History Main / PaintedOnPants

If you're looking for something comfortable, [[{{Fanservice}} sexy]], aerodynamic, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment sexy]], chic, and [[RuleOfThree sexy]] for your characters to fight in, party in, or just walk around in, look no further than skin-tight pants, preferably spandex or leather so that they can be shiny too.

''Unless'' they're spandex, the "fight" part doesn't really work. Seriously. Female characters with nice legs and buttocks almost always feature a {{fanservice}}-heavy [[SheFu fighting style]] with [[KickChick lots of high kicks]]. Ask your local taekwondo coach to teach you some high kicks. Now put on some skin-tight leather or denim pants. Now do your high kicks. See the problem? That problem arises only if we're assuming our super woman hasn't broken an ankle running about in [[CombatStilettos stiletto heels]] or thrown herself to the ground from her own [[JigglePhysics forward momentum]], of course.

'''Note:''' Full skintight bodysuits are a [[SpyCatsuit different trope altogether]], as are cases when the outfit [[BodyPaint really is painted on]]. FormFittingWardrobe is for when clothing clings like this but is made of materials that shouldn't.

* ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' has the titular princess in form fitting white leggings but they aren't really played for fanservice. However, the film did once have a reputation for having viewers think that Nausicaa was flying around pantsless and underwear free due to old VHS fansubs where the footage had degraded so much through multiple copying that they looked more skintoned in colour.

* Marvel and DC is all over this; Basically, any superheroine who isn't wearing a full bodysuit has this, and every other female character after that. If not, its a LeotardOfPower.

* Rare non-fanservicey (at least intentional) example: when stealing the title character of ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' wears a full-body suit that covers everything but the eyes and makes him look like (in the words of a caricaturist) "a naked man completely painted black". {{Justified}}: when studying martial arts in East Asia, trainees at his school had to wear a ninja suit and ''never'' show their face, and after a training accident in which his face was exposed he came up with the suit because it's much harder to grab. [[HyperspaceArsenal Where he keeps his knives when wearing that suit remains a mystery whose solution he's not willing to share]].

-->'''Debbie:''' I love your dress. It's so... ''tight.''\\

* Skinsuits, the standard issue airtight, [[LatexSpacesuit skintight spacesuits]] in Literature/HonorHarrington need to be custom fitted for each person. Later in the series, even Nimitz the treecat gets one. In-text, they are described as being akin to a diving wet suit. Oddly enough, in official artwork they're shown inevitably as spacesuits of a rather more ordinary make, a bit less bulgy than a standard spacesuit but still recognizably a spacesuit.
* ''Cry Wolf'', by Creator/WilburSmith. Sara Sigud wears tight-fitting embroidered breeches, and explains that her grandfather decreed that the Ethiopian women had to wear them so they'd be difficult to remove for immoral purposes. Sara then goes on to explain that [[ReallyGetsAround in practice they're not that difficult to remove]], but are difficult to [[CoitusInterruptus get back on in a hurry]].

** In "Him", Buffy makes snide comments about a girl doing a MatingDance in really tight shirt and jeans, [[SheIsAllGrownUp only to realise it's her little sister, Dawn]].

--> Plant himself, in an interview, noted that people only called him a "sex symbol" because "You can see my cock through my trousers. I don't have an instrument in front of mine."

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' uses these for most equipment, using different pieces attached to the base model to make it unique. It gets a bit ridiculous for some equipment, for instance skin tight plate mail or skin tight tuxedos.

* In ''Webcomic/StickyDillyBuns'', [[CampGay Dillon]] takes [[TheIngenue Ruby]] clothes shopping (in his best GayBestFriend style), and buys her a pair of designer jeans as a gift. It then turns out that [[http://www.stickydillybuns.com/strips-sdb/rock_these_designer_jeans he has his own reasons for this...]]

* Prequel, a semi comment driven strip has this [[up to eleven]] when the main character, Katia, for lack of clothing, uses permanent paint to paint on a bikini and panties. A hundred strips later, the paint has not disappeared a bit.

** An urban legend tells of how a vain person sat in a hot tub with jeans on in order to shrink them into skintight-ness, unfortunately the jeans shrank so much that it ended up killing the person from loss of circulation. The {{Series/Mythbusters}} [[JustForFun/TropesExaminedByTheMythBusters once tested this]] and busted it when even after hours of sitting in cold water Grant's circulation was not seriously affected.

* Running tights. For that matter a lot of athletic clothes are skin tight. It reduces chafing, helps wick sweat away, and if you're an athlete, shows off that body you've been working so hard on.

* Swimsuits for professional swimmers are getting nearer and nearer to this trope...so much so that the international swimming federation is starting to crack down on suits that are ''too'' painted on...(this is justified however, in that the less loose fabric, the less water resistance)

* Half the cast in ''Series/BlakesSeven'', Avon in particular. The infamous "lobster suit" apparently gave Paul Darrow some trouble when it came to running.

