I'm writing a Fantasy Novel in the middle ages, filled with swords and magic

However, I realize I have trouble trying to convey how the characters look, like what the nobles' attire, the bandit's armor.

It's kind of difficult to describe clothing since I either put too much emphasis on it or too less detail

Please help!

Give me an example of what you got so I can tweak it and explain my changes :D

For a start, I have no idea how Nobles' attire looks like.

As for the bandit, I described him as "Wearing crude leather armor with a sword strapped to his hip"

I don't want my commoners or merchants to be running around in cloth tunics so I need some help with describing them

I think i'm looking for a way to let the readers picture how they would look like in their general attire, especially if it's noteworthy or important

Thanks :)

You don't need to go all Wheel of Time on it (super detailed clothing. Whole pages about the embroidery on a dress). Vague descriptions work as well.

Generally, readers have great imaginations. They will use small details to create whole scenes in their head.

Unless your novel is set specifically in our medieval era, then you can have them wearing whatever you want. Swords and magic doesn't necessarily mean low technology, especially with clothing. Magically altered silkworms could potentially pump out high quality material for low costs, boosting the entire clothing industry.

Anyway, nothing is limiting you, so go crazy.

For most characters, you'd only really need to mention the most note-worthy (or noticeable... or better: unique characteristic) things like her red dress, crimson lips... or large belly.

^That is also how I'd start most description for just about ANY character and then maybe add to it as the readers get to know them. The more you gradually describe something, the more important it should be within the story.

Could you give me some examples of how I can describe a noble's outfit or what a merchant travelling on a carriage would wear?

I'm still kind of stuck on that topic since I don't know how to describe it

Thanks for helping

http://www.lordsandladies.org/middle-ages-clothing.htm
(^A quick google search :P

I think we're so hesitant to give you examples because it is so subjective. I mean, it is a travelling merchant or a well off merchant? Are they flaunting their wealth or being casual about it?
Is this noble a stuck up prick that was born a noble? Did they earn their title through war-time merits?
Personality and situation are key factors into clothing.

[Deleted]

TheWanderingSalad Wrote: I'm writing a Fantasy Novel in the middle ages, filled with swords and magic

However, I realize I have trouble trying to convey how the characters look, like what the nobles' attire, the bandit's armor.

It's kind of difficult to describe clothing since I either put too much emphasis on it or too less detail

Please help!

if you can send me an example of what the clothing looks like, i could help describe it.

TheWanderingSalad Wrote: For a start, I have no idea how Nobles' attire looks like.

As for the bandit, I described him as "Wearing crude leather armor with a sword strapped to his hip"

I don't want my commoners or merchants to be running around in cloth tunics so I need some help with describing them

I think i'm looking for a way to let the readers picture how they would look like in their general attire, especially if it's noteworthy or important

Thanks :)

The bandit description seems perfectly serviceable to me, honestly I’d just give a bit more description to the sword before the armor or rest of the clothing. So unless you’re trying for a more descriptive style you should be fine. Readers are familiar with fantasy medieval-esque land and so don’t need much for their imaginations to fill in the blanks. Succinct is usually better in  the case of fantasy adventure, readers aren’t there for clothing descriptions.

As for no cloth tunics and the like, just make a note fairly early on about some character wearing normal, common or unremarkable clothing with a quick description. 

Something like:

“Fred the commoner had just thrown his courier’s sash over his unremarkable homespun shirt and trousers rather pay for a real uniform.” or “Bill the merchant nearly strutted in pride wearing the finely tailored vest over his costly cotton button-downed shirt and trousers. The unofficial uniform of successful merchants.”

And maybe just mention noblemen’s fashionably cut, expensively dyes silks, samites or the like if you don’t want to make the base clothing too different. Mention details mainly when the clothing new to the reader, important somehow, or different from the norm. Maybe a merchant’s clothing has become worn to reflect hard times, maybe the bandit ate some his leather armor because he’s starving, maybe a nobleman wears the sash of a military officer to show he’s active in war or proud of his service.

But once the standard is set most people will just go with it unless told otherwise.

Just my 2 cents, hope something here was helpful.

There are some really good historical dress youtube videos that go over medieval clothing, CowsEyeProductions has a variety of getting dressed videos that include detailed descriptions of the kinds of clothing being worn and the significance of it. For example, their ploughman video is pretty good and quite interesting. I like these videos since more than just how the clothing looks they also talk about what it might be like living in them.

Vague descriptions are fine.  Readers will fill in descriptions on their own, including missing details they 'think' should be there, to the point where the fact that Harry Dresden doesn't wear a hat is a running joke in the series - granted, part of this was the publisher filling in this mental detail on their own, and one might be inclined to blame the person who did the illustrations - but remember that that person is also a reader, and subject to the same experience as the rest of us.

