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An off the shoulder neckline that looks as though it's one deep breath from showing the areola. This sort of outfit will probably be used to house the Victoria's Secret Compartment, even as it weakens the logic of an already... tenuous... trope.
The actual outfit doesn't matter. It could be a bathing suit, a Spy Catsuit, a Mini Dress Of Power, a Leotard of Power, a Sexy Santa Dress, or even a Pimped Out Dress, Fairytale Wedding Dress, or Happy Holidays Dress.
This can be worn in Real Life and live action, but it always involves either a lot of adhesive or sewing strips of plastic or metal into the seams to keep the shape.
A Sister Trope to Absolute Cleavage, Sideboob, Underboobs.
Compare Magic Skirt, Of Corsets Sexy, Theiss Titillation Theory, Impractically Fancy Outfit, Impossibly Cool Clothes, Form-Fitting Wardrobe, Cleavage Window.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- In Rurouni Kenshin, Yumi's neckline was already pretty low to begin with, but it kept descending steadily until her kimono was more or less completely off the shoulders. Watsuki mentioned in a commentary that he heard from several cosplayers who remarked how impossible it was to maintain their modesty while dressed as her.
- Ogin of Kyogoku Natsuhiko Kosetsu Hyaku Monogatari, when not in disguise, exclusively wears a very low kimono, and like the younger women in the series, has a lot up there.
- Made all the more impressive by Ogin moving around more than most examples of this trope: she frequently shows off her ability to run, crawl, drag people away and even swim without falling out.
- In xxxHoLic, anything and everything ever worn by Yuuko. Then again, A Witch Did It.
- Prome O and Nilval Nephew of Heroic Age. There are some shots where it seems Anime Anatomy may be the only thing keeping Prome looking even remotely decent...
- Izumo no Okuni. Of course, given that she's also seen hovering in midair at times, she's probably levitating the kimono to hold it in place.
- As shown in the fifth panel of that scene, one of her gimmicks is nigh-invisible Razor Floss, though I guess a blunt version of that could keep her clothes on (and is probably what allows her to do that "levitation" trick without cutting herself in half).
- Belladonna, minor character in One Piece.
- Sumire from Sakura Taisen.
- Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist has both this and Absolute Cleavage.
- Macross Frontier's Sheryl Nome is guilty of this in a few of her more elaborate pieces of wardrobe. Her outfit for Lion (the song) is particularly guilty. That said, it's completely justified - what she's actually wearing is a holographic bodysuit with her more physics-defying outfits projected over the top.
- Of course Negima! has this (un)covered. Mana infiltrates the Governor's ball in a disguise that includes a strapless, backless ballgown/corset. She's still wearing it during her Big Damn Heroes moment.
- Kuroshitsuji II: Ran Mao's outfit at the Trancy costume ball in episode 5.
- Mei Terumi, the Fifth Mizukage, in Naruto has a case so extreme that if it weren't for the chain-mail that she wears, we could all see her nipples.
- Current time line Athena sports this in Hayate the Combat Butler.
- In Magical Pokaan, the belt Liru wears as a top combines this with underboobs.
- Ikaruga from Fairy Tail wears her kimono this way.
Comic Books
- In X-Men, the Hellfire Club outfits include bustiers that are like this, worn by Emma Frost, Selene, and Phoenix (and Jean Grey, depending on continuity). Some got even more ridiculous recently, although that's supposedly just Emma playing mind tricks... even though it doesn't explain any other impossible comic heroine costume.
- Wonder Woman sometimes has this.
- Gemini Storm's artist posted the inks for one of the pages. How are her breasts staying there?
Film
- Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
- Belle's yellow ball gown in Disney's Beauty and the Beast looks this way in some shots◊, but higher up in others.
- Esmeralda also has a very low neckline as well, not just with her main Gypsy dress, but also with her poledancing dress and her white dress as well.
- Meg's Masquerade dress and Christine's black dress in Joel Schumacher's Phantom of the Opera. Christine's neckline in the graveyard scene is highly anachronistic, since it's a friggin' "mourning dress", which were at the time of the film's setting supposed to be modest.
