Baggy jeans. So its unsurprising to see soldiers wielding swords and axes and shooting bows. Like all forms of exposition, your goal is to deliver this information without pulling the reader out of the story. Adding these other bits of lesser-known fantasy armor to your stories can really add extra depth to your worldbuilding. Ha-ha! Lets talk about how to describe clothing in writing organically. Only when youre keeping secrets in fiction, you can make them even darker and deeper than any you might ever have in real life. Only the most sophisticated, Dr. Urbino among them, wore their ordinary clothes. They looked something like this: One of the main defensive strengths of plated armor came from its curved design, which deflected both blades and arrows. Richard the Lionheart, for instance, was celebrated amongst his peers for his ability to chop his enemys skulls down to the teeth. - Use lines to break up a piece of clothing and create a kind of mosaic. [Help] Coming up with Fantasy Outfits : r/fantasywriters - reddit A scarf for example might be too hot for some areas, but it's obviously easy to leave those out. It may be apocryphal, but Harold Godwinson is said to have done just that at the battle of Hastings in 1066. This idea of knights becoming lords was introduced in England by William the Conqueror. What your character wears can tell us a lot about how they feel or how they want to feel. 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. One thing Ive always wondered is if someone wearing plate could fall down just right in a muddy battlefield, and get stuck there in the same way a large flat rock gets stuck laying in mud. Thanks Benjamin! The reason we fuss over physical descriptions is not because its so important that the readers imagination gets it right. Added on top of that the condition that they had to supply him with soldiers too. Its okay if Todds checks his designer watch three pages after you mention his silk tie. When you use clothing to define who your character is, remember that it can also clarify how they feel about themselves and how they fit into the world around them. Understanding how to describe clothing in a story well will help you create fuller, richer character portraits. Some had pointed snouts, the purpose of which was to deflect arrows when walking into arrow storms. What are some ways to describe a character's clothing? Another might claim power by striding in wearing torn jeans and a tank top. William the Conquerors society was shaped with war in mind. I sincerely hope youve found some inspiration for your fantasy medieval armor. I would be great to expand it with armor from other areas, Samurai armor, for example. Clothing creation guide - Roll for Fantasy It can be as simple as making a dress shorter, a jacket longer or sleeves wider and longer. Conveniently, a lot of high status positions come with outfits or accessories that telegraph a persons position in the hierarchy. I like the way you wrote this information. One way is to avoid what we call filter words. Thats a good example of using clothing to reinforce the narrative of a characters arc. A band t-shirt. Im writing a little in the Epic Fantasy genre and there were quite a few useful notes I wasnt aware of here. Love this topic!! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e7bbcc198c936bc1af3fbda128514c44fcfc10f0513ea31cad7c21ae61ba0ab0.jpg. I never thought of there being a uniform for Midwestern ladyness. So we've covered ways to make clothing look both futuristic and historic, but these are all just guidelines and mostly based on what's been done before. Then this is their category. Very informative. He's had over a dozen short stories published in various magazines and journals, with one adapted for BBC radio. Mail was lightweight and flexible. Using the work of Alexander McQueen, this unit guides students through the analysis of a fashion collection, introducing them to the critical language and methodologies needed to evaluate fashion design and runway presentation. Our wardrobes are influenced by our age, geography, culture, hobbies, and a million other aspects of our worlds. Or it could be that they want to be charmed by their own image when they look in the mirror. How to Give Your Characters Style: Describing Clothing in Writing Its a bit OCD of me. And when Mother Nature gets involved, even the best suit of armor can have problems. Read these tips on how (and why) to describe clothes with examples from well-known novels: 1: Use clothing to show status and position 2: Build (or thwart) character expectations with clothing descriptions 3: Describe clothing to contrast characters' personalities 4: Show clothing to avoid over-relying on telling Thanks I will be following your blog from now one I just came across it today. One easy way of creating a more customized look is to simply use cultural elements in the standard clothing. You may have seen steelworkers doing this after forging the likes of blades and horseshoes. A self-conscious kid tries to disappear inside their oversized sweatshirt. It was my understanding that they quenched in oil, not water. These elements are very important when taking into account the previous point. So sometimes all it takes to create futuristic clothing is to take a trend that has passed, alter it slightly and you're done. Characters Wear More Than Just Clothes. You can use visual description to make a character more vivid in the readers minds eye. One does not refer to "a garb". For example, think about a wealthy person and how that person might dress. Hopefully, you now have more wardrobe ideas for your characters than just red shirt, blue pants. But what about the process of actually sharing these details in your novel? As knights became fully armored, so did their mounts. His writing offers a masterclass in how to describe clothing in stories. 