You might get catalogs in your mailbox. J. Peterman still sends a lovely paper edition to my box. There are the graceful watercolor illustrations of garments, right next to the crisp and sparkling copy. Peterman was a real person, not just an invention of a marketing department.
The catalog is inspiring. The copy is written so carefully that each entry reads like a prose poem. That’s the way that copywriting draws us in. Lessons in Chemistry ruled the bestseller charts last year. Its author Bonnie Garmus is a copywriter. You can tell from the very first page. Clean, like a polished bone handle of a knife.
The garments call to mind the powers of costume. When we rehearsed and performed in plays, the actors in my companies got into overdrive when costumes were fitted. A high waist or wide lapels or a cape made our characters come to life.
There’s a saying from a Mark Twain short story that “clothes make the man.” They can make a story, too. Working with the care that a copywriter for Peterman would use, small details bring a story into sharp focus. Knowing there’s a straw boater atop the head of somebody, that the blouse under that suit used an underwired collar, that the shoe had a stacked heel — all of that helps readers see the scene.
You can get lost in the details and lose the focus of the story. Use them carefully. Read your Peterman to get a sense for how close-fitting your garment descriptions can be.
