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FOR IMPROVING YOUR BEAUTI:---
Are Your Characters Stylin’? Descriptive Fashion Phrases and Terms
Don’t waste time and words describing an unimportant character who makes only one appearance in the book. Lengthy descriptions imply the character is important to the story.
Below is a list of my fashion terms for women and men. Keep in mind that descriptions of men’s attire should lend themselves to masculinity and durability with a bit of suave thrown into the mix.
By themselves these terms sound like they were taken right out of a fashion magazine. Their beauty is more evident when they’re used to trim a wordy description to a concise expression.
Following the men’s list are words and phrases for the “Less Than Presentable,” “Getting Dressed” and “General Synonyms for Clothing.”
Sharla has published three historical romances and her fourth, How to Fell a Timberman, is impatiently waiting to be formatted for Kindle.
When she’s not writing and researching ways to bedevil her book characters, Sharla enjoys collecting authentically costumed dolls from all over the world, traveling (to seek more dolls!), and reading tons of books.
Describing clothes on characters isn’t nearly as fun writing an action scene. But let’s face it, clothes and their condition say as much about our characters as they do on real people.
Thankfully there are ways to sneak clothing descriptions into a scene without sounding like a fashion magazine.
When ever possible, let clothing and the character’s appearance leak into the scene as a bystander.
Clothing descriptions as a bystander to body language is used a lot.
She sat, smiled and nodded her head. Beneath the table, her damp fists crushed the delicate silk of her evening gown while her kid boots tapped a rapid rhythm. This doesn’t sound like a description of clothing at all and yet the sentence shows the reader what the woman is wearing.
Clothing descriptions as a bystander in an action scene is not the norm. Usually they just slow down the action and are better avoided. UNLESS, the type of clothing is important to the action.
Example: Set up: In my book Love and Fortune the heroine is a distraction while a group of Yankees soldiers surround a band of weary Rebels. Her attire is important to this scene.
She sat, smiled and nodded her head. Beneath the table, her damp fists crushed the delicate silk of her evening gown while her kid boots tapped a rapid rhythm. This doesn’t sound like a description of clothing at all and yet the sentence shows the reader what the woman is wearing.
Clothing descriptions as a bystander in an action scene is not the norm. Usually they just slow down the action and are better avoided. UNLESS, the type of clothing is important to the action.
Example: Set up: In my book Love and Fortune the heroine is a distraction while a group of Yankees soldiers surround a band of weary Rebels. Her attire is important to this scene.
Then of course, there’s times when a character arrives on stage, requiring a quick description of their appearance and little more. For those times, the word lists below come in handy. Knowing the exact name of a fashion also saves words and gives the reader an instant picture: Hobble-skirt, mini skirt, peasant blouse, cravat, kid gloves, pea coat, dickey etc. [That list of coats, shirts, skirts, neckwear, hats, shoes etc with their definitions will have to wait for another blog.]
1) How would you describe your dress? Any type of description you can think of is awesome.
2) How does your dress make you feel? Did you have any reservations about the style before you tried it on?
And just for kicks, 3) A picture of your dress.
Let’s share these beauties!
Here’s mine:
1) I’d describe by dress as retro, vibrant, and sophisticated.
2) I feel like a bombshell when I wear this dress. I’m pear-shaped, so I was VERY unsure about this style because it’s so clingy in the hips and butt area–but when I tried it on, I felt so fabulous. I actually had that “OMG, it’s The One,” moment.
3) I finally managed to recolor the model picture so it doesn’t look like the pukey olive color. “In person,” it’s this rich, beautiful bottle green.
SHOW SKIN STRATEGICALLY
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