How-to · Lookbooks
A seasonal lookbook traditionally means a half-day shoot, a model day-rate, a stylist, and a location — $3,000–$15,000 minimum for a small DTC brand. This guide produces the same 20–30 image lookbook from a single set of garment photos using saved Explore creators and Image Creation, in one afternoon, for the cost of a Studio plan month. Output is brand-grade, license-clean, and exportable as a PDF lookbook.
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Lookbooks tell a story across pages — a season, a location, a mood. Decide that story up front: 'Spring city weekend', 'Bali resort capsule', 'Autumn studio editorial'. The narrative drives every creator and scene choice downstream. Skipping this step produces a stack of disconnected images, not a lookbook.
Open Explore and save 4–6 creators whose existing photo sets fit the lookbook's location and mood (urban / resort / studio editorial / outdoor). For a cohesive lookbook you want the saved creators to feel like they could have been shot on the same trip — overlapping aesthetics, not opposites.
Run each garment through 1–2 of the picked creators in Reference Photoshoots. The output is the 'editorial' hero for each piece — the image you'd open the page on in the printed lookbook. Aim for 5–10 hero generations covering every garment in the capsule.
For each garment, generate 1–2 supporting shots — different creator, different framing (full body / three-quarter / detail). These are the 'page two' images in a lookbook spread. Same garment, second creator's session, different scene context.
From White Studio, generate clean ghost-mannequin or on-mannequin packshots for each garment. These become the catalog index of the lookbook — usually the back pages with garment names, prices, and SKUs. Pure-white, Amazon-spec, no retouching.
Lookbooks are typically 4:5 or A4 portrait. Run each generated image through Image Creation and reshape to the layout's target ratio. Same generation, layout-correct framing — no awkward crops in InDesign later.
Drop the generated images into Figma / Canva / InDesign. Standard lookbook spread: 1 hero per garment + 1–2 supporting shots + 1 packshot in the catalog index. 8 garments × 4 images = 32-page lookbook in one afternoon. Export as PDF for B2B buyers, retail partners, and press kits.
Approximately 800–1,400 credits depending on the mix (Reference Photoshoots is heavier than White Studio + Image Creation). At 1 credit = $0.01 USD that's $8–$14 for a full lookbook — vs. $3,000–$15,000 for the equivalent traditional shoot. The Studio plan (14,000 credits / month) covers ~10 lookbooks per month, which is way past most DTC brands' actual cadence.
Apiway's outputs are designed for digital-first delivery (web, social, PDP) at standard image-export resolutions. For commercial print at A4 or larger trim, request the highest available export size and run a print test before committing to a print run — paper substrate and CMYK conversion behave differently than screen.
Yes — the creator marketplace's commercial license covers B2B distribution including retail line sheets, wholesale catalogs, and press kits. The garment imagery is yours; the creator imagery carries the documented license. Same legal posture as a self-shot lookbook with model-released talent.
