Well also take a look at female fantasy armor and those used by, Mail was particularly effective against glancing blows. Theyre probably less concerned with how they look (unless they want to look intimidating) and more concerned with things like survival or victory. You can also check out some of my other guides too, like: If you have any questions about this guide on fantasy armor, please get in touch. Medieval clothing description generator - Fantasy name generators And medieval warfare was a bloody affair. At a quarter to six, Gem pulled off the low-cut top Emma had wolf-whistled and clappedat when theyd met for their usual weekend catch-up. Great article. The shrewd king essentially licensed out parcels of his land as rewards to his warriors in exchange for their military service. Which is to say, if you write from the point of view of a character who thinks of clothing only in terms of the simplest descriptors, that's just fine. By playing around with this you quickly create very subtle, but more unique fantasy-themed items. Heating to the perfect temperature was key. Use your first-person narrators senses sight, hearing, touch, etc. The image you create has to play a role in the narrative.Consider the character arc. "He was wearing a spandex tank top" is an improvement from just mentioning that your character's wearing a shirt; but consider adding the element of color: "He was wearing a black-and-yellow-striped spandex tank top.". It really doesnt take much. In writing, the clothes kind of do make the (hu)man. Continued successes could see knights rise higher up the ranks. 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. Leather could be stitched into coats, or added to mail to provide added protection. It gives you an idea of the capabilities that armor can have. And well dip back in time to look at medieval armor and how it was used and crafted. An anxious college student buys a flower crown in the hopes of feeling young and free at Coachella. A few easy changes are to make one side longer than the other, so basically creating a diagonal cut instead of the standard horizontal one. That decorative belt? Pingback: Fantasy Weapons - Medieval, Magic And Other Types - Richie Billing, Helping writers on their journey and readers find their next favourite story.. Am I trying to blow the interview? Its a good time. One very important aspect of describing attire well is understanding why youre describing it in the first place. The fantasy genre borrows an awful lot from medieval history. Also bear in mind that not all clothing descriptions have to be presented as She put on x or He was wearing y. You can draw your readers attention to an item of clothing by having your character draw on their jeans or fiddle with their collar. Very informative. Consider whether your characters attire might serve as a symbol, highlight a theme, or represent a conflict. You can go for standard quasi medieval fantasy clothing. Struggling with describing clothes for a fantasy setting. : r/DnD - reddit The surrounding culture dictates what they cant wear if they want to be seen as free-thinking individuals. Baggy. In Gabriel Garcia Marquezs Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), we learn of a doctors status through his being the only person at an event who is not smartly dressed: Although it was not customary for invitations to request special attire, least of all for a luncheon in the country, the women wore evening gowns and precious jewels and most of the men were dressed in dinner jackets with black ties, and some even wore frock coats. Without decriptions of the clothing it's a bit boring, the novel becomes a list of people the reader can't imagine doing things. Strips of leather were boiled in water, though some sources record oil and wax being used, and even animal urine. But put me in a job interview wearing the same outfit, and youd probably start making new guesses about my intentions. It's also an indirect way to describe their physical appearance by examining how the clothes fit them. - Diagonal lines: Diagonal lines aren't all that common in historic clothing and they usually only came in the form of neck lines, the edges of unbuttoned jackets or from large pieces of fabric being held up (think ancient Rome). Even things like tattoos, hair colors, eye colors and so on can help with this. This pride, though justifiable, displeased Katerina Ivanovna for some reason. 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. On occasion, Abi pretends to be a poet. 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. If youre trying to learn how to describe clothing in writing, youre probably like me: Youve only pretended to know what organza is. In some cases because they simply didn't have the technology for it, in others because it was too expensive and/or time consuming for the average person. In other words take what exists and apply it differently. If done right you could even use these elements alone with clothing of today to sell a futuristic look. Or it could be that they want to be charmed by their own image when they look in the mirror. My story feels like its set more in medieval times, but I don't want my characters running around in full out tunics and. They're the Robin to your Batman, the Luigi to your Mario, the Samwise Gamgee to your Frodo Baggins. For instance, if I'm reading a story and the narrative mentions jeans right off, I'm thinking mid twentieth century or later (while dungarees would be late nineteenth . Added on top of that the condition that they had to supply him with soldiers too. - Mix cultures. And lets not forget the trusty steed. We often express ourselves through our clothing, at least when we have the freedom to do so, so knowing who we're designing for is the first step in creating the perfect outfit for a character. 