History Main / AppropriateAnimalAttire

In RealLife, [[MostWritersAreHuman we humans]] are basically the only species uncomfortable with public nudity depending on the culture. Other creatures in the world don't share this taboo, and spend the entirety of their lives without ever covering themselves in a shred of clothing. So when a work of fiction uses animals for its core cast of thinking, personified ''characters'', what's an author to do about their underlying, well, nudity?

As the nonhuman equivalent of wearing DiamondsInTheBuff, the individual is still essentially 'naked' underneath whatever pelt or plumage they naturally possess; but their AmplifiedAnimalAptitude is conveyed through the use of jewelry or other worn accessories. (RingAroundTheCollar and WhiteGloves can also count.) 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 BeastMan and especially Borderline LittleBitBeastly. (This is also a popular visual motif for depicting characters as 'exotic' or 'native' in origin.)

* Rarely Seen on: BeastMan (Atleast without something covering their naughty-bits)

* Commonly Seen on: {{Civilized Animal}}s and {{Funny Animal}}s
* Sometimes Seen on: pantless {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, and {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s, shirtless male BeastMan.
* Rarely Seen on: pantless BeastMan, shirtless female BeastMan (because of the NippleAndDimed DoubleStandard), and shirtless {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, and {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s.

* Commonly Seen on: BeastMan and {{Funny Animal}}s.

* Rarely Seen on: {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, and {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s

* Most Common Way of Dress for: LittleBitBeastly, BeastMan, and {{Funny Animal}}s.
* Not Commonly Seen on: {{Civilized Animal}}s

But things start to get weird when throwing [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism anthropomorphism]] into the mix. Of course, a TalkingAnimal ([[SpeechImpairedAnimal speech-impaired]] or otherwise) and their relatives like the NearlyNormalAnimal and PartiallyCivilizedAnimal, being rather normal animals otherwise, can easily get by without their lack of pants or shirt ever getting questioned, but it gets even weirder when talking about animals that are more or less treated or act like people. A CivilizedAnimal and FunnyAnimal can still get away with being naked, due to them still retaining their animalistic-shape, but then we get to PettingZooPeople, who, rather than keep the shape of their respective species, have a much more humanoid body-frame. A nude Borderline PettingZooPerson might get a pass as they still retain some animalistic-qualities and they don't look too humanoid, but a straight PettingZooPerson not wearing clothes can range from looking mildly awkward to being stranded in the UncannyValley, depending on how humanoid they look.

As the nonhuman equivalent of wearing DiamondsInTheBuff, the individual is still essentially 'naked' underneath whatever pelt or plumage they naturally possess; but their AmplifiedAnimalAptitude is conveyed through the use of jewelry or other worn accessories. (RingAroundTheCollar and WhiteGloves can also count.) 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 and especially Borderline LittleBitBeastly. (This is also a popular visual motif for depicting characters as 'exotic' or 'native' in origin.)

* Also Common Way of Dress for: {{Civilized Animal}}s, {{Funny Animal}}s, and Borderline PettingZooPeople.
* Rarely Seen on: PettingZooPeople (Atleast without something covering their naughty-bits)

* Commonly Seen on: {{Civilized Animal}}s, {{Funny Animal}}s, and Borderline PettingZooPeople
* Sometimes Seen on: pantless {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, and {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s, shirtless male PettingZooPeople.
* Rarely Seen on: pantless PettingZooPeople, shirtless female PettingZooPeople (because of the NippleAndDimed DoubleStandard), and shirtless {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, and {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s.

* Commonly Seen on: PettingZooPeople, Borderline PettingZooPeople, and {{Funny Animal}}s.

This is an animal who wears a full set of clothing including 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.

* Most Common Way of Dress for: Borderline LittleBitBeastly, PettingZooPeople.
* Also Common Way of Dress for: Borderline PettingZooPeople, and {{Funny Animal}}s.

