Hello Wordsmiths,

I received a request to do a post on how to describe clothing in a story. I hope you find this post helpful and can make your characters pop off the page.

I’ll give different ways not only to describe clothing but HOW to use clothing.

• Use clothing to show status or personality. For example, flowing black clothing for someone who is depressed or EMO, designer clothing to show status.
• Use clothing to show wealth or lack thereof. Or, you can blow expectations by doing the opposite. Example: Rich guy dresses in sweats and old t-shirts.
• Show don’t tell applies to clothing descriptions as well. TELL- She chose to change into sexy clothing to go to the club. SHOW- She pulled on a shirt a size too small, instantly amping up her cleavage.

Change the character’s clothing to match their growth throughout the book:

Maybe they improve their attire if they become more confident, more positive.

Or, if during the story your character falls on hard times, show that by having them put next to no effort into their appearance.

Describe clothing as it fits the time period:

1970’s- bell bottoms, fringe, rock t-shirts, disco

1800’s- pantaloons, corset, hats, etc.

Have your clothing choices fit your character’s age, mood, stature, the decade they’re in, desires.

You can use your character’s clothing to set a mood or a scene, just as you can use the weather to do the same.

Use the color spectrum to convey a mood or a message.

Here are what colors represent. Use this list to choose the color that best fits your scene:

RED: courage, passion, fire, romance, sensuality, vigor

YELLOW: joy, enthusiasm, confidence, alertness, summer, cowardice

ORANGE: excitement, vigilance, loyalty, family, friendship, change, warmth

GREEN: growth, renewal, intelligence, prosperity, money, luck, envy, greed

BLUE: balance, peace, calm, patience, honor, trust, empathy, depression

PURPLE: magic, truth, dignity, dreams, wisdom, elegance

PINK: originality, self-esteem, insight, creativity, music, femininity, health, love

WHITE: simplicity, cleanliness, purity, holiness, coldness, emptiness, light, hope, winter, pallor, ghostliness

BLACK: sophistication, power, wealth, fear, mourning, oppression, darkness, shadow, mystery, intrigue

I hope you get a few good ideas from this post on how to utilize clothing and clothing color to convey a mood or message. Play around with different combinations for different characters and see how it helps your characters to express themselves.

Think about the colors you or others in your life gravitate to and think about what those colors convey. Use that for your next writing project.

Happy Writing! Gina

Drop me a line in the comments and let me know what you think.