How To Describe Your Character’s Appearance

When you’re writing about your protagonist, you want the reader to see them–their clothes, shoes, the scarf they wear, that old-fashioned belt buckle that shines in the sunlight. These images will engage readers in the plot as they watch a movie inside their brain, complete with a fully-described cast of characters. The more unusual you can make an article of clothing or accessory, the more memorable:

Here are some ideas for colorful descriptors:

• Round spectacles tinted pink
• John was wearing tan slacks and a powder-blue golf shirt, a thick gold chain around his neck. He chewed gum. Mary looked at him and thought, Perfect.
• The driver was a big guy, wearing a steel-gray suit, wine-colored necktie and sunglasses. He looked like one of Warren’s security people: good physical condition and too big for the Corolla.
• Wore a rumpled suit and a tie that wasn’t knotted properly
• Wore a faded gray David Lynch Rules sweatshirt, wrinkled cargo pants, high lace-up boots
• Tight beige cotton pants and a loose cotton shirt striped with shades of blue and pink and red. No panty line.
• Tweed jacket, coat
• Tight sleeveless tunic over crop pants
• Despite that, and the ugliest Aloha shirt I’d ever seen
• With their beaded purses and gem-studded slippers, their arched eyebrows and raccoon eyes
• Dust-streaked plaid shirt and faded Levis
• graying heavyset man with wire-rimmed glasses
• his t-shirt contoured around his body like wet kleenex
• Sturdy, compact body, neatly dressed in a pressed suit, shined shoes and perfectly rolled-up sleeves
• Tan jacket. Brown pants, black shoes, a groove in his forehead from a hat now resting on his lap.
• The heavyset copy wore an ill-fitting gray suit over a pale blue shirt and a 1980’s navy blue tie. . Taking fashion direction from NYPD Blue
• Frisson of fear (delicious)
• Dangerous stillness about him
• wore martial arts slippers
• the collar of his greatcoat
• poor taste in clothes
• Top button of his shirt was undone, exposing his undershirt
• Chunky, square-faced, with short, curly hair and a bald spot at the crown of his head. He had small back eyes, fight scars under them, a nose that had been hit a few times.
• Middle-aged, wavy-haired brunette packed tightly into a peacock-blue knockoff Chanel suit.
• Barrel-chested, rust-bearded fireplug, five-six in thick-soled shoes, with sturdy, hirsute wrists and lumberjack hands. He wore a yellow-and-blue window-pane shirt, a big-knotted red tie of gleaming silk brocade, leather knit suspenders.
• His hand was still damp—from the water faucet in the restroom, Virgil hoped.