Clothes Design - How do you do it?

[rodusa]

I agree with everyone else, building up your own reference library of clothes, costumes, armours, etc is absolutely vital! If you don't have the space to save the files to your own computer, creating a dedicated blog (like tumblr) or even going to pintrest/polyvore are good ways to do it.

Another thing I think helps when designing/drawing clothes is to actually learn a little bit about their construction, how they're worn, and such. I'm speaking for personal experience here-- I drew ties completely wrong for years and years, and had sooo much trouble figuring out how to make them look better. Once I actually got a tie and wore it for the first time, everything clicked!

Cosplay websites and fashion blogs (specialized, general, 'high fashion'/haute couture, avante garde, etc etc) are good entry ways into learning the basics of sewing, fabric selection, what defines 'good' tailoring/fit, or even finding references for historically accurate construction of armours and such! When you know (or at least have a good idea of) the basics, you can make smarter choices about how you dress your characters. (For example: a poor character usually wouldn't have access to finer fabrics, and their clothes might fit them badly if they were hand-me-downs.)

This dreamwidth entry breaks down some of the costuming of Inception, and it really highlights how being very thoughtful of your characters' clothing/grooming choices can be a vital way to build/define their character, and transmit themes/ideas to the audience! 'v'

[owen7rackow]

I've just recently realized that one of my weakness is designing, and I'm really bad at it.

I'm not sure what's the correct theme for it, but clothe design is something that needs creativity of the artist or the creator, and it's all depends on them. Either it will look plain, or something new and unique.
Clothes are something that you need fit within the era, place and fashion. That's said, if you want to design, you'll need to consider all the surroundings as well. The most common types I see are the British era (Princess-ly and King-ly style), Steampunk (I still don't understand what it means), and Modern era.

But how do you do it?
Do you create your own?
If you use reference, where do you get it and how often do you use it? Or is everything in your head?

We would appreciate if anyone gives some detailed guidance as well. ^^

See, first of all when it comes to our work or liking of us whether its an aim to become anything or the thing that we should get we must have a obstinate(stubborn) nature until and unless we have such a kind of nature we can't anything in our life,, Like I tried in my entire life with designing, nicholas, clothing etc
Coming to the point,, I would like to suggest that firstly you need to pick a time period, once you have it then look at clothing of that style. Once its done then you need to pick a "Class" for the character. Just make a sure that you know different classes since each class have different clothing. Then you may go for building a character. Pick colors to work with the skin and "personality" of the character and repeat.
I hope my suggestion would definitely help you a lot!!

[pineapplepocky]

There's a few things with this, depending on what 'kind' of clothes you're looking for.

One is that modern fashion can go insane ways, and it's sort of like playing dress-up on your characters until it works. For more modern day clothing, go to online fashion shops around the world. They have what's hip today, and although you may never dress like them or buy the stuff on the site, it's what people find fashionable. Take the concept, change it up a little by adding your own designs and decorations, and it should work..somewhat.

The other one is historical fashion. All genres in fashion were created for one reason or another. Farming clothing was much looser, and high class fashion often had buttons and decor all over. It really depends on the culture, the time period, and historical events that happened during that time period. Google the thing up if it's historical fashion. One thing that helps in this section would be accessories. An example is that even though low class Norse Fashion was so plain, a key accessory that really split from other plain dresses is that they'd wear a tiny belt/pouch over their shoulder that holds sewing needles and other things, and is often decorated with beads.

Fantasy fashion can go so wild. You'd probably just pick up what you like from watching tons of tv shows, anime, and artwork. I'd say just check out deviantart for inspiration, or read a book. Or comics. Greatest thing with this kind of fashion is that it can go all sorts of places.

[aphosphene]

My secret is Tumblr. Haha, yes. But before I go to that of course I have to look at the things that influence my character.

> Ethnicity (japanese? american? arab? african?)
> Local weather (Winter? Summer?)
> Social class (middle class? wandering poor person? rich?)
> Time period. (Middle ages, modern times, elizabethan era)
> Religion (Muslim girls prefer to cover up, Hindus like sarees and piercing)
>

But what I really focus on is the character's preference and personality.

