But the biggest challenge can sometimes be simply making something look futuristic or historic fantasy-ish, which is the main focus of this guide. Characters wear more than just clothes. Odds are, youve got a character who dresses to stay alive. The changes and improvements made by technology will often create new trends or alter old ones to the point you may as well consider them a new one, so depending on the technology available in your fictional universe you may wish to create a completely new trend. Whereas a more confident or attention seeking person might seek out the edges of what's socially acceptable more or just wear more stylish and potentially more colorful or flamboyant clothing. One easy way of creating a more customized look is to simply use cultural elements in the standard clothing. Finally there's all the little things that can make an outfit look more futuristic. Our wardrobes are influenced by our age, geography, culture, hobbies, and a million other aspects of our worlds. A coat of mail was a complex web of metal rings, each locked with an iron rivet. Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. There is simply more characterization, not only of Gem but the other characters, too. And if you were skilled at surviving and killing, it was a good way to make a living. Okay, maybe not.Secrets in real life can be a little trickywe all have thembut they have a way of blowing up in our faces, depending on how big they are.Your characters are really no different. A velvet scrunchie. Leonidas in 300, for instance, almost certainly wore a helmet in the battle with the Persians! The eye slits were narrow to prevent all sizes of arrowheads from finding their way through. Its hard to really appreciate just how sickeningly awful medieval warfare would have been. Or is it really important for a reader to know the specific pattern? By playing around with this you quickly create very subtle, but more unique fantasy-themed items. If youre trying to learn how to describe clothing in writing, youre probably like me: Youve only pretended to know what organza is. "A dress" (or using "the" to refer to a particular "garment") means an item of clothing that is normally worn by women. Fashion trends come and go and they often return later, albeit in a slightly different form. Another benefit to chain mail, a point which can slip the mind of writers, is that it was cheap and efficient, able to accommodate different-sized warriors, unlike expensive plated armor. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Lets take a look at how clothing description indicates your characters identity, goals, and culture. - Diagonal lines: Diagonal lines aren't all that common in historic clothing and they usually only came in the form of neck lines, the edges of unbuttoned jackets or from large pieces of fabric being held up (think ancient Rome). I dont mean camisoles and cardigans. Some wore a trapper a covering of full chain mailand down the line, some horses even had their own plated armor. At the end of the day, they were professional slayers, swords for hire. Continued successes could see knights rise higher up the ranks. Ive always wondered that too! We even have the technology to create clothing without seems. Another similar and perhaps way more popular example of this is Steampunk. is because we get stuck on what things look like. Clothes can betray our greatest joys and our deepest insecurities. So as a way of trying to control them and their behaviour, the code of chivalry and honour was introduced. Get free books, an invite to my exclusive writing group, writing tools and guides and much more when you join my community. - Break up clothing into more separate pieces and give them their own styles. )Secrets might not be something youve specifically thought about when youre drafting a story. That was the theory. This is less important for non-visual arts as clothing isn't always described in writing, but it can still be incredibly helpful to have a fully detailed character in your head or written down somewhere for reference and just to make everything feel more real and alive. Get an image of a blank shirt and simply draw the lines on it, it'll form a great base to work with. The landladys dress highlights, by contrast, the downward spiral of Katerinas fortunes, and she responds to the landladys prideful clothing with her own wounded pride: Look at her, shes making round eyes, she feels that we are talking about her and cant understand. These are deep questions. The surrounding culture dictates what they cant wear if they want to be seen as free-thinking individuals. Stylish: Elegant and sophisticated clothing to grab attention. True, it all depends on your purpose. A self-conscious kid tries to disappear inside their oversized sweatshirt. ), Your character and communitys financial resources. How to Give Your Characters Style: Describing Clothing in Writing Written by MasterClass Last updated: Aug 19, 2021 3 min read Creating vivid descriptions for a story or character is a mark of a great writer. Which of these clothing types is your character most likely to reach for when starting their day? Much of the clothing we wear today were either rare or completely nonexistent a hundred years ago. The pieces around the vital organsthe chest and headwere thicker and heavier than those on the arms and legs to try and reduce weight as much as possible. What also worries me is that in Chapter 3 I used a lot of descriptions of the house, like the main characters room and then I had him go to various other rooms, looked at pictures of his family he has yet to meet so chapter 3 had the least story development or social scenes but the ones it had were good ones and I ended it with a scene that creates more development and story hype. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts (Hopefully, I dont really know your life, so maybe not. Allrightsreserved, create an authentic sense of time and place, Use fashion and clothing history archives, https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e7bbcc198c936bc1af3fbda128514c44fcfc10f0513ea31cad7c21ae61ba0ab0.jpg, 1: Use clothing to show status and position, 2: Build (or thwart) expectations using clothing descriptions, 3: Describe clothing to contrastcharacters personalities, 4: Show clothing to avoid over-relying on telling, 5: Change characters clothing to highlight character development, 6: Use clothing details to recreate authentic setting, Build (or thwart) expectations using clothing descriptions, Describe clothing to contrast character personalities, Show clothing to avoid over-relying on telling, Change clothing to highlight character development, Use clothing details to create authentic setting. Designing fantasy armor for your characters can be an awful lot of fun. Think the previously mentioned Fifth Element and Hunger Games clothing versus Star Trek, Star Wars and so on clothing. Which brings me to my next point. Adding them with intention can help increase tension, make twists hit that much harder, and keep your reader engaged., How to Describe Clothing in Writing Without Boring