Another convention applied largely to anthropomorphized animals (PettingZooPeople, Borderline PettingZooPeople, {{Funny Animal}}s, and even {{Civilized Animal}}s) is a gender-based DoubleStandard regarding who is allowed to wear what kinds of clothes; for example, requiring females to adhere to a higher standard of dress than the males.

A subtrope of NudeColoredClothes in which the pants worn by pantsless looking cartoon animals of the CivilizedAnimal, FunnyAnimal, or PettingZooPerson vein that look like naked animal legs. Used as a common subversion of the pantsless side of the HalfDressedCartoonAnimal trope.

'''Note:''' Due to the broad nature of this SuperTrope, please limit examples to cases regarding the topic ''as a whole''; examples of [[AvertedTrope averting]] or [[PlayingWithATrope playing with]] individual {{subtrope}}s may be placed on the respective pages.

!!Examples of The SuperTrope as a Whole:

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The UsefulNotes/FurryFandom's focus on animals and anthropomorphism gives it a diverse range of examples and opinions on to what extent its animals should wear clothes (and/or what kind). Wikifur, the Furry wiki, provides [[http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Clothing its own discussion of the matter.]]
* There is "I Might be a Duck, but I'm Human": An Analysis of Clothing in Disney Cartoons. It talks about the state of dress of various WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts characters, ranging from completely naked (like WesternAnimation/ChipAndDale), to accessory wearing (like WesternAnimation/{{Pluto|ThePup}} and Clara Cluck), to half-dressed (like WesternAnimation/{{Mickey|Mouse}}, WesternAnimation/{{Minnie|Mouse}}, WesternAnimation/{{Donald|Duck}}, and Daisy), to fully clothed (like WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}).
* [[http://www.wolfgnards.com/index.php/2011/03/02/the-law-of-cartoon-pants The Law of Cartoon Pants]] on Wolf Gnards website. It talks about {{Accessory Wearing Cartoon Animal}}s, {{Half Dressed Cartoon Animal}}s (both shirtless and pantless), {{Fully Dressed Cartoon Animal}}s, and FurIsClothing.
* The childrens book ''Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing'' written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett talks about animals and clothing in general and why they should not wear clothing. It shows that some animals' body parts don't go very well with clothing.
* [[http://www.unitedstatesofgeekdom.com/2010/10/clothes-do-not-make-toon.html Clothes Do Not Make The Toon]] on [[http://www.unitedstatesofgeekdom.com/ The United States of Geekdom]] website talks about the state of dress of various classic cartoon animal characters, from completely naked, to accessory wearing, to half-dressed.
* ''[[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.

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!!Other Examples That Do Not Fit the {{Subtrope}}s:

[[folder:Advertising]]
* One Advertising/{{Geico}} commercial depicts the the always-naked gecko mascot happening upon a clothing-optional beach and saying "how convenient." (In no other commerical does anyone percieve him as naked.)
[[/folder]]

* The UsefulNotes/FurryFandom's focus on animals and anthropomorphism gives it a diverse range of examples and opinions on to what extent its animals should wear clothes (and/or what kind). Wikifur, the Furry wiki, provides [[http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Clothing its own discussion of the matter]].

For winter weather, a naked or partially clothed FunnyAnimal or CivilizedAnimal would often dress with a hat, scarf, and jacket, but without pants or shoes/boots. They would seem to be dressed for the weather, but logically, they should still be cold because of the lack of shoes/boots and pants.

!!Otherwise Clothed Animal Not Embarrassed by State of Undress

When a shelled animal, such as a turtle or armadillo, or a quilled animal like a porcupine or hedgehog, is seen wearing human clothing on their upper body that covers only the front and leaves the shell or quills on the back unclothed. Logically, the garment would be open to back like a hospital gown.

This is where because their wings can fit normal shirt, jacket, and coat sleeves, bird, bat, and similarly winged characters wear sleeved shirts with large or huge sleeves to fit their wings.

[[folder:Actual Articles of Clothing Tropes]]

!!Naked Animal Legs Colored Pants
A subtrope of NudeColoredClothes in which the pants worn by pantsless looking cartoon animals of the CivilizedAnimal, FunnyAnimal, or PettingZooPerson vein that look like naked animal legs. Used as a common subversion of the pantsless side of the HalfDressedCartoonAnimal trope.

!!ShellBackpack
When a shelled animal, such as a turtle or armadillo, or a quilled animal like a porcupine or hedgehog, is seen wearing human clothing on their upper body that covers only the front and leaves the shell or quills on the back unclothed. Logically, the garment would be open to back like a hospital gown.

* Mrs. Cluck, an otherwise normal hen in the ''HigglytownHeroes'' episode "Corn to be Wild" wears a two piece swimming outfit when cannonballing into the lake, but is otherwise naked. Fran the squirrel in contrast only wears a swimming cap to cannonball.

In RealLife, [[MostWritersAreHuman we humans]] are basically the only species uncomfortable with public nudity; other creatures in the world don't share this taboo, and spend the entirety of their lives without ever covering themselves in a shred of clothing. So when a work of fiction uses animals for its core cast of thinking, personified ''characters'', what's an author to do about their underlying, well, nudity?

Now is an important time to define the term "nudity": When ''we'' say that a person is "naked", we usually use it in a social context, implying that they should PleasePutSomeClothesOn. As FullyClothedNudity shows, we can consider a person "naked" even if they actually have some kind of clothes on. Even though the standard for acceptable human attire can vary with each culture, this isn't a standard we hold animals to; we just don't view their nudity as being so objectionable. Maybe it's the coat of fur (or feathers) that partially obscures their genitals already; maybe it's the four-legged posture that makes their unmentionables less visible than those of a bipedal human (especially from the front). So while we may not particularly ''want'' to be looking at an animal's family jewels, the [[AnimalsLackAttributes omission of them]] in art is much less noticeable than BarbieDollAnatomy.

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.

It can also be due to ConservationOfDetail by the author, especially in written media where they have more important things to discuss than informing the audience whether there's "something" visible between an animal's hind legs. But visual media needs frequent, consistent depictions of the characters (human or otherwise) so whether or not an animal is "anatomically correct" can be an important stylistic decision for the artist: [[ExecutiveMeddling Executives]] and MoralGuardians may object to such anatomical features, but on the other hand, an artist may prefer to [[ShownTheirWork show their work]] rather than deal with complaints that their AnimalsLackAttributes.

Another convention applied largely to anthropomorphized animals (PettingZooPeople, Borderline PettingZooPeople, {{Funny Animal}}s, and even {{Civilized Animal}}s) is a gender-based DoubleStandard regarding who is allowed to wear what kinds clothes; for example, requiring females to adhere to a higher standard of dress than the males.

In RealLife, [[MostWritersAreHuman we humans]] are basically the only animals uncomfortable with public nudity; other animals in the world don't share this taboo, and spend the entirety of their lives without ever covering themselves in a shred of clothing. So when a work of fiction uses animals for its core cast of thinking, personified ''characters'', what's an author to do about their underlying, well, nudity?

* There is "I Might be a Duck, but I'm Human": An Analysis of Clothing in Disney Cartoons. It talks about the state of dress of various WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts characters, ranging from completely naked (like Chip and Dale), to accessory wearing (like Pluto and Clara Cluck), to half-dressed (like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy), to fully clothed (like Minnie and {{Goofy}}).

!!Ears As a Hat

[[AC:NewMedia]]

!!Other Examples That Do Not Fit The {{Subtrope}}s:

[[AC:Advertising]]

[[AC:Comic Books]]

-->''"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?"''\\

-->'''Calvin''': You know, there must be thousands of animal species, and of ALL of them, only humans wear clothes. Isn't that weird? I wonder why other animals don't wear clothes.
-->'''Hobbes''': If our naked pink butts showed, we probably would.
-->'''Calvin''': Our butts are just fine!

[[AC:Animated Film]]
* The Cheshire Cat in Disney's animated ''Disney/AliceInWonderland'' doffed his ears in the style that MickeyMouse did.

[[AC:Live Action Film]]

[[AC: Literature]]
* {{Literature/Dinoverse}} features human characters being cast back in time and made to inhabit the bodies of dinosaurs. Only one of them is ever shown to feel bothered by being naked in dinosaur form, with everyone else shrugging and saying there's nothing to cover when she brings it up. She sticks leaves to her borrowed body using sap, for a while, but they fall off. Then another character makes her a kind of cursory [[SeashellBra Seashell Bikini]], the "bottom" being a vine belt with a shell hanging underneath, and for several scenes after that she's furious whenever these get cut off or otherwise removed. Later, after going through some CharacterDevelopment, she becomes just as unworried about it as the others.

[[AC:Newspaper Comics]]
* ComicStrip/KrazyKat's "collar", which is really more like a necktie, bow, or scarf. Regardless, the Kat feels "nude" without it.

[[AC:Puppet Shows]]

[[AC:Web Comics]]
* Sabrina from ''WebComic/SabrinaOnline'' wears nude animal leg colored pants. This receives a LampshadeHanging at one point when her roommate borrows them, and she [[BreakingTheFourthWall addresses the reader]] [[http://www.sabrina-online.com/strips/SabOnline57.GIF implicitly calling them perverts]] for assuming she has been naked the whole time.

[[AC:Western Animation]]

** Donald’s nightgown covered more of his body than his usual outfit did, and sometimes included pants, which aren’t part of his usual outfit.

* Squidward from ''WesternAnimation/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.

* In ''Disney/TheThreeLittlePigs'', the Big Bad Wolf's pants fall off after the suspenders break apart. While it seems like a gag, the wolf simply continues relentlessly getting into the house without caring to realize his current state of undress. The way it happens to the wolf is something of a transformation of a character who begins aping a very humanly vagabondage attire to become fully a wolf in the process. It's not so much a gag as more of a nonchalance in the way the clothing comes off him.
* Stitch of ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'' wears pajamas that cover his whole body even though he is usually naked otherwise.

But things start to get weird when throwing [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism anthropomorphism]] into the mix. Of course, a TalkingAnimal ([[SpeechImpairedAnimal speech-impaired]] or otherwise) and their relatives like the NearlyNormalAnimal and PartiallyCivilizedAnimal, being rather normal animals otherwise, can easily get by without their lack of pants or shirt ever getting questioned, but it gets even weirder when talking about animals that are more or less treated or act like people. A CivilizedAnimal and FunnyAnimal can still get away with being naked, due to them still retaining their animalistic-shape, but then we get to PettingZooPeople, who, rather than keep the shape of their respective species, have a much more humanoid body-frame. Nude Borderline PettingZooPeople might get a pass as they still retain some animalistic-qualities without looking too humanoid, but a straight PettingZooPerson not wearing clothes can range from looking mildly awkward to being stranded in the UncannyValley, depending on how humanoid they look.

But things start to get weird when throwing [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism anthropomorphism]] into the mix. Of course, a TalkingAnimal ([[SpeechImpairedAnimal speech-impaired]] or otherwise) and their relatives like the NearlyNormalAnimal and PartiallyCivilizedAnimal, being rather normal animals otherwise, can easily get by without their lack of pants or shirt ever getting questioned, but it gets even weirder when talking about animals that are more or less treated like people. A CivilizedAnimal and FunnyAnimal can still get away with being naked, due to them still retaining their animalistic-shape. PettingZooPeople can look pretty awkward when naked due to their more humanoid-build (Females especially, due to their NonMammalMammaries), but if they look somewhat animalistic enough, they might get a pass. However, when the animals are depicted in a [[LittleBitBeastly sufficiently human appearance]], a lack of clothes may leave them stranded in UncannyValley territory.

