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"Oh my God! She's got hair growing out of her boobs and up to her head!" — Peter Griffin on Godiva Hair, Family Guy
A woman is naked, for some reason. The writers don't want to or can't stick an object into the scene to cover her up. Enter Godiva Hair, where her hair will cover up all the naughty bits they can't possibly get past the radar.
Obviously works only on women with very long hair. A form of Peek A Boo. Potential source of Fetish Fuel.
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Examples
Advertising
- The woman on the Starbucks logo
 ◊, depending on how you look at it.
- The logo for Godiva Chocolatier shows a nude woman riding a horse, with one arm tucked across her chest and strands of hair falling down the other side of her chest and covering her crotch.
Anime & Manga
- Kikyo soon after her resurrection in Inu Yasha.
- Not so much in the manga, though...
- This is a trait of any Ken Akamatsu manga (Love Hina, Mahou Sensei Negima, etc.). The character's hair will usually cover where her nipples would be.
- Strangely, sometimes his characters DO have nipples when wearing clothes or hair. They just disappear when exposed.
- There is a rare example of it happening with braids in chapter 251 of Mahou Sensei Negima.
- Happens on and off in Ranma ½, mostly with Shampoo. This isn't surprising, considering how much nudity is in the series. What is surprising is that it's Shampoo, the least inhibited and most sexually aggressive of the female cast (sometimes even beyond the not-so-Innocent Fanservice Gender Bender) who is allowed this modesty.
- Justified in that among the girls that play Ms Fanservice most often (mostly female Ranma and Akane), she's the only one with hair long enough to pull it off (at least until a dead-ringer for female Ranma, without her hair in a pigtail, shows up for a couple of pages).
- A promotional image◊ (probably not worksafe, though you obviously can't actually see anything) for Fate/Hollow Ataraxia showed both Rin and Rider with Godiva Hair. A bit more justified in Rider's case since her hair is practically long enough to trip over.
- This troper thought the image had stopped loading prematurely until he remembered it was supposed to be Ecchi and not Hentai. A few millimeters more, and...
- Horo has this in the first episode of Spice And Wolf, when she spends eight whole minutes stark nekkid, being the innocent Wolf God that she is.
- This happens to Horo a fair bit throughout the series, which is confusing given that she appears to have no nipples at all in other scenes where her hair is less conveniently positioned.
- Ryoko of Tenchi Muyo! does this quite often when depicted in the bath. Every so often, they'd actually show her chest completely, and she just wouldn't have nipples.
- Averted in the DVD version, at least, of the Tenchi Muyo! OVA, in which Ryoko's nipples are indeed visible in scenes in which she is naked.
- To Love Ru makes full use of this, with the amazing frequency the girls in its cast have to get naked.
- Not in the manga it doesn't! Well, the tankobon anyway.
- Chi from Chobits has Godiva Hair shortly after her activation.
- In the Air OVA, Uraha actually advises Kanna to use this.
- While GaoGaiGar's regular series had very little fanservice, being meant for kids, apparently someone's mind changed when it came time to make the OVA conclusion, and both Mikoto and Swan are depicted nude with Godiva Hair at least once each. There's a lot more Gainaxing and clothing damage, as well.
- The Puma Sisters of Dominion Tank Police make deliberate use of their long manes of hair to better entice watchers during their striptease in OVA 1.
- Melona in Queens Blade unusually combines this with Prehensile Hair. While her hair is covering up her naughty bits, it also has a pair of hands on the end, meaning she's groping herself. Weird.
- Most long-haired female characters in Hell Teacher Nube, but especially Kyoko, Ritsuko-sensei, and Hayame. Notably, Yukime has short hair, but for very thin strands that run down her temples and are just barely enough to cover the interesting parts.
- Lafiel pulls this in one episode of Crest Of The Stars during her
Shower Bath Scene. When her hair's not strategically covering what needs to be covered, it's either camera angles or reflections of light.
- Yoko Littner from Gurren Lagann does this in the movie, in a suitably epic battle against Adiane the Elegant. Hint? The hair's not just for decoration.
- In The "Blues Notes Blues" chapters of Tegami Bachi, Niche's sister does this with a twist. At Lag's request to "Put some pants on." she wraps her hair around her bikini stlye.
- In the Fruits Basket manga, Rin's nipple is just barely covered by a thin strand of hair.
- Miaka and Soi have Godiva Hair in Fushigi Yuugi, and in the former's case, we've also got Godiva Vines. Yui, whose hair is much shorter than the other two, is less lucky.
