The furs and dresses here are already out of fashion!
This character is, quite simply, a character whose defining trait (or a prominent trait, if she is a
Rounded Character) is being well-dressed and extremely interested in fashion. The Fashionista is often a woman, save for instances of
The Dandy, or a
Camp Gay guy (whether or not he is a fashion designer). The Fashionista will invariably love to shop, read
Fashion Magazines, and watch (or be involved in, if she is a model or a designer)
Fashion Shows, and will either have an
Unlimited Wardrobe, or long for one. She may be the Girly Girl in a
Tomboy and Girly Girl pair. If not she will, depending on temperament, either be
Alpha Bitch/
Rich Bitch or
Spoiled Sweet. Either way, she is often a prime candidate for
Even the Girls Want Her. At some point in the story, she is likely to wear a
Little Black Dress (or
a red one). She is also likely at some point to give
The Makeover to a character who is either
Beautiful All Along or
Cleans Up Nicely.
Sometimes, The Fashionista makes her own clothes, usually if she actually works in the fashion industry or wants to. She may
Really Get Around, but it is not a requirement. The Fashionista is usually skinny; it is uncommon to see a
Hollywood Pudgy one, and in more
cynical shows, she may have an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia.
An older fashionista may be a
Foxy Grandma, a
White Dwarf Starlet, a
Stacy's Mom, or say "
I Was Quite a Looker." In movies and shows from
The Eighties,
The Fashionista may also be a
Valley Girl. If she is a superheroine, she will most likely be
The Chick of her
Five-Man Band, and have multiple costume changes over the years. If she is a supervillainess, she will most likely be a
Vain Sorceress. She's not immune to
Fashion Dissonance though.
If the audience does not consider her a fashionista, this is
Informed Attractiveness.
A
Sub Trope of
Costume Porn (personifying that trope in these characters).
Compare
The Beautiful Elite,
Impractically Fancy Outfit,
Impossibly Cool Clothes,
Pimped Out Dress,
Nice Shoes,
The Dandy,
Idle Rich.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Nodamiki in GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class— see, every time she appeared she wore different hairdo, and has the uncanny ability to spot the identity of different fashion pieces— despite being just a tenth grader!
- Taiwan in Axis Powers Hetalia, according to Word Of God.
- Nana "Hachi" Komatsu from Nana is this through and through, although most other characters arguably qualify, albeit in their own way.
- Erika from Heartcatch Pretty Cure, so very much. (Having parents who run a clothing shop helps.) She's even president of the school's fashion club.
- Saki Kasukabe in Genshiken.
- Erza from Fairy Tail is a Lady of War who loves to dress up, has over 100 outfits, and according to Word Of God she once scared a major fashion designer into designing pretty armor for her.
- Sonoko Suzuki and Ai Haibara from Detective Conan. In Sonoko's case, it comes from being The Ojou as well; in Ai's, it's a sign that she's Not so Above It All.
- Miyako/Bubbles in Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z
- Kuranosuke in Princess Jellyfish, to the extent that he becomes a Wholesome Crossdresser so that he can pursue his passion without interference from his family of politicians.
- Tomoyo from Card Captor Sakura would Once per Episode design Sakura some darn creative outfit. Sometimes the had some practical benefit but usually just to make her look cute.
Comic Books
Film
- Regina George in Mean Girls.
- Most of the women (except Andy) in The Devil Wears Prada. Nigel, too. Of course they do work for a fashion magazine and Andy does start "drinking the coolaid."
Literature
- Rachel in Animorphs is a Fashionista with dark Blood Knight tendencies, making her quite a well-rounded character indeed.
- In Lonely Were Wolf Girl this is the Hat of the Fire Demons. Standout character is of course Malveria, but Werewolf-fashion designer Thrix runs a close second. Showing up in the wrong dress could start a war you know.
- In The Egypt Game, April goes for a '60s Hollywood look (Beehive Hairdo, Pretty in Mink, etc.) at the start. (The novel was written in 1967.) She's emulating her inattentive actress/singer mother.
