Let’s talk about fictional characters and real fashion. I love this description from Orlando Whitfield’s, All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art, (Pantheon Books.) “He wore Milanese suits, Loro Piana shoes and was driven in a blacked-out Mercedes. I cycled to work and wore my keys on a clip on my belt.” Whitfield told us a lot more than what his former business partner wore, didn’t he?
You know your characters and gave them the reason they dress the way they do. He’s always in a hurry, so in the morning he picks a pair of jeans off the floor, smells them (or not) and he’s out the door two seconds after he slides them on. Or she’s a widowed mom who buys herself a dress and gives her son a library card for his birthday. Your task as an author is to convey those sartorial choices as simply as you can.
For now, let’s talk about our characters who are one-percenters. When we write about what the super-rich wear, we tend to overuse certain references. The red soles on her shoes or his Omega dive watch are becoming dated and have been used waaaay too often.
Not that you can’t use iconic staples. If you watched The Crown, you get why one fashion editor called the series ‘Barbour jacket porn’. I’m saying we can freshen these examples up.
Men’s Style – Two blogs and a website.
https://www.gentlemansgazette.com Good for a deep dive into white tie vs black tie.
https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/latest/ This blog has everything and is updated often.
John Smedley – Pretentious as hell, but some of our characters are, too. And they are so fun to write. According to their website: We are creators of the World’s Finest Knitwear. Established in 1784, we are the oldest manufacturing factory in the world, crafting beautiful, high-quality garments that are designed to last, made in England and distributed the world over. Whatever.
For Women’s Style, here are links to some high end designers:
Loro Piana – Especially knitwear, but also other women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, shoes, handbags.
Bottega Veneta – Woven leather handbags is what we think of when we think of Bottega Veneta.
Buccellati – Italian jewelry.
Hermes – Scarves, of course.
Brunello Cucinelli – Clothes, ready-to-wear and custom-made.
Edward Green – shoes for men and women. Worn by Cole Porter and Ernest Hemingway.
I hope these sources help. After all, for your character to meet someone who knows when to wear a French cuff, you have to know it first.
Stay in touch,
Lane
I LOVE THIS!! And before I trip over myself bowing at your feet, let me just say that as a coming of age in the 1960’s kid, being aware of fashion was simply guessing which pair of well-worn bell bottoms (and NOT smelled) to put on with the gathered-sleeves-gathered neck-made from an India print bedspread blouse. Sigh. This info you have provided is gold, for having book #2 of my cozy series staring me in the face, I am going to need to know top end stuff and had NO idea where to go. Now I know. Mea culpa!
My clothing challenge in the 60s and early 70s was not killing myself when the bell bottoms got caught in my clogs!
Tehehe. Glad you liked it.
Clothes are the setting our characters wear. Their choices and habits tell us so much–or they can in the hands of a thoughtful and creative writer. Thanks, Lane. BTW, Barbour jackets are literally everywhere in rural Britain.
I love that – clothes are the setting our character wear!
I know! And since they keep them for decades, the coats are a good value.
This is aces, Lane. Great research done for us. Thanks so much~
I particularly loved how you chose to put Princesses Diana and Catherine side by side! Much is written of Kate’s ability to reuse clothing or update something like a coat with new buttons that makes her a media darling to follow. Last week the media pointed out a tweed blazer she had on was 18 yrs old and showed the original photo!
I agree with Connie that the way we dress our characters gives them a setting and tells us who they are. Great post!
I love that Kate does that, too.
Thank you!
I’m afraid to write very rich. I know I will absolutely get it wrong. It’s like writing about any other sub-culture. If you don’t know it intimately, it’s really easy to go very, very wrong. I can do poor, working class, middle class, and upper middle class. Anything else, and no amount of websites is going to help!
Thank you for the cheat sheet! I love these descriptions. I always thought that Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’ used fashion descriptions brilliantly. Rebecca, the dead first wife, had exquisite taste in clothes as she had in everything else and we get specific descriptions through memory of how she looked in silk dresses and even a chic sailor suit, down to her beautiful negligees. The main character wears plain and ill fitting clothes and when a high level ladies’ maid unpacks her ugly underwear after she has married Max De Winter,, the maid is profoundly shocked. LOL
I’m guilty of that red-soled reference, and these sources are a huge help for this fashion-challenged writer.
I love reading descriptions of clothes, and now I’m wondering why I don’t do more of it!