History Main / CustomUniform

* Emile in ''{{Halo}}: Reach'' wears a set of EVA [[PoweredArmor power armor]] with a skull painted on the visor.

** Even colors of uniforms were not standardized as late as the 19th century. The British had troops wearing green (most famously the Green Dragoons) and blue; almost all nations' Zouave uniforms looked alike, in more or less French colors; in the American Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run saw an incident where a Union unit in gray uniforms got almost on top of the Confederates before either side realized what was going on. (Or was it a Confederate unit in blue?)

->''"They all wore uniforms, although since no two uniforms were exactly alike they were not, in fact, uniform and therefore not technically uniforms."''
-->-- '''Terry Pratchett''', ''Discworld/GoingPostal''

Characters who are meant to stand out in some way in a military, school or other place will wear a "uniform" that is different from everyone else. This is separate from rank although it may be implied that they're too {{Badass}} for anyone to complain. Also different from a practical reason to be dressed different such as fireproof clothing for a [[PlayingWithFire pyrokinetic]] army. Generally a symptom of MildlyMilitary.

Compare TransferStudentUniforms, where the character still stands out, but from wearing the uniform of a previous school or station, and BlingOfWar for more military stuff. Also compare NonuniformUniform, for modifications to a uniform that's still technically within the uniform's guidelines. For a specific variety of Custom Uniform where the differences are intended to point up the wearer's attractiveness, see CustomUniformOfSexy.

** At the beginning of the movie version, Utena wears a full boy's uniform with close-cropped hair. She's actually mistaken for a boy until [[SamusIsAGirl her jacket comes open during a fight.]] Then [[MindScrew the acid kicks in ... ]]

* Hokuto from ''CromartieHighSchool'' wears a white uniform instead of the ordinary black due to him having been mistaken about the school he transferred to... I guess he now wears it to stand out of the "normal" people. (He gave Mechazawa a white uniform as a birthday gift, too, but I haven't seen him wear it.) Freddie and Hiromi-Go don't wear uniforms either [the former dresses to reference Freddie Mercury, the latter is nude presumably because that's how gorillas usually dress] , but nobody knows whether they're actually students or not.

* Seras Victoria of ''{{Hellsing}}'' and her blue (or khaki in the manga/[=OAVs=]) uniform with that [[{{ZettaiRyouiki}} crazy microskirt and black (or white in the manga/[=OAVs=]) stockings.]]

* Each member of the [[GalaxyAngelGameVerse Moon]]''/''[[GalaxyAngel Galaxy]] and [[GalaxyAngelRune Rune]] Angels wears a ''very'' differentiated uniform. Other members of the White Moon militia wear matching uniforms like normal people.

* In [[StrikeWitches Strike Witches]], the 501st Joint Fighter Wing is a temporary multi-national unit, so the characters all wear the uniforms of their home services. This still doesn't explain why Minna, Gertrude, and Erica wear different style uniforms despite all of them being from the same unit, or why in the anime Yoshika just fights in her school clothes.

* [[JojosBizarreAdventure Jojo's Bizzare Adventure]]: In the third arc, Jotaro wears a heavily modified version of his school's male uniform. He even [[spoiler: hires a tailor to make an exact copy of it when the original is destroyed in a fight.]]

* In ''CodeGeass'', all Black Knights have an identical uniform, except for Zero and C.C., who aren't exactly Black Knight regulars. In R2, Kallen, Tohdoh and the Holy Swords have a unique pilot suit... which has custom colours for each of them. And also, Lelouch and C.C. also don't wear standard pilot suits - C.C. wears her normal dress, and Lelouch wears a special pilot suit of a different cut than Kallen and Tohdoh's, in Zero's black and gold colour scheme.

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

* The DoomPatrol had a nominal uniform (red with a white stripe down the center), but this was hardly obvious because, of the original four members, the leader didn't wear a uniform, the robot didn't wear clothes at all, and of the two remaining, one was female and therefore had to get a skirt. (It was TheSixties.) It took the addition of a fifth member to have two actually wearing the same outfit.

