History Main / AppropriateAnimalAttire

--'''Chandler''', ''{{Friends}}'' [[labelnote:*]]Answer: [[FridgeBrilliance To keep the floor from getting wet!]][[/labelnote]]

->''"You know, DonaldDuck never wore pants, but when he comes out of the shower, he puts a towel around his waist. I mean, what's that about?"''\\
-- '''Chandler''', ''{{Friends}}'' [[hottip:*: Answer: [[FridgeBrilliance To keep the floor from getting wet!]]]]

* ''[[http://Ask-Stan-and-Xias.deviantart.com/art/Pants-Made-Just-For-Tails-308407206 Pants Made Just For Tails]]'' by Ask-Stan-And-Xias on deviantArt talks about the tail hole design in cartoon animal pants.

* Mrs. Cluck, an otherwise normal hen in the ''HigglytownHeros'' episode "Corn to be Wild" wears a two piece swimming outfit when cannonballing into the lake, but is otherwise naked.

But things start to get weird when throwing [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism]] into the mix: A TalkingAnimal ([[SpeechImpairedAnimal speech-impaired]] or otherwise, but also their relatives like the NearlyNormalAnimal and PartiallyCivilizedAnimal) can easily get by without their lack of pants ever getting questioned, but when the animals are depicted in sufficiently human mantle, a lack of clothes may leave them stranded in UncannyValley territory.

The animal is still largely 'naked' underneath whatever pelt or plumage they possess, but their AmplifiedAnimalAptitude is conveyed through the use of jewelry or other worn accessories. Similarly, they may be wearing only the equivalent of a fig-leaf or LoinCloth -- the bare minimum necessary to preserve a sense of modesty for the audience if they are PettingZooPeople or Borderline LittleBitBeastly. (This is also a popular visual motif for depicting characters as 'exotic' or 'native' in origin.) Examples of RingAroundTheCollar and/or WhiteGloves who are otherwise naked count as this trope too.

* Common Way of Dress for: {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s, {{Civilized Animal}}s, {{Funny Animal}}s, and BorderlinePettingZooPeople.

One of the most common depictions in WesternAnimation, {{Civilized Animal}}s, and {{Funny Animal}}s; the animal wears a partial set of clothing -- usually just a shirt or coat to cover their upper body while their bottoms, legs, and feet remain bare (unless they wear shoes). Alternately, they may be "topless", wearing a skirt or a set of pants but no shirt, in other words, the animal equivalent to a WalkingShirtlessScene.

* Common Way of Dress for (both pantless and shirtless): {{Civilized Animal}}s, {{Funny Animal}}s, and Borderline PettingZooPeople
* Sometimes Seen: pantless {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, and {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s, shirtless male PettingZooPeople.
* Rarely Seen: pantless PettingZooPeople, shirtless female PettingZooPeople (because of NippleAndDimed DoubleStandard), and shirtless {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, and {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s.

This is an animal who wears a full set of clothing and footwear (socks and/or shoes). Often averted because a full outfit with shoes and/or socks has a high chance of obscuring what species a particular animal character is. {{Funny Animal}}s who typically have this form of dress, especially the head-to-toe variant, can be a little unsettling when shown completely naked, but it's ''not'' as unsettling as a nude PettingZooPerson.

This is when a pantsless HalfDressedCartoonAnimal or, in a few cases cases, an AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal reacts to protect his or her modesty when he or she is completely naked.

A manner of playing the subject of an animal's "fur coat," feathers (if a bird), or scales [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] is to treat it as an ''actual article of clothing''. Expect to see GoofyPrintUnderwear and/or a reaction from the character to protect his or her modesty if he or she should be suddenly denuded.

->'''[[VisualNovel/AceAttorney Phoenix]]:''' I can't walk into court with a ripped suit; I'll look so unprofessional...
->'''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Pinkie]]:''' You could just go naked like me.

In RealLife, [[MostWritersAreHuman we humans]] are basically the only species uncomfortable with public nudity; other species -- that is to say, the other ''animals'' -- don't share this taboo, and spend the entirety of their lives nude by default. So when a work of fiction uses animals for its core cast of thinking, personified ''characters'', what does the author do about this underlying nudity?

Written media can easily dismiss it as a [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom moot point]], because the writer has [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail more important matters to attend to]], than to spend time informing the audience exactly ''what'' might be visible between an animal's hind legs. Even when a fantasy setting involves a [[{{Animorphism}} transformation into an animal]], the matter of 'nudity' can usually be dismissed with a quick reference to EmptyPilesOfClothing (or MagicPants) while the plot proceeds full steam ahead.

