History Main / GenderedOutfit

This is a subtrope of DistaffCounterpart and SpearCounterpart and often a manifestation of the RuleOfSexy. In video games, an AcceptableBreakFromReality if the same clothing item is used.

** The male version of Lynn Jr. (who even has the same name) wears a different jersey with short sleeves in place of long ones and a 0 that replaces female Lynn's 1.

** Lynn's equivalent, who shares her name (and is officially referred to as "Boy Lynn"), wears a different jersey with short sleeves in place of long ones and a zero number that replace's Lynn's one.

** Averted with Lily and Leon, which is a given, since they're (or were at the time for Lily before her later redesign in Season 5) babies who wear nothing but diapers.

* ''Manga/PrisonSchool'': The male prison uniforms are the [[InstitutionalApparel classic Black and white horizontal striped jumpsuits]]. The female version has the same color pattern but consist of a [[FormFittingWardrobe very tight top]] that [[BareYourMidriff shows off their midriff]] and tight capri pants.

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': Jesse Quick. Her original costume was pretty similar to her dad's look, albeit she also wore a jacket over and swapped the yellow tights for mid-length compression shorts. When he passed away, she switched to a distinct costume, though while aesthetically close to the Flash family, she opted for a leotard instead of full tights[[note]]Though this is likely based on the fact female runners do tend to prefer leotards to full tights[[/note]]. Later, she donned a costume similar to her dad's again, but swapped his tight-fit shirt for a loose one and replaced the trunks-over-tights with just tiny short-shorts, and thanks to DependingOnTheArtist, her shirt would sometimes be [[BareYourMidriff baring her midriff]].

* ComicBook/CarolDanvers's classic costume as ComicBook/MsMarvel (technically her second, but the first one didn't last long) is a gendered version of ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}'s, complete with a ScarfOfAsskicking, ThongOfShielding and [[BareYourMidriff Bared Midriff]]. [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091028123515/marveldatabase/images/thumb/5/55/Terry_Dodson_Combined_Variant_Covers.jpg/830px-Terry_Dodson_Combined_Variant_Covers.jpg Picture for reference]]. Her later outfit as Captain Marvel largely averts this, being far more modest and militaristic than her previous outfits. The aforementioned scarf is the only element that she retained from her last costume.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has most gear look the same on either gender (which means you can have {{Stripperific}} men and entirely-covered women if you wish), but there are some exceptions. Bliauds, for instance, have a low-cut collar on women, while men wear a shirt underneath, and leg gear designated as "bottoms" is usually trousers on men and a short skirt + tall socks on women. Certain artifact gear, such as ARR's Dragoon armor, also has some [[BareYourMidriff notable changes]]. Likewise, racial starter gear are different between genders. Some glamour-only pieces are also gender-locked so that a piece that is "designed for female/male characters" can't be worn by the other sex (this seems to happen most with swimsuits and formalwear).

* In ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon|1}}'', female Inklings wear shorter shorts than males. Other than that though, almost all of the equipable clothing averts this, being identical between genders save for some minor form tweaking here and there for some. Only a few outfits show remarkable differences between genders, such as the Octoling Armor having slight BareYourMidriff on female Inklings (though [[SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains not nearly as much as with the Octolings themselves]]), the female School Uniform having a color-matching skirt, and the male version of the ''Manga/SquidGirl'' Tunic being a sleeveless shirt instead of the original dress. ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'' deemphasizes gender, with outfits that altered based on gender in the previous games instead giving both options as separate items.

* WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom's OppositeSexClone Dani Phantom wears a different version of his black and white jumpsuit with baggier sleeves and legs with a [[BareYourMidriff bare midriff]] and a touch of FashionableAsymmetry. It's not a particularly sexier version considering Dani is [[YoungerThanTheyLook physically]] 12-years-old.