- A lot of the women in Hammer Horror films would wear outfits that would hover just at that right spot to expose enough flesh to interest any vampires/werewolves/monsters passing by. This or outfits of Absolute Cleavage.
Literature
- In the book Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico, this off the shoulder dress style is described as simulating the look of a naked woman under a sheet.
- Used in The Wheel of Time when Nynaeve, Elayne, and their companions are traveling undercover as circus performers. Nynaeve and Birgitte wear dresses with Impossibly Low Necklines for their act, in which Birgitte outlines Nynaeve against a wall with arrows from a hundred paces. Played for Laughs because of Nynaeve's frustration with being forced to wear something so immodest, while Birgitte is having a grand old time of it.
- In Jinx High by Mercedes Lackey, the villainess commissions a costume straight out of the American Revolutionary period for the school dance. The bodice is cut so low that one of her boyfriends has almost complete access to her boobs while she's wearing it (handy when you need to distract said boyfriend while the mind control spell takes effect).
- Parodied in Gordon R. Dickson's Hoka series: "pirate wench" Anne Bonney has to have a low neckline, but Hoka females are quadrimammarian. Her dress has two bodices.
Live Action TV
- During the production of Star Trek: The Original Series, costume designer William Ware Theiss was given explicit instructions by the network on how far he could go; one such instruction permitted costumes whose d?lletage could expose anything all the way down to the top edge of the areola. Theiss, knowing a good thing when he saw it, followed those guidelines (ahem) explicitly.
- Cynthia Watros in a couple of later episodes of Titus.
- Some of the costumes on The Tudors.
- Food Network chef Giada de Laurentiis is the first FN personality to do this. Now, with a few exceptions, this seems to be the rule for the network's female personalities.
- Gossip Girls Serena van der Woodsen likes to dress like this.
Theater
Video Games
- Lulu from Final Fantasy X, as seen in the picture. She keeps up her dress with a heavily boned corset and belts on the upper arms. But it's basically the fur trim that keeps her from total exposure.
- Amy in Soul Calibur IV also has a low neckline, with the fur trim being the only thing keeping the players from seeing everything.
- The "witch" costume set from City of Heroes is obviously held up with
staples and glue a NAILGUN!, because there's nothing else to keep it on your character's body.
- Rouge from Sonic the Hedgehog. Might be justified by the fact a high neckline would be inconvenient for winged characters.
- And, to an (arguably) lesser extent, Marine the Raccoon. Hers isn't played for fanservice though - she's only seven, so there's nothing to show off anyway.
- Morrigan from Darkstalkers has such a low-cut outfit that, if she wasn't a Horny Devil, would be a walking wardrobe malfunction. Of course, she's not actually wearing clothes...
- Hanne Lichthammer from Clive Barker's Jericho wears an extremely tight-fitting, S&M-style SS uniform that just barely manages to contain her - ahem - assets. Considering her horrifically mutilated appearance, though, this is definitely an example of Fan Disservice.
- Sumire Kanzaki from Sakura Taisen, when wearing a kimono.
- Jessica from Dragon Quest VIII features a gravity-defying shirt.
- Several of The Sorceress' outfits in Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, but better displayed by the Blue Sorceress.
- Kaguya Nanbu from Endless Frontier. The only thing that prevents her breasts from popping out of her clothes is the will of the Almighty, especially during bouncing.
- Rose's new alternate costume◊ in Super Street Fighter IV features this.
- Guild Wars starts off all female Elementalists in the Prophecies campaign in a shirt (though the application of that term is questionable) that can only be explained by magic.
- Lotus, from Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors has a really low bikini top.
- The Disgaea series has archers, and Disgaea 2 has Rozalin.
- Mass Effect 1: Matriarch Benezia
- Kai and Nou in Samurai Warriors.
- Sona in League of Legends.
- A male example in Inspector Grosky from the Professor Layton prequels. Just look.◊
Webcomics
Western Animation
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