Well, I discovered that trying to write when you have a hangover is a big no no for me. Never mind, I did however manage to catch up with 300 e mails…only another 100 to go now lol….but anyway…..

I few weeks ago I went to The Victoria & Albert Musuems Hollywood Costume Exhibition

I’d never thought of the idea of costume designers being storytellers. Isn’t that the job of the scriptwriter? But movies are about characters and their costumes play a crucial role in bringing those characters to life.

The costume designer must know who a character is before they can design a costume. One that makes the audience believe that the character had a life before the start of the movie. The clothes then transform a character from being written and two dimensional to a point where an audience will actually believe they are real people.

The exhibition has over 100 iconic costumes from Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garlands Dorothy dress (plus ruby slippers) to what Keanu Reeves wore in the Matrix and Robert Downey Jnrs Sherlock Holmes attire.

It’s a fascinating exhibition in its own right, but, as a writer I found it very interesting *eyes light up*

If that’s all true (I’m not actually doubting it) then surely, it works the same for a writer? We want our characters to be real to our readers. We want them to be believable don’t we? So how important are your characters clothes in a work of fiction? It’s perhaps not important in a 1000 word short story, but in a novel?

Didn’t someone once say “clothes maketh the man.”? You can tell a lot about a person by the clothes they wear 😉

Do you describe in depth what clothes your characters are wearing?