Next Meeting: Thurs 9 June 2022

Next meeting of Dalston Writing Group will be Thurs 9 June 2022, 6.00 to 7.30pm at Dalston CLR James Library. 

Our theme for this session will be clothes, style, fashion, threads, clobber, duds, garms, and, well, you get the picture. 

By way of inspiration, here are eight short stories about clothes.

Here, courtesy of Vogue, is some flash fiction on fashion.

And here are the prompts we used at this session:

A piece of clothing that reveals (intentionally or not) something about its wearer's background, class, status etc.

The dawning realisation that your character has totally misunderstood what’s happening, and that their outfit is deeply inappropriate for this event.

Something your character keeps, even though they know they will never wear it again.

Something worn by a passing stranger plunges your character back into their past.

Something your character wears (or carries), from which they draw strength. It might not be visible, like a discreet tattoo.

Scene(s) from the long and varied life of a jacket, currently hanging on the rail in a Dalston charity shop. Bonus points if you can make the jacket itself the narrator.

Your character is making a bold statement by refusing to abide by sartorial convention at a funeral or a wedding. How? Why? Try telling this story either from the wearer’s perspective, or from the point of view of others present.

What a uniform means to your character. What if it's the first time they've put it on? Or the last?

Your character is forming a detailed opinion of someone they’ve only just met, based solely on that person’s appearance. Describe every aspect of the person being observed, from head to toe. What does your main character think? What can you reveal about their own prejudices and assumptions?

Write an account of a fancy dress party featuring any (or all) of the following: Henry 8th, Elvis, The Queen, Madonna. Superman is hosting.