WriteHive Online Conference 2024: Fashion in Worldbuilding
Now that the 2024 WriteHive Online Conference panels are available on their YouTube channel, I’m catching up on the ones I missed during the conference itself and sharing some of the things I gleaned from them here!
The panel on “Fashion in Worldbuilding” talked about the different ways that clothing can be used not only for worldbuilding but also to show characterization and potentially advance elements of the plot. The panelists gave examples of how fashion can show how the world works, how colors can have a lot of meaning and significance in a setting, and how characters see themselves within that world.
One of the questions the panelists answered was how to show fashion without it being long, expository passages, and they talked about having their characters interact with their clothing, whether because the clothing is a hinderance to their movement or because they have a habit or affectation related to their clothing. They also talked about harmonizing fashion with other parts of worldbuilding, including the climate, seasonality, social status, and practicality. In addition, they all talked about some of their own inspirations for clothing in their writing, including movies, costume design, and real-world fashion that they adapted into their historically inspired settings/cultures. One of the final takeaways was the idea that if you have the opportunity to wear the clothing you want to describe, that can be an excellent way to really understand what you’re writing about.
If you’re interested in using fashion in your worldbuilding, this panel runs under 40 minutes, and you can watch it on WriteHive’s YouTube channel!
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