History Main / ClothesMakeTheLegend

* [[{{Metroid}} Samus']] Varia Suit, with [[GiantPoofySleeves shoulder pads]] and the orange/yellow scheme.

** And note that ''Metroid Fusion'' replaced it with a sleeker ''blue''/yellow suit... right before the series started a long chain of ''prequels''.

* [[OneHundredAndOneDalmatians Cruella De Ville's]] huge [[FurAndLoathing fur coat]].

* [[ClassicDisneyShorts Mickey Mouse]] just doesn't have that same iconic status without the red shorts and yellow shoes. Same goes for DonaldDuck and Goofy and their respective wardrobes.
** [[KingdomHearts Not necessarily]].[[hottip:*: Of course, their outfits in ''KingdomHearts'' are still ''based on'' their classic looks. Mickey still has the red shorts and big yellow shoes. Donald's shirt is still blue and has a (modified) sailor collar. Goofy still has a tall hat and a vest over a turtleneck.]]

** Much longer than that -- Goku has been wearing an orange Kame school gi since about episode 20 of the original series, when Kamesennin him his first one.

Compare IconicItem, MemeticOutfit, LimitedWardrobe. ClothesMakeTheSuperman is this trope taken literally, when the clothes actually give the Legend their Legendariness.

Compare IconicItem, MemeticOutfit, LimitedWardrobe.

* All of the box art and promotional merchandise for KnightsOfTheOldRepublic shows Bastila in her 'civilian' clothes, despite the fact that once you get to Dantooine and acquire a set of Jedi robes she is probably never going to wear that outfit through the entirety of the game.
* The revised inventory system in MassEffect2 ensured that Shepard will nearly always be seen in a suit of N7 armor.

** From the same game series, Terry Bogard had also one change of look, but it was at the end of the ''FatalFury'' series, and in ''TheKingOfFighters'' he's going back to his old attire in ''KOFXII''.
** In ''KOF'' Iori Yagami also spent practically the whole series without even a slight change or alteration to his clothes (unlike Kyo), and is only in ''KOFXII'' (14 years after his debut), that he is getting a new outfit; and of course, it resembles a lot his previous one...

* Don't forget RyuAndKen in their respective white and red gi's.

* [[{{Halo}} Master Chief]] is never seen without his [[PoweredArmor MJOLNIR armor]]; granted, he got a new suit at the start of Halo 2, but it still greatly resembled his older one.
* Montblanc wears the [[FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance same]] [[FinalFantasyXII green]] [[FinalFantasyTacticsA2 jacket-robe thing]] and baggy pants, despite Gurdy with an UnlimitedWardrobe and Hurdy, Horne n Sorbet having their casual clothing and their Moogling uniforms. There's Nono, though. But since his outfit is based on his job class...
* [[{{ChzoMythos}} Trilby]] always wears the [[{{NiceHat}} nice hat]] he names himself after while burglaring, complete with a grey pinstripe suit. Later on, he ditches the blazer in favor of a vest, yet he is still recognizable to some, 200 years in the future.
** Hey, as he says himself in ''Art of Theft,'' the blazer just isn't practical in the summer months.
*** Which is a reference to Trilby's Notes. Go "Look at self" in Notes and you'll get pretty much the exact same text.

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<<|CostumeTropes|>>

* The page image deserves some explanation, if only because it's such a quintessential example of this trope. Superman's traditional red, blue, and yellow costume remained basically unchanged for almost 60 years. Then in 1997, DC got it in its head that Supes needed to be "updated". They traded his traditional powers for some vaguely defined electromagnetism/[[EnergyBeings energy being]]-type powers and his iconic suit for a cape-less blue and white ensemble. The change was...[[Understatement not well received]]. While the powers and the costume were [[YourMileageMayVary arguably pretty cool in concept]], their origin was far too mediocre to justify such a radical change to such a beloved and iconic character. The new costume and powers lasted all of 13 months before DC returned to the classic version.

** Amusingly, in the No Man's Land storyline, Huntress masqueraded as the Batman in the same way as the Phantom's sister. A Lampshade was hung when a bystander comments on how he always thought that 'the Bat' was a guy, only to be fooled into thinking that Batman was ALWAYS Batwoman because "everyone beaten up by a girl would lie and say it was a big, muscular guy that knows ninjitsu and has a belt full of weaponry...."

* Ash's hat in ''{{Pokemon}}''. Later they did change it, but he always has a hat, and is the only major character to do so.

** [[KingdomHearts Not necessarily]].

* [[{{Halloween}} Michael Myer's]] pale white mask.

* Characters in ''Daria'' all have a signature outfit. Lampshaded in one episode when Daria looks through her closet to "decide" what to wear. Her closet contains 3 sets of the same green jacket, brown shirt, and black skirt...and nothing else.

* Okay, it would be easier to list iconic {{Super Hero}}s, and their [[RoguesGallery villains]], that ''don't'' fit this trope:

*** Conversely, StephenMoffat actually wrote a small gag into the latest season finale to keep MattSmith from trying to do this with the Eleventh Doctor's outfit, as [[MemeticMutation we went from "bowties are cool" to "]]''[[MemeticMutation any]]'' [[MemeticMutation piece of apparel I'm wearing is intrinsically cool"]]. (Although, you have to admit, the fez ''was'' pretty damn cool...)

* Mages in FinalFantasy all have {{Nice Hat}}s.

* Dark blue and light blue spandex, both in about equal measure. An ArmCannon. Usually a helmet. No mater how much time passes, that is the default equipment for all who hold the name MegaMan.

** Amusingly, in the No Man's Land storyline, Huntress masqueraded as the Batman in the same way as the Phantom's sister. A Lampshade was hung when a bystander comments on how he always thought that 'the Bat' was a guy, only to be fooled into thinking that Batman was ALWAYS Batwoman because "everyone beaten up by a girl would lie and say it was a big, muscular guy that knows ninjitsu and has a belt full of weaponry....".

** Ironically, Mickey's outfit, while ubiquitous in comic books and merchandise, was actually not worn for much of his film career. The cartoons made between 1942 and 1953 have him wearing more contemporary clothes, not wearing the red sorts on the big screen until the 1995 short ''Runaway Brain''. Furthermore, some of his more iconic roles (the Sorcerer's Apprentice in ''{{Fantasia}}'', ''TheBraveLittleTailor'', and others) have him wearing some other uniform (although the Apprentice costume is nearly as iconic as the shorts).

** From [[JohnNathanTurner the last seaon of the Fourth Doctor until the end of the original series]], this trope was explicitly invoked -- Turner demanded that the costumes be iconic -- [[SarcasmMode because, of course]] ''[[SarcasmMode nobody]]'' [[SarcasmMode remembers the previous outfits at all]]. This trope explains why the Fourth Doctor ended up changing his more jaunty (and always-changing) ensemble (and classic multicolored scarf) for the static burgundy look -- which Baker was reputed to have hated and which may have hastened his leaving ''DoctorWho'', and explains in spades the Sixth Doctor's [[strike:eyesore]] costume ([[WhatCouldHaveBeen if Colin Baker had had his way, the costume would have been much different]]).

* [[ClassicDisneyShorts Mickey Mouse]] just doesn't have that same iconic status without the red shorts and yellow shoes. Same goes for Donald and Goofy and their respective wardrobes.