When shes not writing, Abi is most likely hiking, reading, or texting her mother pictures of her houseplants to ask why they look like that. These were worn on their own by those wanting greater speed and flexibility, but also by those unable to afford stronger armor. Someone jumps down from a boundary wall wearing dark clothes and clutching a bag, that's enough of a clue they're a burglar, and if the protagonist now has to chase them then a description of the form those clothes take down to the buckles on the shoes is going to break the flow. Its a good time. Adorable. If you tell your readers about Nanettes light pink cardigan and string of pearls, you dont have to say much about the shoes and skirt and silk blouse. Not to pile on, but dont forget to make sure you know which materials wereand werentavailable in the world of your novel. They're the Robin to your Batman, the Luigi to your Mario, the Samwise Gamgee to your Frodo Baggins. Odds are, youve got a character who dresses to stay alive. It gives you an idea of the capabilities that armor can have. Blades hacking, slicing and puncturing, cutting open gaping wounds and severing limbs and heads from bodies. Be specific and accurate. Good for the mobile knight. Look how she sits with her mouth open! ), The geographical location of your story. Examples of the latter are The Fifth Element and The Hunger Games. And above all, people share their writing, get feedback, build friendships and develop greater confidence not just in their writing, but in themselves too. I love the way clothes can describe a character. These aren't the only elements either, pretty much every part of clothing changes with the times and depend heavily upon what's fashionable at the time. And here are some great concepts for female fantasy armor. What matters more to them: fashion or function? In this scene, Gradgrind returns home to find his children playing outside: A space of stunted grass and dry rubbish being between him and the young rabble, he took his eyeglass out of his waistcoat to look for any child he knew by name, and might order off. Stealthy clothes bring to mind burglars clad in black outfits and soft-soled sneakers. In visual mediums like TV or comics, cool outfits are on-screen the whole time, and they're the first and most obvious impression you'll get of the character, so they have a big impact on how the character is perceived. Maybe a bit of both. I didnt even know how to begin describing this piece of clothing. I have a hard time describing my thoughts on content, but I really felt I should here. Stylish: Elegant and sophisticated clothing to grab attention. The front part of helmets, or the visors, were there to raise or open so the wearer could breathe during taxing hand-to-hand combat or scan around the battlefield. As for showing with clothing rather than telling, a writer could say, He was lazy and inattentive to his appearance about a character, or they could say his clothes always looked like hed just pulled them out of a pile in some corner of his bedroom and had thrown them on without a glance in the mirror. The good news is that attire is not only important, its also kind of fun when you start digging into it. "A dress" (or using "the" to refer to a particular "garment") means an item of clothing that is normally worn by women. Heres a superb glossary, with pictures, of all types of armor. Pauldrons, gauntlets, and even leg armor were fashioned into elaborate designs. The aim is to arm you with what you need to enrich your tales with brilliant detail. Thanks, Teresa, and for sharing that great example from the stage. Leather could be stitched into coats, or added to mail to provide added protection. Arrows will bounce off steel crafted in such a wayunless from close range, as we discussed, We mentioned gambesons above. Or one who was forever wearing poorly-fitted clothing that appeared to be handed down from friends? Maybe a bracelet represents a character's relationship to her mother. Well also take a look at female fantasy armor and those used by knights, potential designs, and ways to help you find inspiration for creating your own. The aim is to arm you with what you need to enrich your tales with brilliant detail. But thats the case wherever you go. In writing, the clothes kind of do make the (hu)man. A simple t-shirt could be cut diagonally in the front, give both shoulder parts a different style from the arms, elongate one side and so on. 2012 - You can try all Dabbles premium features for free for fourteen days. Sneak around? and our Here are some classic characteristics you can draw out through clothing description. All of these advancements will become more and more common as time goes on, so it'd make sense for them to be part of our clothing in the future. From time to time we may use affiliate links to help with the costs of running the site. Either way, their goal is to be desirable, whatever desirable means in this situation. They work, they're safe and in many cases have become a standard. Game of Thrones/A Song Of Ice And Fire is one series that wonderfully explores fantasy armor and weapons. Armor, therefore, wasnt