* The ''{{Mildly Military}}'' Swedish comic strip 91:an (Which could be described as a Swedish version of Beetle Bailey) have the namesake main character private 91 Karlsson still wearing the same old blue uniform he wore when the comic strip started back in 1932. The rest of the characters however, wear grey uniforms from the 1960s.
* ''JudgeDredd''. Many of the Street Judges have identical shoulder pads. Judge Dredd is a senior judge and like all senior judges, has a standard shoulder pad on his left shoulder, and on his right shoulder he has an eagle. In the movie, for practical reasons, the eagle was stylised, the body and feet of the eagle was completely removed, the eagle was attached to Stalone's chest not his arm, and the feathers weree made flexible, so he could move his right arm.

[[folder:FanFiction]]

[[folder:{{Film}}]]
* In ''StarWars: Episode III'', Anakin is the only Jedi wearing black leather. (Except for Aayla Secura, who appears for a few seconds and then dies.)

** Back in the old days, if ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' is to be believed, a Padawan walking around the Jedi academy on Dantooine could be reprimanded for not wearing the Jedi robes, so there was some notion of them as a uniform. Just to clarify, this was thousands of years before the movies. Bastila Shan still had a unique outfit, although for game technical reasons you'd typically see her wearing standard robes anyway. (Most armour looks the same on different characters, only just plain clothes look unique.)
** As for Aayla Secura, female twi'leks are always required to wear revealing clothing. Seemingly the only exception is [[JediAcademy Alora]].
*** Which seems a prequel change...in A New Hope Obi-Wan Kenobi was wearing practical clothes for Tantooine. Loose dust coloured robe over loose dust coloured tunic in coarse hard wearing material it would be easy to beat the sand out of. He's in hiding so wearing a Jedi uniform doesn't make sense and nobody in Mos Eisley recognises it as such. In the Phantom Menace though that outfit seems standard for Jedi and Qui-Gon Jinn wears a poncho to conceal his tunic and lightsaber.

** Note that Vader's armour was life support, so he couldn't remove it. And a uniform tailored to fit over it would have made him look like a total dork.

* Pretty much all of the [[SpaceMarine Colonial Marines]] in Aliens have this; the only exception is Lieutenant Gorman, who wears a pristine, fresh-out-of-stores uniform, presumably to emphasise the fact that he's [[NewMeat completely inexperienced]].

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

** The Ankh-Morpork City Watch is composed of so many different members of different shapes and sizes that being in uniform usually means being in whatever bits of uniform fitted. And since the force has expanded dramatically they are pretty much scrapping the bottom of the armoury and pulling out all kinds antique equipment. Funny helmets through the centuries, according to Vimes.

* Many of the knights in ASongOfIceAndFire wear distinctive custom-made armor and use distinctive personal weapons rather than any kind of standard-issue equiptment.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

** Troi wears a purplish outfit for much of the series. She was ordered to wear a Starfleet uniform by Jellico in "Chain of Command."

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' pre-dated the rest by featuring Kirk's deep green wraparound jacket, worn interchangibly with his usual uniform tunic during the first two seasons. Nobody else aboard was ever seen wearing this alternative uniform (except, bizarrely, Charlie Evans in the episode "Charlie X", who wore a brown version).

* Every SixthRanger in ''SuperSentai'' and ''PowerRangers'' has a different style of uniform than the main team. Sometimes it's just a color reversal or adding a chest piece, sometimes it's a full suit of armor or actually being a HumongousMecha or [[MetalHeroes Metal Hero]].

* [[spoiler: After the station seceded from the Earth Alliance]], the senior command staff of ''{{Babylon 5}}'' received custom Minbari-made black uniforms.
* On ''TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' While his cousin Carlton and the other students in his prep school wear the blue blazer uniform, Will turns his blue blazer inside out so that it now looks like he's wearing a red silk one with patterns on it. He also wears a baseball cap backwards.
* Jenny, the titular character from the ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Doctor's Daughter", is a genetically engineered soldier who [[{{GattacaBabies}} emerges fully grown (and clothed) from a cloning machine.]] While her fellow soldiers are dressed in standard drab army fatigues, Jenny arrives in fitted black trousers, a tight green tee shirt (in a vibrant and flattering shade, no less) and flawless makeup, sans coat. The difference in uniform is never explained, and no one seems to question it.
* Lieutenant Jim Dangle from {{Reno911}} wears shorts with his uniform, which he states he had to specifically ask the state for permission to do.

