What do hairstyles and costumes really have to do with writing?
Hairstyles and Costumes and How They Can Help Your Readers Out
Now, you may very well be thinking that this kind of stuff doesn’t, truly matter. So what if a character wears shorts or jeans? How could it matter if they wear their hair down, or in a ponytail?
A lot more than you may think.
Let’s start with clothes.
Clothes Maketh the Character
When I tell you that Nell‘s clothes are often too big for her, and that the burgundy down jacket she wears is really big on her and is shedding feathers, what do you think of? How about when I tell you that Jeannie wears a Gucci blouse that’s over the top?
And these are just examples from Mettle.
But there’s really no substitute for Untrustworthy when it comes to leveraging what the characters are wearing as a plot point. In that book, the people are told what to wear. There’s no choice. It’s a mandate.
So, as Tathrelle starts to figure out something is going on, the divisions between people based on clothing get deeper and deeper. And while I didn’t intend it that way, the thugs end up wearing black.
So, let’s go from top to bottom and see what we can determine, all right?
Hats
In Mettle, people wear hats for warmth. But in The Real Hub of the Universe, people wear them for style, and to indicate class.
Ceilidh‘s original hat is just a flat little thing to wear because you can’t go outside without a hat on. But when they want her to look rich, Devon buys her a better one. And she knows things are serious with Jake when he purchases her the latest style in bonnets.
As for Jake himself, I wanted the hat which Rhett Butler wears in Gone With the Wind—a plantation owner’s hat.
This wasn’t just because his family is wealthy, and they had owned slaves. It’s also because, frankly (heh) I didn’t like the looks of other hats of the time.
Shirts and Blouses
There’s a big difference between a low cut, tight blouse versus a boxy, nondescript garment that someone’s swimming in.
In The Enigman Cave, when they conduct first contact, Marnie doesn’t want uniforms. So, the squad get different shirts. These include a shirt worn to remember a deceased person and another to commemorate a band.
Belts and Shoes, Pants and Skirts, Dresses and Jumpsuits
Much like Ceilidh needs a hat for basic decency, men probably needed belts. And, characters will likely need to be shod somehow. And, if they aren’t, the best example I can give of that mattering is in the film Die Hard.
Essentially, if a character is barefoot, is broken glass or the like too far behind?
Whether a character wears a skirt can depend on gender, tradition (kilts), or just fashion. But if Ceilidh was to wear pants, it would most likely be for only one purpose—to hide and play at being a man if necessary.
Dresses are Ceilidh’s uniform, more or less, even when she’s not working.
But what about jumpsuits? They give off a cool sci fi vibe to a lot of people. One reason may be that they’re less fussy. Also, the wardrobe department might not have to conjure up futuristic buttons. Although they will have to repair zippers, most likely.
Undergarments
For Ceilidh, it’s corsets all the way. I had to research whether they would lace up in the front, or in the back, like for Scarlett in Gone With the Wind. Fortunately, I found that she could wear a corset with the laces in the front. Otherwise, I would have had issues with her taking it off to sleep at night while traveling by ship (and not with another woman to help her).
Peri occasionally wears a black nightie for rollicking times with Dave Shepherd. Otherwise, I don’t really delve into underwear because I generally didn’t need to.
Outerwear
Apart from Nell’s down jacket, outerwear can be stylish, warm, waterproof, or an advertisement to everyone that the wearer is wealthy. Or, it can be none of these things. A shabby jacket with holes in it says a lot about a character. When Ceilidh goes from wearing a shabby old cloak to a new pink coat which Devon buys for her, it’s a major step up in status.
Of course, there are other categories of clothing, but you get the idea, yes?
Hairstyles
There’s a difference between the bun Ceilidh wears originally, but in the prequel to Real Hub… she starts to wear her hair in a chignon. It’s a relatively similar hairstyle, except that it sits lower on the neck. In part, it’s a symbol of leaving younger and more girlish times behind and facing womanhood, ready or not.
For Marnie, a change in her attitude about herself starts to come about when she has the quartermaster touch up her dye job and give her a long-overdue haircut. But you may notice that Lex is nervous around her even before she undergoes this small makeover.
Peri’s hair is chin length, but in a flashback (so it’ll show up in the prequel), it’s long enough for a ponytail.
In Mettle, anyone with longish hair braids it, including Elise, who hasn’t done that since she was a kid. And, in part, you can gauge the passage of time with Craig’s crewcut growing out—and it comes full circle, with Jeannie going from big Texas-style hair to culturally misappropriating dreadlocks.
In Untrustworthy, Tathrelle and Ixalla wear their hair a particular way because it’s the law.
Facial Hair
While I made Jake Radford and Devon Grace clean-shaven, many men of the Victorian era had at least a moustache. Another gauge of time passing in Mettle is the appearance of beards, and then their length. Craig says of his own that he could make a fine living selling cough drops.
Hairstyles and Costumes Leads Me to Makeup
I don’t want to go too nuts with this. Ceilidh doesn’t wear makeup as that would be vulgar. Peri uses some and even jokes that Dave has more personal grooming products than she does. Marnie uses it at times.
As for Josie, it’s a display which she can control with a wave of her hand.
Ixalla and Tathrelle have never heard of it. And as for the people of Mettle, Kitty and Mink use a lot, but only at the start of the book. Otherwise, it becomes another thing to just drop as no longer being important.
Takeaways on Hairstyles and Costumes (and Makeup!)
Do your characters want to look sexy? Straightlaced? Cool? Like they belong? These basic details can clue your readers into how you see your characters—and how you want your readers to see them as well.
Hairstyles and costumes maketh the characters!
Want More of Using Hairstyles and Costumes and Other Background to Evoke the Senses in Writing?
If the idea of leveraging hairstyles and costumes in your writing resonates with you, then check out my other articles about using sense cues.
Sense Cues:
- Senses
- Scene Setting
- Set Dressing—Visual Cues in Writing
- Hairstyles and Costumes—Visual Cues in Writing
- Aroma vs Odor or Stench—Olfactory Cues in Writing
- Mixing a Score in Words and Music—Sound Cues in Writing
- Disgusting vs Delicious—Taste Cues in Writing
- Hot or Cold, Rough or Smooth, Hard or Soft—Tactile Cues in Writing