Question for Readers — How important is a character’s physical description to you?

Hello, aspiring author here (very unique and unheard of, I know)!

This subject is something I’ve been mulling over for a while now, and I think having other people’s perspectives might help.

I’m someone who really loves the classics, old books, ‘slow’ books, etc. That isn’t to say that I don’t like any new books, I certainly do, I’m just much pickier with them. And something that I’ve noticed is that ‘modern’ writing styles tend to put a lot more emphasis on characters’ physical appearance than classics do. Whether it’s the protagonist or supporting characters, a lot of modern writing seems to describe them in a lot of detail, often repeating physical characteristics throughout the book so that readers don’t forget the author’s physical vision for them.

Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of that. I’d like to keep my characters’ physical appearances more or less ambiguous, only highlighting key features that have some relevance to the story or themes, whatever that may be (scars or tattoos, for example). But I worry that these days, since physical appearance seems to be more apparent/important in a lot of writing, readers won’t enjoy reading a book that keeps physical descriptions vague/ambiguous.

So, as the title says, I’m really curious about what ‘modern’ readers prefer when it comes to a character’s physical appearance/description. Do you like it when authors go into great detail about how a character looks? Do you appreciate additional reminders throughout the writing? How important is a character’s physical description to you? Would you struggle to read a book written these days that doesn’t emphasize how a character looks?