Help! Fashion Crisis!

[kayokitten]

XD Yes, indeed, ya'll, I am NOT a fashion person. I know nothing about the world of fashion. So, I'd like some help from ya'll--what makes a fashionable person...fashionable? What makes someone unique in your eyes? Post some pics if you can, I'd really like to see some of ya'll's ideas here. I'm a t-shirt and cargo pants kinda girl. What do ya'll wear? Why do you wear it? Also, what do the "stars" wear that you all think makes them look like the "stars" they are?

This is for curiosity's sake, but it's also for some personal research of mine. As an artist, I need a wide array of costume ideas, and I'm...frankly drawing a blank, and I have no idea what any of these outfits in these magazines have to do with anything. O_o Fashion crisis for my characters! And for me.:eek:

[kysentha]

basically, i wear jeans and t-shirts and sweater hoodies...the boring combo. I want corsets and combat boots!

[SweetNymph]

Fashion is whatever a group of people tucked away in a room in New York decide will be the fashion. Or is that trends? Either way, these people also pick the "new black".

[kayokitten]

That isn't entirely what I meant, SweetNymph...^^; I'm not talking about mainstream fashion. I could do that just by picking up Seventeen. But I don't WANT to know what the idiots-in-pink are doing. I want to know what the rest of the manga community are wearing and why they're wearing them, and I want to know what ya'll think is cool. I have no fashion sense--I would wear two different socks and everything that clashed horribly if I could get out of the house wearing stripes and polka dots. I'm a hoodie girl if it's cold enough, t-shirts if it's hot enough. I go through nine pairs of pants and then go wash them all.

But unfortunately, characters need costumes and I'm stumped on what looks good on a character, what makes them unique.

[takethebackseat]

Hmm. Ties. I've always worn ties from before way back when. I think ties are awesome, especially on the feminine persuasion ^_^

Polkadot ties rule.

[kayokitten]

^-^ I thought for a while that ties looked good when used as belts. My first pathetic attempt at "fashion" included tying ties around the character's pants legs. XD

[Shizu-san]

I have a green belt that is meant to be used as a tie. It's pretty nifty, although it doesn't match with the majority of my wardrobe.

As for what I wear... t-shirt and jeans. I don't really try to put much effort into what I wear. However, if you're designing a character, you should think of things that particular character would wear, not what the fellow anime/manga community would. Afterall, if you were to design, say, a preppy character, then that character would wear preppy clothes, right?

[Kentra]

fashion chirs neds help in make -up and the cloths

[kayokitten]

However, if you're designing a character, you should think of things that particular character would wear, not what the fellow anime/manga community would. Afterall, if you were to design, say, a preppy character, then that character would wear preppy clothes, right?


T__T But that's the problem...I can get just about every other aspect of what a character would do, say, react, but when it comes to clothes, I am completely and utterly sunk. I don't KNOW what a prep wears--I pay more attention to how they act and what they look like rather than what they wear. As far as I'm concerned, EVERYBODY wears t-shirts and jeans. But the thing is, you can somehow tell when someone's wearing something fashionable, and I really can't quite figure THAT part out. Yet. It's the psychology of the fashionable. O-O I'm doomed, aren't I.

[Shizu-san]

Lol. Well, calling yourself doomed would be going a bit far. You're by no means doomed. Maybe you just need to force yourself to make observations about what kind of clothes people wear, and what that says about their personalities, just to get started. You have examples all around you; your peers, people whom you walk past in, say, the mall, magazines (fashion magazines particularly; you'll find the oddest yet most inspirational things in there), television...

As to what most people consider "fashionable"... Well, it's obvious that term differs from person to person. Next time you see someone you think is fashionable, take note of what they're wearing. Even if you can't put your finger on what you like about their outfit, you can still use that image as reference/inspiration in the future.

[kitten]

basically, i wear jeans and t-shirts and sweater hoodies...the boring combo. I want corsets and combat boots!

Coursets are fab, but suck if your going out drinking (as I found out the hard way). I always say never wear clothes louder than you are, customising (feathers/sequins/buttons, etc) always rocks, and finally, don't be scared to try something new.

