While
Absolute Cleavage is about revealing most of the breasts from the center, and
Underboobs is about from below, this is about revealing them from above. In other words, 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
Victorias Secret Compartment, even as it weakens the logic of an already... tenuous... trope.
This can be worn in
Real Life and live action, but it always involves either a lot of boning
(Get your minds out of the gutter! It's a sewing term for stiff plastic or metal strips sewn along the seams to keep the garment from losing its shape. Geez.) or
adhesive.
Compare
Magic Skirt,
Of Corsets Sexy,
Theiss Titillation Theory.
Examples:
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.
- This troper will never stop wondering how the hell her kimono even stayed on when Sanosuke picked her up under one arm like a sack of rice because she was being uncooperative.
- 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.
- 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.
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).
- Speaking of Emma, after she joined the X-Men, her costume was an unholy cross between this and Absolute Cleavage due to being a few strategically-placed scraps of clothing that formed a reverse "X" with her exposed skin. No idea how it stayed on.
Film
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.
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 décolletage 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.
Video Games
- Lulu from Final Fantasy X, as seen in the picture.
- Amy from Soul Calibur IV has a very similar neckline.
- The "witch" costume set from City Of Heroes is obviously held up with staples and glue, 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.
- Morrigan from Darkstalkers has such a low-cut outfit that, if she wasn't a Horny Devil, would be a walking wardrobe malfunction.
- Hanne Lichthammer from Clive Barkers 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.
