Costume Porn/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Costume Porn: Clothing so ridiculous that it's obviously there to gawk over. Bonus Points if it's written.

  • Straight: Two pages of description on a single dress that will never return.
  • Exaggerated: As above, but with three additional pages, and even more gushing detail after everything the wearer says or does.
  • Justified: The rich would wear extravagant clothes to flaunt their wealth.
  • Inverted: A detailed description of how plain and shabby an outfit is.
  • Subverted: A character wears something glorious and the author brushes over it.
  • Double Subverted: ...Until the conversation turns to clothes, and then we get the usual treatment.
  • Parodied: Everyone's wearing three suits of finery, their hair is taller than they are, and then they begin to complain about how dumpy they look.
  • Averted: Clothing is never described in detail.
  • Zig Zagged: The characters look great! Now it's sweats for everyone. Just kidding!
  • Enforced: "It's for 8-year old girls. Put everyone in glitzy dresses."
  • Lampshaded: An authorial aside about how dull describing clothing can be.
  • Invoked: The clever lead sets up a party to see who has the nicest clothes.
  • Defied: A no-nonsense character shuts down any discussion of clothing.
  • Conversed: "Jeez, what is this, a Jane Austin novel?"

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