Trendsetters teach us how to pose for show-stopping Tinder profile photos
There's only one thing standing between you and your next date: Your Tinder profile photo. Get it right, and you could find yourself in demand. But, get it wrong, and you could end up dateless.
Mashable asked some of the trendiest people at London Fashion Week how to pose for a Tinder profile photo. And, of course, they gave us some stellar advice on how to create a show-stopper.
Here's how it's done:
Be a bit mysterious
"Be a bit mysterious. That's a bit difficult on Tinder. You don't want to seem overly friendly, don't want to give out the wrong impression." -- Izzy Van Dyke and Christine Donahue, fashion students.
Be elegant
"It (this pose) was a bit elegant." -- Nikki, a specialist nurse.
Be super cool
"I want people to see me as I am -- super cool, super reachable." Amanda Michelena, fashion stylist.
Show your face
"Show your face. It's a profile picture after all." -- Jess Zheng, fashion student.
Don't take yourself too seriously
"I like to not take myself too seriously. That's who I am as a person. I like to have fun. I wouldn't want someone to think I'm a bit pretentious or posey." -- Jade-Marie Merchent, fashion designer.
Don't pose
"No respectable person poses for a Tinder profile photo. You have pictures taken of you and then you select them. I think my Bumble picture is me in Monaco in front of Casino Royale and I'm like: "What up?" with a Ferrari behind me." -- Delia Bennett, growth manager.
Be transparent in who you are
"You know what? I wanna be seen as someone who's fun but also I wanna be quite transparent in who I am. I don't want to come across as boring or not as interesting as I am." -- Chidera Eggerue, creative director.
Look sexy and sassy
"I think I look sexy and sassy." -- Imogen Hudson, blogger.
Something between a smile and a serious face
"It's really normal. I don't really smile in pictures. I try to do something in between a smile and a serious face, which is a good solution." -- Camilla Glorioso, photographer.
Pretend to be cool
"I was pretending to be cool. That's how I would want the world to see me." -- Elle Scholle, writer.
Be true to yourself
"I would pose more casually. I'd show my feminine side -- that's important. Be who I am, be true to myself." -- Scarlett Hao, fashion PR.
Pose naturally
"It's a natural pose." -- Kevina Marcelline, stylist.
Pose like a stylist
"It's the stylist's pose." -- Hilda Miller, stylist.
Do what comes naturally
"It's what came naturally to me." -- Ghanelle Edwards, marketing.
Find a happy middle-ground
"It's not too smiley. Not too serious. A happy middle-ground." -- Sasha Felix, PA.
Smile
"Because I'm a smiley person and I want to show my body in a nice way." -- Vanessa Hastings, photographer.
Embrace your inner awkwardness
"I just felt awkward and I look like that naturally." -- Sian O'Donnell, stylist. Go forth and pose!
Topics Tinder
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
