Clothing in a scene

[ElliePorter]

Do you write down what your characters are wearing during a scene in a chapter or do you proceed to write dialogue and go with the flow of story?

 

[Farok]

I write the most important garment of the character first, then weave the rest in between descriptions or dialogues.

People don't tend to remember massive pieces of information so a whole paragraph on an outfit will usually be forgotten, except in certain circumstances. The important is for the character to be recognizable.

 

[Snusmumriken]

Ditto.

I add clothing that is important to describe a character more than visually. In my story, the outer dress shows the status of wealth while sashes/belts tell you a lot of the personal status/deeds. As such MC is more prone to pay attention to these parts of clothing.

I mention the other parts usually when necessary or to highlight some movement/action.

 

[morhamza]

Personally, I describe characters as little as possible. I mention key traits, but clothing isn't something I describe. The main reason is whenever I've read a book, descriptions like those bored me. Unless the clothes add something to the story, or is used to hint at a character's mood, I skip describing clothes.

 

[LordAstrea]

I write some of the clothing depending on if it is a first time seeing the character or if the setting calls for it. I mostly try to have descriptions based on an entire scene rather than just having a paragraph or two in a row about what the character is wearing. Maybe if a character is the nervous type and tugs at things could be an opportunity to show that the character is wearing leather gloves or something. Maybe a character brushes aside some hair and that's when the reader learns the color. If the character's role is established in, say, a fantasy setting then I usually won't describe the attire very much after the first time.

 

[JayDirex]

Many of my characters dress nice as an expression of who they are. So yeah, I describe clothing. HOWEVER, the descriptions are not overboard- EXAMPLES:

1. You’re the best, Ma. Sabrina thought, as she tried-on a cute dark-blue pantsuit for the trip to Ft. Karns today.

2. “I beg your pardon?” Thomas asked, as an unexpected beauty, wearing a cream-colored, and revealing, baby doll dress stepped on the porch.

 

[yansusustories]

I usually only describe clothes when they are important to the plot. Like, if a character is worrying about going on a date and tries to choose the right things to leave a good first impression or if characters meet for the first time and notice things about the other's clothing, then I tend to give some details. Same if clothing gives clues about a character's background.
I might mention some as distinguishers repeatedly. Like, if there's a character with some kind of trademark piece or color, I'll sometimes identify them by just mentioning that specific thing but I don't describe it in detail after the first time and likely leave out more info the more often it is brought up. For example, if it's a specific type of clothing, I might still mention the color for a while but then stop doing that afterward unless I feel like a reminder is necessary because it becomes important again.

 

[K5Rakitan]

I mentioned what she was wearing in the early chapters, but I just skip that part in later chapters. It leaves me more wiggle room for later when I want to commission art.

 

[LoliGent]

I haven't actually started writing my story, but it's interesting to read everyone's comments on this since this is not something I considered, so I'll be sure to use this as a reference. Still, I had my own plans to deal with this.

First, my story will have illustrations, so that's one method, but I'll be uploading my story to numerous places and some places don't have the option to upload images. Also, those who can't see the images for one reason or another may still need descriptions, so the necessity to describe the clothes will be required.

I personally don't like too many details. They just get over my head and I get bored with reading descriptions. I'm more of an action and dialogue kind of person. So to deal with the clothing description, first I make sure there is a reason surrounding the need to describe the clothes, or I find some situation that necessitates describing the clothes. One example would be if the character has particular quirks that the clothes can further expand upon, or perhaps describe the weather and add a description of the clothes to further illustrate this.

Whatever method I use, one thing I will want to do is to keep it brief. I don't like these descriptions that go down to the fiber of the clothes. If a guy is wearing a basic white t-shirt and jeans, I just say he's wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. I'm sure the reader can figure out the rest. If it's more complicated, like say a woman wearing a formal evening gown with intricate sequins surrounding the top, embroidered with a floral designs having a large v-shape opening that exposes her cleavage, and a long skirt that is black and shiny with folds that shine brightest at the apex of the fold... yeah, that works. Just get the general idea and let the reader's imagination fill in the rest.

And yes, I used a photo reference to describe that dress. Once again, the illustration can help out.

 

[AliceShiki]

I usually don't tend to describe clothes much unless the character that is doing the narration is actually paying attention to them for some reason.

Usually speaking, the descriptions are pretty short regardless, since I don't like descriptions much.

 

[Mysticant]

I would say it depends on the context. If you have a small group of characters, you can choose to be more detailed at the start. Then weave small changes in the description later or ignore it altogether. The first impression is probably the biggest deal since if you have many characters, especially Chinese or other foreign names. The only thing that distinguishes A from B would be the clothing and feature description.
Like dozens of chapters later it would be the clothing and features rather than the name that forms an image for any scene in my opinion. Though I could imagine most people reading MC kills Villain A. Bystander B goes in shock. Fairy C blushes. Based on certain scenarios. Well for other types of novels who like to cycle through countless characters in a few chapters, I guess they can be lazy on it. I guess it really depends on how you portray the novel. People will also have different preferences. Too much clothing and description would probably be bad though. Too much fluff but no stuff.

 

[Derin_Edala]

I only include clothing if it's helpful or relevant. No need to describe every outfit; the reader will generally assume that your character is not naked if they're not supposed to be. :P

Usually, the major noticeable items the first time a character is introduced, and occasional reminders of important details (if someone's silver locket is going to be really important in the climax, for example, you need to inconspicuously mention it three times beforehand so that the audience won't forget), is plenty. Giving a character something distinctive to wear or a unique hairstyle or colour is also handy for heavy dialogue scenes because it means you can describe them fiddling with or adjusting them to get across emotion and identify which character they are while breaking up the 'he said, she said' a bit.

Clothes are a lot more boring to read about than the author assumes, so less is more. You can often get away with just describing a 'vibe', rather than articles of clothing; Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way doesn't need to be wearing a black corset with matching lace around it and a black leather miniskirt, pink fishnets and black combat boots, with black lipstick, white foundation, black mascara and red eyeshadow. She can look like a twelve-year-old went dumpster diving behind a Hot Topic in clown makeup, and move on.

 

[AliceShiki]

She can look like a twelve-year-old went dumpster diving behind a Hot Topic in clown makeup, and move on.

Well... That's not how I expected this post to end.