- Used a lot in Shattered Angels. Since female characters are often naked in the anime and seem incapable of bathing themselves (they require another naked female to bathe them), their front fringes serve the useful purpose of barely covering their nipples.
- Gena in Ivan's vision in Priest.
- Yuty in Heroic Age.
- Brita in Darker Than Black.
- Grenadier. Full stop.
- Bluebell from Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
- In used in the anime adaptation of The Little Mermaid as Marina and her sisters are topless, although Marina's nipples can be seen at some points.
Comics
- X-Men's Storm, not caring for America's silly nudity taboo, is frequently hair-clad (but more frequently wind effect-clad.)
- Timmain in Elf Quest qualifies, when she's not being a wolf.
- From time to time, so does her polar counterpart Winnowill.
- In the first issue of Secret Invasion, Reed Richards is performing an autopsy on the Skrull who'd posed as Elektra. An overhead shot gives a full view of her body, with a convenient light blocking her crotch and Godiva Hair over her breasts.
- Parodied and lampshaded in the French comic book Trolls de Troy: the (human) heroine is once changed by magic into a (nude) mermaid; the villain points out that she doesn't need any Seashell Bra, since it is a genetic trait of mermaids' hair to automatically cover their breasts. And it is actually always the case — even when she's hanging upside-down.
- Also lampshaded somewhat in Superman/Batman: one of The Maximums (an Ultimates parody) that Batman and Superman face is a parody of Enchantress named Godiva and she is depicted as nude except for her ridiculously long hair, which manages to keep her bits covered,even when she's fighting.
- The Guardian of Keys in Thorgal appears wearing only this and a golden belt with an oversized buckle. Somewhat subverted later when some nude females do appear in the series.
- This is mostly due to the publishing in weekly format in Tintin, which was a catholic magazine. The restrictions were dropped when it switched to hardcover albums.
- Referenced in Exiles. During a discussion about nudity, Morph turns into Godiva herself, horse and hair and all.
- Venus from Agents of Atlas, being rather... liberal, spends a few issues like this, but eventually puts on some clothes to "help blend in with the rest of the team".
- Medusa of the Inhuman Royal Family does this. A lot. She has really, really long prehensile hair.
- Male example; Sometimes Mr. Natural walks around naked, except his beard covers up the rude bits but not the back
- One issue of Wonder Woman opens with Diana waking up to Ares paying her a visit in her bedroom (no, not like that) and because Diana apparently sleeps au naturale she only has Godiva Hair covering her. Oddly, despite having the God of War and major Jerkass Ares right in front of her she doesn't make any attempts to cover up, though that could be her Amazonian upbringing.
Films
- The movie The Scorpion King had a scene with the above-average looking psychic/fortune-teller/seer popping up out of a pool of water in a Godiva Hair moment.
- Mermaids are often depicted with Godiva Hair. Splash is probably the best known recent example.
- Aquamarine from the movie of the same name.
- Brooke Shields' body double's hair was apparently glued to her breasts during some scenes of the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon in order to satisfy censors.
- In Robin Hood: Men in Tights, when Marian steps out of the bath. The camera's primary attention may be on her chastity belt, but her (awful) wig provides Godiva Hair coverage for her breasts.
- In The Mask of Zorro, Elena is left clad in pajama bottoms and hair when Zorro slices her nightshirt off.
- Alyda in the The Unnamable II spends a good portion of the film like this due to the fact that she hates/fears clothing. It's awesome.
- This picture of Valentina from The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus. Valentina is 16, but Lily Cole was 20.
- Megan Fox in Jennifers Body.
Literature
- Subverted in The Wheel of Time, when one of the main characters is travelling through a rather rowdy festival and notices that a number of women attempting this don't have long enough hair to pull this off. We (obviously) don't get to see anything.
- In H. Rider Haggard's She, She's hair is long enough and thick enough that it doesn't just cover her nipples, it covers everything. She fastens a belt around her hair and wears it like a dress.
- Marlowe remarks upon a stained glass window featuring a woman with long and convenient hair in The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.
- It also features in a photography session in Andy Looney's The Empty City. Chapter 95, to be precise: link here.
- Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid.
- The famous statue in Copenhagen, which is one of the cities main tourist attraction, noticeably does not. She has her hair in a braid on her back.
- Played straight and made into a pun all at the same time in the Xanth series with Godiva Goblin. Her hair has a special talent of covering up exactly where it needs to in order to not violate the "Adult Conspiracy" (who keep children from learning the secret of "Summoning the Stork").
- Appears briefly in The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose by Mary Hooper. Eliza is dressed as a mermaid for the Midsummer Fair in London and wears her hair like this.
- Subverted in Everworld, as Christopher discovers that the mermaids' attempts to use Godiva Hair are not always successful.
- Played straight in Where's Waldo◊ of all things. Made even better by the fact that this is the place he chooses to "hide".
Live Action TV
- One episode of The X-Files featuring a Neanderthal woman required her hair to be tied over her breasts in many shots to keep the Fox censors happy.
- This◊ promotional image for The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
- Both Lady Godiva and Phoebe in Charmed.
- An early David Copperfield magic special included a trick in which he removed a bikini top from a poster of Loni Anderson. Loni (on stage) then removed the hair clips from her poster, causing a Godiva effect on the poster.
- Apparrently averted in The Vicar of Dibley, when Gerri asks what did they do for village fête the year before her arrival in the village...
Owen: We reenacted Lady Godiva; everyone was so disappointed.
Gerri: What, Lady Godiva in a body-stocking?
Frank: No! She was completly nude!
Gerri: Wow!
Cropley: Well, I didn't have time to grow my hair long enough, you see...
Music Videos
- The music video for Alanis Morrisette's "Thank U" shows her completely nude, with her long hair covering her breasts and a blur over her genital area. According to Pop-Up Videos, she is also wearing a latex codpiece.
Mythology
- The trope is named for Lady Godiva, the medieval English noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked on a white horse through Coventry, England, to get rid of the unfair taxes posed by her family. Many paintings of her portray her with very long hair, covering her naughty bits as per the trope. But the paintings made in medieval times portray her with more graphic nudity and normal, shoulder-length hair, with the Godiva Hair paintings not coming around until centuries later. So the idea that Lady Godiva really was covered in this way is clearly a product of Bowdlerization.
- Some scholars have speculated that there might have been some confusion in the telling of the tale — that the original story might have said she went out without her clothes, that is, dressed in a shift like a religious penitent, rather than naked (which would not make much sense as a protest). On the other hand, there's little historical evidence to support the story having happened at all, naked or not.
- The famous 1486 painting The Birth of Venus would also be a strong early candidate for this trope, with the goddess Venus using her long hair to cover her lower self. In short, Older Than Print.
- Pretty much every depiction of Eve in the past couple centuries.
Print Media
- ESPN the Magazine recently ran a
Fanservice Body Issue featuring athletes of both genders in nothing or almost nothing along with articles on what makes some people genetically inclined to be successful athletes. Not surprisingly, two of the female athletes had this.
Tabletop Games
- The cover of FATAL has this for just the boobs of the random slave-woman on the cover. If you saw said cover and didn't come to a few conclusions about this game's attitude towards women, you have no-one to blame but yourself.
Video Games
- The faerie queen in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
- Oddly, when someone hacked into the game to lift the hair, they found the Great Fairy actually had nipples, or at least appeared to.
- Nevan in Devil May Cry 3. This troper swears it's glued to her nipples.
- The Rusulka in Quest For Glory IV — even teasing the players when a lock of her hair is needed as one of the steps to free her. Naturally, it apparently comes from the back of her head. She does make a crack about how she would look with short hair.
- In Riviera The Promised Land, there's a pair of bath scenes that use Godiva Hair to cover up female characters — at least, those that have enough hair. The ones that don't are covered up in other strategic ways.
- Eve in Painkiller. For some reason though she wears a loincloth, which leads this troper to wonder why it was necessary for her to be topless rather than just scantily clad.
- Her hair still does this, even after her assets are covered up in the expansion.
- When the camera is at the right angle, this trope fails to achieve its goal.
- Jacqli/Mir's Miros costume in Ar Tonelico 2 has this. The conversation point about the costume focuses on that aspect.
- Bayonetta turns this trope on its head. The titular character is a witch whose default wardrobe consists entirely of her own magically manipulated hair. Not surprisingly, she uses her hair for other things sometimes, which in turn makes this both an inversion and an aversion of the trope.
- A good number of female demons/Personae in the Shin Megami Tensei series; while the hand-drawn artwork in their profiles shows them in various (and detailed) stages of nudity, the actual character models have seemingly glued their hair to their chest.
- Adult Alma.
- In the intro movie of Cupid, Venus appears with godiva hair.
- The Lady of the Forest in Dragon Age: Origins appears naked with godiva hair, as well as strategically placed vines and branches; not quite Peek A Boo or Hand Or Object Underwear as it's not a trick of the camera angle nor an overt action on her part.
Web Comics
Western Animation
Real Life
- Lucy Pinder, former Page Three Stunna and still "steaming hot" nude model, started the recent "Hairkini" trend in England, with women covering up their nips with long, long hair.
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