[kayokitten]

I will never wear a corset, but I've been studying a LOT lately from the suggestions on this thread (and I still think I'm doomed, btw). I went out to the mall and there was this whole group of goths and they looked so freakin' cool. O__O I asked if I could sketch the group and if they gave me their phone I'd give them a finished piece for their trouble. At first they were kinda like o.O dude, this doesn't sound quite right...but then they relented when they saw a few of my other drawings. ^-^ Turns out they were anime fans, too. Soooo...I got to sketch some pretty awesome clothes. I combined them together to make one of my characters' costumes, because she's a pirate and I was like...O.O Perfect. ^-^ Blank has a good costume now!

But I also did some short sketches of other people walking by, and I've got some pretty spiffed ideas. I even found a shirt that one of the girls was wearing (actually, she called it a "blouse"....O.o What's the difference? Help?) and I'm wearing it right now. ^-^ So prettyful. And it was customizable, so I put my kanji nickname on the back. It's the kanji for "little sister", if anyone's curious.

On a side note, Kitten, people might have a little trouble with us if you post regularly, because most people've been calling me that. XD I TOLD them to called me UK or TUK. ^^;;

[PJ.P]

It's not about what is trendy. We all look different, you have to adapt your clothes to your figure/look. Of course there are dress codes for certain groups that you belong to. You know what? **** it, wear what you think is hip-hop. There are no rules, like SweetNymph said, it's a group of hungry for money people that decide what the next $1000 jacket should look like.

[Dorian]

Well, I wear the things that I wear because I like to be me. I don't like wearing anything that everyone else has. I am a non-conformist. I am going to tell you about things that I usually wear and things I own, and combos that I put together.

Socks- White/black, Yellow/black, Pink/black, purple/black, blue/black all knee highs. Fishnets some torn and black green pair and black knee high pair with bows in front, and blue ones, others can't think of right now.

Shoes-Chucks, Ankle boots(chunkies), Asian Inspired flats in red and black dragon style and crushed velvet purple. I also will tie a ribbon around my ankle, purple or red or black, whatever matches.

Bottoms- Skirts, mini or knee length in black, one has d-ring's hanging off and the other has lace trim on edges. Also Jeans darker colord not black though, and no desgins or faded anything on them unless ive done it myslef by accident or continous use. I also own a pair of jeans which I have drawn lot's of designs on, They also over the years have acquired a big ripin the back going sade ways to make up for that I wear a pair of black hosiery which has a flower vine design on them under these. So you see no skin, but black and a flower design. No shorts too muchg sun, bad for your skin. I only wear skirts with striped socks or hosiery and a garter belt, holds socks at certain length.

Tops- sadly I own no corsets, I only will buy the expensive ones that are hand made, that no one else will have and since I am always broke I have to work on that. I do wear Longsleeve dark shirt under t-shirts in winter. Band Shirts anytime are always good. Anime/manga character shirts always good too.

Dresses- One dress, in pink, black, and red. Plaid desgin pink majority. Lace up corset style front. I wear it either with pants or with all black hose. With chunky boots. Always an under shirt preferably black.

Hair- either down, or in a bun with a hair stick thats got dangly stuff, or chopsticks.

Makeup- However creative I feel with the liquid black eyeliner.

[Obsidian_Faerie]

Fashionable people, to my mind are more or less ppl who manage to take wtv clothes are out they're and make it their own. Helps to be able to modify clothes you have already or cheap clothes from markets etc.

[EirieYukifan]

wahhhh!!! u havefashion sense!:P wearing jeans and a t shirt is fine ^ ^! well...jeans and mebbe an anime shirt *laughs nervously* i mean..thats not wot i wear.>.>; just wear wot feels best for ya^ ^ Gal style all the way fors meee!!! ^ ^

[ParaKiss]

If you're looking for fashion for your manga, I have an easy way to solve it.

Start buying magazines like Vogue, ZIPPER or FRUiTs. Vogue for some classy looks, ZIPPER has haute couture and FRUiTs for some street fashion. But... This magazines can be expensive and ZIPPER and FRUiTs will have to be imported.

For cheaper alternatives, teen magazines or catalogues from Target and other clothing stores will help too.

Just 'copy' the clothing from them and swap a few letters here and there :)

[orewatanseida]

@_@ Isn't that what she said she coulda done if she wanted that media-inspired.... crud? It wouldn't work for nayone besides the shallow, low self-esteemed or preppy, popular, etc. characters.

