How To Describe Clothing In Writing

How to Describe Clothing in Writing

Portrait of Mrs. Howe (detail)
Alfred Stevens
1900

Creating vivid descriptions for a story or character is a mark of a great writer. One specific form of descriptive writing that particularly affects setting and characterization is the portrayal of characters’ clothing.

Writing Tips: Describing Clothes

Clothing descriptions work best when they appear organically in the course of the narrative. The story should never halt in place so that you can shoehorn in a bunch of sartorial descriptions. Here are some writing tips to help you use clothing descriptions in your creative writing:

Integrate clothing into your initial character description. The first time readers meet a character, they should get a sense of how they dress.

Study articles of clothing to make sure you know what they look like. This will help you choose the right words to describe them. For example, it would be appropriate to describe a chiffon dress as “sheer” or “thin,” but it would be clumsy to describe it as “threadbare” because chiffon is not cheap.

Pick outfits that fit the setting you’re writing about. If you’re describing an elegant ball, you might want to place a character in a form-fitting strapless evening gown, as this is a common piece for formal dances. Describing the clothing reinforces the setting you’ve chosen.

Blend clothing into job descriptions. If you’re describing a monk at work, you could note how the loose-fitting sleeves of his frock draped onto a table. If you’re describing a superhero in an action scene, describe the flow of their cape or the stiffness of their boots.

Let your characters change outfits. Show a character arc by marking how a character’s clothing changes over the course of your story. If a character in a YA novel starts out wearing ill-fitting khaki slacks with enormous pleats and ends that same novel wearing a denim jacket with an “anarchy” pin on the lapel, we know they’ve undergone some major changes.

Use clothing to set characters apart. Represent the difference between two characters by describing the differences in their clothing. Let’s say you’re describing two characters interviewing for the same job: One wears a sporty, ruched, A-line dress, and the other wears jeans and a sweatshirt. The reader can infer aspects of both characters’ personalities and make a comparison between two characters.

Reasons to Describe a Character’s Clothing

A character’s clothing is a window into so many aspects of their lives. From a character’s clothes, readers can make inferences about the following:

Clothing reveals a character’s personality. A knee-length fur coat and a corduroy jacket are both forms of outerwear, but it’s quite unlikely they’d be worn by the same kind of person. Readers can deduce a character’s style and personality from the clothes they wear.

Clothing implies a character’s wealth. Is your novel’s main character comes from a working-class background, it’s more likely they’d wear a t-shirt and jeans than a lavish and expensive piece of clothing. Just as in real life, clothing indicates status and wealth.

Clothing shows a character’s point of view toward the world. Clothing can reveal a character’s views on the world. If someone puts on a graphic t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, it implies that they could hardly care less about offending other people. Meanwhile, a character who wears a dressy button-down shirt with a single-breasted plaid jacket seems like the old-fashioned type. Maybe they’re heading to a mixer at the country club?

Clothing suggests the time and place in which a character exists. As part of your worldbuilding process, you’ll want to be as precise as possible about your book’s setting and time period. This doesn’t just apply to historical fiction; it applies to all forms of writing. For instance, if you’re writing a battle scene set during the Revolutionary War, you might need to study the physical descriptions of britches and pantaloons. But if your scene is set in a present-day battlefield, you might describe a soldier as wearing camouflage with a tag hung from a necklace. Simply by changing the clothing description, you’ve marked a massive distinction between these two war stories.

Source ⚜ More: Notes ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs ⚜ References: Fashion

Jujutsu Kaisen Audiodrama

Just collecting links to audio drama because I love them

Jujusanpo

Jujusanpo #1 - 1st year's meetup Jujusanpo #2 - Chinese restaurant (TL) Jujusanpo #3 - Karaoke shop in Tokyo (TL) Jujusanpo #4 - The 1st JUPPON Grand Prix (TL) Jujusanpo #5 - Tachikawa (TL) Jujusanpo #6 - Odaiba (TL) Jujusanpo #7 - The 2nd JUPPON Grandprix (TL) Jujusanpo #8 - Business trip to Sendai (TL)

DVD Bonus

Holiday Wandering - part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 (LN chapter TL) Resurrection Doll - part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 (LN chapter TL) Night Gourmet (TL)

Livestage

1st years go to Kawaguchi 2nd years go to Kawaguchi Juju travel quiz

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freakinfiction

10 months ago

i humbly implore everyone to read married thrice to salted fish for a scheming and bantering couple who commit atrocities along the way

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freakinfiction

4 years ago

“Morning After” starters

as requested by anon. Enjoy and feel free to make any changes !

Sexy

“Feel like another round?”

“You were great last night…”

“Wow, you look even better in the daylight.”

“My clothes look better on you than they do on me.”

“I had no idea you were into that stuff…I’m glad I found out.”

“We didn’t even get to use the toys last night.”

“You should play with my hair some more…”

“I don’t remember ever having this many hickeys. But I don’t mind.”

“That was a workout.”

“I don’t know your name. But you can share it with me, so I know what to scream this time.”

“The fun doesn’t have to end.”

