Clothes are characters too

Yesterday I was clearing out some of the clothes I haven't worn for a while, and it set me thinking about how we construct our identities with clothes.

Clothes can tell a reader a lot about what makes our characters tick too.  In my sort-out I came across a lot of clothes that were a size too small, bought when I was in my dreamer phase of being super-slim.  I did briefly fit them, but when the realist kicked in I knew I was going to have to give them away,

Characters can have these dreamer and realist aspects too.  We might have a character pouring herself into too-tight jeans or a low-cut top because she wants to attract a partner, and coming home at the end of the day relieved to get them off, knowing in her heart that this really isn't the way to attract a soul mate.  Another woman might be wearing straight, short skirts and high heels because her mother taught her that was the way women should present themselves to the world.  

We can also use clothes to show the rebel in a character.  Every teenager wears things their parents disapprove of, but increasingly parents refuse to conform to what their children expect and become rebels in middle age, wearing what their children call unsuitable clothes,

Taken to its extreme, clothes or a piece of jewellery or insignia can indicate membership of a fanatical organisation, or be used to force members to conform to its groupthink.

There's lots of scope to use a character's clothes to show their background and internal and external conflicts, so think about what they wear when you visualise them.