* Commonly seen on: {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s, {{Civilized Animal}}s, {{Funny Animal}}s, and borderline PettingZooPeople.

* Commonly seen on: {{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.

* Common Way of Dress for: PettingZooPeople, Borderline PettingZooPeople, and {{Funny Animal}}s.
* Sometimes Seen in: {{Civilized Animal}}s.
* Rarely Seen in: {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, and {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s

* Not so Commonly Seen in: {{Civilized Animal}}s
* Rarely Seen in: {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, and {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s.

* ''Disney/TheThreeCaballeros'': The Aracuan bird and Donald Duck both appear more fully dressed in their swimwear than in their usual half-dressed pantsless outfits.

But things start to get weird when throwing [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism anthropomorphism]] into the mix. A TalkingAnimal ([[SpeechImpairedAnimal speech-impaired]] or otherwise) and their relatives like the NearlyNormalAnimal and PartiallyCivilizedAnimal, being rather normal animals otherwise, can easily get by without their lack of pants or shirt ever getting questioned. The CivilizedAnimal and FunnyAnimal can still get away with being naked, due to them still retaining their animalistic-shape. PettingZooPeople can look a little unnerving when naked due to their more humanoid-build, but if they look somewhat animalistic enough, they might get a pass. However, when the animals are depicted in a [[LittleBitBeastly sufficiently human appearance]], a lack of clothes may leave them stranded in UncannyValley territory.

* Sometimes Seen: pantless {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s, {{Talking Animal}}s, and {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s, shirtless (male) PettingZooPeople.

But things start to get weird when throwing [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism anthropomorphism]] into the mix. A TalkingAnimal ([[SpeechImpairedAnimal speech-impaired]] or otherwise) and their relatives like the NearlyNormalAnimal and PartiallyCivilizedAnimal, being rather normal animals otherwise, can easily get by without their lack of pants or shirt ever getting questioned. The CivilizedAnimal and FunnyAnimal can still get away with being naked, due to them still retaining their animalistic-shape. PettingZooPeople can look a little unnerving when naked, but if they look somewhat animalistic enough, they might get a pass. However, when the animals are depicted in a [[LittleBitBeastly sufficiently human appearance]], a lack of clothes may leave them stranded in UncannyValley territory.

But things start to get weird when throwing [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism anthropomorphism]] into the mix. A TalkingAnimal ([[SpeechImpairedAnimal speech-impaired]] or otherwise) and their relatives like the NearlyNormalAnimal and PartiallyCivilizedAnimal can easily get by without their lack of pants or shirt ever getting questioned. The CivilizedAnimal and FunnyAnimal can still get away with being naked, due to them still retaining their animalistic-shape. PettingZooPeople can look a little unnerving when naked, but if they look somewhat animalistic enough, they might get a pass. However, when the animals are depicted in a sufficiently human appearance, a lack of clothes may leave them stranded in UncannyValley territory.

But things start to get weird when throwing [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism anthropomorphism]] into the mix. A TalkingAnimal ([[SpeechImpairedAnimal speech-impaired]] or otherwise) and their relatives like the NearlyNormalAnimal and PartiallyCivilizedAnimal can easily get by without their lack of pants or shirt ever getting questioned. The CivilizedAnimal and FunnyAnimal can still get away with being naked, but when the animals are depicted in sufficiently human mantle (Females especially, due to their larger differences of anthropomorphism than males), a lack of clothes may leave them stranded in UncannyValley territory.

As the nonhuman equivalent of wearing DiamondsInTheBuff, the individual is still essentially 'naked' underneath whatever pelt or plumage they naturally possess; but their AmplifiedAnimalAptitude is conveyed through the use of jewelry or other worn accessories. (RingAroundTheCollar and WhiteGloves can also count.) 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.)

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

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