Clicking Our Heels – Wardrobes and Our Novels and Characters

When one thinks of the elements that go into a book, one thinks about things like characters, setting, voice, but the Gang members recently had a discussion about how wardrobe plays a role in our books and how we dress our characters. We thought we’d share our thoughts about wardrobe with you.

Lois Winston – Anastasia is too busy paying off the enormous debt her first husband saddled her with when he dropped dead at a casino in Las Vegas. Clothes shopping is the furthest thing from her mind these days. She’s most comfortable wearing her old Defy Gravity or NY Mets sweatshirts.

Saralyn Richard – I loved dressing Margo in Murder in the One Percent. She makes an entrance into the dining room for dinner in a smashingly elegant dress. I shopped for days online to find the perfect one!

Gay Yellen – One of the challenges Samantha Newman faces in my latest release, The Body in the News, is the “uniform” that her new employers force her to wear. The wardrobe directive inflames her natural rebelliousness and makes for a bit of humor as well.

Mary Lee Ashford – Fashion isn’t a big part of my current series, but in the Pampered Pets books Caro and Mel’s designer wardrobes were a big part of their characters. Because I’m not a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination, dressing Caro required a lot of fun research.

Donalee Moulton – One of the characters in the book I’m working on now, Bind, is a little out there, wonderfully so. She practices reflexology, is a certified yoga instructor, and may get messages from those in the great beyond. Dressing her — without making her a stereotype — is a challenge.

Debra Sennefelder – In my Resale Boutique Mystery series, Kelly Quinn is a fashionista and the backdrop of the series is her consignment shop, so I do pay attention to how the characters dress. Some are trendy, so I search online and follow fashion influencers and other characters really don’t care about fashion.

Anita Carter – In the Pampered Pets series, clothes play a large part in the characters. I’m not big into designer brands so had a subscription to Vogue, watched a lot of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and window-shopped the Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s websites.

Bethany Maines – Pinterest! Once I establish my character’s background the look becomes important and if I don’t already have something picked out Pinterest will ALWAYS be able to find me just the right outfit.

Barbara J. Eikmeier – Amanda moved from the city to a farm and I used her wardrobe to show how she is a fish out of water in the beginning. As she slowly gets accustomed to her new surroundings her wardrobe changes become an important indicator of how she’s trying to fit in. But I let her keep her stilettos because she’ll need them at the end.

T.K. Thorne – In my urban fantasy, House of Rose, Becca is always dressed well, in opposition to Rose, whose idea of fashion is a clean tee shirt and jeans. It was a fun way for the very different characters to express themselves, learn to love their differences and to recognize the deeper values that bind them.

Donnell Ann Bell – I think I’ve answered this question before. My characters are not clothes horses at this point. I garb them to suit the character. However, I occasionally write a secondary character that is well off and I describe that on the page.

Debra H. Goldstein – Wardrobe is more important for my secondary characters than for my major characters because it helps define their roles.

Dru Ann Love – No.