Often, when a character has a {{Gender Flip}}ped or DistaffCounterpart version, gender-specific changes will be made to that character's outfit. For example, pants will become a skirt, a necktie will become a [[ScarfOfAsskicking scarf]], and a vest will become a [[OfCorsetsSexy corset]]. Other popular, but relatively minor, changes include removing a collar for an ImpossiblyLowNeckline or NavelDeepNeckline, changing a unitard into a [[LeotardOfPower leotard]] (to show off sexy legs), or changing an outfit that was once loose-fitting into SensualSpandex. Also, when the male version tends to be a WalkingShirtlessScene, the female counterpart will at least don a complimentary bra, to avoid NippleAndDimed.

* When the students get their new, militaristic, "PE uniforms" at the end of volume 11 of ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'', the boys' outfit is ordinary baggy combat gear, while the girls' is a [[BareYourMidriff cropped jacket]] and Lara Croft-style shorts over a skintight [[SpyCatsuit spandex unitard]]. Justified since Irina designed the girls' outfit (and it turns out that her preferred design was incredibly {{Stripperiffic}}, but she and Karasuma compromised).

** Loki wears sneakers in contrast to Lori's slip-ons, and his tank top is noticeably droopy.

* A particularly subtle example: While all of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' super-suits are similar one piece outfits with a contrasting "gloves, boots and briefs" motif, Helen and Violet's outfits have bikini-style "briefs and thigh-high "boots" and elbow-length "gloves".

* In ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'', Girlfriend's parents both wear a black jacket and black boots. On Daddy Dearest, he wears a full jacket and the boots are part of his LongPants, while on Mommy Mearest they're instead a cropped jacket and thigh boots with garter straps attached.

** This is currently the case for National Park Service Rangers in the United States, but for [[DorkAge an infamous period]] in TheSeventies, the uniforms for female Rangers included [[https://www.nps.gov/articles/breeches-blouses.htm tan-colored minidresses, go-go boots, and red smocks.]] After numerous employee complaints, they got to wear the standard uniform and peak hats in TheEighties.

** In the remake of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'', [[TheChick Refia's]] Job outfits are sometimes at-odds with the three boys of the group, such as with the [[http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/a/ab/FF3-Thief.png Thief,]] [[http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/a/a8/FF3-Summoner.png Summoner,]] and [[http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/b/b9/FF3-Ninja.png Ninja.]] It's not hard to pick her out of the lineup.

** Bette Kane, the prototype "Bat-Girl", wore a masquerade-style mask instead of a cowl in addition to a dress with a short skirt.
** Barbara Gordon, the first "true" Batgirl, wore high heeled boots in her earliest appearances. Her cowl was also modified to let her long hair flow out.

* Valkyrie in ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'' wears something quite similar to Thor himself... but has a leotard in place of Thor's unitard to better expose her [[{{shes got legs}} legs]].

Often, when a character has a {{Gender Flip}}ped or DistaffCounterpart version, gender-specific changes will be made to that character's outfit. For example, pants will become a skirt, a necktie will become a [[ScarfOfAsskicking scarf]], and a vest will become a [[OfCorsetsSexy corset]]. Other popular, but relatively minor, changes include removing a collar for an ImpossiblyLowNeckline or NavelDeepNeckline, changing a unitard into a [[LeotardOfPower leotard]] (to show off [[ShesGotLegs sexy legs]]), or changing an outfit that was once loose-fitting into SensualSpandex. Also, when the male version tends to be a WalkingShirtlessScene, the female counterpart will at least don a complimentary bra, to avoid NippleAndDimed.

* In ''Franchise/TheIncredibles'', while all four Incredibles wear similar one-piece outfits with a contrasting "gloves, boots and briefs" motif, Helen and Violet's outfits have [[HighClassGloves opera "gloves"]], [[ShesGotLegs thigh-high "boots"]] and bikini-shaped "briefs".

* When President Aria from ''Manga/{{ARIA}}'' ends up in a GenderBentAlternateUniverse, he finds out that all the girls he knows are guys in this new world and vice versa. The dresses Undines wore in the main world turned into a cloak and pants, while all of the original world's men incorporated skirts/dresses into their outfits as women.