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. All this to say: there is substantial storytelling power in a coral Life is Good t-shirt. Like all forms of exposition, your goal is to deliver this information without pulling the reader out of the story. However, you can tell your reader interesting things through a mismatch: A wealthy character might show off their expensive clothing. Fantasy Armor - The Ultimate Guide - Richie Billing [Find more articles on character description in our complete guide to character creation.]. Once blue, it is quenched a second time, permanently fixing its hardness. Richie Billing writes fantasy fiction, historical fiction and stories of a darker nature. Note that with the camouflage patterns it's best to use this style, but make them less randomized to avoid the military look, unless that's what you're going for of course. 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. Heres how to describe clothing in writing to show your readers the world to which your character belongs. I didnt even know how to begin describing this piece of clothing. Yet Dr. Urbinos status as a respected doctor is earned he has nothing to prove by dressing smarter. Ill add it to my to do list . This article was very helpfulcan you post some examples of showing versus telling when describing clothing? A self-conscious kid tries to disappear inside their oversized sweatshirt. Heating to the perfect temperature was key. How does their attire reflect what they want, what they fear, or where theyre going? or the world theyre desperately resisting. Here are five examples: 1. Chapters 1 and 2 were pretty decent and I started chapter 4 with him dressing for the party. Blend in? Another type of cheap armor, one up from gambesons, was boiled leather, also known as cuir bouilli. You can continue to alter it to add cultural elements, like the previously mentioned elvish elements or you could stick with this and keep it simple. 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. Fashionable: Clothes representing a current style in fashion. What are the rules of your characters world? Or is it really important for a reader to know the specific pattern? Only in certain situations is a description even needed. Great points. 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. But it provided an odd sense of security. These small but mighty players can add depth, complexity, and a fresh perspective to your plot. You can quickly convey a number of things about your characters based on the clothing they wear. It can be as simple as making a dress shorter, a jacket longer or sleeves wider and longer. 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. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e7bbcc198c936bc1af3fbda128514c44fcfc10f0513ea31cad7c21ae61ba0ab0.jpg. Knights were, indeed, hard to defeat in battle. The appearance of armor was a big deal for knights. 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. It took a while to get ready, with the help of somebody else needed, usually squires, who began with the feet and worked up from there. One reason clothing descriptions can start to feel like a tedious laundry list (see what I did there?) In one single piece of clothing description (a pink-eyed bundle of shawls), Dickens conveys how timid and ailing Mrs. Gradgrind is in contrast to her bullish, overbearing husband. clothed and we should definitely be using them to portray our characters personalities. But as the show moved forward the suit got more ragged the jacket was open, then gone, the shirt cuffs undone, half the buttons undone and I think by the end when he was on the cross the shirt was gone. Compare this, then, to Dickens description of Gradgrinds wife in the following chapter (Gradgrinds wealthy but poverty-claiming friend has just told Mrs. Gradgrind he was born in a ditch): Mrs. Gradgrind, a little, thin, white, pink-eyed bundle of shawls, of surpassing feebleness, mental and bodily; who was always taking physic without any effect, and who, whenever she showed a symptom of coming to life, was invariably stunned by some weighty piece of fact tumbling on her; Mrs. Gradgrind hoped it was a dry ditch? But you may run into difficulties when it comes to the practicalities. I mentioned my online writing group at the beginning of this guide. In both of these it was mostly the rich who had the extravagant clothing, which brings back the earlier point of how culture influences what a character might wear. In battle, you are trying to strike a moving target, so mail was sufficient as most blows were glancing ones. Theyre the lifeblood of any relationship. 