Clothing and Style

[Diana]

When you look at people on the street or on TV, you often get a first impression about them based on their appearances. The way they wear their hair, how they dress, body language.

When you see a young woman wearing a mini skirt, tube top, bright red lipstick, and six inch heels... what are you first thoughts?

If you walked past a dude wearing stained sweat pants, a ripped t-shirt, and is covered head to toe in dirt... what impressions are you getting?

Sitting next to you on the bus is a man in a spotless, well tailored suit, with a funny-print tie. ...what do you think about him?

In this exercise we're going to be detailing out a character's PERSONAL STYLE OF APPEARANCE with their clothes and how they present themselves.

These first impressions can have a great impact on your plots. You can also use them as expression of personality! Why does the suit guy always wear silly ties? Why is sweatpants dude covered in dirt? What is miniskirt chick really like?

Their style is also a glimmer in to their personality. Do they like dressing casual cause they are a relaxed person? Do they only wear fancy super model fashions because they feel it makes them look more important? Are they obsessed with multicolored socks because they are weird and quirky and it's the only way they can express it?

Here are some things to describe about your character's appearance and style!

• Are they always freshly showered, or are they dirty? Is there a kind of mess where you can see hints of their job/hobby? Example: Covered in hair as a hairdresser, paint splatters as a painter, concrete dust as a construction worker.
• Are they well manicured and groomed? Do they keep their hair super neat and tidy or is it messy? Do they groom their facial features like shaving, or eyebrow plucking? What about their nails?
• Do they wear makeup? What kinds and styles?
• Do they wear jewelry or other accessories? Earbuds for music or wireless cellphone?
• What kind of fashion sense do they have? Do their clothes match? Do they look well put together or does everything look thrown own with no thought?
• Do they prefer casual clothes? Work clothes? No clothes?
• What sort of style would people say they have? Country? Punk? Glamor?
• What colors do they tend to wear? Do they wear these colors on purpose, or is it just something they tend to be drawn to?
• Do they have a favorite article of clothing?
• What kind of shoes do they wear?
• What sort of underwear is under all of those clothes?
• Are their clothes following current fashions? Old fashioned? Do they dress with a specific time period in mind, or do they dress according to local customs?
• What condition are their clothes in? Dirty? Filled with holes? Well maintained? Brand new?

And of course, if you think of anything else to add on, do so! Details are great!

 

[Minibit]

Stellani is a character I used in a roleplay I had to drop for lack of time available, but I love expanding her character and I hope I get to use her again soon.

Stellani is for futuristic settings: she's a shuttle mechanic; when she's not in her work coverall she wears the eternally fashionable dark blue jeans and a 'Golf Shirt' She doesn't play golf, but she likes it because it lets her be formal and comfortable at the same time. Underneath the shirt (always tucked in, never out) is a necklace with a minifigure of what seems to be some kind of combat robot sauldered to it; it's the logo for her guilty pleasure hoby; a seemingly unlimited franchise of interchangeable parts and accessories to create robots, appliances, figures, and other mechanical widgets out of. She's constantly blogging about it and visiting Widget forums at home, but it's a kind of a geeky hobby, so she's reluctant to go full-nerd in public. Her underwear is regular T-shirts and bras; she doesn't really have much time or interest in a romantic or sex life at the moment, and sees underwear pretty much as something to keep her no-no zones from chafing. Her hairstyle is short so she doesn't have to constantly be adjusting, brushing, and tying it back (girls toying with their hair drives her bonkers; she can't help but think of it as a Valley Girl flirting routine). It's maybe 4-5 inches long and styled kind of like this; except it's not very consistent since she doesn't spend much time on it in the morning. She also has seven steel ring piercings down the side of one ear, a move from contrary-teenager Stellani that Really-trying-to-get-a-serious-career-going Stellani sometimes regrets, but then decides it still looks awesome.