* Female red blood cells in ''Manga/CellsAtWork'' wear shorts, while male ones wear pants. As erythroblasts, the boys wear suspender shorts while the girls wear dresses.
* This is done with prison uniforms in ''Manga/PrisonSchool''. The male prison uniforms are the [[InstitutionalApparel classic Black and white horizontal striped jumpsuits]]. The female version has the same color pattern but consist of a [[FormFittingWardrobe very tight top]] that [[BareYourMidriff shows off their midriff]] and tight capri pants.

** [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra Cain]], the third major Batgirl, largely averted this trope. The only giveaway for her gender is the FormFittingWardrobe.
** [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie Brown]], like Barbara, wore an outfit that let her hair fly free.

* In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', teen ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}'s costumes played it straight (Kara wore skirt and boots; Barbara wore high-heeled boots and her cowl let her long hair flow) but their adult selves' costumes avert it.
** In the "Hypertension" storyline in ''Comicbook/Superboy1994'', Kon-El's counterpart on this world (a clone of Kara called "Supergrrl") wears a version of his costume, except that while Kon's outfit is split betwen blue and red with a point at around his navel, the blue part of hers goes all the way down to her crotch, creating a "swimsuit" effect, even though her legs are covered.
* As a general rule, the ComicBook/FantasticFour share the same outfit design. But for a while after ''ComicBook/TheInfinityWar'', the Invisible Woman wore a highly {{Stripperific}} version of the FF uniform. ComicBook/SheHulk wore a leotard version of their costume while she was on the team, but that was arguably more like a feminine analogue to The Thing's shorts (i.e., the TheBigGuy of the team wears less clothing, even if she's a Big Girl.)
* ''Franchise/TheFlash'': Jesse Quick. Her original costume was pretty similar to her dad's look, albeit she also wore a jacket over and swapped the yellow tights for mid-length compression shorts. When he passed away, she switched to a distinct costume, though while aesthetically close to the Flash family, she opted for a leotard instead of full tights[[note]]Though this is likely based on the fact female runners do tend to prefer leotards to full tights[[/note]]. Later, she donned a costume similar to her dad's again, but swapped his tight-fit shirt for a loose one and replaced the trunks-over-tights with just tiny short-shorts, and thanks to DependingOnTheArtist, her shirt would sometimes be [[BareYourMidriff baring her midriff]].

* Valkyrie in ''ComicBook/{{The Mighty Thor}}'' wears something quite similar to Thor himself... but has a leotard in place of Thor's unitard to better expose her [[{{shes got legs}} legs]].

* [[http://images.wikia.com/dcfanfiction/images/b/b6/129656-119888-powerboy.jpg Power Boy,]] the SpearCounterpart to ComicBook/PowerGirl, is a rare male example. More commonly, though, he went from leotard to unitard.

* ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s [[http://www.herostime.co/superhero/cache/data/categroyimg/Supergirls-280x320.png costumes over the years]] have had many gendered components, including (in various combinations) short skirts, short shorts, low necklines, heels, ballet slippers, thigh-high boots, and bared midriffs.

* Two Fourth Doctor companions in ''Series/DoctorWho'' get to wear girl versions of his outfit:
** Sarah Jane ends up in a furry grey frock coat and a long, multicoloured striped scarf in shades of pink in "The Seeds of Doom".

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': Imperial PowerArmor comes in two varieties: the huge ones used by the all-male Space Marines, and the smaller, thinner ones used by Sisters of Battle, both featuring exaggerated pauldrons and religious iconography. The Battle Sisters' power armor also features breastplates that are molded to resemble an actual bust, possibly to make clear that the Sisters are female and thus slip by the Ecclesiarchy's ban on having "men under arms".

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]:'' Plays it the same as ''Oblivion'' above. The very same piece of clothing or armor will change drastically in appearance when equipped onto male or female characters. The most infamous example being the much-sought-after [[ImpossiblyLowNeckline "Tavern Clothes"]].

* Taken to faintly ridiculous levels in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', where the different clothing and armour options change appearance quite drastically depending on the player character's clan and gender. What looks like a kevlar vest on a male Ventrue becomes a ''stripper cop outfit'' on a female Malkavian.

