History Main / TheissTitillationTheory

* [[MsFanservice Krystal]] from ''Videogame/StarfoxAdventures'' is a NubileSavage who wears a skimpy tribal outfit that's basically [[WalkingSwimsuitScene just a bra]] and a [[DangerouslyShortSkirt hazardously short loincloth]]. In particular, the way the loincloth stays on (two button clips, one on each of her hips) makes it [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190419190727/https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mbcWxUuho-g/maxresdefault.jpg physically]] [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DhR5v-nWAAAecbC.jpg impossible]] for her to be wearing underwear. [[note]]''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' takes this trope to it's [[RealityEnsues logical conclusion]]: while many of the other female characters with similarly explicit outfits had their designs [[DigitalBikini slightly altered for modesty]], Krystal's private area was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar outright modeled without anything covering them up]]. Naturally, there have been several [[VideoGamePerversityPotential up-skirt]] screenshots [[https://i.imgur.com//OffoMLh.jpg of]], [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DuDzYdAVsAEHAK-.jpg her]] [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D1NEb5AXcAATaog.jpg exposed]] [[http://archive.fo/Q2aPZ privates]].[[/note]]

* Kuroka from ''Anime/HighSchoolDXD'' has the classic kimono example, not only is [[ImpossiblyLowNeckline nothing keeping it up]], but it should [[MagicSkirt fly open pretty much any time she moves]]. Maybe magic demon powers are keeping it in place.

** The award goes to resident {{Stripperiffic}} MsFanservice, Ivy Valentine, who, with the exception of ''V'', loses more and more of her already amazingly revealing default costume. By the time ''[[{{Pun}} IV]]'' rolled around, her dominatrix outfit has been diminished into ''strips'' of leather held together by ''strings''. (She was covered up more in ''V''; the developers likely realized by then that if they made her outfit any ''more'' revealing, they'd probably have to change the game's ESRB rating.)

* Kuroka from ''Anime/HighSchoolDxD'' has the classic kimono example, not only is [[ImpossiblyLowNeckline nothing keeping it up]], but it should [[MagicSkirt fly open pretty much any time she moves]]. Maybe magic demon powers are keeping it in place.

* {{Invoked}}/{{Parodied}} on ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' -- [[ValleyGirl Lumpy Space Princess]] is normally naked, being a sort of [[SiliconBasedLife purple cloud-creature]], but puts on a transparent dress ([[ImprovisedClothes made from a used plastic bag]]) when she wants to seduce [[KidHero Finn]]. [[SarcasmMode Somehow, she fails]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

** The android [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/ST_-_What_Are_Little_Girls_Made_Of.jpg Andrea]] from ''[[Recap/StarTrekS1E7WhatAreLittleGirlsMadeOf What Are Little Girls Made Of]]'' has a costume with an upper portion that's merely two crossed strips of material. Off the set, models wearing this costume ''never'' failed to get a dramatically appreciative reception from at least the men.
*** In William Shatner's ''Get A Life'', he tells a story about how Gene Roddenberry talked that same outfit into a fashion show at a Sci-Fi con. According to one of the people there, the model apparently had to spend the evening [[ThatCameOutWrong "beating men off with a stick"]]. Notable is the fact that Star Trek ''hadn't even aired yet''.

** In "Mudd's Women," Maggie Thrett, playing the character of [[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Ruth_in_sickbay.jpg Ruth]], suffered repeated wardrobe malfunctions during shooting -- apparently one of her, ahem, assets refused to remain covered. (Unsurprisingly, the final version of the costume was another of Roddenberry's "improvements.") The ruined shot was saved for a [[HilariousOuttakes Gag Reel]], however.

[[folder:Music]]

* In Creator/TheBBC's impressive library of music films, there is a late 1970's recording of Music/MeatLoaf and Karla de Vita performing his “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” sometime around 1979, from the music show ''The Old Grey Whistle Test.'' This is an energetically acted song. What makes the clip especially mesmerizing is that Karla is performing in a filmy black top slashed to below the navel in front and open at both sides. She gets within millimetres of inadvertent exposure several times but, perhaps due to strategic tape, never quite gets there.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3.5 edition Player's Handbook, all of the female examples shown in the races chapter have clothing that looks almost exactly like the example pictured at the top of the page. Not to mention the Nymph in the Monster Manual, the Elemental Savant in Complete Arcane, for that matter just about any female character pictured in any D&D book. A notable exception is the iconic 3.5 rogue, the halfling Lidda, who's typically fully clothed from her neck to her toes. On the other hand, that type of clothing tends to be skintight, so...