However, what is it exactly that you're looking for? Clothes for your manga characters? Because us posting what we wear usually couldn't tell you much because our personalities may not be the same. Like, you said you dunno what a prep wears? Are you wondering what each personality wears?

Girl preps wear mini skirts or tight.... tight.... TIGHT jeans....I hate jeans now cause I wore them for a year and couldn't breathe in them.... my leg feels half numb. And then they wear tight shirts from Hollister or Aeropostale or American Eagle, trend names, accessories, straightened hair. They usually have bright colours like pink and yellow and sometimes have shiny stuff. Guy preps wander from fitting jeans, not tight nor baggy, and vary on tops from tight t-shirts to medium t-shirts or those button-up shirts, or whatever's in Hollister, American Eagle, or Aeropostale.

Emo peeps go to Hot Topic... or maybe that's goths.... I dunno the difference.

Geeks and nerds, which don't really exist at my school, but on TV wear.... kinda proper stuff or don't care about their clothes... stereotyped with glasses and ruddy hair and vests and blouses, dress shoes. Actually.... I dunno about geeks, but nerds are lieke that. I'm a geek. Band geek, haha.

Everyone else just wears jeans and shirts and whatever's in their closet. Seriously, they really don't have a style but the above things define those people. A lot of guys wear jeans and some band shirt or just a shirt in general, and the average girl just wears jeans and a shirt too. Seriously, I wore a skirt to school and everyone thought I was dressing up.

If you want help on the clothes for your characters, it may help if you gave their persona or think abhout mangas and animes and TV shows with similar personalities and look at what they wear.... or jsut look at what they wear in general.

And for the 411, I try not to be too average. I wear huge band (like, school band... marching band) shirts and shirts in the summer or at home and jeans at school. And I also wore layered shirts, like, I put a long sleeved shirt under a short sleeved one (mostly cause my school tried to freeze the students to keep them awake). And I wore skirts a lotrecently because of Cardcaptor Sakura. I've never seen a girl wear pants except during the skiing episode. For example, I have a skirt where the front is denim but the back (half-half) is a plaid pleated skirt and I wore whatever black shirt above it and boots. And once I wore a blue striped blouse beneath a hot pink shirt and a blue flowery skirt.... I felt like cotton candy ^_^

[Emmyabhorsen]

i like to wear drainpipes, hoodies (with bands on) stuff like that. i love converse.

[Pedes]

http://ruuieyvm.deviantart.com/
http://nyanko-chan.deviantart.com/
Those gorls show some nice fashion ^^
Anyway...
I myself never had problems with clothing apart from drawing a particular type from partuicualr time without reference (and drawing patterned laces x.x).
I just look around and see what I like and how people dress... I'm afraid a lot of watching how people dress awaits you.
Fashionable people, to my mind are more or less ppl who manage to take wtv clothes are out they're and make it their own.

I think that's true.
And this is a really complicated case. It's not enough to say you wear t-shirts and jeans. What t-shirts? Plain? Patterned? with writing on it? Is it your size or too big/small?
What kind of jeans? Once that fall or tight ones? Are they up to your waist or only to hips? Plain or washed-off efect? New ones or worn off up to the point of tearing?
Belt or without? If belt what kind? Kolor? Chains? Fake-diamond encrusted?
Watch? Joulery?( how do you spell that?)
Bag? Backpack?
Yeeaaah....
I think you get the hang now...
Remember one thing: what really, deep in it's core, makes good look are DETAILS. Little details make one jeans-and-T-shirt poerson loook unlike the other. Details make one goth-dressed person look lame and the other glamorous.

[Shay]

I wear lots of black and I love skateboard shoes.

[Katsy]

I LOVE clothing. I always wear skirts though because I look awful in pants. To me how you wear your clothing makes it hot. I love throwing together things one wouldn't normally put together, and I always get compliments on my stuff. I'm my friends and co workers favourite shopping buddy. Think of unique colour combinations, cute with hard edge, and basic with glam. Or just go with something plain and add your own touch. I own way too many clothes, but this is how I usually do it. Also take your footwear into consideration. Switch it up, because shoes can change the whole look of your outfit. Same with hair. Jeans and tee for day, pair those jeans with a fab cami and glam hair, you got the perfect party outfit. Down play a glam dress with a pony tail and flip flops. You get the idea. Anyway I could go on forever with clothes so I'll stop it here.