* {{Averted}} in ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'', where all god tiered players in the same class wear the same style of clothing. Compare a [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mspaintadventures/images/d/dd/GodTierDave.png/revision/latest?cb=20120728151447 male knight]] and a [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mspaintadventures/images/0/05/LatulaGodTier.png/revision/latest?cb=20160512205629 female knight,]] to a [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mspaintadventures/images/7/70/KankriGodTier.png/revision/latest?cb=20160511174449 male seer]] and a [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mspaintadventures/images/a/ae/Godtierrose.png/revision/latest?cb=20120319084152 female seer.]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* ''WebVideo/FeministFrequency'' talks about this sort of character design in the episode "Ms. Male Character".
* For a quick joke in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's "Blues Brothers 2000" review, a female version of him (played by Doug's ex Dayna) has on a white camisole instead of a white t-shirt.
[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Fionna, Finn's female counterpart, wears a skirt instead of shorts and a bunny-eared hat instead of a bear-eared one.

* In the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} wore a white t-shirt and blue skirt in contrast to ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s classic outfit. This outfit later became canonized in the comics.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon|1}}'', female Inklings wear shorter shorts than males. Other than that though, almost all of the equipable clothing averts this, being identical between genders save for some minor form tweaking here and there for some. Only a few outfits show remarkable differences between genders, such as the Octoling Armor having slight BareYourMidriff on female Inklings (though [[SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains not nearly as much as with the Octolings themselves]]), the female School Uniform having a color-matching skirt, and the male version of the ''Manga/SquidGirl'' Tunic being a sleeveless shirt instead of the original dress.

Often, when a character has a {{Gender Flip}}ped or DistaffCounterpart version, gender-specific changes will be made to that character's outfit. For example, pants will become a skirt, a necktie will become a [[ScarfOfAsskicking scarf]], and a vest will become a [[OfCorsetsSexy corset]]. Other popular, but relatively minor, changes include removing a collar for an ImpossiblyLowNeckline or AbsoluteCleavage, changing a unitard into a [[LeotardOfPower leotard]] (to show off [[ShesGotLegs sexy legs]]), or changing an outfit that was once loose-fitting into SensualSpandex. Also, when the male version tends to be a WalkingShirtlessScene, the female counterpart will at least don a complimentary bra, to avoid NippleAndDimed.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon|1}}'' female Inklings wear shorter shorts than males. Other than that though, almost all of the equipable clothing averts this, being identical between genders save for some minor form tweaking here and there for some. Only a few outfits show remarkable differences between genders, such as the Octoling Armor having slight BareYourMidriff on female Inklings (though [[SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains not nearly as much as with the Octolings themselves]]), the female School Uniform having a color-matching skirt, and the male version of the ''Manga/SquidGirl'' Tunic being a sleeveless shirt instead of the original dress.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' female Inklings wear shorter shorts than males. Other than that though, almost all of the equipable clothing averts this, being identical between genders save for some minor form tweaking here and there for some. Only a few outfits show remarkable differences between genders, such as the Octoling Armor having slight BareYourMidriff on female Inklings (though [[SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains not nearly as much as with the Octolings themselves]]), the female School Uniform having a color-matching skirt, and the male version of the ''Manga/SquidGirl'' Tunic being a sleeveless shirt instead of the original dress.

* In ''ComicBook/EarthX'', [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] was transformed into [[AttractiveBentGender a woman]] as another humility lesson given by his father, [[TopGod Odin]]. For no explained reason, this costume places Thor's usual metal discs on her breasts like cups, gives her thigh high boots, and frames her figure with holes that show off every curve of her body. Remember, for all intents and purposes, this is a character that was once ''male''. So that means either Thor decided that not having a penis meant that it was time to make a sluttier costume...or [[BrainBleach Odin did]].

[[quoteright:260:[[ComicBook/{{Superman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/supermansupergirljleemt_6653.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:260:ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}.]]

* WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls' Spear Counterparts, the Rowdy Ruff Boys, are another rare male example. Skirts and hair ribbons become pants, shorts, hats and ponytails between the two genders.

* When the students get their new, militaristic, "PE uniforms" at the end of volume 11 of ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'', the boys' outfit is ordinary baggy combat gear, while the girls' is a [[BareYourMidriff cropped jacket]] and [[WhoWearsShortShorts Lara Croft-style shorts]] over a skintight [[SpyCatsuit spandex unitard]]. Justified since Irina designed the girls' outfit (and it turns out that her preferred design was incredibly {{Stripperiffic}}, but she and Karasuma compromised).

Often, when a character has a {{Gender Flip}}ped or DistaffCounterpart version, gender-specific changes will be made to that character's outfit. For example, pants will become a [[DangerouslyShortSkirt skirt]], a necktie will become a [[ScarfOfAsskicking scarf]], and a vest will become a [[OfCorsetsSexy corset]]. Other popular, but relatively minor, changes include removing a collar for an ImpossiblyLowNeckline or AbsoluteCleavage, changing a unitard into a [[LeotardOfPower leotard]] (to show off [[ShesGotLegs sexy legs]]), or changing an outfit that was once loose-fitting into SensualSpandex. Also, when the male version tends to be a WalkingShirtlessScene, the female counterpart will at least don a complimentary bra, to avoid NippleAndDimed.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' made a brave attempt at a fully gender-neutral take on this with several male extras wearing a variant of the minidress uniform that acquired the FanNickname "skant". It was a very forward-thinking take on gender presentation for the dawn of TheNineties, but ended up being phased out very quickly on the grounds that it looked equally silly on both sexes.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Fionna, Finn's female counterpart, wears a skort instead of shorts and a bunny-eared hat instead of a bear-eared one.

* In the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} wore a white t-shirt and blue skirt in contrast to {{Superman}}'s classic outfit. This outfit later became canonized in the comics.

* During her tenure as the Girl Wonder, Stephanie Brown was the only ComicBook/{{Robin}} to wear a skirt.

** In ''Power Rangers'' this was avoided with the some of the early female Yellow Rangers, namely the ones in ''[[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Mighty Morphin']]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Lost Galaxy]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue Lightspeed Rescue]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersTimeForce Time Force]]'' and ''[[Series/PowerRangersWildForce Wild Force]]''. This was because the ''Super Sentai'' counterparts of those Rangers were originally male and the suits in the American footage were kept unchanged to match the Japanese stock footage as much as possible.
*** The lack of skirts on the aforementioned Yellow Rangers went completely unmentioned, but in ''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury'', the first series of ''Power Rangers'' in many years to represent the ShesAManInJapan trope, Green Ranger Izzy initially morphs with a skirt, matching the Pink Ranger, only to rip it off after noticing it (saying she doesn't like skirts), allowing her to match the male Green Ranger of ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger''.

** Nowhere is this better emphasized than in ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'', where we get several female examples of male suits, and a few male examples of once female suits. This is only averted when Gokai Yellow transforms into Battle Cossack from ''Series/BattleFeverJ''. Instead of wearing a leotard like the one wore by Miss America, the Battle Cossack suit remains unaltered when Luka wears it. The Zubaan outfit also remained unchanged when Luka used his Ranger Key in one episode. However, Luka does wear a skirt when she transforms into Vul Panther from ''Series/TaiyouSentaiSunVulcan'', despite the fact there were no female rangers in that team.
*** This made for some StockFootageFailure that the ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' team had no choice but to run with. When Gia uses some of her predecessors' suits, they have skirts where they originally didn't even though the previous wearer was also female. (However, it ''did'' retroactively make some skirted MMPR Yellow toys accurate; clearly, they represent Gia, not Trini or Aisha!) Even ''new'' footage kept the changes (lest a skirt repeatedly appear and disappear between shots.) It's especially noticeable with Wild Force -- the yellow suit gets a black border on the skirt to match the white suit's pink border, making it look quite different from the original.