Hot Gypsy Woman - Television Tropes & Idioms

The Roma have long had an ambiguous status in Western societies and popular culture: alien enough to serve as a convenient Other, but geographically near at hand. As a result they have tended to be both vilified and exoticized, and while the Gypsy Curse is a byproduct of the former, the Hot Gypsy Woman is an example of the latter.

The Hot Gypsy Woman has fairly standardized features. She has relatively dark skin, raven-black hair which she wears loose, a low-waisted long skirt with a slit up the side, a bare midriff, bare feet and plenty of jewellery. She also tends to have a fiery personality and to be overt in her sexuality, making her an Ethical Slut.

This trope is Older Than Steam and tends to be mostly encountered in stories set in the early modern era. While Roma characters are seen as traditional in Europe, in Americas the same archetype can be incarnated as the Spicy Latina.

No Real Life Examples, Please!

Examples:

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Advertising

Referenced in the Fall 2010 advertisement campaign◊ of the Soleil Sucré lingerie brand.
Used in this fall 2010 advertisement campaign for makeup brand Illamasqua.

Anime and Manga

Noah from Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa.
Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop says she's Roma, and she definitely has the hot part down. However, An episode on her childhood implies she's actually from Singapore.
According to Word Of God, Sailor Moon's Sailor Pluto counts since she is half-gypsy.

Comic Books

Mejai from Le Scorpion by Desberg and Marini, pictured above.
Played with in Gypsy, from the same authors: The hero is a Gypsy, whose sister looks nothing like the standard Hot Gypsy Woman, but the evil Dark Action Girl looks a lot like Mejai (despite being Arabic).
Hermine from De cape et de crocs
A fantasy counterpart Hot Gypsy Woman gets a crush on Lanfeust.
The twin sisters Angelina and Leane from Gitans des Mers by Duval and Bonifay.
The Scarlet Witch in the George Perez designed costume from the late 1990s run of The Avengers. It looked like a stereotypical Gypsy dancing girl outfit. Supposedly it was to 'honour her Gypsy heritage', but it was really just pure Fanservice, especially as she could not have been wearing underwear beneath it.
Also in the Marvel Universe, Lilia, witch-queen of the Gypsies.
The aptly-named Gypsy from the infamous Detroit era of the Justice League of America.
Doctor Doom's mother, Cynthia Von Doom, based on flashbacks.

Film

The two Gypsy girls who fight over a lover in From Russia with Love. The situation is dissolved with James Bond's charm.
Sabina from Gadjo Dilo, a film by Tony Gatlif.
Esmeralda from Disney's version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
- As well as most other adaptions, including the 1956 version with Gina Lollobrigida and the 1997 version with Salma Hayek.
Kari Wuhrer plays one in Thinner.
Marlene Dietrich is this in Golden Earrings.
Anna, the Gypsy princess of Van Helsing.
Rada in Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven. She wouldn't look out of place in a Bollywood musical, and so looks rather out of place among the rest of the cast.
Simza, played by Noomi Rapace, in Sherlock Holmes A Game Of Shadows.

Literature

Angelina Lemke from Stephen King's Thinner. (To prove that, look up and see who plays her in The Movie.)
Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, who is probably the Trope Codifier.

Live-Action TV

Near miss: Although both hot and a gypsy, Jenny Calendar from Buffy the Vampire Slayer probably doesn't count, as she was only revealed to be of gypsy extraction after about a season, and was portrayed merely as a Hot Teacher.
Edmund Blackadder's autobiography is, shall we say, slightly embellished with this trope.
It's a steaming rollercoaster of a novel, crammed with sizzling gypsies!
The IMF employed hot gypsy acrobat Crystal Walker in the Mission: Impossible two-parter "Old Man Out". Crystal staged a prolonged Cat Fight with Cinnamon carter as distraction.
In the MST3K episode Catalina Caper, Tom Servo has a crush on the ethnically-ambiguous "Creepy Girl", and sings to her:
Oh, what are you, Creepy Girl? Are you French, or Italian, or one of those swarthy Gypsy types? heh heh.

Music

The song "Bohémienne aux yeux noirs" by Tino Rossi:
"Bohemian with big dark eyes
Your dusk-colored hair
And the sheen of your brown skin
Are prettier than the moonlight
Bohemian with big dark eyes
I shivered with tender hope
I would like you to be mine"
The song "Gypsy Woman" by Hilary Duff:
"She can swallow knives, she can swallow lives
Golden black stare, but the night of your demise
Try to run away with the gypsy woman
Good today but gone for good
Can't get away with the gypsy woman"
Don Williams "I Recall A Gypsy Woman":
"I recall a gypsy woman
Silver spangles in her eyes
Ivory skin against the moonlight
And the taste of life's sweet wine"
The Impressions' song "Gypsy Woman" (later covered by Santana):
"From nowhere through a caravan
Around the campfire light
A lovely woman in motion
With hair as dark as night
Her eyes were like that
Of a cat in the dark
They hypnotize me with love
She was a gypsy woman"
Cher's "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves." I was born in the wagon of a traveling show..."
"My Maria" (originally by B.W. Stevenson, Covered Up by Brooks & Dunn): "Gypsy lady, you're a miracle worker for me."
Played for Laughs in the Benny Hill song "Rachel".
Shakira has a song called "Gypsy". Yes, it's a Spicy Latina singing about how she's a Hot Gypsy Woman.
"I'm a gypsy
But are you coming with me
I might steal your clothes and wear them if they fit me
I never made agreements just like a gypsy
And I won't back down 'cause life's already hurt me
And I won't cry
I'm too young to die
If you're gonna quit me"
Bob Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee"
Tim Buckley's "Gypsy Woman":
"Mama, every time you turn around the fire.
Mama, keep me in between the devil and the sky.
And every time you look my way,
Mama how you hypnotize."

Pro Wrestling

G.L.O.W's Little Egypt

Theater

Zerbinette in Moliere's Les Fourberies de Scapin.
The title character of the opera Carmen by Bizet, based on a novella by Prosper Mérimée.
The title character of the opera La Zingara by Donizetti.
The Soviet Union had founded an entire theatre specifically for performances involving Russian Gypsy musicians and artists and about the life of Russian Gypsies generally. But while the female performers◊ are a living embodiment◊ of this trope, they are far way from their real, nomadic brethren, even more visible◊ when they're together.

Video Games

In Quest For Glory IV, when you visit the gypsy camp after freeing Davy from being burned at the stake, you meet one of these who dances with you, and Davy later says that she is his mate.
Rouge from Power Stone.
Dahna from Grandia III.
Rose from Street Fighter, of sorts.
Tethys from Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones is basically a played straight example of this trope, with a little implied Hooker with a Heart of Gold thrown in, and her skin isn't all that dark.
Jean from Lunar 2.
The Dragon Quest series has three: Maya & Meena in Dragon Quest IV and Aira in Dragon Quest VII.
Zafina from Tekken.