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

** And even then, there can be some subtle variation amongst the rank-and-file. After a few battles [[BadassNormal Imperial]] [[RedshirtArmy Guardsmen]] tend to pick up souvenirs or trophies, while members of more pious regiments will attach devotional scripts or lucky relics to their flak armor. [[SpaceMarine Space]] [[WarriorMonk Marines]] will all proudly be wearing their chapter's colors, of course, but their armor usually has at least one purity seal on it somewhere, while some members have their own coat-of-arms to display. [[TheCorruption Chaos]] [[EvilCounterpart Space]] [[SpacePirate Marines]]' ([[SpikesOfVillainy spiky]]) armor is a patchwork of parts collected across millennia, and with [[BodyHorror mutations]] that ensure any two models aren't exactly the same. And the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orks]], of course, don't even ''have'' a concept of "uniform," only [[PlanetOfHats clan]] [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience colors]].

[[folder:VideoGames]]

* In ''CityOfVillains'', the Arachnos Spider and Widow epic archetypes' primary costumes are restricted to standard Arachnos parts, but they can still make themselves look different from the rank and file Arachnos NPC's, and their alternate costume slots don't have those restrictions at all, except for Crab Spiders having to have their trademark [[MultiArmedAndDangerous mechanical arms]] in all of them.

* It's not clear if the ThievesGuild in ''[=~Assassin's Creed~=] 2'' has a ''per se'' uniform, but Rosa and Antonio's outfits clearly deviate from the ones the generic thieves wear.

[[folder:WebComics]]

** And again later when Tedd and Susan play mix-and-match with their male and female school uniforms to protest Moperville North's strict (and sexist) school uniform policy. (Ironically, it was their fight over Susan's ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' T-shirt that inspired the uniform policy in the first place.)

* In ''[[http://thosedestined.pensandtales.com Those Destined]]'', the QuirkyMinibossSquad's uniform consists only of a badge (worn above their regular clothes, as the BigBad insists), while the standard {{Mook}} uniform is much stricter.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

[[folder:RealLife]]
* TruthInTelevision. It's only been very recently (in historical terms) that officers have had standardized uniforms, and even more recently that personal touches have been frowned upon. Patton and Montgomery are two of the more notable ones from as recently as WorldWarTwo. There is a joke in the British Army that if two officers from the Intelligence Corps appear at breakfast wearing identical clothing the junior officer must go and get changed.

** General Douglas Macarthur's innate sense of theatre made him an interesting case. Despite his reputation for flamboyant dress during wartime (His iconic WWII outfit was actually fairly mild compared to WWI when his troops called him "The fighting dude" and he often went into battle wearing Jodpurs, riding boots and his West Point varsity letter sweater armed only with a riding crop) he always wore impeccable regulation uniforms in peacetime. Each look was carefully calculated to fit the image he was trying to project and the audience he was trying to impress. The fact that he chose to make his famous farewell address wearing a civilian suit did not go unnoticed.
** Ulysses S. Grant almost never bothered with his own uniform, to the point that he only got into the Appomattox Court House surrender ceremony in his dirty fatigues and splattered with mud because the Confederates knew him by sight. In contrast Robert E. Lee was fully dressed in his best uniform for the surrender, with one observer commenting that if you hadn't known better you'd have thought Lee had won. Lee had been forced to abandon his baggage train earlier that week and he naturally chose to change into the best uniform he had left before ditching all of the others. Lee played into this trope as well by typically wearing the insignia and uniform of a colonel, despite his rank in the Confederate army. Among modern infantrymen, many would think Grant made the right choice - his mud-spattered uniform showed that he was "in the shit," and not just a desk officer who had the time to get clean.

* The [[RedsWithRockets Soviet Army]], relying principally on conscription to supply manpower, inevitably encompassed the dozens of different recognized nationalities within the nation. With conscription being a sort of difficult rite of passage for many young men, when their terms of service ended, the same men were allowed what was informally called a demobilization uniform, if they desired, which would feature whatever items, patches, or other trinkets they had collected. The only requirement was that still vaguely resemble their original service uniforms, and as a result, many men returning to their homes wore some truly gaudy and flashy tunics with extra aiguillettes, shoulder insignia, and more.
* The Duke of Wellington spent most of the Napoleonic Wars in civvies, as he was the commander of several different nation's armies and didn't want to play favorites. The Iron Duke didn't give a flying fuck about what his officers wore. One cavalry general commanded a charge wearing civilian evening dress and a stovepipe hat, wielding his umbrella in stead of a sabre. Although that was because his uniform had not arrived in time for the battle, and his [[StuffyBrit British reserve]] prevented him from making a fuss about it.

