This week at Word Wranglers we're talking about trends. Margie talked about trendy names and how we name our characters. I thought I'd talk about the way we dress our characters.
These days, I notice young women are wearing less and less material. Some of them carry it off with class and style. Others look like hoochie mamas. I guess some of it may be in the way they carry themselves. I've been to enough clubs (as recently as a year ago) and seen some outfits that would make their daddy's wrap them in a blanket and drag them home. One pair of girls actually bent over at the waist and shook their asses in miniskirts!
I'm not knocking miniskirts. Many moons (and pounds) ago I wore them a lot. But not once did I ever present myself as a hooker. Which brings me to how we dress our characters and make them act.
The heroine in my wip wore a dress pretty much like the black dress in the photo, to a party. And she acted like a lady. My villain did the Jennifer Lopez number, only in black, and she was depicted as a man-eater. It wasn't the dress, it was her. Her attitude, her demeanor.
I read a lot of paranormals, and the dress trend in them seem very similar. Kiss ass men wear black leather. I even used it in my last book. I just put it on my kick ass female villain.
What about you? Do current trends dictate the way your characters dress? Or is their attitude part of the costume?
By the way, twenty years ago, I would have loved to wear that black dress. But I don't think hubby would have let me out of the house.
These days, I notice young women are wearing less and less material. Some of them carry it off with class and style. Others look like hoochie mamas. I guess some of it may be in the way they carry themselves. I've been to enough clubs (as recently as a year ago) and seen some outfits that would make their daddy's wrap them in a blanket and drag them home. One pair of girls actually bent over at the waist and shook their asses in miniskirts!
I'm not knocking miniskirts. Many moons (and pounds) ago I wore them a lot. But not once did I ever present myself as a hooker. Which brings me to how we dress our characters and make them act.
The heroine in my wip wore a dress pretty much like the black dress in the photo, to a party. And she acted like a lady. My villain did the Jennifer Lopez number, only in black, and she was depicted as a man-eater. It wasn't the dress, it was her. Her attitude, her demeanor.
I read a lot of paranormals, and the dress trend in them seem very similar. Kiss ass men wear black leather. I even used it in my last book. I just put it on my kick ass female villain.
What about you? Do current trends dictate the way your characters dress? Or is their attitude part of the costume?
By the way, twenty years ago, I would have loved to wear that black dress. But I don't think hubby would have let me out of the house.
Absolutely fashion trends come into play in my stories. In one, my 50+ protagonist bought a thong because she didn't want panty wrinkles on her rear when she walked by the hero. Her reactions to putting the thong on made up most of a chapter.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Em. I remember Esther Williams saying on TV once she didn't understand women wanting to wear underwear that went in where they'd been trying to keep them OUT of their whole lives. And I gotta admit, I'd rather have panty lines than wear a thong.
ReplyDeleteGood post, Shawn, and made me think. I think my people dress boring--like me. Hmmm...
LOL Shawn. I think fashion does play a part in books - we don't want our contemporary heroines dressing like the Amish, do we? But the attitude makes the clothes and the women (and men) to me. The characters (even us, in real life) have to wear the clothes...the clothes can't wear them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by ladies. All three of you made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteYou guys crack me up.
ReplyDeleteI hate writing clothes, so I go as minimally as possible which is why I love writing from the vp of a 16yo boy--put him in jeans, khaki, tee or polo. Done.
Margie made a great point - what a character notices about clothes says a lot about them! Boys aren't going to notice what other people are wearing, for the most part. My female vp doesn't mention what she wears day-to-day, but she spends a good few paragraphs through the novel about the clothes she has to wear during her travels. Since she's from a very conservative household, the peek-a-boo fashions of one place make her very uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteLove the post Shawn! Clothes do make the character. Who would believe in a kick ass hero in nerdy clothes? Well, maybe some people might (thinking of Chuck now), but still it's a stretch.
ReplyDeleteMy characters generally wear Stetsons, Wranglers and boots. Gives you a mental pic immediately, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteMargot Early, superrmance author, once asked me what I found sexy on a man.
I told her gray tee, faded jeans and ropers (flat-soled cowboy boots). When I thought it aobut it, the same on a woman.