Today I’m going to talk about clothing. Let me first confess that I hate to shop. I’m not one of those people who can hit the mall and instantly find something that looks great. I hate trudging into stores and prefer catalog shopping. That way I can turn down the edge of the page and think about my choice and avoid the impulsivity.
But enough about me. I’m basic and boring, as is most of my educational/functional wardrobe.
My characters, however (to use a pun), are another story.
I am my hero and heroine’s personal stylist; so, on paper, I am a wardrobe wizard.
While I’m certainly not complaining about Sawyer Branch and his wet t-shirt and rock hard abs (ooh la la), I love to put my heroes in suits. There is nothing quite like a guy wearing a suit and tie. Suits simply say class in a way that a flannel shirts and holey jeans can’t. Sure, I’ll dress my hero down too, when the circumstances warrant, and make him Ralph Lauren casual. But I like the glamour of a business suit and the aura it creates.
For me, part of the escapist experience of enjoying romance is being whisked into a world outside my own. I just watched Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep. The thing that really struck me was how important his hat was to his character. Whatever happened to hats? Remember when women wore dresses all the time in classic movies? And how Audrey Hepburn and Lauren Bacall could carry them off so well? I long to be as beautiful and chic as Audrey Hepburn in Charade, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Sabrina. (Admit it, we also loved Sex and the City for the clothes.)
We are in an era of the casualization of what we wear. Corporations are having to define business casual as the younger generation takes that to mean flip flops are okay. I work where I can wear pants with a plain t-shirt (which is good, since I hate pantyhose with a passion). I like comfortable flats that still seem a bit dressy. My students wear flip-flops or tennis shoes and one teacher I work with lives in Crocs year-round.
In my world, the swankiest events I attend are the RWA RITA/GH ceremony and the Harlequin party. Thus, my wardrobe contains one or two dresses I’ve only worn once. My RWA clothes make me a bit like Katherine Heigl’s character Jane in 27 Dresses. You don’t want to throw those dresses out, but you can’t wear them anywhere else.
Hence my need for my hero to take my everyday heroine somewhere special so I can dress her up beyond basic. I usually get out the clothing catalogs, turn to all those dog-eared marked pages and pick the dress I really want and wish I had somewhere to wear. Then I dress my heroine and create it visually for the reader. I find my heroine the right shoes, earrings, and such. Even better, she never has itchy pantyhose or needs Spanx. In my books I can create a night of glamour, even if it’s just the office Christmas party. I can go back to the days where dressing up was more than putting on a fresh sweater and some fancier blue jeans.
Don’t get me wrong. My pocketbook is happy about my lack of haute couture and its accompanying dry cleaning bill. But in my books, when the scene fits, I love to jazz it up and splurge. After all, that’s what fiction’s for.
Michele Dunaway
Out of Line, Harlequin NASCAR 6/08
Tailspin, Harlequin NASCAR 9/08
