Beautiful All Along - Television Tropes & Idioms

"Like in one of those movies. You know. When they take off their glasses and put down their hair. 'Why, Miss Finch, you're beautiful.'"

— "The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch", Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman

A stock plot: an ugly duckling loses the glasses, takes down her hair, and walks down the stairs as a swan. Pretty much the plot of the movie She's All That.

Another version of this would be "Miss Jones Syndrome", where a dowdy, bespectacled woman switches to contacts, shakes loose her hair and is told by the unrequited object of her affections, "Why, Miss Jones, you are beautiful." (A variant on this can be heard in Thomas Dolby's song "She Blinded Me With Science": "Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto, you're beautiful!")

This is mainly possible because most of the "ugly" women on TV are beautiful actresses in bad clothes, though it also has something to do with narrow standards of beauty in movies and TV.

Starts as a nice little moral about how looks aren't everything, but saves the hero from actually having to go out with an ugly girl.

Opposed by Nerds Are Sexy. See She Is All Grown Up for the related prettification of a childhood friend. Contrast Just The Way You Are, Unnecessary Makeover. A rather depressing double standard when you hold it up next to Ugly Guy Hot Wife — men can be as hideous as they please and still land the girl, but god forbid a woman has glasses and a ponytail! The trope, She Cleans Up Nicely, often differs in that the girl in question might like rough casual clothes or work gear most of the time, she knows damn well she can look stunningly good when she wants to be.

See also Suetiful All Along and Fan Service Pack. Contrast Irony As She Is Cast, where this is always the potential, but it is never tapped.

Nowadays, this trope is dead in the water, but it's still used time to time, mainly by crappy fanfiction writers, anyways.

Examples

Advertising

A Diet Soda commercial features The Bad Boy with a bit of Yum Yum in the background for emphasis, when he accidently knocks down a sheltered and spectacled schoolgirl, loosening her hair and glasses, thus bringing this trope into play.

Anime

In the anime Love Hina, Narusegawa Naru goes from looking like a total nerd to being beautiful by removing her Nerd Glasses and taking her hair out of massive braids. Then again, her "ugly" state is a deliberate act intended to drive off unwelcome male attention.
Likewise, in Strawberry One Hundred Percent, Toujou Aya becomes better looking by letting her bangs down, and beautiful by taking off her glasses and unbraiding her hair.
A subtle subversion is Chisame Hasegawa of Mahou Sensei Negima. In her daily school life she is a bespectacled computer geek, allegedly with bad skin. But at home she takes off her glasses, combs out her hair, and takes digital pictures of herself in costumes, which she then photoshops to clear up her skin and increase her bustline — and becomes the virtual idol "Chiu" on her website. Of course, her teacher Negi insists that she's cute enough as-is, but he's ten, what does he know?
- Her problems with her appearance may be one reason she seems to prefer remaining in the form of a ten-year-old via the age pills, during the Magic World arc...
- Asuna's friends are also rather surprised at how normal and even elegant Asuna can look without her hair ornaments, dressed normally and not kicking people in the face.
In Seto No Hanayome this trope is played in the classic fashion. Iinchou (the Class Representative) takes off her glasses, lets her hair down, and the object of her affections (who doesn't recognize her) almost immediately bumps into her, and thinks about how cute she is.
In Bleach, there is a 'version of sorts in Mayuri Kurotsuchi, a Mad Scientist who wears full black-and-white bodypaint, styles his hair strangely, and is really a Complete Monster. There is one occasion, though, where he is seen without the get-up, and turns out to be unrecognizeable (and good-looking to boot). However, Mayuri wants to look like he does, subverting this to a large degree.
In Berserk, Guts thinks of Casca as a soldier, it isn't until she dolls up for the ball after their major victory that he realizes that she is beautiful. The other men at the ball (who didn't realize she was female until that point) agree with him, enough that she has to make her escape.
In the manga The Wallflower, Sunako, who shuns light and all forms of beauty, abruptly transforms from Super Deformed creature into Tall Dark And Bishoujo when her friends are threatened or she has a brief bout of self-confidence.
- Subverted in the very first chapter, when the boys see Sunako's face for the first time: she's covered in flour and appears flawless, but brushing the flour off reveals split ends and bad skin.
Subverted in Idaten Jump: a handsome, brilliant fighter deliberately hides his good traits and pose as a complete nerd to protect his secret identity from his enemies.
The Lamune & 40 series makes this into a Running Gag; when Meganekko Cocoa removes her glasses for any reason, everyone in the immediate area has this trope hit them hard — and she just says "What?" as she puts them back on.
In Code Geass, The Scrappy Nina Einstein, who looked extremely dorky and nerdy in the first season, returns in the second season with an updated look, that she looked quite beautiful. However, the rule 'inside beauty' still plays hard here, and as she still held her Scrappy qualities until almost the end of the series, people think her makeover does not help make her more beautiful at all, and even refuse to accept her Character Development.
Skewed a bit in Ouran High School Host Club: when Haruhi Fujioka's Nerd Glasses come off, the members of the titular club are startled to realize that she's really quite attractive — but (aside from The Chessmaster) they all still think she's a boy.
- Inverted the following episode when the club members managed to find a picture of Haruhi sporting long hair and in a schoolgirl uniform, and they question just how such a pretty girl could turn into someone so mousey and boyish looking (to which Haruhi replied that she cut her hair after some mischievous kid stuck bubblegum into it).
One of Akane's pet peeves in Ranma 1/2 is that, although female Ranma looks very ordinary in the standard, unisex Chinese uniform (which is tailored for Ranma's male form anyway,) "she" is actually a beautiful woman otherwise. (Not to mention Ranma's apparently unconscious, instinctive ability to do both sexpot and Moe at will...)
- Not surprisingly, Ranma's mother, Nodoka, appears as an attractive, but nondescript woman in a kimono most of the time. When she lets her hair down, she goes from "pretty" to Hot Shounen Mom in two seconds flat.
- Inverted by Mousse, who initially comes off as a Bishonen, but is a total moron who requires thick Coke-bottle glasses to function properly.
- Near the end of the series there is a Beach Episode where (allegedly) unglamorous homebody Kasumi appears wearing the second-tiniest bikini in the entire episode (only raving loony Kodachi wears a smaller one), and accidentally wins a beauty contest (in which all the other girls have entered, and for which she is acting as a "card girl") when the (mostly male) audience decide they like her best.
- Minor example is Ukyo when she decides to dress like a girl. Even though every guy starts drooling over her, it's only a minor example because she was plenty cute enough even before that.
In one Naruto filler arc, there was the minor villain Fuuma Kagerou. He pretty much looked like a gorilla with a huge overbite in his first appearance. Then he, litterarily, shed his body and was revealed to be a quite beautiful girl... Of course, since Kagerou's general powers and abilities were inspired by the mayfly, this also meant that her remaining lifespan was reduced to a few hours through this act.
The hentai manga Were-Slut combines this trope with Clark Kenting (and, perhaps, a more subtle form of lycanthropy). After main character Kimiko swallows the Beauty Stone, she becomes so beautiful that she gets flak from her teachers about wearing make-up and has to hide her gorgeous looks behind her usual nerd-glasses. This also keeps people from realizing that she's the Were-Slut, a side-effect of the expired Beauty Stone that... well, it's hentai, so it should be obvious by now. Also subverted by the fact that the boy she took the Beauty Stone to seduce was already in love with her and she only needed to have more confidence in herself (or just be blindly in heat) to make him her boyfriend.
In Glass Mask, Maya, who is usually described as "plain-looking", is cast as a beautiful princess opposite the beautiful Ayumi. Everyone thinks it's a complete miscast, and are extremely surprised by Maya's first appearance on stage. It only lasts as long as the stage makeup does and weirds out her friends.
Megumi "Nodame" Noda from Nodame Cantabile is actually a very attractive lady when she washes her hair and doesn't dress in mold-afflicted dirty clothes—and also refrains from shouting at the top of her lungs all the time or making silly faces.
Torako from Hyakko may not be really ugly, but her tomboyish demeanor usually lets her be outshined by girls like Ayumi—until she decides to get loose while posing for some photos.
Delightful example from Episode 8 of Gundam00, where it's applied to Tieria Erde. Ditch the glasses and that pink... thing for a gorgeous dress and hair extensions? Why, Miss Erde, you're beautiful.
To show that this trope is not restricted to women, Mitsukake from Fushigi Yugi was first seen with long unkept hair and a Grizzly Adams beard. When he saved Miaka and the gang, he was male model gorgeous.
Sailor Moon has a one-off character, Princess Dia, who wore Nerd Glasses. Once they were knocked off her face she was revealed to follow this trope. In the manga the Sailor Senshi wonder if this trope would apply to Umino if he removed his specs, complete with a Bishonen Umino Imagine Spot. According to Naoko Takeuchi the trope does indeed apply to Umino too.
The Gasmask-wearing, minor character Busujima from Busou Renkin. With a combination of Samus Is A Girl.
This sort-of applies to Mayuri Kurotsuchi, of all people, on Bleach. His one and only Shower Scene shows him without all of the make-up and headgear he always wears... and well, he's not that weird-looking. Still remains an Heroic Sociopath bordering on Complete Monster, though.
A male version would be Charden from Black Cat who wears glasses and a top hat. When he takes these off he turns out to be a handsome blonde man with flowing curls.
Subverted horribly and dramatically in Detective Conan. A Idol Singer is killed through Odd Poison by his beautiful soon to be ex-manager, who is also his ex-girlfriend, because he treated her like garbage and lots of his abuse was about her physical features. Turns out he did this because she had cosmetic surgery to please him, but he liked her "ugly" original face better and heavily blamed himself for her change.
Subverted in Kimi Ni Todoke, in that the protagonist, Sawako, becomes very pretty when she smiles genuinely, as opposed to her forced smile, which scared everyone away until she entered high school.
In Phoenix, Uzume was an ugly woman being held as a prisoner by Chinese soldiers. After marrying Sarutahiko, she reveals that she's actually very beautiful and that she disguised herself as an ugly woman so that the soldiers wouldn't rape her.
Parodied in Hayate X Blade. Inu, who starts off looking like something that would make The Wallflower's Sunako look normal, is given a makeover by her sister-in-arms Momoka. While she does look a lot prettier with her hair done up, she's still considered creepy by her peers thanks to her...odd mannerisms (and matching Speech Bubbles, which don't go away after her makeover).
Gender flipped in Xam'd: Lost Memories: Raigyo is first introduced as a funny looking bloke in desperate need of a shave and a haircut◊. Then, about two thirds into his introductory episodes, he decides to go and get that shave and haircut and...well, damn◊. Newcomer Akiyaki spends a good fifteen seconds just ogling stupidly before it even registers in his head that it's really the same guy.
The Pig Bride of the manhwa of the same name is a young girl cursed with a facial deformity unless she can win over her destined boyfriend. At least, that's what she thinks we've seen the bottom half of her face, the book cover shows the top half, and she's perfecly nice-looking. Someone mentioned that a later book cover goes ahead and shows her whole, pretty face.

Comic Books

Subverted in the manga Blade Of The Immortal where Rin (who is attractive, just too young) takes down her hair and tries to talk seductively to Manji in order to prove that she can be mature and lady-like. Manji simply bursts out laughing at her and mocks the trope itself.
When Ellen Dolan is first introduced in The Spirit, she's a dowdy college girl with, yes, hair up, and glasses. And she has a geeky fiance. By the end of the story, the Spirit lets her hair down and removes her glasses... and then steals a kiss from the lovely girl. Needless to say, she dumps the fiance soon after.
- In the recent movie by Frank Miller, Ellen starts out beautiful.
Runaways doesn't quite do this narrative-wise, but it's suggested by Alex's initial description of Nico and his reaction after seeing her for the first time in a year, combined with a flashback or two later on ("Have you ever thought about getting contacts, Nico?"). Also one of the few instances that combine it with a major change in aesthetic.
There's a bizarre example in Alpha Flight, with Jeanne-Marie Beaubier and her alter-ego Aurora. Aurora wears her hair loose, and no glasses; Jeanne-Marie has a tight bun and "glasses you barely need for reading" (as her brother put it). While Jeanne-Marie is hardly ugly, she looks much more strict and severe than free-spirited Aurora. It reverses the trope, in that her (long lost twin) brother first saw her as Aurora, then was shocked to see her do up her hair and put on glasses on purpose to look less attractive. This is no Clark Kenting, either; she has multiple personality disorder, so this trope works to draw the line between two different people.
However, it is Clark Kenting with Supergirl, who in her "Kara Kent" identity wears a wig and glasses.

