1. watermark

    watermark Member

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    Tips on Dressing the character?

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by watermark, Jan 15, 2017.

    I'm not a good dresser. I don't care a lot about clothing beyond that it keeps me warm or that certain costumes are required for social functions. So it's hard for me to imagine what my characters, who lives in today's society, should be wearing. Any advice on how to dress characters?

    I was thinking of maybe flipping through some fashion magazines or sites, picking out outfits that I like, and just describe those. The other thing is that I'm sure certain there's specific terminology for some articles of clothing. Should I use them even if I (and maybe some readers) don't know what they are? Like say damask, polonaise, etc.?
     
  2. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    Are you writing in first or close third? If so, is the clothing important to your POV character? If not, skip it.

    If you're writing in omniscient, is the clothing important to the story you're trying to tell? Setting, characterization, etc.? If not, skip it.

    Readers will fill in a lot from their own imaginations - if details aren't important to your story, they aren't needed.
     
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  3. Asphyxiates

    Asphyxiates New Member

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    Describing the clothing your characters are wearing, is most likely only relevant if it is important to your story. Perhaps you can throw in vague descriptions to create a scene or setting, but more then likely you can make better use of your research time.
     
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  4. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Since it's today's society, you could get away with everyone in jeans, tee shirts, athletic shoes, and hoodies. If any of your characters dresses up more than that, yeah, fashion magazines might do you well.

    Or hey, you can always stop into the department store at the mall when they're not busy, tell the sales associate you're doing research for a novel, and get her to tell you all about it.
     
  5. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    It doesn't matter unless it matters.

    For example, if you find yourself thinking, "Hmm. Meg probably looks expensive and flawless. Amy probably feels outclassed. So what are they wearing?" then you might do the research. But if you don't wonder, odds are that your readers don't either.

    And even if you care some, you don't need a ton of detail.

    Elizabeth watched them converge in the lobby. Jane wore vintage Chanel. Meg wore today's Chanel. Amy wore Hanes--sweatpants and hoodie. Elizabeth glanced down at her own white Oxford shirt and jeans, and shrugged as she rose to approach them. At least Amy brought down the average.
     
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  6. KhalieLa

    KhalieLa It's not a lie, it's fiction. Contributor

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    Following up on @ChickenFreak "It doesn't matter unless it matters."

    He wore a dagger at his waist, though there was nothing of a warrior in his appearance, and he carried no other weapons save his blue eyes which Edda though could easily disarm a maid, if not a man.

    There is no mention of clothing in that description, yet it tells you a lot about both characters.
     
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  7. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Where cushions are comfy, and straps hold firm.
    I am going to go out on a limb and just assume that your characters aren't naked.
    Brand name merch covering them cannot be all that important to the overall story.
    Think of it in simplistic fashion. They get out of bed and get dressed. Now they have
    much more important things to do with their day.
    Clothes are only important if they wear a uniform, or something similar for work
    or whatever. And that can be summed up in a sentence or two, so they can get
    back to work.
     
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  8. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Clothing can be good for showing personal quirks and to give characters something to do with their hands. As in "He gulped and loosened the knot of his tie" and "The rip in her jeans exposed a good inch of her thigh, and she picked at the raw edge of it. Probably bought the pants with the holes in them, he thought."

    If someone is wounded it's more vivid to say "The blood spread across the front of his bright white shirt" than to make do with "He was bloody all over."

    And whether they notice other people's dress or not can tell the reader a lot about a POV character.

    But you'll notice that all these instances come in the course of the story, not as stand-alone, head-to-toe descriptions.
     
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  9. Seren

    Seren Writeaholic

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    I agree with everyone else here: the clothing doesn't matter until it matters. If you're asking us to help you describe casual clothing, what does that suggest? That you don't really notice what people wear in their day-to-day lives. That suggests that it's not that important - unless we're really into fashion, we all just throw on clothes and leave. A character's outfit does not need to be described from head to toe every day. Important items of clothing can be mentioned when they're needed, like wearing the boyfriend's hoodie the morning after their date, or wearing their favourite t-shirt for good luck, and all of the brilliant examples everyone else has given.

    Saying that, when the clothing does become important, the methods you've listed so far sound great. Looking on Google Images helps as well. For example, "cute winter outfits" turns up lots of pictures. Many of these pictures are made using a site called Polyvore, which I strongly recommend. You can create a free, online mood board of different clothing. I often use it for my main characters. While I rarely ever then refer back to what I've made in order to describe an outfit, it helps me to visualise the kind of things my characters wear for the moments when it does matter. Plus, it's another part of getting to know them.
     
  10. izzybot

    izzybot (unspecified) Contributor

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    I think @BayView's comment on perspective is the most important thing to note. If your POV character doesn't care about clothes that much, it's not going to matter. If you're writing in a more distant third, it still doesn't have to - in a present day setting, your readers are probably just going to fill in their own present day clothes. If that works for you, it works.

    I have a whole folder of things like this and this because I (quite frankly) know sweet fuck-all about clothes and what to call them, and assume many readers will have a higher level of knowledge about the subject that I do, and will get more of a visual out of "She wore a short knife-pleated skirt" than I would. That said, I'm not prone to extensive descriptions when they're not relevant.

    In an exercise short I wrote semi-recently, I mention the mc has a matching coat and boots to imply that she's usually pretty well put-together, and to contrast her current disarray - she's gotten muddy beating the tar out of someone, and when she realizes she might have actually killed him she's stunned and drops her nice coat in the mud. Then at the end of the short, she decides that cleaning her coat is more important than the dead guy, marking the change in her character. In this case mentioning her clothes is pertinent. If I'm writing a character who's infatuated with another, the latter might be lovingly described, including what they're wearing. But if I'm just dealing with regular characters interacting, their clothes don't really matter.

    So, again, I'd reiterate that if it's not important, it doesn't need to be. Clothing descriptions - descriptions in general - are a useful tool, but you don't have to use them.
     

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