Pimped Out Dress - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Fancy Gown; Opulent Dress

Even if you don't count the flowers, this dress has at least six things on the list.

This item is available in the Trope Co catalog.

Just as a Pimped Out Car is a vehicle with a whole bunch of additions, just to make it look cool, this is the same for dresses. Just with different kinds of additions (usually).

Of course this is also often done in Real Life. In that case, the dress serves two simultaneous purposes.

To clearly show the wealth/social status of the lady wearing it.
To make the lady wearing it look good.

In fiction, there are also two simultaneous purposes.

To clearly show the wealth/social status of the lady wearing it, or to show that She Cleans Up Nicely.
So that the artist or costumer can show off.
- Making the wearer look good is not always the point, sometimes the dress is pimped out to show the lady has no taste, or to show she's too unattractive for the dress to help.

So this is a Truth In Television trope. What sets it apart from a regular fancy evening dress is the heavy use of one or more of the following materials or decorations (but never will so many be included at once as to look like a Rummage Sale Reject). And note that since all of these used to be hand made, all of them were expensive:

Many, many yards of cloth, including layers of skirts, capes, trains, and long hanging sleeves
Puffs, including Giant Poofy Sleeves
Slashes, Puffs pulled through slashes, and Goring (folds of fabric sewn in between slashes)
Ribbons
Frills (not necessarily the justice kind), Flounces, and Pleats
Lace
Embroidery
Flowers (real or fake)
Jewelry (or anything that makes sparkles)
Pearls
Gold or Silver Lamé
Fur (just more common in Northern countries)
Feathers
A matching Hand Muff, Cape, Stole, Hat and/or other accessories.
Fancy Hair Decorations
Veil and Bouquet (for wedding dresses, and other occasions depending on the culture)
If possible, incorporating some of the Requisite Royal Regalia (assuming the wearer is a queen or a princess)

This trope usually applies to grand, sweeping gowns, but it can apply to skimpy dresses as well. It can also be one of the few outfits she wears or just one of many she wears. Sometimes a character with a Clothes Make The Legend dress uses this trope to make the dress fancier, while still keeping the dress's iconic look.

Admittedly, there is no real objective line between this and a regular evening dress, so it's more a manner of how obvious it is the dress is pimped out. In Resident Evil 4, Ada's red dress has some butterflies embroidered onto part of the skirt. Fancy and stylish, but it's not that obvious, even when you see the skirt. So it's not this kind of dress. Contrast Rosalyn's dress from Disgaea 2. It's loaded with ribbons, that are clear even in her sprite form, so it fits this trope (fighting monsters while wearing them just makes both dresses Impossibly Cool Clothes).

This trope might apply to guy's clothes, but in fiction, this type of outfit is reserved for either known historical uses, based off those uses, or else characters who are outright fops.

This will show up more often when combined with Princesses, especially Princess Classic.

Impractically Fancy Outfit is a Super Trope of this. Happy Holidays Dress (either one) is a Sub Trope of this, as would be any sufficiently fancy wedding dress.

Sister Tropes: