented tuxedo and immediately understood why the audience looked at me like I had arrived from another century. Here is what I learned about dressing for modern magic performance.
Read MoreThere is a razor-thin line between looking sharp and looking like you are trying too hard. I crossed that line multiple times before I understood where it was. Here is how I found the sweet spot.
Read MoreI once watched a magician perform incredible material while dressed like a character from a Western movie. The audience spent the entire show thinking about his outfit instead of his magic. That is the costume-as-distraction trap, and it is easier to fall into than you think.
Read MoreYour hands are the most closely watched part of your body during close-up magic. I learned this the hard way when a spectator commented on my cuticles instead of my finale. Here is why hand care is not vanity -- it is professional practice.
Read MoreI thought nobody looked at shoes. Then a client told me that the first thing she noticed about any professional was their footwear. It changed how I prepare for every performance.
Read MoreI wore my everyday glasses on stage for months before someone pointed out the obvious problem. The audience could not see my eyes. All they saw were two white rectangles of reflected light where my face should have been expressing connection and emotion.
Read MoreThere are small rules about how you dress for a performance that nobody teaches you explicitly. You learn them the hard way, or you learn them from someone who already made the mistakes. This is about the small rules I learned the hard way.
Read MoreYou do not need expensive equipment, elaborate staging, or a professional lighting rig to look like a professional. The highest-impact production value comes from two things you already own: your posture and your voice.
Read MoreThe difference between an amateur setup and a professional one is often not about the quality of the equipment. It is about whether the colors talk to each other. When your props, your clothes, and your performance surface tell a unified visual story, the audience trusts you before you do anything.
Read MoreThis is the final post in the Appearance and Presentation section. Everything I have written about clothing, glasses, posture, color, and grooming points to a single principle: how you present yourself is a statement about how much you value the people who showed up to watch you.
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