[Serafimangel]

Hrmmm, my fashions vary.

I go either gypsy, hippie or normal.

Examples

Gypsy: Brown skirt with many different materials and patterns, its floaty. Brown top with tiny gold roses and skull and cossbones on it and a purple lace bolero with roses and sequins on it, i wear this with cork mules. Glass and golden necklace with ribbin and bracelet matching.

Hippie: Long green tye dye skirt going into brown, long sleeves dark green top with "freedom" on it, army waistcoat (green) and denim mules. Green butterfly earrings.

Normal: Jeans, normal top, pink indystar shoes, plectrum earrings and necklace and my red guitar beltbuckle.

[chocopocko]

normally i like to layer my long tank tops. usually by uning lots of colors, paired with simple jeans. what makes my style my own is my jewelery. i like to add necklaces (usually 3) at different lengths for a cool effect.

and a lot of those "popular" people wear brandname clothes (or with the little symbol), so i would reccomend maybe creating your own brand in order to distinguish those sorta people.

its really cool if you can create different things and clash them together, like striped socks with a girly skirt. or a preppy girl with a a skull necklace. interesting effects there.

[SweetNymph]

I work in Banana Republic (for 3 more days), which is the HEIGHT of overpriced preppy fashion. There's actually a seasonal booklet to show examples of how to mix and match all the merchandise to make a fashionable ensemble.

So really, what's fashionable is whatever the Powers that Be of the fashion industry decide will be fashionable at any given time. Now, as to whether said fashion looks good, is practical, or if anyone even likes it is another matter entirely.

As for me, so long as a person doesn't smell and look like they've never heard of a bath and they're clothes are covering everything required by law, that person's version of "fashion" is the problem of whoever has to look at them all day.

[YamPuff]

I work in Banana Republic (for 3 more days), which is the HEIGHT of overpriced preppy fashion. There's actually a seasonal booklet to show examples of how to mix and match all the merchandise to make a fashionable ensemble.

So really, what's fashionable is whatever the Powers that Be of the fashion industry decide will be fashionable at any given time. Now, as to whether said fashion looks good, is practical, or if anyone even likes it is another matter entirely.
So long as people buy the whole deal and pay their money for it...why shouldn't they tell people what to wear and overprice their items? ;)
As an artist, I need a wide array of costume ideas, and I'm...frankly drawing a blank, and I have no idea what any of these outfits in these magazines have to do with anything. O_o Fashion crisis for my characters! And for me.:eek:
"How to Draw Manga: Costume Encyclopedia" Is an awesome resource.

In any event, think of the character's point of view. Does he want to catch attention? Than he'll wear bright colors, flashy outfits, skin-bearing clothes. Lots of acessories. Does he want to go unnoticed? Than he'll dress in a more common way. Sophisticated? Clean-cut clothes, maybe designer stuff, nothing trashy, a few well-placed accessories. Rebel? Crazy stuff your mom wouldn't want you to wear.

Work on it piece by piece; my character Grace is very rich and very girlie. (She's also a wonderful person with carroty hair.) Her fashion: always skirts or dresses and a cute cap or hat. Nice blouses, lace, expensive jewelry and footwear. Since her hair is red, she avoids certain colors like pink and uses others like green. Her mom is conservative so she wears pretty things, bright colors and such, but nothing too revealing or sexy. She's pretty modest and naive too, so she doesn't think of attracting men by her looks. She is usually overcome by lots of bows and ribbons. ^^

On the other hand I have a male character who is very aware of how people see him and worries about the impression he makes on people. So he dresses according to the fashion of the day, never anything daring or very different. He doesn't care about his appearance for himself, but likes to look respectable, so his clothes are always crisp and ironed and his hair is always brushed. This doesn't make him a wet rag, tho, he just doen't care enough about his looks to go out of his way to be different.

Their personalities influence their fashions. That's the same with everyone; you buy those clothes for a reason. Ask yourself 'what reason?' and you'll have the key.

[Owl*Light]

I like to wear things that i make. I tear apart a lot of the clothes i buy to make new ones. Its fun and it gives you the chance to make your own ideas and such. ^^;