When I was writing up the descriptions for the last post, I realized something. I did not have a grasp on Nadia’s style at all. So it was time to figure it out. And so I bring to you ways to figure out a character’s style aesthetic.
You can base it on your own style, of course, but not every person you write is going to have the same style as you. At least I would hope so. For me, for example, I have a few different styles- for everyday, I tend toward solid-colored tops, eschewing button-ups, with comfortable khakis. If I want to stand out, I tend towards the flashier end of cottagecore, maybe fairycore if I can find any that was made for people my size. Flowing tops, embroidery, sword hair sticks, that kind of thing. If I’m trying to dress up, for preference I’ll go elegant with an accent. If I could get them, I’d have long velvet dresses with bell sleeves and maybe some pearls around the neckline. But that’s not everyone’s fashion sense. I can make Dennis dress practically and hand some of my desire to dress up and stand out to his wife Brook, but if everyone dresses like that, the world feels flat.
So how do you find new styles? You could look around real life- go to clothing stores or thrift stores and browse; sit somewhere populated and people-watch; those kinds of tricks. Browse catalogs (those still exist right?) and clothing websites for themed clothes. I googled* “clothing aesthetics” and “clothing styles” to get a bunch of websites that wanted to sell me stuff but handily had images and outfits.
I also messed around in my old standby, HeroForge, which is getting more and more clothing options in it. The problem is they’re trying to provide clothes that fit various fantasy, history, sci-fi, cyber- and steam- and other-punks, so while they’ve got a lot, they still don’t have enough. There are probably a lot of other avatar customizers you can play around in but until I find one that lets me adjust body size, has a good spread of hairstyles, has a billion clothing options, and doesn’t require a lot from me in terms of info or money, I’m not going to use them a lot.
I tried out a few different styles with Nadia; after looking through the galleries and rejecting several options, I settled on a mix of casual and hip-hop for Nadia. Some people talk about their characters talking to them and telling them what they want and it does feel something like that for me, but I think it’s the same way we know what a friend would like or not. We make a mental construct of them and things match or don’t. I did realize I was trying to make Nadia a little too like me in clothes and so tried to stretch a bit. But the HeroForge options didn’t go quite as far as I wanted them to.
If you’re looking for something historical, I cannot advise heavily enough going to original sources. Look for artwork from the time period, look for historical texts, if you can find sewing books those are perfect. Don’t count on movies to have it right. If you’re going for an aesthetic rather than an accurate time, then yeah, choosing a movie is fine. But also don’t just choose one source! Otherwise you end up sounding like a copy of that rather than your own thing. Look at how many books rose up after Lord of the Rings that just sounded like they were also trying to be Tolkien. The ones that survived and did well added their own flair to it.
Beyond that, consider the culture your character is coming from. What do they do that is distinct from other cultures? Look at our world for some ideas. If you see a shirt that buttons down one side of the breast, you’re going to think it has an Asian inspiration. Collared plaid shirts look country or western. Giant swirling skirts with lines around the base are going to read Latin American. I remember coming across some images of a fashion show that used cultural inspirations as a basis for some pretty spectacular fashions; it might have been International Heritage Fashion Week but that might just be the first thing I found doing a quick search. Consider what materials that culture would have access to as well and how their climate affects them. Linen grows well in cooler climates, cotton in warmer climates. People who live in areas that get really icy are going to use fur more because it insulates better where people who live in the tropics usually wear looser clothing or just less. Most natural fibers don’t stretch very well so there are going to need to be fasteners, like buttons, zippers, ties, and remember how difficult it used to be to manufacture buttons and zippers!
So what’s going to impact a person’s style? Cultural mores and standards, climate, jobs and utility, and most importantly just how they want to present themselves to the world. So a good outfit can build character and the world the person lives in at the same time.
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