For example, I have a female character, a teenage high schooler, that lives in the modern times, daddy's very rich and it's a sweltering summer. You'd think she'd be wearing a cute tank top and designer skinny jeans with lots of accessories. But this character actually hates exposing too much skin, so out with the tank top. She hates bragging about her rich father so no designer jeans, and she hates the jiggling sounds accessories make so no to those too. She'd opt for a loose and light shirt, jogging pants and her ipod instead.

Sure external factors influence the way a character cloths her/himself, but in the end really depends on her/his preference.

So once I've really figured out what are the likes and dislikes of this character that's when I search for clothing. Usually I go to google, and yeah, tumblr.

[Destiny]

I do various things:
Sometimes, I really just think of the clothes myself (or they are very obvious, a suit usually always has the same basics).
If I don't design them myself, then there are usually three things I choose from:

1)
Google Image search
Sounds stupid, but I sometimes just type something in (like "Girl dress") and look at the results. Fast and sometimes really helpful.
Especially, when you search for a thematic clothing, like Gothic Lolita

2)
Clothing catalougues (or websites of cloth shops)
I really like shops where they have tags like "romantic, sexy, modern, etc" or when you can search for a specific color.
Also good about this is, that they often show the front AND back of the clothing.

3)
Dollmakers
There are various dollmakers on the internet and I love looking through the clothes there (since they have thousands of clothes for tops OR pants and with the possible combinations, it's almost unlimited).
My favorite is the e'Louai Dollmaker: CLICK

A very specific thing is, when I need historical clothes.
I love this page for that, since it has both images of that time as well as pefect replicas of the clothing: Click
The website is german, but you can easily translate the time names or just look through the pictures anyway

[Jamie97]

There's a few things with this, depending on what 'kind' of clothes you're looking for.

One is that modern fashion can go insane ways, and it's sort of like playing dress-up on your characters until it works. For more modern day clothing, go to online fashion shops around the world. They have what's hip today, and although you may never dress like them or buy the stuff on the site, it's what people find fashionable. Take the concept, change it up a little by adding your own designs and decorations, and it should work..somewhat.

The other one is historical fashion. All genres in fashion were created for one reason or Custom Clothing Manufacturers. Farming clothing was much looser, and high class fashion often had buttons and decor all over. It really depends on the culture, the time period, and historical events that happened during that time period. Google the thing up if it's historical fashion. One thing that helps in this section would be accessories. An example is that even though low class Norse Fashion was so plain, a key accessory that really split from other plain dresses is that they'd wear a tiny belt/pouch over their shoulder that holds sewing needles and other things, and is often decorated with beads.

Fantasy fashion can go so wild. You'd probably just pick up what you like from watching tons of tv shows, anime, and artwork. I'd say just check out deviantart for inspiration, or read a book. Or comics. Greatest thing with this kind of fashion is that it can go all sorts of places.

I agree with you, sometimes fantasy fashion can go very aggressive even for the viewer, I also happens to deviantart to use for inspiration as it helps a lot.
If you having difficulties with your clothes you can not only choose within modern or historical fashion but also choose fusion of both as it is more unique in itself. good luck

[MoonByte]

References, references, references.
Honestly, I sometimes wonder why so many artists seem to believe that everything they create has to come from some magical space in their mind.

I have folders filled with clothing.
Women, Men; Kids, Teens, Adult, Elderly.
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.
I have folders for certain groups, like Goth/Metal, Punk, "cool" and such.
I even have one that isn't meant to be a reference, but a mood board, with clothes that simply convey a certain feeling to me.
I also have a few to different locations and time periods (I have one for aztec priest clothes, a massive folder for european clothes of the 17th century, books about Tudor clothes alone).
Sure, sometimes I just instantly know exactly what I want, I'm like "That woman gets a dress with frills, a yellow flower on her left shoulder and some silk laces!". Most of the time I browse through my folders until I find something I like.
I always combine though. I take the color from this, the pants from that, the shoes from that other one and I add that cool pattern from the other folder.
And I often even can come up with own designs, simply because I am browsing my folders so often.
And if I really, REALLY am in a slump, I steal a catalogue for some clothes shop from my mom and browse through the current trend.
OR I go on Google Images, type in something like "Man cool" and look at what results the internet is giving me regarding the fashion under that tag.

In the end, the clothes I put on my characters usually turn out realistic, good looking and don't look like your Final Fantasy "5 belts are not NEARLY enough" kinda style. Or the shoujo manga style where each girl seems to wear five layers of cute clothes and fills her arms and neck with jewelery like a christmas tree.

