In my current WIP I’ve been thinking a lot about the colors that surround my protagonist and how they evolve over the course of the story (and because this is loosely inspired by Cinderella, a makeover scene is a critical moment in the protagonist’s transformation which highlights the symbolism of colors she wears.) While I’m also considering colors in her environment, for this post I want to focus on clothes.
The first resource that really got me thinking about clothes and what they mean is the excellent blog Frocktalk, which unfortunately is not updated anymore; still, take a look through the older posts and the breakdowns of costuming choices and you’ll find a wealth of excellent analysis there. The blog focuses on films and television, but its lessons are equally applicable to stories in other forms. (For a blog that dissects historically accuracy, check out the wonderfully detailed (and sometimes deliciously snarky!) Frockflicks.
This morning I found this wonderful video that covers, among other things, the history of color in films:
In my WIP, I want to create contrast between Ella, my protagonist, and Hugo, the love interest. Ella is a country girl — she’s close to the land, and she views herself as a protector of the creatures in the land. She’s also a practical, hard-working farm girl so she wears solid wool, shawls she’s knit herself; she’s also mourning the loss of her father in the beginning, so I see her in dark grey, drab browns, very little color.
Hugo is a city boy from a wealthy family, and we find out later that he’s also very sophisticated — he loves music and opera and fine paintings. He wears brilliant color with sheen, in luxurious fabrics.
I also thought about where they are from to determine their individual color stories. Ella is from the country — a lush, rich world; she is also associated with the element of fire (she is the spark, the cinder.) Think the fiery palette of autumn leaves — saturated reds and oranges and glowing golds. When she arrives at the Midwinter Ball, unlike everyone else dressed in winter-y colors, she’s wearing crimson. The color of revolution.
Hugo is from the mountains, a cold, austere place. The brilliance of his colors are about clarity and winter colors — sparkling white, diamonds, silver, snow, sapphire-blue. So I look for ways to subtly incorporate those colors into his wardrobe.
I try to keep in mind not to overdo the visual cues, however! My friend Maureen McHugh always reminds me that Nabokov counsels writers to stick to two colors at a time, and I think that’s wise. More than that, and it’s an overwhelming amount of visual information to process. So stick to two colors at a time, but make sure they’re the right colors!