“I think I can convince you to stay…”

“Don’t pretend like you’re asleep. Should I find a way to wake you up?~”

“We could order pizza and just stay like this all day.”

“I love your bedhead.”

Awkward

“Oh no…what did we do?”

“Hi! You need to leave.”

“I’m sorry…who are you?”

“Ugh…I drank so much.”

“I can’t believe I did this again.” / “I can’t believe we did this again.”

“Where are your clothes?”

“…I’m sore in such weird places.”

“Hey, sorry! I’m gonna go. Right now.”

“You didn’t seem like you were having such a bad time last night.”

“Someone’s coming. Is that your mom/partner/spouse/etc.?”

“I think this was a mistake.”

“*trying to sneak out while half-dressed*”

“Your foot is in my face.”

“Did we use protection?”

“*sees ___ and screams*”

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freakinfiction

1 month ago

Source: abdul_rabby___

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freakinfiction

4 years ago

“That’s my cat,” the hero said.

“No. It’s mine,” the villain retorted, eyes narrowed.

“…It’s a stray.”

“I feed it!”

“I feed it too! Oh, what now?” the villain waved their weapon around in frustration, “Are you gonna tell me that you have a name for it?”

“…Yes.”

“Well, screw you, I have a name for it too.”

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freakinfiction

1 year ago

You run a café on the edge of life and death. Souls who have been departed from their bodies temporarily, such as in comas or near-death experiences, can relax in your quaint cafe for as long as they need before they can either return to their bodies or begin their journey to the afterlife.

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freakinfiction

4 years ago

reminder: it’s okay to be here only for fandom things

you don’t have to reblog all the posts about politics, the election, the coronavirus outbreak, or really anything else. it’s okay to preserve your fandom spaces for fandom only things. you’re not apathetic or cruel to separate out your spaces. if you find yourself stressing out about what tumblr has to say about these things, get your news from news sources and stick to reblogging beautiful gifs and contributing to meta and recommending mutual pining / fake relationship fics here. it’s okay. it’s natural to need some space to just focus on happiness for a moment. it’s okay. take care of yourselves out there <3

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freakinfiction

3 months ago

oh my god :((( i saw your academic/scientific writing post and thank you! my lecturer keeps telling us to 'comment' on paragraphs or papers and i just have no idea what she means??? I've tried looking at other papers and i just don't understand?? i was wondering if you or any of your followers could help? xxx

It sounds to me your lecturer might mean annotating to add your own comments/opinions on the article you're reading.

Writing Notes: Annotation

https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/annotation-examples

Annotation - to actively engage a text by pausing to reflect, mark up, and add notes as you read.

The simplest way to annotate:

Mark: Key words; Phrases; Passages...

...By: Highlighting; Underlining; Bracketing; Placing symbols

Steps to Annotating a Scientific Paper

Locate each of the components (Abstract, Introduction, etc.)

Identify unfamiliar words in these sections that are important to understanding the research.

Define the unfamiliar words.

Annotate each section by summarizing the main idea or paraphrasing important sentences.

Ways annotating improves reading:

Avoid having to re-read as often

Monitor and improve your comprehension

Remember what you’ve read

Reasons for writing notes in the margins:

Identify key ideas and help you remember them

Comment on what you are reading

Question what you are reading

Answer guide questions you previously wrote

Take notes for a class, prepare for a presentation, book club or any other occasion: You can make your annotations as simple or elaborate as you want. For instance, you can use different color highlighters or sticky notes to color code the text for different things such as:

comments and questions

observations

text you want to quote

use of themes

vocabulary words to look up

Reader Annotations

You can go beyond marking up text and write notes on your reaction to the content or on its connection with other works or ideas. A reader might annotate a book, paper, pamphlet. or other texts for the following reasons:

a student noting important ideas from the content by highlighting or underlining passages in their textbook

a student noting examples or quotes in the margins of a textbook

a reader noting content to be revisited at a later time

a Bible reader noting sources in their Bible of relevant verses

an academic noting similar or contradictory studies related to their article or book

Tips for Paraphrasing

Read the passage until you understand the meaning.

Purpose. What will you do with this evidence?

Look away from the passage to write the main points of what you read.

Imagine & write. Imagine explaining that main point to a classmate. Write down your explanation.

Check & cite. Double check your wording against the original. Cite the source.

Other things you should do as you read and annotate text:

Paraphrase important information

Write down thoughts and questions

Write down key terms

List and look up new vocabulary terms

Identify other articles to read

Here's an example of an annotated academic article (with steps and more details). Another example:

https://campuspress.yale.edu/ycbateachers/annotations-a-visual-record-of-the-reading-experience/

Strong readers often mark texts and this visual work is deeply linked to the reading experience. Considering annotation as a critical and creative activity, we can design and practice this skill in a multitude of ways. And, once again, as we link student’s visual experience into their ever growing language arts skills we strengthen their ways of interacting and communicating with the world. –James Shivers

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Thanks for your kind words. Hope this helps! (Do ask your lecturer directly though for further clarification on what they actually meant!)

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