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. See more ideas about character description, fantasy fashion, fantasy clothing. When heated, steel turns from yellow, to brown, to blue, to red. The easy way to describe the setting is when the characters interact with it, e.g. So let's delve deeper into the details of how to actually figure out what your character wears. How to Give Your Characters Style: Describing Clothing in Writing Written by MasterClass Last updated: Aug 19, 2021 3 min read Creating vivid descriptions for a story or character is a mark of a great writer. - Furs and other animal parts: A quick and obvious way of making something look more fantasy-themed is by simply adding elements of fantasy creatures. I'll make a separate point for sci-fi/futuristic clothing and fantasy/historic clothing. Separate and enlarge it, turn down the Opacity of the layer . One way is to avoid what we call filter words. There is simply more characterization, not only of Gem but the other characters, too. Another important function of clothing description in stories is to create an authentic sense of time and place. "A dress" (or using "the" to refer to a particular "garment") means an item of clothing that is normally worn by women. Thanks, Sana. Like Borges would say, A coat of mail was a complex web of metal rings, each locked with an iron rivet. Why this arguably works better is the details of getting dressed tell us multiple details about Gem. Really, the topic of this article is not how to describe clothing in writing as much as it is how to tell a story with clothes. Arrows will bounce off steel crafted in such a wayunless from close range, as we discussed last week. Stylish: Elegant and sophisticated clothing to grab attention. It illustrates brilliantly the differences between fantasy armor and the boring armor of reality, in this case, Gothic armor. I have a hard time describing my thoughts on content, but I really felt I should here. A band t-shirt. These are deep questions. Although such armor exists in fantasy worlds, its important to understand how things work in the real world, even at a basic level. In Dostoyevskys Crime and Punishment, the poor, Tuberculosis-stricken Katerina Ivanovnas husband is trampled to death by a horse-drawn cart. Fashion photographer Bill Cunningham said, Fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life. Try applying this philosophy to clothing descriptions in your writing and see what happens. But it makes a good story. Blunt, Once quenched, the steel was re-heated to make it more resilient. Clothes can betray our greatest joys and our deepest insecurities. Im struggling to properly figure out how to describe clothing for a fantasy setting Im trying to create. Make sure you know whats hot and whats not in your specific setting, as well as what specific words the locals would use. 2023 NOW NOVEL CC. To navigate your way through this guide, just click the links below. Help your readers feel the relaxed, organic cotton or the memory foam slipper, and theyll feel your characters priorities deep in their own souls. - Change lengths. Military service was always well-rewarded and violence applauded. Thanks Chuck! How to Give Your Characters Style: Describing Clothing in Writing How to create a fantasy costume design | Creative Bloq Describing armor and clothing. : r/writing - reddit Below, well take a look at the armor found in the fantasy genre, covering everything from chain mail to helmets. The time period of your story. If you write historical fiction, youre probably way ahead of me. Thanks I will be following your blog from now one I just came across it today. I tried to add as much variety as possible, but without turning the whole description into a mess. I'll allow my fangirl side to shine for a second and use the Legend of Korra as an example of how mixing styles can work amazingly well. Those outfits can become iconic. Richie also runs The Fantasy Writers' Toolshed, a podcast devoted to helping writers improve their craft. Now, if you write historical fiction, its important to research the clothing of your chosen era. How to describe clothing: 6 simple tips Use clothing to show status and position Build (or thwart) expectations using clothing descriptions Describe clothing to contrast character personalities Show clothing to avoid over-relying on telling Change clothing to highlight character development Use clothing details to create authentic setting We naturally link clothing and identity, which is why wardrobe is such an effective tool for building a vivid character. I really loved this article, but I have one question, it was very helpful. The description will describe a lot of clothing pieces, some of which you may not need depending on where your character lives. Youre still not off the hook. Shoes made with bendable displays already exist, allowing you to change your shoe's design on the fly. Like say a vest with mirrored sequins and rhinestones, but they all go in a pattern and you feel the need to describe the pattern line by line? Never hose for men and probably never puffy breeches. One of her poems is (legally) stamped into a sidewalk in Santa Clarita, California. With historical fiction one interesting aspect is to bring back the reader to that time period. Will using real-world cultural vocabulary in a fantasy setting