Which is to say - give enough description to satisfy yourself.  Don't worry if the reader comes away with a different mental image than the one you have in mind - that's fine, that's part of the experience of reading, and part of the nature of writing.  Imagination fills in the gaps.  If you never mention clothing at all in a story, nobody is going to imagine everybody is running around naked, after all - even if everybody actually is running around naked, and it is never mentioned in the story because nudity is as invisible to the perspective character as the idea of being clothed is to us.

There's a lot of resources on fantasy clothing here so I'll remark on how much description. TLDR: It depends on the character, timing and WHO you're describing the character from.

Um, for lack of a better word, I'm going to pull from my story, A Fractured Song.

So, when I started a new arc, I went on a brief descriptor for my MC to remind my readers what she looks like because the story is mostly from her perspective. 

Quote:A girl about her age, with olive-brown skin and brown hair, had sat down across from Elizabeth. She wore a simple green dress, which was mostly covered up by a quilted jacket, and was carrying a small cloth-wrapped package.

But later, in another arc, when my MC is trying to figure out who a strange visitor is, she focuses on what she immediately notices: 

Quote:Shaking her head, Frances walked to the door. Out of an abundance of caution, she peeked through a side-window to catch a glimpse of the visitor.

 
From how much grey was in her black hair, the woman at the front door looked around her late fifties, or perhaps early sixties. It was difficult to tell thanks to the skillfully-applied makeup she wore. She wore a fine jacket and trousers, both of silk and a wide-brimmed hat that sat comfortably above pointed ears, like a troll. Except, this woman wasn’t a troll—she looked mostly human. She also had a twisted spine, like her mentor, only, hers was turned so that one shoulder rose above the other. It was why she was leaning on a cane as she stood in front of the door

Now, that's not all that this new visitor is wearing. In fact, my MC starts to notice more when she gets more info, eg. She finds out this woman is a councilmember, basically a member of the city's senate, and she notices more about her clothing

Quote:Now that she was closer, Frances realized the woman’s dress was lavish, but subtly so. Little things like solid gold buttons for her jacket, a silver bracelet with the largest sapphire she’d ever seen. Her cane was tipped with a gold cap and engraved.

The idea is, that you don't have to flood your reader with a paragraph of description. Especially if the story is told from the perspective of your MC, take your time and explore what they see from their viewpoint as the scene goes on.

I have more or less googled images from a variety of video games and base my descriptions from there, and I let readers/artists come to their own visual conclusions.

For many years I've always imagined Matriarch (my main character) having the Jack of Blades mask. Since that's obviously copyrighted and has its own place in video game lore, I more or less had to customize my description. What came forth, was the image in my sig when an artist gave it a shot. It's gorgeous and the best kind of rendition I could ever hope for.

Same goes with her outfit and armor. I have a specific set from Dragon Age 2 that I imagine her wearing and I just wrote it out and whatever people think about... it'll just have to be close enough.

For non-copyrighted stuff, you can still just google "medieval armor" or "bandit armor", and just write out a paragraph describing what you see.

I like to just call out the important tidbits and leave the rest to whatever imagination my readers have. 

Quote:Thinking such things, she descended the steps by rote, absorbed in her thoughts. She stepped out into the main hall that circumnavigated the base of the central spire and nearly ran into someone. She caught a curious glimpse of a cavalier’s hat, with a ridiculous plume of a feather tucked into the side, but because of the difference in height she couldn’t see the face beneath it.
Her training kicked in and she stepped to the side to avoid the collision, but a hand shot out and grabbed her arm anyway and whirled her around like a top. Her hand hit her gunbutt and she drew quickly, pushing the ponderous barrels underneath the person’s armpit.
They released her quickly, and stepped away, hands raised.
Katarina eyed the man that lifted the brim of that ridiculous hat carefully. He wasn’t as tall as she was, but he had thick black hair in glossy ringlets, compelling brown eyes, wide moustache and narrow pointed beard.
He gave her a saucy smile, a brilliant flash of teeth, touched his hat again, and let out a rich chuckle. “It seems as though our training is widely different.” He began in an accented voice. “Me, I pull you to dance so that you do not slip and fall; you, you pull your gun.”
He tucked his hand into his waistcoat and gave her the suggestion of a bow. Katarina holstered her gun and smirked at him. He wore a long narrow black waistcoat, heavily and richly embroidered in silver thread, with a brilliant red sash across from right shoulder to left hip. Loose cloth breeches bloused over long boots with the tops turned down, and draped over his shoulders like a mantle was a deep crimson greatcoat, the apotheosis of deep, brilliant, ruby red. The greatcoat itself was covered in dense gold embroidery.

Whatever it is that you have in your mind, it's probably different than what's in mine. However, I do make sure to put in keywords so that people (if they were so inclined) can google up what a "greatcoat" or a "waistcoat" is, to better cement in their mind what they person is wearing.