On the other hand, the very nature of visual media requires frequent and consistent depictions of a character, so whether or not the animal is drawn "anatomically correct" can become an important decision for the artist: [[ExecutiveMeddling Executives]] and MoralGuardians may object to such anatomical features, but on the other, some artists prefer to [[ShownTheirWork show their work]], lest audience members notice that NonhumansLackAttributes.

The social concept of "naked" doesn't really apply to animals. Sure, we can easily say they're mostly naked all the time, but the social meaning of nakedness (well, the most obvious one) is something like "You should put some clothes on." We don't mind animals without clothes, but at the same time, we don't particularily want to look at their genitals and such either. It amounts to censoring them in your own gaze. So with these cartoon animals and things, it's not just that they're being censored, it's also the case that the result seems more natural than with BarbieDollAnatomy. One reason why this applies is also that most animals don't have their stuff displayed the same way as the upright-walking mammals known as humans, especially from the front.

This gets weird with a HalfDressedCartoonAnimal, since they often do have a concept of nudity. But even that is sort of a mock nudity, since it doesn't make the viewers feel uncomfortable the same way as human nudity would in many cultures.

Things get even murkier when adding [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism anthropomorphism]] to the matter: RealLife animals are not judged by human perceptions of nudity, so their fictional counterparts like the NearlyNormalAnimal, TalkingAnimal (whether [[SpeechImpairedAnimal speech impaired]] or not), and PartiallyCivilizedAnimal need not be either. {{Civilized Animal}}s, {{Funny Animal}}s, and even Borderline PettingZooPeople can often be given a free pass too. However, when animals start to take on sufficiently human mantle, like with straight-up PettingZooPeople and (especially) the Borderline and straight-up LittleBitBeastly, a complete or even partial lack of clothing can become ... [[UncannyValley quite unsettling]].

** Before that, OswaldTheLuckyRabbit doffed his ears.

* In episodes of ''GoDiegoGo'' that show Baby Jaguar and are set in an Arctic setting, Baby Jaguar wears winter attire that includes a jacket, but not pants or boots. It's partly justified because he stays on all fours.

* Squidward from ''SpongeBobSquarePants'' usually wears a shirt and no pants. It doesn't seem to stop him from being embarrassed when he finds himself naked in public.

->'''Phoenix:''' ARE YOU CRAZY!? I'm not gonna show up in court naked!

!!!Ears Treated Like a Hat

!!Pantsless or Mostly Naked Character Who Acts Denuded When Naked

The social concept of "naked" doesn't really apply to animals. Sure, we can easily say they're mostly naked all the time, but the social meaning of nakedness (well, the most obvious one) is something like "You should put some clothes on." We don't mind animals without clothes, but at the same time, we don't particularily want to look at their genitals and such either. It amounts to censoring them in your own gaze. So with these cartoon animals and things, it's not just that they're being censored, it's also the case that the result seems more natural than with AnimeAnatomy. One reason why this applies is also that most animals don't have their stuff displayed the same way as the upright-walking mammals known as humans, especially from the front.

!!!Normally Pantsless or Naked Animal Character With a Towel Wrapped Around His/Her Waist

A manner of playing the subject of an animal's "fur coat," feathers (if a bird), or scales [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] is to treat it as an ''actual article of clothing''. Expect to see GoofyPrintUnderwear if the character should be suddenly denuded.

!!!BarefootFunnyAnimal
Extending "half-dressed" to "mostly-dressed" results in this: The animal wears a full set of clothing, except retaining their unshod feet. Spat-wearing, but otherwise fully-dressed animals also count as BarefootFunnyAnimals. When this is the status quo in a setting, the exception becomes known as TheOneWhoWearsShoes.

* Justified in the Bugs Bunny short "High-Diving Hare". While wayyy up on the high-dive platform, Bugs tells Yosemite Sam to cover his eyes while he puts on a bathing suit. It was really just a trick to avoid diving.

* From ''TheOddballCouple'' we have neatfreak Spiffy as a FullyDressedCartoonAnimal, and unkempt Fleabag as a HalfDressedCartoonAnimal.

* The ClassicDisneyShorts feature the swimwear/sleepwear and winter attire paradoxes a lot, especially with DonaldDuck. For example: