Ask A.K. #1
How do you characterize a character by the clothes they wear?
Photo by Charlota Blunarova on Unsplash
Over the past several years, I’ve received a mountain of writing-related questions on my personal blog. Because I love connecting with other writers almost as much as I love to hear myself talk, sometimes my answers to them run long - like, “over a thousand words” long. This year, I realized two things. One, it was a lot of writing just sitting around. And two, if that social media platform ever went down, it would all be lost. I decided to sort through them, polish the longer ones up, and publish them on this site to give them a more professional home. This first one marries writing with my other mad love - clothes - and explores one of my favorite ways to develop a character.
How would one go about figuring out fashion and style for their characters? I’ve noticed your characters always have a Look™, and I’ve gathered that you’ve got an eye for aesthetics. Could you give me advice about at least where to start? I’m completely unaware of fashion and, frankly, completely overwhelmed at the prospect of just starting.
Also, do you have fashion advice for a sleek/distant female character’s clothing that doesn’t hinge on formal dresses?
Unfortunately, since you’re anonymous, I don’t know enough about your character to suggest anything specific. Instead, I want to take a step back and see if we can solve the root of the problem - “Where do I start?”
When I was a teenager, an English teacher told me this: “The biggest constraint in writing is no constraint at all.” When you have the whole spectrum of something - in this case, clothes - to pick from, it is overwhelming. The natural human instinct is to freeze up. So while it may sound strange, if you’re just now starting to explore fashion as a method of characterization, you might feel better if you have some constraints to work within.
With that in mind, you can treat finding a “signature look” for your character like solving a murder mystery. You eliminate all the suspects that don’t fit until you know enough to narrow it down to the one that does. That’s going to involve something else you’ll recognize from murder mysteries: you’ll have to interrogate the character. Open them up and get to know them - their background, their likes and dislikes, their quirks, the role they play in the world around them. Every answer will give you clues and weed other things out, and eventually, you’ll get a box small enough that you feel comfortable working in it.
Now, I love fashion, and I love using clothes as a form of environmental storytelling to telegraph a character’s personality. So as someone who’s had that interest for my whole life, I work from the other end. The constraints happen, in large part, without me thinking about them. I tend to zoom right to a certain aesthetic or item of clothing, say, “Okay, what outfit can I build with this,” and go from there. But since you’ve said you’re “unaware” of fashion and it intimidates you, I’ll try to ease you in through a different route and see whether that helps.
So, if we’re going to pick your character apart, let’s think about some practical questions first:
What setting does your character live in?
If you’ve narrowed your setting down to a historical decade, you’ll find most of the style questions already - firmly! - answered for you. For example, a Victorian woman would, by default, wear skirts. If the character is contemporary, you’ve got a lot more wiggle room. If you want to mess with historical fashion rules for symbolic or story purposes, awesome, but I think that’s probably more advanced than you’re looking for right now.
If the setting is fantasy or sci-fi, what is its dominant aesthetic? Is it cyberpunk? Sleek Apple-esque sci-fi? Or is it more like Star Wars? Is it medieval fantasy? Woodsy faerie fantasy? JRPG-style fantasy?
What does your character do?
Speaks for itself. What’s their job?
What is your character like, just in general?
This is where everything you know about their personality goes. If they’re a fussy courtier who’s worried about their reputation and appearance, they’re probably not going to be comfortable in plain, casual clothes.
What can your character afford to wear?
Again, speaks for itself. Do they buy designer brands? Are they trying their best with what they have? Or are they super strapped for cash and just have to get the job done?
Does your character’s social scene have an easily-identifiable aesthetic that you could work with?
Does your character wear urban/street fashion or preppy rich-kid clothes? Are they part of a subculture that dresses in a very specific way, like Teddy boys? Do they have the desire or freedom to go all-in with that style, or do they have to play it down, like being corporate goth?
Does your character need to wear something they could travel, do hard work, or fight in?
