Character Development: Clothing

Initially at the beginning of this project I sketched this idea out based on a dress I saw at the museum. It would never be the final idea but I instantly liked the shape and structure of the dress, however I knew that if my character was to do a lot of movement, the full length dress would be too restricting so I would need to shorten it.

I thought about cutting away part of the dress in order for it not to be too restricting, but this ended up looking more like a 'can-can dress' which wasn't really the look I was going for. After seeing An Jeong Won's work I thought his style seemed to look quite fitting. From this I then started trying out different styles and seeing which would look best on my character.

 

Below are some styles I was trying out. I definitely like the dress being shorter, even though it is in the 17th century I think it would appeal to more people in the modern age. The 'puffed up' sleeves on the left drawing were in fashion at the time, but I feel they were more suited towards men and it takes away her femininity a bit. I decided to try thinner sleeves with a wide opening on the arm, this too was in fashion in the 17th century. Most of the time they would have ruffles on the edges to add volume and texture, however I wanted to keep it simple especially as she was to be undertaking a mission they might have got in the way. 

 

  

 

Something else that was big in fashion was to have a cinched in waist. I have done this by having the bodice come down into a v-shape and then the skirt of the dress expanding out from the waistline. I think this works quite well because as I wanted to show that my character is feminine, this effect shows off the shape of her body, her womanly figure. Seeing as she is living in the 17th century the short dress would not fit in too well, so I thought it would be better if she had a cloak to cover up. This also would allow her to carry things within the cloak quite secretively.

The mood board below is a collection of images which have inspired me to come up with my clothing design. The shapes of each dress as all quite similar to one another, yet the colours all differ. I will have to think of complimentary colours and how they will affect the appearance of my character as different colours can suggest either hero or villain for example.