The Clothes Make It

Right now, this very second, I am wearing a black fedora and a leather jacket. I feel awesome.

It saddens me to admit they are not mine and that I will have to give them back tomarrow morning. However, I am going to make good use of them while I have them to write this blog.

I love clothes. I absolutely adore style. All sorts of style, I'm not one to discriminate. Goth, punk, emo, pretty-in-pink, nerd bling. You name it I can find some way to verbally gush over how wonderful it is. Now you wouldn't necessarily think that looking at me and my standard jeans-and-a-T-Shirt wardrobe, nor when you gaze upon the fail that is the wardrobes I adorn my poor characters with. Because I suck at style. But that doesn't mean I can't admire the people who have it.

Now, before I get into too much detail, let me explain the difference between fashion and style. Style is that individual ZING of inspirational cloth people wear, the way they carry their clothes and their clothing choices. The bits that you look at them and go, "Oh yeah, that totally fits." It fits into their personality like a puzzle piece, often times making a statement.

Fashion is... fashion is... Imagine a heard of lemmings, running as fast as they can with their terrified little feet. Now imagine them running into a Holister store.

Fashion is the 'craze' that turns human beings into clones, each just trying to look like the last person but better doing it. It is when every girl in school has a haircut parted on the far side and swishing over their forehead to their ear on the other side. It is when you can look at a group of six teenage girls and make the assumption they all got dressed out of the same closet that morning. It is the opposite of style, a numbing of the creative side of the brain that is a mar upon the face of the earth.

Yeah. You can tell I don't like fashion.

But I love style!

So, back to my point.

Clothing makes a big statement about a person or a character. Just wearing something out of your norm can make you feel completely different. I am loving this fedora. The same goes for formal wear, or an excess of a strong color (such as pink or black) that isn't normally in your closet.

This change naturally transitions into the way people see you, as well. For example, my good friend SML dressed all out Trip pants and metal spikes goth. She is the sweetest, shyest person I have ever met, yet still gets treated like a punk everywhere she goes. People make assumptions based on what you put out there, so one must be careful.

This makes clothing style in character design crucial. If every character in a comic book wears standard shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes, then the whole group becomes much less memoriable. Even a simple think like preferring to wear striped ties instead of just a standard dress shirt makes a subconscious mark on the reader. Although fanartists are likely the only ones who will remember, the image still impacts the reader. The same goes for regular story writing, make a note on the personal style of a character and the reader will immediately begin to associate them with a culture, even a personality steriotype. Style is a powerful thing, which makes going against the grain such a powerful tool in creative aspects like writing and drawing.

This makes me emo corner when I look at Nathen, or realize I've never drawn Marcus outside his school uniform. Or when I think about how besides "The" sweater and tight pants Alex doesn't actually have an emo-identity. It just makes me sort of cry.

I WILL FIX THIS.

Eventually.