Goes with the job question above. Do they need some kind of outerwear or accessory where they can hide weapons? Do they always need to be ready, or is it situational?
Basically, where does the character’s aesthetic need to sit on a chart of form vs. function?
What do other characters who are similar to your character wear?
Look at your favorite movies, games, and TV shows and see what professional designers are doing with characters like yours. What colors and cuts are they using? What other elements do they choose? Do you like them? If you don’t like them, what would you change? Sometimes you can learn more from what you hate than what you love.
Hopefully, you’ve already culled a huge swath of fashion ideas that you Know You’re Not Going To Do. You may still not know what you do want to do, either! That’s fine. Let’s move onto some more artsy questions:
Are there any colors that your character would either prefer or avoid?
It sounds silly. It’s not. A limited color palette will go a long way toward making a character’s outfits look unified and purposeful. Obviously, in real life, most people don’t restrict themselves as much as fictional characters do. But if you were a costume designer, you’d want to have some guideposts to work with.
Are there any motifs you associate with your character?
Animals, elements, religious or cultural symbols, plants - you can sneak all these into their clothes’ details. Maybe their dress has beading in the shape of a peacock, or rose earrings, or icy sparkles, or a bear pelt for a cloak.
Have fun with symbolism! Moon motifs for mysteriousness, poisonous flowers, et cetera. Let your inner lit major out.
Do you want your character to have a certain visual silhouette?
This may seem odd if you’re just going to be writing your character and not drawing them, but think about it anyway. Do you want to emphasize that your character is tall? Is everything they wear skintight? Do they have a large, unique hat?
A great example of this is Maleficent. Not only does she have a horn-shaped headdress, her huge, flowing robe tells us there’s a much bigger power in her than her thin body would suggest.
Is there a certain ethos you want your character’s clothes to project? What, in their world, would do that? What in our world would do that?
Let’s say you want your character to look very powerful, to the point where people would find their looks alone intimidating. Should they wear sharp, simple, severe clothes, maybe in dark colors? Or should they wear very embellished clothes, like royalty? What are your setting’s ideas about beauty? Modesty? Does your character play by the rules, or do you want them to stand out?
What colors, shapes, and styles appeal to you personally?
For all the time I’ve spent talking about restrictions and guidelines, it’s important not to lose the fun of it, either. Use your favorite color! Give them clothes you’d want to wear in real life! Character style is a playground where you can let wish fulfillment run wild.
At any time, feel free to turn to Google or Wikipedia if you’re not sure how to answer one of these questions. If you see an interesting idea, pick it up and follow it - what you’re doing here is training your eye, and that’s how you’ll learn. That said, if you’re already intimidated, I wouldn’t dive too deep into couture/aesthetic blogs until I had a more solid grip on how I wanted the character to look. It comes back to what I said earlier - there is such a thing as too much to choose from, especially when you’re not sure what you should be looking for yet.
There’s one other thing I want to mention that can help bring a character’s wardrobe together: repetition. If you’re planning several outfits for a character instead of just one, echo some of the motifs, shapes, or colors from one to the next. They don’t all have to be identical takes on the same thing, but if they have certain traits in common, they’ll feel less like separate outfits and more like a matched set. They could all be in members of the same color family or have similar patterns on them. Maybe your character has a certain accessory that they wear with everything. You get the idea.
While I may not be able to plan your character’s wardrobe outright, I hope this makes the whole process seem more straightforward. Or that it gives you some ideas to work with, or any other kind of help you might take away from it. And one more thing: if you can find an interview with an artist or costume designer who worked on something you like, those things are worth their weight in gold. I read an interview with Colleen Atwood when I was in middle school, and it revolutionized the way I thought about fashion and storytelling. And when I say “revolutionized,” I mean, “I owe basically everything I just told you to that article.” Dig into them and see how they think and talk about their art! They’re more qualified to teach you than I ever will be.
- A.K.