[pastelciel]

But how do you do it?
Do you create your own?
If you use reference, where do you get it and how often do you use it? Or is everything in your head?

I set a specific clothing/fashion style for each character of mine. That means, when I note down their character profile I also decide which clothes they're most likely to wear. Like people in real life do: each of us enters shops and is captivated by certain kind of clothes, likes to wear certain shirts, shoes and so on. I make my characters do the same and only pick up clothes they like or they have a reason to wear (e.g. their affectionate little sister gave it to them, it's an ugly shirt but they wear it because of its meaning to them etc.)
This way I have the punk guy, the guy who wear blazers and ties, the girl who wear frilly and so on. It's important to know that each clothing style is a subculture and there are many more than we normally ignore if we don't document even a bit. I believe even the "punk style" has some sub genres as well. Maybe it's Sex Pistol's punk style or it's more teenager punk rock etc.
So I do it by research and documentation.

I google images, look for blogs and galleries. I document about that style on the net to know the main characteristic of that trend. As I just said, it's a subculture and pictures can show but not communicate what's important in that style. After choosing some photos as references and read about that style features, I try to invent some unique outfit for my character. For example I may think the punk style fits them but I also think that their symbol is the moon so I mix the two things.

I always use reference. And sketch and sketch over to reach a result that describes that character for good.

[curry nochi rice]

I actually buy back-issue or used fashion magazines from used bookstores. There's also occasional fantasy and steampunk drawing books so yeah. I avoid using online resources though, except for clothing terms.

[kistnerelizabeth]

For my clothing design, I use inspiration from favorite brands or pictures that I see or a certain era or time period or event that matches the theme of my story as well as going by the attitude and personality of the person wearing the clothes.

[Katy133]

I actually focus more on the individual character wearing the outfit, above all other factors.

I can divide my thought process into these questions:

1. What world/setting/time period is this character from? - This will narrow down what your character can wear. 1930s clothing is very different from 1990s. Medieval England clothes are different from Medieval France, and so on. Even fictional worlds tend to limit themselves to certain eras (Victorian era for steampunk, the "90's idea of what people would wear in the future" for cyberpunk).
2. What is this character's class/status? - Are they rich/poor? Upper/middle/lower class? The character's "budget" will reflect on what clothes they can afford.
3. What do you want to say about your character's personality? - A character wearing the same school uniform, but with their tie undone, can say that they're uncaring about their appearance. Certain clothes also symbolise things. A duffel coat is mainly worn by "underdog" characters, for example.
4. What do I like? - My personal tastes go into my designs as well. It should be the same with you too.

Asking yourself these questions may help you.

[DarkeAOU]

I have two books that I keep on hand whenever I'm designing outfits--Trinny and Susannah's What Not To Wear, and How to Draw Manga: Costume Encyclopedia Volume 1, Everyday Fashion. Having a solid idea of my character's build keeps me from sticking them in hideously unflattering clothes, and the Costume Encyclopedia is all about variations on theme and combining separates. Between that and Google (and my growing collection of reference images), I'm in pretty good shape.

That said, I do have a small notepad that I keep specifically for clothing design, filled with nothing but simplistic models (small steps from stick figures) in various outfits. I found it's a good method for balancing silhouettes, and typically only take a minute or two.

[Anyubel]

I am usually really bad at coming up with costumes or designs, so knowing me, I usually just look up anime outfits in general and see what comes up. I also look to real life for references too. My closet is filled with tons of interesting stuff surprisingly, so I usually copy a few things from what I already have. Looking at what people wear outside (ie. when on the bus coming home) is also an okay indicator too, but not too great since a lot of people where I live wear really generic stuff. I think looking up Korean fashion is a good place to start as well (their outfits are pretty unique: I really really need to try this)

Though, I do think that what makes an outfit stand out are interesting colour combinations and intricate designs that personalize it. So it's best to focus on those, imo.

[PunishedKom]

Yeah pretty much what everyone has already been said. You got to draw things based on reality after all so research, research, research.

[AllegroDiRossi]

One thing that is more on the craft side of it is just to draw tons of outfit variations. Don't just settle for the first thing you draw. By constantly remixing and trying different things, you can come up with great ideas after you've synthesized all that research.

Look at the concept art for Bayonetta. Her look went through dozens of amazing variations and remixes.