[[folder:Visual Art]]
* Czech artist Creator/AlphonseMucha, often considered a trope codifier for the ArtNouveau movement, produced [[http://www.muchafoundation.org/gallery/themes/theme/art-posters a large number of posters]] showing attractive women in flowing robes which quite often illustrate this principle. (They’re never fully nude, although there’s a very occasional flash of actual nipple.) These posters have become hugely popular, and are often the subject of {{Pastiche}} or AffectionateParody to this day.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

* When Manga/{{Naruto}} meets [[MsFanservice Anko]] in ''FanFic/UchibiSasuke'', he discovers that the only think more distracting that boobs is clothing that looks like it will slip and show boobs. He even [[RefugeInAudacity outright asks Anko how she holds it up]].

* When Manga/{{Naruto}} meets [[MsFanservice Anko]] in ''FanFic/UchibiSasuke'', he discovers that the only think more distracting that boobs is clothing that might look like it will slip and show boobs. He even [[RefugeInAudacity outright asks her how she holds it up]].

* Romans didn't wear togas as much as we imagine them doing; most famously they were donned by political candidates, since [[LightIsGood the pure white of the garment was supposed to communicate their honesty]]. The reason? There was ''nothing'' holding them up except for strategic body posturing. If you pivoted just the wrong way, down it would come and nude you would be.

This basic theory underwrites {{Stripperiffic}} clothing, ImpossiblyCoolClothes, and pretty much anything else you stick female characters into: what makes clothing sexy is the potential for a catastrophic WardrobeMalfunction. The {{Trope Namer|s}} is William Ware Theiss, costume designer on ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', who first codified the concept.

** The page image is one of Theiss's best-known creations. The android [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/ST_-_What_Are_Little_Girls_Made_Of.jpg Andrea]] from ''[[Recap/StarTrekS1E7WhatAreLittleGirlsMadeOf What Are Little Girls Made Of]]'' has a costume with an upper portion that's merely two crossed strips of material. Off the set, models wearing this costume ''never'' failed to get a dramatically appreciative reception from at least the men.

* Chocolat's combat outfit in ''LightNovel/SorcererHunters'' consists of baggy trousers and a pair of thin suspenders. If a woman dressed like that in real life, the only way she could move without flashing her nipples would be to glue the suspenders in place.

%% No quotes, please - there is a Quotes tab.

This basic theory underwrites {{Stripperiffic}} clothing, ImpossiblyCoolClothes, and pretty much anything else you stick female characters into: what makes clothing sexy is the potential for a catastrophic WardrobeMalfunction. The [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] is William Ware Theiss, costume designer on ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', who first codified the concept.

The allure of this trope is all in the tease -- precarious as these outfits seem, they will never, ''ever'' fail to keep everything covered. (At least from the perspective of the viewer -- other ''characters'' might be getting quite the eyeful.) The TTT also takes advantage of an odd side effect: a particularly sexy outfit actually ''[[FullyClothedNudity out-titillates]]'' frank nudity. Evidently, [[WantingIsBetterThanHaving a woman who is not quite naked is more interesting than a woman who already is]].

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/andrea_fix.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:How long can she go before those strips slide down her arms?]]

Compare WardrobeMalfunction.

Contrast FetishRetardant.

** The page image is one of Theiss's best-known creations. The android [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/ST_-_What_Are_Little_Girls_Made_Of.jpg Andrea]] from ''What Are Little Girls Made Of'' has a costume with an upper portion that's merely two crossed strips of material. Off the set, models wearing this costume ''never'' failed to get a dramatically appreciative reception from at least the men.

[[folder: Professional Wrestling]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

* Vetinari mentions this in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}''. "Curiously, the purpose of the nautch girl or exotic dancer has always been less to reveal and more to suggest the ''imminence'' of revelation."

* In Creator/{{Filmation}}'s ''[[WesternAnimation/FlashGordon1979 Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All]]'', Flash, Dale and Zarkov are captured by Beastmen soon upon crash landing on Mongo and dragged to their mountain settlement. Along the way, their clothing disintegrates with [[https://youtu.be/O9Z9k0wAZtQ?t=5 Dale's dress so shredded with one shoulder is completely bare to the point where the whole blouse is just about to fall open completely]]. The look is so alluringly that when the film was reedited into the SaturdayMorningCartoon TV series instead, the gang had to be redrawn into their usual costumes to avoid imagery the NBC network could never allow in that timeslot.