Alright, I almost never (actually never?) blog on fashion. There are about a million fashion related blogs you could frequent if that was your milieu…but if you are on this blog, clearly you are interested in words. Case in point—-I just used milieu in a sentence. And you understood me. So clearly fashion is a bit off topic. Let’s chalk this up to a characterization discussion. When you create characters you must furnish them completely, inside and out. This does include what they wear. Ok, enough justification? Good. So, there is no better place (besides perhaps the mall) to watch fashion come to life than the halls of a high school. Now, don’t get me wrong…I love my students, truly…but there are times when I just have to chuckle at their attire. This is particularly funny considering all my students wear uniforms, so in order to show individuality they seem to be getting pretty creative. To wit: fanny packs. Or at least they were called fanny packs when I was in high school 25 years ago, but to be honest, that nomenclature was based on the geographical area of garment wear. In other words, it was a pack…worn on your fanny. Hmm, not very creative. But wait…today’s youth seem to be far more inventive. There are no fanny packs on fannies anymore. Instead : 1. Only young men seem to be wearing them, and 2. For reasons I can’t explain they are wearing them diagonally over one shoulder and under the opposite arm. So if the same naming trend holds true, the current incarnation of this accessory should be named “men’s breast bag”. But that sounds…lame? Gross? Ridiculous? Dare I say feminine? But that is the situation—increasingly I am seeing athletic young men slinging a fanny pack across their chests and going about their day. It apparently is cool? It is handy. I will say that. I have one student who has the Mary Poppins version. He is able to store a full sized hair brush, phone, wallet, chapstick, keys, and various sundry other items in the seemingly endless space in his ‘breast bag’ (chest pack? nipple sling? Perhaps not).
So, besides poking a little well-deserved fun at my students—and believe me, at this point in the semester, I have earned it—what is the purpose of this discourse? Well, simply this: Pay attention. Know your characters. Just as much as dialogue illuminates the location, motivation, and personality of a character, so does what they wear. There is nothing more annoying to me than watching a TV show with a low costuming budget. You can feel the disconnect…especially if it is a period show. The most glaring offender in my recent memory is Reign. In order to pander to a shallow and hyper sexualized teen viewership, the producers made egregious errors in costuming that made all of the characters look like a cross between slutty Renaissance Faire royalty and second rate prom queens. All of the characters lose credibility because the costuming is breaking the time period appropriateness. The viewer is constantly aware, consciously or sub-consciously, that this is a modern cast in a modern setting. The illusion of the story can never be complete if the viewer/reader is unable to be immersed in the experience and sever (however briefly) the constraints of reality. Characters only really breathe when we believe them to be real—when we completely buy in to every aspect of them. A clear example of this, and stunning contrast to the Reign example, is a favorite show of mine: Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. This program, set in Australia in the 1920s, is visually stunning, especially in terms of the costumes. In fact, the pieces the title character Phrynne Fisher, wears in each episode are often authentic antique garments from the time, thus lending an additional layer of authenticity. Her furs, her hats, her shoes, even her jewelry is all exactingly curated to create a character who leaps off the screen (or page, as this character was in a book first) and comes across as believable. Suffice it to say that characterization is important—as important as plot. Dare I say it…MORE important than plot. You can have a great storyline but if your character is a dud no one will care. But creating this character is a labor of love and requires attention to detail. I would suggest finding the nearest high school and setting up a beach chair in the quad, but in this day and age that would be frowned upon, or worse. So in lieu of that, pay attention. Make eye contact with the sweet-natured, lime green haired barista at your local Starbucks. Watch the man in the Burberry plaid shirt sitting at the table next to you in the restaurant. And yes, even the ‘nipple-slinged’ boys (nipple slung?). Watch them all. You never know what bit will move your character from a two-dimensional lump to a living breathing person.
2 Comments
Magatha Christie
4/4/2019 09:28:25 am
Lovely interpretation of the odd trends we see in the new generation. Us old folk must watch these things unfold and see where the changes take us. I concur that character development is imperative to a story; so often it is overlooked.
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Ryan Drake
5/16/2023 09:42:18 am
While I respect your viewpoint, I have to strongly disagree. I am always in favor of any apparel or fashion choices that could further sexualize women.
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Wendy Picard GorhamWendy lives and works in the midst of words everyday--English teacher by profession, and writer by passion! Archives
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