* U-Boat crews during World War II wore anything but uniforms while at sea.
** While they had grey leathers for waterproofing and warmth, they are often seen in captured British Battledress uniforms for working clothes. Come to that, the German rescue services for air raids often wore captured Russian or Danish helmets and uniform as working dress. The Volkssturm also used many and varied uniforms.

* [[http://girlscouts.org/ Girl Scouts of the USA]] haven't required girls to wear a full uniform for years now, but they still made them. As of October 2008, they've taken this further:
--> Girl Scouts at each level have one required element (Tunic, Sash or Vest) for the display of official pins and awards which will be required when girls participate in ceremonies or officially represent the Girl Scout Movement.
--> For girls ages 5 to 14, the unifying look includes wearing a choice of a tunic, vest, sash for displaying official pins and awards, combined with their own solid white shirts and khaki pants or skirts. Girl Scouts in high school can also wear a scarf that unites their look with the sisterhood of Girl Scouts around the world.
--> For adult members the unifying look of the uniform is a Girl Scout official scarf or tie for men, worn with the official membership pins, combined with their own navy blue business attire. Girl Scouts at the Daisy and Brownie levels will continue to have a full uniform ensemble available.
** There are so many different shades of khaki - never mind that Cadettes' vests often don't match their pants - that it leads to rather a [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/cheebalicious/Girl%20Scouts/Junior%20yr%202/100_1361.jpg lack]] [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/cheebalicious/Girl%20Scouts/Junior%20yr%202/100_1362.jpg of]] [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/cheebalicious/Girl%20Scouts/Junior%20yr%202/100_1384.jpg uniformity]].
* Walmart only requires its employees to wear blue shirts, brown pants, and their name badge. What shade of blue and what shade of brown is completely irrelevant, and they can be any style of shirt or pants (provided it stays within reasonable dress code). Though most simply choose the standard navy blue, collared shirts. They did away with the uniform blue vests a couple years ago for unknown reasons.

** Or the infamously cheap/frugal Wallmart management decided it was more cost-effective to make employees bring their own clothes?
** Or because they thought they could make ''more'' money by encouraging their workers to buy their work clothes from the thousands or styles availble at their local Walmart?

** Does not apply to the increasing number of hospitals that are standardizing their dress codes, such that all employees of a certain professional branch (RNs, CNAs, ancillary staff, etc) must wear scrubs of a solid mandated color (frequently either navy or ciel blue). Also does not apply to the OR, where everyone wears the same hospital-issued surgical greens.

* Eighteenth century regiments each had their own uniform, and the only criteria was that it should have as much BlingOfWar as was compatible with marching through mud and potholes, a difficulty usually ignored as [[HonorBeforeReason showiness comes before reason]]. It may not have mattered as much as it sounds as each block of men only has to know how to fire at the block of men in front of it.

** This applies to NPCs too, alot of the named ones wear the chest piece with whatever patchwork of other pieces of armor (imperial chain, imperial steel, imperial leather, iron, steel, netch, even chitin).

* And there's Hermann Goering's famous ornate uniforms. A joke told in Germany at the time had Hitler inspecting the latest warship, only to see Goering (who'd turned early) looking out a porthole. Hitler says: "That man's gone too far -- now he's draped an entire battleship around his neck!"

* In ''{{Naruto}}'', none of the main and almost none of secondary characters wear the uniforms of their villages. The closest thing to uniformity is that everyone does wear a forehead protector with the symbol of their village, although not always on the forehead. Shikamaru was the first to graduate to Chuunin, so he's worn the standard uniform, but after the TimeSkip everyone but Naruto graduated to at least that level and no one but Shikamaru is wearing the uniform.
** Rock Lee also wears the Chunnin vest, if only to copy Guy-sensei. He makes up for it by having a forehead protector of a different colour.
** [[spoiler:Until the Fourth Ninjawar at which point everyone dons the uniform. save Naruto who is still a Genin.]]