- Anyone who grew up reading the Baby Sitters Club series will remember the obligatory description of Claudia's outfits as the highlight of the otherwise virtually copy-and-pasted introductory passage in each book. She was also the artsy one, and her dress sense obeyed no laws of fashion except her own, but we're assured that "on her, it totally worked" every time. Her best friend Stacey was from New York, which was treated like it was proof of fashion consciousness in itself.
- There's a blog
dedicated to cataloguing Claudia's outfits.
- Time Scout: Margo dresses well. Timeless class. And when she first encounters Connie Logan's shop, she practically orgasms.
Live-Action TV
- Cordelia and the Cordettes.
Angel: It was kind of like the Soviet Secret Police if they cared a lot about shoes.
- Kurt from Glee.
- Maxie Jones on General Hospital.
- Project Runway
- Rachel in Animorphs.
- Raven Baxter of That's So Raven.
- Geena Fabianow, the best friend of the protagonist of Unfabulous, who contrasts with the Hollywood Homely protagonist.
- The only female character who doesn't fit this trope on Gossip Girl is Vanessa.
- What Not To Wear has Trinny and Susannah.
- Most of the characters on Ugly Betty. It could be argued that even Betty herself counts, although her taste in fashion is... unconventional.
- C.J. on The West Wing, a bit, though it's also brought up as one of the ways she has trouble being taken seriously as a female White House press secretary (people either focus on how she looks rather than what she's saying, or assume she does that).
- Edina and Patsy of Absolutely Fabulous, often to ridiculous extremes.
- Jason King, from Department S and Jason King.
- Margarita Garza from Carrusel.
- The Cat in Red Dwarf.
Cat: (being made to scrub the floor) Aw, look at my hands! I had lovely hands!
Lister: Well, wear the smegging gloves!
Cat: Marigold with blue? Are you crazy?
Toys
- Barbie
- Bratz
- Monster High has Clawdeen Wolf. Unlike most fashionistas though, she is serious about going into the fashion industry in a business minded way and in her 2011 doll with diary the first entry mentions her AP class in fashion.
Video Games
Web Comics
Western Animation
- Even though they have a Limited Wardrobe, this list should include The Ashleys.
- Lindsay from Total Drama Island, although it's more of an Informed Ability since she's rarely seen outside her tank, skirt, and cowboy boots.
- The Fashion Club in Daria.
- Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians.
- The Crust Cousins in My Life as a Teenage Robot. They wear some sort of bizzare new outfit in (almost) every episode they appear in.
- Rarity of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, who owns and runs at a fashion shop (including making all the clothing to order), primarily uses her unicorn magic to help decorate, and is much quicker to dress up than any of the other ponies. She's also a very intentional subversion, however. Word of God says that Rarity was created as a response to shallow Fashionista characters in girl's cartoons, by making her generous, and never having her talk about shopping or trend-following. Instead, she's written as an artist, whose medium just happens to be clothes. Or to put it simply, Rarity is the person most other characters on this list would be buying from.
- The trope is played more straight with Photo Finish, who is based off notorious magazine editor Anna Wintour, and exhibits the appropriate traits of a Fashionista. She's a hammy, slightly bitchy control freak obsessed with making "DE MAGICKS!"
- Fluttershy, as demonstrated in Suited for Success, also has quite some knowledge in fashion, as seen in when she critiqes Rarity's dress for her and when she leads and effort to make a dress for Rarity.
- Rainbow Dash always dresses in style! Well, the G3 version does. (The FiM version does everything else in style.)
- Topaz from Trollz.
- Remember Prize Popple from Popples?
- And there's also Bunnie Rabbot from Sonic the Hedgehog.
- Self-proclaimed by Rhonda in Hey Arnold! and brought up in almost every episode she's in... despite her limited wardrobe.
Real Life
- Anyone in the fashion industry.
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Daphne Guinness
- Marie Antoinette was supposedly a huge fan of fashion in her day, making her dressmaker, Rose Bertin, a celebrity of sorts.