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. Pfoo, the owl! And its in designs that you can really go wild with your own fantasy armor. Leonidas in 300, for instance, almost certainly wore a helmet in the battle with the Persians! Its about building a life and a world, and that is something you can do. If its 1st person you'll describe things from the POV of your character, and I find that that's different than if you're in, for example, 3rd person. for any particular parts of an outfit. - Another way to use color is to make things seem like they're glowing even if they're not and to use gradients. He is old but stylish. No problem! An anxious college student buys a flower crown in the hopes of feeling young and free at Coachella. This includes items like steel-toed boots, heavy denim, or tech-forward, snag-resistant superhero spandex. 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. Will using real-world cultural vocabulary in a fantasy setting You could even move the buttons to the side and have it close diagonally instead. It's easy to try this out too, at least the simple line version. The padded material could absorb blows from blunt, A Guide To Writing Stories That Genuinely Helps, "Helped me land my first book deal" - Jack Shannon, Author, Get More Writing Support From Fellow Fantasy Writers, A complete guide to worldbuilding, with a template. 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. 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. Chain mail is a great piece of fantasy armor to use in your stories purely because of its flexibility. In other words take what exists and apply it differently. Maybe theyre wearing an article of clothing that once belonged to someone theyve lost. This usually involves dresses from some time pre-renaissance and a tunic or shirt paired with trousers for men and women who are doing warrior stuff. Military service was always well-rewarded and violence applauded. By using fur for decoration you quickly create fictional pieces in no time. To navigate your way through this guide, just click the links below. If you stopped to think about it, you may even notice yourself imagining things as specific as age, hobbies, and ambitions. Your character might also have a job or hobby that requires protective clothing. Theyll see it automatically. Im struggling to properly figure out how to describe clothing for a fantasy setting Im trying to create. You suddenly know which details to include, which to leave out, and whether to call it a blood-red cloak or a goji berry wrap. Obviously clothing is extremely varied, especially dresses. Technology goes beyond simply what kind of clothes could be made though, it also relates to how technology is incorporated into style in general. How were women treated in the Middle Ages? A pair of starched Wranglers. 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. Clean, powerful strikes were needed to disable a foe wearing mail. And above all, people share their writing, get feedback, build friendships and develop greater confidence not just in their writing, but in themselves too. - Mix cultures. Heating to the perfect temperature was key. Sci-fi and fantasy don't necessarily have to be futuristic and historic respectively, but they're commonly associated as such, so for the sake of simplicity that's what I'm going with for the purposes of this guide. Mail was one of the first types of metal armor developed, arguably by the Celts, though other sources say its origins came from Eastern Europe. Excuse the on hold background music. Characters can also comment on or react to one anothers clothing, as long as the exchange reveals something about the world or relationship. Dostoyevsky describes how Katerinas landlady, Amalia Ivanovna, dresses for the funeral: the table was properly laid at the time and fixed, and Amalia Ivanovna, feeling she had done her work well, had put on a black silk dress and a cap with new mourning ribbons and met the returning party with some pride. Affordable . Creating new clothing styles for fictional worlds can be a daunting task, there's just so much out there already and so many elements to play around with to create a fun and unique style, no matter whether the art form is visual or not. Stylish: Elegant and sophisticated clothing to grab attention. We see the contrast between the characters friends reaction and the advisory words of Gems aunt. The senses were deadened: sight limited, sound muffled, breathing stifled (depending on the type of helmet). The more outlandish the fantasy species your character is the more outlandish you can usually be with clothing, but familiarity is usually still a solid ground for a realistic feel, even if the universe and the creatures are completely unrealistic. Nudity was often either a complete taboo or just common place in many cultures throughout history, so by changing these taboos (and others) you immediately create a fictional piece. In pre-thermometer times this was difficult as you can imagine, so instead, armorers observed the colour of the heated steel. Get it right, and you transport your readers to a vivid world. I used to be under the mindset that describing attire was boring and it was better to let the reader fill in those details but especially with the novel Im working on now, I have used clothing to portray more about their character. Another important function of clothing description in stories is to create an authentic sense of time and place.

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