** Tedd also seems to think all uniforms should be CustomUniforms: "I mean, I [[CustomUniformOfSexy like uniforms]], but [[CompletelyMissingThePoint what's the point]] if everyone in a group is wearing the same thing?!"

*** Only applies to their branch insignia, not the whole uniform. Of course at that high of a rank, and that the Chief of Staff approves uniform changes anyway, [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LargeAndInCharge they can do whatever they want]].

* In ''TheGodfather'' game, most of your contract hits as well as the four Dons don't wear outfits with the same colour as their Family. Of course, your VirtualPaperDoll man Aldo isn't constrained by the standard colourless Corleone costume, though it's still somewhat limited; you can't, say, go for [[{{Hellsing}} Alucard-]]/[[DevilMayCry Dante]]-esque crimson or the yellow of [[CowboyBebop Spike Spiegel]].

** To this day, according to AR 670-1 (the document pertaining to the wear of the uniform), generals of the Army, the Chief of Staff, and former Chiefs of Staff can alter their uniform however they like. They still can't [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Michael_Boorda#Death wear medals or ribbons they aren't entitled to though]].
*** Which army is this?

* Particularly when dealing with school uniforms, students do their damnedest to get away with as much as they possibly can. Apparently when they were filming one of the ''[[Film/HarryPotter Harry Potter]]'' movies, the adolescent extras were told specifically to wear their uniforms how they would normally wear them in such a situation, so some loosened or removed the tie, some hiked up their skirts, etc. In the fifth film [[TheUmbridge Umbridge]] forces the students to look more standardised... [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating or at least tries to]].

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[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:RealLife]]

** Peter Cushing, Tarkin's actor, had a unique Imperial uniform. He wore slippers instead of boots as the boots were uncomfortable for him to wear. This is why you never see Tarkin's feet in the movie.

* The standard FantasticFour uniform is a utilitarian navy blue or black jumpsuit. The Thing generally doesn't bother with the shirt, however, and substitute/replacement/temporary members will often wear a version that evokes their usual superhero outfit.
** The Human Torch decided he needed to stand out and adopted a red version of the standard uniform for a while in the seventies, and a few times thereafter, but it never sticks. Sue Storm has, at various times, had her uniform altered when the artist wants to sex her up.

** Or rather they are using the old uniforms and Team Rocket simply updated the new uniforms to black. This reflects the games, in which the rereleases FireRed and LeafGreen have Team Rocket grunts wearing black rather than white, like in the original games.
*** Actually, the Grunts uniforms have always been black, except for females in GSC.

** In DarkEmpire, when Luke briefly goes over to TheDarkSide and serves as an apprentice under Palpatine, he gets the same [[InTheBlood title and position as his father]] and is dressed in a [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Image:De_luke.jpg very similar outfit]], missing only the helmet and life support. You could say it's just Palpatine rubbing it in, but maybe it ''is'' a uniform.

* The bulk of the GreenLantern Corps, at least the humanoids, wear the standard bodysuit, {{domino mask}} and ring. The [[GreenLanternRing ring]] is the only mandatory part, as the source of their powers, and many of the more far-out members have special rings to accommodate their anatomy. Like, say, one GL, a [[GeniusLoci living planet]] with a GL ring made of vegetation at its equator.

* Jenny, the titular character from the ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Doctor's Daughter", is a [[{{GattacaBabies}} genetically engineered soldier who emerges fully grown (and clothed) from a cloning machine.]] While her fellow soldiers are dressed in standard drab army fatigues, Jenny arrives in fitted black leather trousers, a tight green tee shirt (in a vibrant and flattering shade, no less) and flawless makeup, sans coat. The difference in uniform is never explained, and no one seems to question it.
* Lieutenant Jim Dangle from {{Reno911!}} wears shorts with his uniform, which he states he had to specifically ask the state for permission to do.

* And there's Hermann Goering's famous ornate uniforms. A joke told in Germany at the time had Hitler inspecting the latest warship, only to see Goering (who'd turned early) looking out a porthole. Hitler says: "That man's gone to far ? now he's draped an entire battleship around his neck!"