* Skinsuits, the standard issue airtight, [[LatexSpacesuit skintight spacesuits]] in Literature/HonorHarrington need to be custom fitted for each person. Later in the series, even Nimitz the treecat gets one. In-text, they are described as being akin to a diving wet suit. Oddly enough, in official artwork they're shown inevitably as spacesuits of a rather more ordinary make, a bit less bulgy than a standard spacesuit but still recognizably a spacesuit

* Name a Snake from the ''Franchise/MetalGear'' series (including Raiden), they're in painted-on pants.

* Prequel, a semi comment driven strip has this [[up to eleven]] when the main character, Katia, for lack of clothing, uses permanent paint to paint on a bikini and panties. A hundred strips later, the paint has not disappeared a bit.

** An urban legend tells of how a vain person sat in a hot tub with jeans on in order to shrink them into skintight-ness, unfortunately the jeans shrank so much that it ended up killing the person from loss of circulation. The {{Series/Mythbusters}} [[TropesExaminedByTheMythBusters once tested this]] and busted it when even after hours of sitting in cold water Grant's circulation was not seriously affected.

* Skinsuits, the standard issue airtight, skintight spacesuits in Literature/HonorHarrington need to be custom fitted for each person. Later in the series, even Nimitz the treecat gets one. In-text, they are described as being akin to a diving wet suit.

->''She dashed by me in painted-on jeans''

* In ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur III'' and ''IV'', given the setting, no character wears this except, arguably, Xiangua, but in the character creator (where they have everything from eighties clothes to ''skintight chainmail'') you can set female characters to wear these. In Soul Calibur 4, with it's constant ClothingDamage, it usually comes down to either these or underwear/bikinis.

** Male comic characters also frequently appear to have been drawn naked but with BarbieDollAnatomy, and then colored like a ComicBook/CaptainAmerica suit, to the point of details like belly buttons showing. Really, clothes hanging like actual clothes is the exception, not the rule.

* Peter Vincent, Creator/DavidTennant's character in the ''[[Film/FrightNight2011 Fright Night]]'' remake, wears nearly painted-on leather pants. They become the source of a [[{{Squick}} Squick-inducing]] CrowningMomentOfFunny in the HilariousOuttakes.

--> '''Debbie:''' I love your dress. It's so... ''tight.''
--> '''Morticia:''' Thank you.

-->''Knew you were a vision in white''
-->''How'd ya get your pants so tight?''
-->''Don't know what ya doin', but ya must be livin' right''

* Spandex in bike tights, et cetera. Spandex hadn't been invented when they first drew Superman, and George Reeves' costume in [[TheAdventuresOfSuperman The Adventures Of Superman]] is almost baggy by comparison with Spandex.

* ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' has the titular princess in form fitting white leggings however they aren't really played for fanservice. The film did once have a reputation for having viewers think that Nausicaa was flying around pantsless and underwear free due to old VHS fansubs where the footage had degraded so much through multiple copying that they looked more skintoned in colour.

* ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' has the titular princess in form fitting white leggings however as Miyazaki is a feminist they aren't really played for fanservice. However the film did once have a reputation for having viewers think that Nausicaa was flying around pantsless and underwear free due to old VHS fansubs where the footage had degraded so much through multiple copying that they looked more skintoned in colour.

* Popular in ProfessionalWrestling, for both male and female wrestlers. This occasionally comes up for characters who are homages to wrestlers as well (such as Hugo from StreetFighter).

* Skinsuits, the standard issue airtight, skintight spacesuits in Literature/HonorHarrington need to be custom fitted for each person. Later in the series, even Nimitz the treecat gets one.
** Although the canonical book on Manticoran and People's Republic uniforms show them as looking like regular, not-painted-on jumpsuits...

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'':
** Tracer, as part of her "topshot pilot" aesthetic. She even has a taunt pose that is identical to a historical air force fanservice poster where she shows off her, ahem, assets rather prominently.
** Widowmaker, meanwhile, rocks a skin-tight SpyCatsuit.
** When not in her mech, [=D.Va=] wears a skin-tight suit evocative of many SuperRobot outfits.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' - the spandex worn under space mercenary spandex is so tight that not only is musculature still clearly visible, it gives the men BarbieDollAnatomy.

** Tracer, as part of her "topshot pilot" aesthetic. She even has a taunt pose that is identical to an old fanservice poster where she shows off her, ahem, assets rather prominently.

* How as are the ones favoured by Bree (and Skylar) on ''Series/LabRatsEliteForce''.

* How as are the ones favoured by Bree (and Skyler) on ''Series/LabRatsEliteForce''.

* ''Manga/HistorysStrongestDiscipleKenichi'': Miu's outfit is so skin-tight that she is accused of wearing body-paint a couple of times (by jealous girls).

* Old Snake from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', Justified, as loose clothing would hamper his sneaking ability, and it's a muscle suit about an inch thick, to make up for his old age.