History Analysis / CultureEqualsCostume

* Canadians can't go anywhere without their toques and Mountie uniforms, [[CanadaEh eh?]]

* Similarly, most Chinese women don't actually wear the ''UsefulNotes/{{qipao}}'' (AKA ''cheongsam'' in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qipao Hong Kong and often therefore the West]]) at all, let alone on a regular basis, but for some authors, that's just what Chinese women wear. This is acceptable in ''some'' settings though such as 1920s-1940s Shanghai or 1950s-1960s Hong Kong where the qipao was the daily wear for Chinese women. There are also Chinese restaurants and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheongsam#School_uniform more than a few schools]] in UsefulNotes/HongKong that have qipao as uniforms (most of which are girls' schools), several of which being renowned to be "elite" schools locally.
** Some authors probably [[AuthorAppeal find the qipao to be sexy]].

** Ironically, the qipao is actually based on Manchurian dress. A lot of the clothes thought of as stereotypically Chinese were forced on the Han on pain of death by the Manchu when they founded the Qing dynasty, including the long braid and shaved scalp, or queue, that men wore. Qing-dynasty clothing has been so heavily influential in molding the perception of "how Chinese people dress" that pre-Qing Chinese clothing is largely unfamiliar outside and even sorta inside China (though in recent years there's been a drive to re-popularize it). In stories, you only ever see it in pre-Qing settings, and sometimes not even then.

* Hollywood also likes depicting French people wearing berets, even though few ever actually wear them. They also wear striped shirts about as frequently as anyone else does. However, the stereotypical French tourist (to the French) is the beauf: an obese man in sandals and shorts, a wifebeater, and one of those fishing hats with Ricard on it. Also a cigarette dangling from their mouth.

** [[DeepSouth Southerners]]? For the women, it's super-short "[[Series/TheDukesOfHazzard Daisy Duke]]" denim shorts and a button-up shirt that's been tied instead of buttoned, [[BareYourMidriff baring her midriff]]. The men wear mostly the same clothes as the Midwesterners, only with even more of a "country bumpkin" look. Expect more wife-beaters and shirtlessness, though. The men wear caps or shirts with Confederate flags on them.

* Hindus will invariably wear a Sikh turban no matter whether or not they are actually Sikhs. Weird, since Hinduism and Sikhism are ''entirely different'' religions and about the only thing they have in common is that they originated in India. Even though certain Hindus do wear turbans (E.g: Mahatma Gandhi in his early years) they are different from Sikh turbans, both in their make and method of wearing. Also, all Indian women wear saris all the time (which logically means anything vaguely traditional-looking worn by an Indian woman is a sari).

* To denote "Jew" in general, have them wear a yarmulke, or go all out and depict them in Chasidic or Ultra-Orthodox dress wearing all black, long beards, and long curling sideburns. While everyday dress for a small segment of Jews, the vast majority rarely even wear yarmulkes except in services, depending on how observant one is. See also GratuitousUseOfTheTallit, which is pretty much ''never'' worn outside a synagogue in real life. Alternatively, Hollywood insists Jewish Americans in particular are partial to the argyle sweater vest with long sleeve button-down dress shirt and thick-rimmed glasses, which tends to overlap with {{Nerd}} (that may just be due to the influence of Creator/WoodyAllen though).

* Similarly, most Chinese women don't actually wear the ''{{qipao}}'' (AKA ''cheongsam'' in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qipao Hong Kong and often therefore the West]]) at all, let alone on a regular basis, but for some authors, that's just what Chinese women wear. This is acceptable in ''some'' settings though such as 1920s-1940s Shanghai or 1950s-1960s Hong Kong where the qipao was the daily wear for Chinese women. There are also Chinese restaurants and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheongsam#School_uniform more than a few schools]] in UsefulNotes/HongKong that have qipao as uniforms (most of which are girls' schools), several of which being renowned to be "elite" schools locally.

* To denote "Jew" in general, have them wear a yarmulke, or go all out and depict them in Chasidic or Ultra-Orthodox dress wearing all black, long beards, and long curling sideburns. While everyday dress for a small segment of Jews, the vast majority rarely even wear yarmulkes except in services, depending on how observant one is. Alternatively, Hollywood insists Jewish Americans in particular are partial to the argyle sweater vest with long sleeve button-down dress shirt and thick-rimmed glasses, which tends to overlap with {{Nerd}}.

* Russians always wear the stereotypical ''ushanka'' fur hat and a huge wool coat.

** In Ottoman times the fez was the choice headgear for fictional depictions of Muslims, especially Turks. Sometimes they're still shown, even though the fez fell out of favor in Turkey after World War I (though it is still worn in some other Muslim countries).

* Similarly, most Chinese women don't actually wear the ''{{qipao}}'' (AKA ''cheongsam'' in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qipao Hong Kong and often therefore the West]]) at all, let alone on a regular basis, but for some authors, that's just what Chinese women wear. This is acceptable in ''some'' settings though such as 1920s-1940s Shanghai or 1950s-1960s Hong Kong where the qipao was the daily wear for Chinese women. There are also Chinese restaurants and more than a few girls' schools in UsefulNotes/HongKong that have qipao as uniforms.

** The origins of this are ''weird''. Those huge black coats, fedoras/fur hats, and curling sidelocks actually originate in 17th-century Poland rather than the ancient Middle East. And the nerdy look? Nerd stereotypes partly originated from nasty stereotypes of [[JewishAndNerdy Jews]] and [[[AsianAndNerdy East Asians]]. In other words: Jews and Asians are nerds ''by definition''.

** The origins of this are ''weird''. Those huge black coats, fedoras/fur hats, and curling sidelocks actually originate in 17th-century Poland rather than the ancient Middle East. And the nerdy look? Nerd stereotypes partly originated from nasty stereotypes of Jews and East Asians. In other words: [[JewishAndNerdy Jews]] and [[AsianAndNerdy Asians]] are nerds ''by definition''.

* To denote "Jew" in general, have them wear a yarmulke, or go all out and depict them in Chasidic or Ultra-Orthodox dress wearing all black, long beards, and long curling sideburns. While everyday dress for a small segment of Jews, the vast majority rarely even wear yarmulkes except in services, depending on how observant one is. Alternatively, Hollywood insists Jewish Americans in particular are partial to the argyle sweater vest with long sleeve button-down dress shirt and thick-rimmed glasses, which tends to overlap with HollywoodNerd.
** The origins of this are ''weird''. Those huge black coats, fedoras/fur hats, and curling sidelocks actually originate in 17th-century Poland rather than the ancient Middle East. And the nerdy look? Nerd stereotypes partly originated from nasty stereotypes of Jews and East Asians. In other words: Jews and Asians are nerds ''by definition''.