Everybody, Tertiary Characters: Giving Your Background Players Life, Sidekicks: The Loyal Companion Your Hero Needs. In pre-thermometer times this was difficult as you can imagine, so instead, armorers observed the colour of the heated steel. Whenever other races or species are involved, like elves and trolls, it's often best to give them clothing that differs from whatever humans (and other races) wear, even if those differences are subtle. However, you can tell your reader interesting things through a mismatch: A wealthy character might show off their expensive clothing. Help your readers feel the relaxed, organic cotton or the memory foam slipper, and theyll feel your characters priorities deep in their own souls. Conveniently, a lot of high status positions come with outfits or accessories that telegraph a persons position in the hierarchy. My story feels like its set more in medieval times, but I don't want my characters running around in full out tunics and. It gives you an idea of the capabilities that armor can have. Baggy jeans. A person who doesn't want to draw attention to themselves would dress completely differently today than they would even a few decades ago. Great article. The last minute change suggests an indecisive nature. To navigate your way through this guide, just click the links below. William the Conquerors society was shaped with war in mind. This is a fun one. A warrior had to fight the enemy, and to fight his armor as well would be too distracting. This one is simple, right? Obviously clothing is extremely varied, especially dresses. In fact, you should be putting lots of thought and development into protagonists because thats who the story is about.But how much thought have you given to your tertiary characters? It's something we have today as well, but they're oddly uncommon and work great for more futuristic looks. Adding these other bits of lesser-known fantasy armor to your stories can really add extra depth to your worldbuilding. Meanwhile, the character who works two jobs while going to school full-time might scour the Goodwill rack for a designer tag to help them fit in at the same party. I love to wear baggy trousers in summer. Leather could be stitched into coats, or added to mail to provide added protection. So below, well take a look at the relationship between the genre of fantasy and medieval armor. This is mostly something to keep in mind when designing for characters living in the future, but it could work for alternative historic universes as well. Since it's a friends' get-together, let's wear casual attire. Improve this answer. For example, think about a wealthy person and how that person might dress. The same goes for other types of technology that could realistically be incorporated into the design of your character's clothing. Press J to jump to the feed. PsstDoes Your Character Have a Secret? I didnt even know how to begin describing this piece of clothing. If a knight fell from a horse, he could quite easily pick himself up, not stuck on the ground like a tortoise knocked on its shell. (Has denim been invented yet? Showing what your characters are wearing can be a great way to show your readers what they might be up to that day without having to actually narrate anything. With historical fiction one interesting aspect is to bring back the reader to that time period. - "Digital look". So have fun with that. But status can be communicated in more subtle ways, too. One character might demonstrate their power by showing up to prom in a designer gown. Clean, powerful strikes were needed to disable a foe wearing mail. Richard the Lionheart, for instance, was celebrated amongst his peers for his ability to chop his enemys skulls down to the teeth. Maybe theyre wearing an article of clothing that once belonged to someone theyve lost. The bully Gradgrind is the type whod wear a waistcoat concealing an eyeglass for catching people out. - As far as colors go they often seem to be either toned down or bright and happy (or even over the top), depending on the style. See how Dickens contrasts the fact-obsessed, overbearingteacher Thomas Gradgrind and his wifes personalities through (among other details) their clothing description. Maybe a bracelet represents a character's relationship to her mother. You may have imagined a man in an expensive suit or a woman in designer clothes. Follow edited Jun 17, 2020 at 9:43. One reason clothing descriptions can start to feel like a tedious laundry list (see what I did there?) The only cloak in the world made with silk spun by the cat-sized spiders that live in the forbidden mountains. If you look at popular works of fiction you'll find two trends, one is the simplistic and often tight-fit look and the other is the more over the top and extravagant look. and our Sure, it helps your reader to know how you picture a character. For fantasy stories to be more believable, we need to understand how it interacts with our characters, especially if theyre enchanted. Im writing a little in the Epic Fantasy genre and there were quite a few useful notes I wasnt aware of here. First and foremost we need to know who we're designing for. Another quick way of making standard clothing fantasy themed is by converting clothes form the relative future to one that could be created in whichever time period your universe falls under. Which was, indeed, a little weird straight off! Similar to how pixelated designs tend to look more futuristic so do designs full of geometrical shapes. These images all go a lot further than white socks, green dress, and most of them dont require a lot of extra words. 28 First of all, beautiful dress and mask! How do they change, and how does their clothing reflect that change? In one single piece of clothing description (a pink-eyed bundle of shawls), Dickens conveys how timid and ailing Mrs. Gradgrind is in contrast to her bullish, overbearing husband. Either way, their goal is to be desirable, whatever desirable means in this situation. Ready to sketch vivid characters for your novel? As a friend told me, Wear jeans and glasses and have a favorite pen. Clothes can betray our greatest joys and our deepest insecurities. Get it right, and you transport your readers to a vivid world. This article has compiled 100 different words you can use to describe clothes, and below the main list of 100 words we've explained our reasoning for a lot of the top picks from that very list, for your personal enjoyment. How to describe clothing: 6 simple tips Use clothing to show status and position Build (or thwart) expectations using clothing descriptions Describe clothing to contrast character personalities Show clothing to avoid over-relying on telling Change clothing to highlight character development Use clothing details to create authentic setting Chest plates had grand etchings. But Ive also noticed that artful clothing description does make a character, a setting, and even a moment more engaging. They give you the chance to offer comic relief, a dash of wisdom, and just some good old fashioned friendship., Sidekick characters.
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