I’m not really got at styling and designing my characters’ outfits. Sometimes my crappy pick of clothing helps some of the characters to outline their personality, but most of the time I feel like all of them are dressed like… homeless people? Creating casual outfits feels like an unsolvable puzzle to me.
That’s why I came here to ask you some questions about clothing and stuff! Do you have any “basics” in casual outfits which look good on most of the characters? What pieces of clothing would you recommend to use?
I’ll be very thankful for any answer!
p.s. In my current story, there’re more male characters than female ones.
One male character is a little bit shy and doesn’t like standing out from the crowd when it comes to appearance. Just an ordinary man with kinda ordinary life. The other one is rich, sort of a playboy sometimes, and IS SUPPOSED to have the taste in clothing. He also like dark red and black, but I don’t want all of his outfits to be just in this color palette.
Well, as I’m sure you’re aware as a fellow author, characters are truly judged and shown by their appearance and what they wear. For example a shy girl will normally wear baggy clothing and non-attention seeking attire so that they wouldn’t draw unwanted attention.
Most males will wear basically whatever they first pull out of their closet or drawers or even clothing pile and put it on, so usually t-shirts and jeans but this also depends on where your story is set. Where I live, for example, it’s either really fricken hot, or really fricken cold, so everyone in the summer wears shorts and tank tops-I’ve even seen some of my straight friends wear crop tops since its so fricken hot. Vise versa for winter.
Whereas females, oh boy strap in ladies and gents. And quick disclaimer I am obliged to mention that not all girls are like this and blah blah blah but let me tell you flat out, girls will LITERALLY take forever and a day to pick out something. The most probable cause is because of self confidence issues, but the underlining tone is that women will be extremely careful when choosing something to wear. Even a boring girl who doesn’t really care what they wear still looks in the mirror before they leave.
Another thing I’d like to talk about when it comes to clothing is consistency. If a girl likes to wear baggy jeans and a plain black T-shirt, she is definitely not going to wear a pink crop top and a miniskirt, no matter if she wants to show off in front of the bullies or whatever. It is unrealistic and, quite frankly, overdone. It’s like if a shy girl suddenly becomes super sl*ty, it just DOESN’T HAPPEN. (And don’t you DARE try to convince me chick flicks!)
Same thing goes with guys, if they wear nothing but polos and shorts, they aren’t just going to appear one day in skinny jeans and a tank top. Boys’ closets are really limited to only one or two types of clothing.
Whelp, got any more questions I’d be happy to answer them : )
I’m not that good at this either, I’ve gotten some criticism in the clothing department
But I can try. Maybe a plain t-shirt that has one color with a pair of jeans? And running shoes if you’re going for casual