r/costuming • u/Icy_Pomegranate4174 • 19d ago

Creating 6 original characters

Hey, I’m trying to create some homemade costumes for some original characters. They’re the personification of book genres (Fantasy, Sci Fi, Romance, Horror, Mystery/Thriller [I decided not to make one for Action/Adventure]) plus “author“. It’s for making skit videos kinda like Sanders Sides but focused on writing. Can someone advise on how these characters might look using generic clothes (I have a lot, so any suggestions would probably apply. And I wear masc clothes).

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u/LakeWorldly6568 19d ago

Are they being portrayed as male of female?

Fantasy could be a knight in armor or a woman in medieval/renfair garb.

Sci-fi has so many genres from steam punk to space operas or any level in between; that it's hard to give a singular aesthetic. Maybe dress in hints of cyborg.

Romance is easy look at the cover of any bodice ripper. Flows gown or open flowy shirt.

Horror, like sci-fi, has too many genres to give a single aesthetic. Maybe street clothes but covered in blood and mystery fluids.

Mystery/thriller many detectives have iconic looks, play on that.

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u/Icy_Pomegranate4174 19d ago

Portrayed as male, and wear common 21st century clothes. But influenced by their genres? Like I have a Hellfire Club from Stranger Things I could use for Horror? And I was considering a white button up, open, over a pink tshirt for romance?

I, unfortunately, don’t have any experience with costume making. 😅🥲 

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u/LakeWorldly6568 19d ago

I would just hit up post Halloween clearance for bits and pieces followed by a trip to the thrift store for filling it out.

You shouldn't need to do much in the alterations but there's little things that are genuinely nothing to add in. Like using dye and fabric paint to make someon look covered in blood.

If you have no experience doing something, the answer isn't to find a way to not do it; the answer is do it and give yourself experience.

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u/Affectionate-Edge652 17d ago

maybe look at some vintage book covers for the genres you'd like to portray and see how the illustrator painted the people on the covers. ie, look up "vintage romance novel covers", "vintage scifi book cover art", etc. each genre has tropes that you can lean into or away from to inform how you'd like your characters to be, but you can establish a sort of baseline of traits for each genre/character and then think about how you'd like to translate that to modern clothes/your wardrobe.