Writing Lesson Plan: Fashion Makes the Man (or Woman)

Do clothes matter? Are you affected by what you wear. Does your opinion of others change according to the clothes they have on?

Five minutes free writing on the topic. No readback.

This is a slightly different plan.

For this session I laid out, face up, on a table cut-out pictures (from newspapers and magazine) showing a range of different fashions. They included : men in fishing gear, models in high and daring fashion, a refugee, a doctor in theatre scrubs, a lawyer in wig and gown, a schoolgirl in uniform, a scout, a cosplay item, a ghost costume - whatever you can find - but it must be distinctive.

On a second table I laid out similar scraps, but of accessories like: a handbag, a pair of riding boots, an umbrella, a pair of water-wings, a toy teddy bear, a Swiss Army knife, a ham sandwich, a diamond brooch, a spider (plastic!), a teapot etc., but these pictures were laid face down.

There can be as many pictures as you like, but the bare minimum for each table is the number of writers + three. This is to allow all to have a degree of choice.

Exercise 1 Tell the writers they will have about 40 minutes to complete this exercise

Prompt

Ask all the writers to choose one picture from the first table. Allow 3 minutes, then ask them to write about whatever that picture brings to mind - it could be a story about a fashion show, or an article about homelessness for example. Some writers will choose just to do description, some will write a story, some will produce a diatribe.

After 20 minutes, interrupt them, and ask them to choose an item from the second table. Again allow about 3 minutes for the choosing.

Prompt

Tell them to work this second item into their writing, giving it a significant role.

Tell them they now have 20 minutes to complete the exercise.

Readback and discuss

Exercise 2 This will be shorter, depending on the fuss they made over the choosing, and the degree of hilarity in the reading back stage!

Write about one of the following:

1 A bad hair day

2 What happened to the emperor's old clothes?

3 In a theatre costume department

Readback and discuss