Film

The movie that arguably originated this trope, Now, Voyager (1942), also served to subvert it in anticipation. Bette Davis plays an overweight, dowdy, bespectacled, poorly dressed woman who's also painfully shy, unsocialized, maladjusted, and bullied by her widowed mother. When she loses weight, takes off her glasses, and buys fashionable clothes... she's still shy, unsocialized, maladjusted, and bullied by her mother.
Used in the rival bookstore scene of The Big Sleep (1946), where Marlowe "transforms" the lady bookseller.
In the 1962 film Gypsy, when tomboyish Louise first gets beautiful clothes and has her hair done, she looks in the mirror, and incredulously says: "I'm pretty. I'm a pretty girl, Mama."
Subverted in 1962's That Touch Of Mink, starring Cary Grant when Gig Young tells a plain looking secretary to take off her glasses and let her hair down, and is disappointed to get the same plain woman with no glasses and her hair down. "Gee, it always works in the movies!"
Inverted in, of all things, How To Marry A Millionaire. Poor Marilyn Monroe is all but blind without her glasses, but never wears them because she's afraid of men not liking her. When she finally meets her true love, he puts her glasses on and tells her that she's beautiful.
Central to the plot of the 1989 Tony Danza film She's Out Of Control, in which an overprotective father discovers his 15-year-old daughter has undergone this kind of transformation while he was away on a business trip, and can't cope with its results and side-effects.
Blade Runner used this trope to good effect; when the replicant Rachel took down her hair (admittedly, she wasn't wearing glasses, as she was an android with perfect vision) she revealed herself to be beautiful and, in keeping with the theme of the film, more human.
- Your Mileage May Vary. When she takes down her hair it insta-poofs up into a 80es hairdo.
Miss Congeniality 2 uses this in the epilogue with Sandra Bullock doing this to a young student.
- Of course it's also the driving plot point of the original Miss Congeniality, when Sandra Bullock has it done to her.
- Actually, it's the other way around in the sequel. At first, Sandra Bullock tells a school girl to put her hair up because it will enchance her features better and that "people care about people who care about themselves". But at the end of the film Bullock meets the girl again and, having learned her lesson, takes the bow out of the kid's hair and says "I know that people care about people who care about themselves… but I really don’t care about those people".
A brilliant parody of this trope is used in the Lethal Weapon spoof Loaded Weapon 1. A plain, dowdy woman takes off her glasses, bends over and shakes out her hair, and when she looks back up, she's a completely different actress — supermodel Kathy Ireland, in fact.
Parodied in Not Another Teen Movie. The main character, Janie, a "rebellious" artist who is seen as ugly by all the other characters, gets a makeover by a popular girl. Before she begins, the popular girl warns Janie, "this may seem a bit crazy..." She then proceeds to take off her glasses and pull down her hair. Suddenly, everyone acknowledges her beauty, and she even gets her own slow-walk down a stairway shot, complete with music.
- Also parodied before that when she's nominated "hardest to make into the prom queen" because she has "glasses, a pony tail and paint-covered overalls". (Candidates stated as "easier" to make over include an albino folksinger, twins joined at the head, etc...)
- Of course, also done in the movie mentioned at the top, Shes All That, which the scene is a parody off.
The movie Shaolin Soccer subverts this not once but twice. The heroine, originally a rather ugly girl with terrible skin, gets a makeover in the hopes of attracting the hero, but the result is almost as bad; she ends up with streetwalker-thick makeup, '80s big hair and shoulder pads. Eventually she goes through a second transformation where she gives up on the makeup, etc., and shaves her head bald — and looks better than ever. (One wonders what happened to the bad skin.)
- This is rather common in Stephen Chow movies, in that almost all of his love interests have either physical flaws, or are characteristically flawed. One of the most memorable moments in Chow's movies before he became vastly famous was the ending scene of The God Of Cookery, where the comically homely female street chef got an extreme makeover after he alleged death. The actress playing the role, however, is a famous Chinese pop star in real life, so her final appearance in the movie actually had her to do away with her faux ugly makeup.
  - Really? I can't be the only one who thought her head looked HUGE when bald.
In The Princess Diaries, Mia is seen as a dowdy and generally unremarkable person until Paolo (no, not that Paolo!) gives her a makeover, at which point it's revealed that she's actually movie-star gorgeous. (In a minor twist, though, the other characters still don't pay her any real respect, even after they find out that she's the princess of Genovia.)
Fran in Strictly Ballroom goes through a similar transformation, although Shirley has been on at her to treat her skin with product for the first half of the film.
Although she was never supposed to be "ugly" (just plain) the character of Jamie Sullivan in A Walk To Remember has a Beautiful All Along moment during the scene in which she performs in the school play; as she takes off a black cape she is revealed in a blue silk dress, along with full hair and make-up for the first time.
The moment Ally Sheedy gets ruined in The Breakfast Club.
The scene in Superman where Clark Kent is in Lois's apartment with her (off-screen) getting ready for their date. He is debating whether to reveal to her that he is Superman, and the actor straightens his posture, removes his glasses (ok, he doesn't let down his hair, it isn't a perfect example of this trope), does something to his expression, and becomes the extremely attractive Superman. Lois (still off-screen) says something and he changes his mind, transforming instantly back into the nerdy and relatively unattractive Clark. An excellent piece of acting by Christopher Reeve.
- In the original comics, Clark Kent was so ugly, and Superman so beautiful, that Lois hated Kent and loved Superman.
  - Not so much "ugly" and "beautiful", it's just Lois compared shy, clumsy, and cowardly (after all, he disappeared at the first sign of danger!) Clark against, well, Superman.
Visible in Batman Returns. Who knew that getting thrown off a building, trashing her own house, and tearing up her clothes to make a catsuit would change dowdy secretary Selina Kyle so much?
In Spiderman, Peter Parker loses his eyesight problems when he gains his spider powers, so he stops wearing glasses. Mary Jane notices his beautiful blue eyes, of course.
Subverted in Shrek when beautiful human Princess Fiona is transformed by a kiss into her true form, an Ogre. Arguably, the words of her curse can be interpreted to mean she would transform into the form of her true love.
Inverted in Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs when the protagonist has the pretty, ditzy (yet secretly highly intelligent) female lead put on her glasses and scrunchie her hair into a ponytail... and he finds her profoundly more beautiful than before.
This shows up in The Hottie and the Nottie when the repulsive best friend is given a makeover. Although the actress is made up with things like rotting teeth, warts, and fungus, you can still tell she normally looks great.
Subverted in Legend for many fans, who consider Mia Sara more attractive as "Dark Lili" than "Princess Lili". (Her costume certainly didn't hurt.)
Tula from My Big Fat Greek Wedding started out as, in her words, "Frump Girl", but then she got glasses, changed her look, let her hair down, and started classes at a nearby college.
Subverted in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai: Tomboy Anjali (sex-symbol Kajol with a baggy clothes and a bad haircut) realizes she can only compete with Tina by becoming more feminine and getting a makeover. The audience expects a Beautiful All Along moment but when Anjali's new look is finally shown, it's painfully horrible. Turns out tomboys don't really pay attention to fashion, so she's wearing a flashy pink miniskirt and too much make-up. When she gets to school, everyone laughs at her, including the guy she's in love with. The trope is later played straight with a Shes All Grown Up moment.
Main Hoon Na: Hot tomboy Sanju wants Lucky to finally notice her, so she goes to Miss Chandni for a makeover. When she shows up at school the next day, she's wearing a sari and every one does a double-take. Subverted when Lucky asks her on a date: Sanju rejects him, points out the clothes just aren't her style and calls him a jerk for only noticing her now that she's conventionally feminine. "What if I wear my usual clothes tomorrow? Will you dump me for a girl who wears miniskirts?"

Music Videos

Played Anviliciously straight in Taylor Swift's music video for "You Belong With Me". Taylor starts out in a Hollywood Homely "Nerd" get-up, which of course ends up being more attractive than the Conventional Beauty she becomes to turn her boy's head at the High School Dance.
"She's Got Legs" by ZZ Top as well.
- Their video for "Sharp-Dressed Man" gender-switches the same idea.

Folklore

The Ugly Duckling. Large grey bird hatches in a duckling's nest. Gets made fun of because he looks bad for a duckling. Duckling runs away, matures and discovers he's a beautiful swan.

Literature

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Hermione straightens her hair for the Yule Ball.
- That, and she got her buck teeth magically fixed earlier in the book.
- There could also be a spoof of this when Hagrid "dresses up" for Madame Maxime. He tried to comb his hair, but comb teeth get all tangled up in it. He also wears a hideous furry suit.
Neil Gaiman's short story The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch plays with this: "Miss Finch" is not the title character's real name, but the narrator calls her that because,
"... it's what I thought when I first saw her... Like in one of those movies. You know. When they take off their glasses and put down their hair. 'Why, Miss Finch. You're beautiful.' "
- Since this is a Gaiman story, the circumstances under which she takes off her glasses and puts down her hair turn out to be bizarre, surreal, and strangely disturbing.
In book three of The Bartimaeus Trilogy, when Nathaniel first sees Kitty's aura as Bartimaeus sees it, he exclaims, "You're beautiful!" to which she replies sarcastically, "Only just now?"
In Peter S Beagle's The Last Unicorn, near the end of the book, Molly Grue puts her hair down, and "she was more beautiful than the Lady Amalthea". This doesn't happen in The Movie.
- It's a case of subjective viewpoint, however. The narration at this point is somewhat indicative of the viewpoint of Schmendrick, who has fallen in love with her.
  - Hmm, that's an interesting viewpoint. I always thought that line signified Molly is beautiful because of some feminine secret the unicorn whispered to her. Or maybe she's beautiful because she's human, which is something the Lady Amalthea never quite got the hang of.
Bella in Twilight. She's described as rather plain, but almost every male in the series is inexplicably attracted to her. It helps that she's a Mary Sue.
Played straight with Honor Harrington, with a bit of Ugly Duckling thrown in. When she was young she actually was rather unattractive (never quite "ugly," per se, but tall and gangly and generally plain), but in recent years (starting a year or two before the first novel, On Basilisk Station) she has begun to grow into her looks, and is now described by most characters as having a sharp-edged and exotic beauty. The problem is that, with prolong, it took her sixty years to finally get to this point, so her self-image as an ugly child is pretty much carved in stone, compounded by the additional factors of an Attempted Rape in her childhood and having a mother who has always been regarded as gorgeous. When Honor finally accepts that she might be more attractive than she has always thought, she begins to use makeup and dress for style and realizes how much she has changed since her youth.

Live Action TV

An episode of MacGyver ("Twice Stung") references the cliché — for his next trick, Mac needs a woman's glasses, her hairpins and the top three buttons of her shirt (upper cleavage level). She complies and it turns out to be part of the con that they're pulling.
Jake 2.0 featured an almost painfully ridiculous invocation of this trope in episode 6 "Last Man Standing", wherein Diane Hughes (the NSA doctor tasked with monitoring Jake's nanite functions) accompanies an ailing Jake to a wedding to look after him. Despite the fact that Keegan Connor Tracy (the actress portraying Diane) is almost unfairly good looking, they pull this trope with her by straightening her hair and removing her glasses. The reveal is impressively goofy.
An early episode of Charles In Charge ("A Date With Enid", broadcast 12/05/84) featured some play with this trope. Enid, a classic early-80s girl nerd with ugly glasses and hair up in an awful style, is Douglas' first crush. She expresses a desire to be more attractive to him. Citing the old "take off glasses and shake out hair, voila she's beautiful" cliche, Enid fears that it won't be that easy for her. They spend the entire episode trying things to prettify her that fail horribly, only to discover at the end all she had to do was... take off her glasses and shake out her hair. Of course, the twist is that Douglas now thinks they "ruined" her...
A parody of this trope was done on the first season episode of Arrested Development, "Visiting Ours". G.O.B. has to seduce his father's secretary, and in the process he tells her to take off her glasses and let down her hair, revealing her to be cross-eyed with bad, poofy hair.
OK, keep the hair, back on the glasses.
- What makes this a more thorough subversion than usual is the fact that with her glasses and done up hair, she is reasonably attractive, but without them she becomes rather unnerving looking.
  - Ironically, Judy Greer is in fact quite attractive in real life. Fans speculate that the show was intentionally trying to make her incrementally more attractive with each new appearance (sometimes with justifications, like her stealing a bunch of money for breast augmentation surgery) until by her final appearance on the show she's pretty smokin' hot — but everyone still treats her the same way.
An episode of The Addams Family had something similar to this with Pugsley's teacher.
The Cosby Show had a notable inversion in the episode where Theo's teacher (Brazilian superstar Sonia Braga) came to dinner at the Huxtables' home. Prior to her appearance onscreen Theo had been describing her in unflattering terms, but when she finally arrives she is (to his shock and surprise) stunning. She stays stunning until she has to be "Teacher" again with his parents, at which point she casually puts her long hair up into a bun and puts on heavy glasses. She doesn't stop being beautiful, but the transformation is still impressive.
- This plot development is stolen from the Spider-Man comics. Originally, Peter didn't know how Mary-Jane looked like, and assumed that she was hideous because of how Aunt May described her. Once she finally meets her, he is stunned by her beauty.
Lisa Zemo of Neds Declassified School Survival Guide, former epitome of the image of the Nerd with no fashion sense, big glasses, and chronic nasal problems, became "hot" when she returned after a season break with "a new haircut, new clothes, new contacts, and new allergy medication."
Parodied in an episode of Seans Show; "Tie your hair up. Now, put on these glasses. My God, you're beautiful!"
On Gilligan's Island, a homely girl shows up on the island... and when given a makeover, looks exactly like Ginger Grant.
- Given that both characters were played by Tina Louise, people really should have seen this one coming.
Subversion in an episode of Midsomer Murders: A character, after killing off her love rivals, takes off her glasses, shakes down her hair, and goes looking for the object of her affection. He's creeped out, and when he learns what she's done, horrified.
This trope happens just around mid-run of Soap Opera Yo soy Betty la Fea, where the titular protagonist, who has been considered ugly since birth, embraces a makeover. Interesting because the makeover is treated more as a metaphor of her newly gained maturity (and she resists at some stages), because not everybody thinks she looks prettier now, and because it happens by slow steps: first she gets a new hairdo; then she trades her ugly, horn-rimmed glasses for a pair of cute, modern, minimalist glasses; then she gets rid of her bad-fitting clothes and gets more fashionable ones; and in the last chapter of the soap she finally gets rid of her orthodontics treatment and shows the results.
- Notably averted (dream sequences aside) in the US version's Ugly Betty since she dosen't seem to have many hang-ups about her body and her odd fashion sense is an expression of her individuality (although they will be addressing the braces soon).
A Star Trek The Original Series episode does this with a beautification drug. A woman realizes she doesn't need it and her confidence was what was truly responsible for her attractiveness when she's given a placebo. (Turns out to be a Broken Aesop, though: Apparently, "confidence" completely re-does one's hair and makeup, makes the lighting more flattering, and even generates a soft focus effect.)
- Inverted in the episode "The Menagerie" where it is ultimately revealed that Vina's Gaussian Girl beauty is, quite literally, only an illusion.
Subverted in Gilmore Girls when Lane stops wearing her glasses to look better to Zach, who prefers her with them.
Male example: In one episode of The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air, Hillary has a glasses-wearing boyfriend who she thinks looks better without them and makes him not wear them. This is only revealed after he accidentally rams Will's car.
Obligatory Buffy The Vampire Slayer example — this is actually done twice with Willow: although she neither wears glasses nor her hair in a bun, this is done by changing her out of her overalls-'n-jumpers outfits she wore through the first three seasons; in "Homecoming" she looks gorgeous in her formal gown and in "Doppelgangland" she astonishes the boys when she puts on Vamp Willow's sexy black leather outfit. Examining her chest, she says "Oh. Look at these." And do they ever!
- Thrice, actually. The first time was in "Halloween:"
  Willow: I'm a ghost!
  Giles: Yes — um, we —, uh... the ghost of what, exactly?
- The irony of this is that in the American Pie movies Alysson Hannigan played Michelle, a girl who had sex with most of the guys at band camp (and a flute), and after taking the virginity of protagonist Jim (Jason Biggs) makes him fall in love with her; subsequently the two get married.
Lizzi in the Greek episode "See You Next Time, Sisters!" (yes, that's the episode title). Who knew that a straightening iron and a power suit could give a girl such confidence?
- And is being set up with the same actress' next character, the bespectacled, pigtailed Winifred on General Hospital.
  - ...which makes it a Seven Year Rule of Lucy Coe.
An episode of Cheers ("Abnormal Psychology") had Diane trying to get Lilith and Frasier together by asking Lilith for a hairpin to fix the refrigerator door. Frasier scoffs at her transparent methods, but Lilith lets her hair down, and the two are instantly inflamed with lust for each other.
In the second season The Man From UNCLE episode "The Nowhere Affair", a THRUSH computer picks an ugly duckling sexy THRUSH scientist to seduce Napoleon Solo, in the hopes of reversing the Easy Amnesia that was induced when Solo took "Capsule B" before his capture by THRUSH. The scientist does the statutory transformation from geeky to hottie by, of course, taking off her ugly glasses and white lab coat and letting her hair down.
Alex from Heroes. A bespectacled, cute-at-best comic book nerd? Sorry, that position is already taken, and we've got quotas to fill. If it was just his "new identity" with a shave and one less pair of glasses, it would be debatable, but then that Shirtless Scene came out of left field...
Subverted in, of all places, The Muppet Show. Miss Piggy was doing her usual routine of flirting with the male guest star— in this case, John Denver:
Piggy: "Oh please, I would love to see you with your glasses off, Johnny, take them off for me please?"
Denver:(Removes his glasses.)
Piggy:(pause) "Put 'em back on, Denver."
What Not To Wear.

Theater

Played mostly straight in the musical Wicked where the very green Elphaba quite literally lets her hair down, takes off her glasses, and dons some lipstick before being told, "Why, look, miss Elphaba, you're beautiful" by her roommate. However, other than the Love Interest, no one seems to notice.
- It is then beautifully subverted: Elphaba rushes from the room in tears, shows up the next day in a flirtier wardrobe, and earning everyone's notice because they know exactly how her roommate "fixed" her. Elphaba's future love interest then tells her that she really doesn't have to change herself, she's just fine. She never follows Glinda's makeover tips again, seeing as the costume department is too busy slowly transforming her into the Wicked Witch of the West.
- Then in Act II,
  Elphaba: I just wish...
  Fiyero: What?
  Elphaba: I wish I could be beautiful... for you.
  Fiyero: Elphaba...
  Elphaba: Don't tell me that I am, you don't need to lie to me.
  Fiyero: It's not lying! It's... uh... it's looking at things another way.
  - To be fair, though, Elphaba's Act II costume is a very sexy take on the original idea of the Wicked Witch of the West. It doesn't show any more skin than Margaret Hamilton's dress did in the original Oz movie, but damn.
Avoided in Hairspray. Tracy Turnblad is short and overweight and her make-over can only do so much. Then again, she became popular before the make-over, which is more of a perk of already being popular, by winning the crowd over due to her upbeat attitude and dance ability rather than looks. The love interest, Link Larkin, likes her because she makes him grow as a person, and because he's narcissistic enough to be beautiful enough for both of them. Tracy's mother, Edna Turnblad, is traditionally played by a man, compounding the problems. Her husband, however, doesn't even notice the make-over, as he is in love with her no matter what (and he's as thick as a 1960's bomb shelter door when it comes to noticing things).
- There were casting calls for a local production of the play in Argentina. Even thought the ad for the casting calls clearly demanded overweight teenagers for the role of Tracy, some skinny/normal girls ignored this and auditioned for the role anyway.
- With regards to Edna, in her case it's really a "Fabulous All Along" moment.

Video Games

In Sono Hanabira Ni Kuchizuke Wo, Kaede goes through this in the second game. It works so well that she qualifies for the trope, Even The Girls Want Her.

Webcomics

Ping of Megatokyo attempts an inversion, and fails.
In Triquetra Cats, Rain Soricha in her adopted civilian life wore a pair of thick spiral lensed Nerd Glasses. When she becomes a super powered magic user, she removes them to reveal big sparkly doe eyes, which takes everyone by shock.
Helen Narbon finds herself complaining: "Leave it to me to live in a defective fictional universe." Of course, the real problem is that she did not lose the glasses◊.
Subverted wonderfully in this page of Charby The Vampirate.
Played straight in Kevin And Kell, where Lindesfarne helps Fiona in this way. Later inverted, when Fiona undoes the change to escape unwanted attention — and going negative, by developing huge ears that she considers unflattering.
Amber in Shortpacked! manages to pull this off without losing the glasses, just getting new ones.
- The hairstyle and more flattering clothing helped, but the point still stands. Especially since they weren't that different from what she wore previously.
Done with shameless Anviliciousness in Nip And Tuck, where Thelma enters a beauty contest... and things go drastically bad half-way through. Cue one near-Narmish "pep talk" from Nip and "Gosh, I am beautiful!"
- This was actually a followup to her previous "metamorphosis," when she suddenly began wearing less dowdy clothes, changed her hair, etc.... and actually scared off her romantic interest, Tuck, with her sudden transformation.
Karen from Penny And Aggie is quite good-looking after her makeover...but the "inner beauty" part? Forget it.
Sluggy Freelance's Gwynn is a classic example of this, with artist Pete Abrams going to significant lengths to render her more attractive, including redefining the shape of her face.
Played with in Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

Web Animation

On Homestar Runner, in the tenth issue of Strong Bad's independent comic Teen Girl Squad, a frumpy gal known throughout the series as "The Ugly One" gets made up for her birthday: she trades in her usual clothes, hairstyle, and glasses for more stylish ones, and even Strong Bad is impressed by the transformation: "Woah! Did I draw that new hotness?"

Web Original

The Saga Of Tuck characters spend an awful lot of time trying to convince Jill that she looks pretty in a dress and make-up. Several characters later sign up for the cosmetology vocation course simply to work the "magic" out for themselves.

Western Animation

Subverted repeatedly on Daria. She is pretty, but has chosen to not play it up because she thinks doing so would be vain.
- Played straight at least once though, when Daria was getting fitted for a wedding dress and the seamstress said her body was so misshapen it made it impossible to fit the dress right. And the dress hung off her like a smock for the rest of the episode.
On Clone High, the last two episodes just sort of mocked this trope. Joan is already quite good-looking, and as Abe tries to find her "hidden beauty" he just insults her unintentionally.
Subverted on the South Park episode "The List". Kyle convinces one of the ugly girls to take off her coke bottle eye-magnifying glasses. Turns out that her eyes are tiny and practically on the sides of her head.
Yet another subversion, in a scene from The Flintstones On the Rocks: Wilma walks into the bedroom with her hair down and in skimpy clothing, complete with Sexophone accompaniment. Fred at first seems to react according to the trope, but it turns out that Wilma was blocking his view of the TV. Seriously, we are in serious need of straight examples in this section...
Gwen Stacey in The Spectacular Spider Man. Seriously, she went from one of the cast's dowdiest female members to flat out gorgeous. Mary Jane was too kind.
- Somewhat subverted, as some fans see it as an Unnecessary Makeover, and preferred what she looked like before Mary-Jane took over.
A straight (if over-the-top) example occurs in an episode of Duckman in which Cornfed meets a secretary who morphs into a supermodel when she undoes her hair/takes off her glasses.
Another straight if over-the-top example occurs in The Simpsons where Lisa is inspired to take dancing lessons. She and Marge are watching a film where the male protagonist chooses a woman named "Lisabella" to be his dance partner. She initially looks very bookish but on removing her glasses, letting her hair down and having the top buttons of her blouse pop off is revealed to be stunning.
The New Batman Adventures episode "Mean Seasons" plays it straight as a twist. A villain going by the name "Calendar Girl" kidnaps various fashion and cosmetics bigwigs in order to exact her revenge from them. The villain wears a metal mask that conceals her face completely and constantly fumes about how the industry has ruined her, especially her beautiful face. In the end of the episode, it is revealed that she is flawlessly beautiful, but is so distraught by her perceived flaws that she believes herself to be immeasurably hideous.

Real Life

It actually is quite remarkable what a new wardrobe, a new haircut, a pair of contacts, some make-up, and a teeth-whitening session can do to that "homely girl". Just look at any makeover show - while they don't necessarily turn "model-gorgeous", the women are still the same women, but upgraded. Also, on a slightly different note: the tall, angular, geeky-looking, flat chested, face-doesn't-look-quite-right girl in your school? Probably actually has the makings of a model, once she leaves the "awkward" phase of development.

Index All Along

Dead All Along