that heavya full suit weighed approximately 50 pounds, which is around 3 to 4 stone. The fantasy genre borrows an awful lot from medieval history. As a result, feudal England became rife with young murderous men. But they could also dress in modest, inexpensive-looking clothes. Why this arguably works better is the details of getting dressed tell us multiple details about Gem. If your protagonist is donning a tri-cornered hat, loosening a corset, or strutting through town in a new toga, your reader has a good sense of time period. If sturdy is a top consideration, your character might be expecting trouble or adventure. It's what we're slowly doing today. The more people that join this thriving group the better it becomes. How does their attire reflect what they want, what they fear, or where theyre going? Now add a thick, layered scarf or attach a hood to this tunic and you're already well on your way to a customized look. Theyll see it automatically. Your articles are always very informative. You find that its about more than throwing out fashion terms and listing articles of clothing. A four-layer, bubble-gum pink taffeta skirt. One specific form of descriptive writing that particularly affects setting and characterization is the portrayal of characters' clothing. Now turn the edges a different color or make them light up and you immediately have a more futuristic looking suit. But it makes a good story. But status can be communicated in more subtle ways, too. Such simple things, but the clothes really helped show Jesus plight. More on that in a bit. An anxious college student buys a flower crown in the hopes of feeling young and free at Coachella. This may seem like a tricky thing to do as there's so much out there already, but it can often be as simple as simply changing a texture, the patterns used or the amount of fabric. Mail was lightweight and flexible. What would you think about a wealthy character who looked as though he shopped at thrift stores? ). So why not join the gang? Similarly, find out (or, if youre creating a fantasy world, create) the garments your characters would wear in a particular time and place. From lowly serfs to great warriors, all could wear and fight effectively in chainmail. Think touchable fabrics and the light scent of lavender soap. Details about fit, cut, and material go a long way when describing the clothing of a character who longs to attract. The padded material could absorb blows from blunt weapons and provided some protection from cuts, but against well-forged weapons they were useless. The easy way to describe the setting is when the characters interact with it, e.g. Shoes made with bendable displays already exist, allowing you to change your shoe's design on the fly. Clean, powerful strikes were needed to disable a foe wearing mail. These small but mighty players can add depth, complexity, and a fresh perspective to your plot. The tragedy of Azincourt, for example, occurred because of a poorly-chosen battleground that had flooded. The appearance of armor was a big deal for knights. - 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. Fashionable: Clothes representing a current style in fashion. Pfoo, the owl! Wearing a suit of armor was like being in your own private world. Mention the familiar swooshing of the neighbors tracksuit as he runs by the house every morning or how the aunts jacket always smells like cold air and pine needles. We even have the technology to create clothing without seems. Particularly in genres such as historical fiction and fantasy, clothing can help to create other worlds (or a long gone era of our own). Play with the question of presentation and power! Think armor, bulletproof vests, and bandoliers. For example, a shy person will often wear 'regular' clothing, clothing that isn't too bright or outgoing in both design and colors. That's why it's valuable to learn these terms. There's a few other elements to keep in mind as well, but in most cases it's best not to worry at all, let your imagination go wild and simply create and enjoy what you want to create. Not to mention the social status of a person. Some helmets had chain attached which hung around and protected the neck, called an aventail, and most were padded inside, for added comfort. To add to the previous mosaic part stealth technology can provide great patterns. The line could be thin or thick, glowing, metallic-looking or just plain, padded or smooth, patterned, decorated or simply a seem. Use the Character section of the Idea Finder to develop quick story ideas and flesh out your storys cast. So let's delve deeper into the details of how to actually figure out what your character wears. Maybe your character heads out on the town wearing a daring leopard print jumpsuit, only to have their best friend immediately ask where they got the kitty costume.. They're the ones who are always there to lend a helping hand, crack a joke, or provide some much-needed emotional relief.And let's be real, sometimes they dont go unsung. show how hard is to escape in a narrow street. Lots of gear would have been looted. Excuse the on hold background music. The rope belt is solely decorative and a status symbol. (Cough-cough-cough.) Maybe your character is snuggled up in their fleece pajamas while the blizzard rages outside. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e7bbcc198c936bc1af3fbda128514c44fcfc10f0513ea31cad7c21ae61ba0ab0.jpg. Richie Billing writes fantasy fiction, historical fiction and stories of a darker nature. For example, headphones aren't really a piece of clothing, but they definitely affect our style. By using fur for decoration you quickly create fictional pieces in no time. If you stopped to think about it, you may even notice yourself imagining things as specific as age, hobbies, and ambitions. - Another way to use color is to make things seem like they're glowing even if they're not and to use gradients. However, you can show and imply a characters intention without spelling it out: Theyd agreed to meet downtown at six. Your trust fund character might be completely confident showing up to a party in board shorts and flip-flops. Lets take a look at some ways you can develop those unique ideas: In this section, well take a look at some cool pieces of knight armor in fantasy that people have designed over the years, to give you even more inspiration for your own designs. Now this won't work for every piece of clothing of course, not everything has buttons or edges that allow for simple changes we don't already use today, so here are a few ways that are commonly used to make things look more futuristic: And if you were skilled at surviving and killing, it was a good way to make a living. Only the most powerful strikes could pierce such armor. Dont worry, thats not a trick question. Subtle clothing changes can signal character development quite effectively in some scenarios. Tell us how the wool of your protagonists sheath dress scratches the skin on the underside of her arm. - Gadgets, hair styles and accessories. Besides, these are all just guidelines meant to spark some inspiration in you. When heated, steel turns from yellow, to brown, to blue, to red. There are some elements which are common among most works of fiction when it comes to clothing, with these elements in mind it becomes a lot easier to turn the clothing we wear today or wore throughout history into a futuristic or more fantasy oriented equivalent. Chest plates had grand etchings. Normally I dont dress characters with such complex clothing that takes more than a few sentences to describe but the vest was inspired by a picture I saw and it took at least a paragraph to describe. Examples of the prior are Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey and to some degree Star Wars and Tron. Because like all other character details, its not enough to paint a picture. Understanding how to describe clothing in a story well will help you create fuller, richer character portraits. See how Dickens contrasts the fact-obsessed, overbearingteacher Thomas Gradgrind and his wifes personalities through (among other details) their clothing description. 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. Ill add it to my to do list . Using a squared, pixelated look or circuitry patterns usually works great too, which can even be combined with layered clothing to create the circuitry feel. Only when youre keeping secrets in fiction, you can make them even darker and deeper than any you might ever have in real life. Mail was particularly effective against glancing blows. Here, for example, Hilary Mantel describes a Cardinals residence being plundered by the Kings men in 1529 England, in her historical novel Wolf Hall. The jacket has a narrow, rectangular neckline which reveals part of the fancy shirt worn below it and is worn with a light rope belt, which is held together by a simple knot. But it can also be fun to play with the confidence and ease that comes with wealth. Pre-empt this by illustrating everything in layers and completing each layer of clothing. For example, the corset wasn't popular until the 16th century and while earlier versions can be found incredibly early they weren't common place. One of the first things I learned when I moved to L.A. is that writers do not dress professionally for big meetings in Hollywood. Heres a video showing the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of leather armor against arrows. We have all sorts of headphone designs to reflect our clothing styles and just wearing or not wearing a headphone will completely change how a character is often perceived. When heated, steel turns from yellow, to brown, to blue, to red. 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. Theyre the kind of thing that often happen organically, but you can actually make use of character secrets to make your stories better. So Id say in films its more for cinematic effect and also for clarity so the viewer can see whos doing what. Stylish. Now on the other end of the spectrum we have fantasy clothing and more history based clothing. Expensive indeed, and heavystronger horses had to be bred to handle the weight. You could even move the buttons to the side and have it close diagonally instead. On occasion, Abi pretends to be a poet.