History Main / ClothesMakeTheLegend

* ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} has traditionally kept with his orange and green combo. For a while, he went to an entirely different outfit of white and sea colors in a chaotic pattern meant to evoke the sea. Sword of Atlantis Aquaman lost his shirt entirely, much to the delight of the fangirls.

** The Catman (Originally Peter Criss): Usually has some kind of paw prints or animal stripes incorporated in the design somewhere.
** Space Ace (Originally Ace Frehley): Usually has a representation of the night sky (or star charts) and usually the shoulders and boots are in Ace's trademark shining silver.

* Spike's leather coat, that he took off a slayer he killed in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' as well as ''Angel''. Even when it was damaged, Wolfram & Hart's Italian branch found him eleven exact replicas.

* ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} has traditionally kept her traditional costume: long-sleeved blue shirt, blue or red skirt, yellow belt, and red cape and boots. Every so often DC decides to change it -- usually ditching the skirt -- but such changes are seldom well-received and Supergirl always returns to her classic look. ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2011 Post-Flashpoint Kara's costume]]'', which replaced her traditional outfit with an armor-like blue leotard with a red crotch patch drew some ire from fans until [[ComicBook/SupergirlRebirth she changed back]] to her traditional ensemble.

* ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} has traditionally kept with his orange and green combo. For a while, he went to an entirely different outfit of white and sea colors in a chaotic pattern meant to invoke the sea. Sword of Atlantis Aquaman lost his shirt entirely, much to the delight of the fangirls.

* ''Manga/LupinIII'' has Lupin's suit. The only thing that ever changes is the color of the jacket, to the point fans identify arcs of the many, ''many'' Lupin films and specials by what color jacket Lupin is wearing in them.

* Played straight in ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', where most costumed super-beings will wear the same outfit for decades, even in the case of generational {Legacy Character}}s. If a character does change their appearance, it's typically justified, such as the N-Forcer upgrading his armored suits.

* To follow up on Batman, his partner Comicbook/{{Robin}} has also taken to this ever since becoming a LegacyCharacter in his own right. Every Robin has worn some variation of Dick Grayson's original ensemble; the red chest piece (with 'R' insignia), yellow cape, occasionally some green thrown in (more evident in the earlier versions), and tied together with a classic domino mask, though [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim]] added actual pants to the ensemble which every Robin following him has understandably kept.

* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' Marty [=McFly's=] red down vest (confused with a lifejacket in the [[Film/BackToTheFuture first movie]]) and jeans.

* Although the colors have changed, [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario and Luigi]] still have their cap and overalls, although the colors weren't really finalized until ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' (when the color palette was large enough to properly show it). [[note]]Though there have been alternate outfits for Mario in games like ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey''.[[/note]]

** Liu Kang just wouldn't be Liu Kang without his trademark red-and-black pants and [[MartialArtsHeadband red bandana]], which have been a staple for the character since his appearance in [[VideoGame/MortalKombatII the second game]] (in [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 the first game]], he wore simple black pants and no headband). The same is true of his fellow Shaolin monk Kung Lao--you can change the color of ''his'' pants, but you can never change his [[SignatureHeadgear hat]].

* Ash's hat in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''. Later they did change it but not matter what the design is, it's always a red cap with a symbol at the center. And Ash is the only one who wears that kind of hat, to the point that any other character who wears a similar hat is most likely his doppelgänger.

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

** Ever since Creator/FloydGottfredson, the ''first'' guy to seriously write [[ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse Mickey Mouse strips]], Mickey has been shown wearing just regular clothes in comics. (Gottfredson started a trend where Mickey is just a regular action comic hero who happens to be a FunnyAnimal). The original outfit is generally acknowledged by making his standard outfit red trousers and a white shirt, with whatever other clothes fitting the occasion (he generally wears a green baseball cap outdoors when casual, a BadassLongcoat and fedora outdoors when formal, etc.). When he started wearing the original shorts in recent European-sold Disney comics, fans cried DorkAge.

** And the original [[ComicBook/TheWasp Wasp]] was, for many years, changing costumes almost as frequently. Originally this was said to be just because she was TheChick, and "women like lots of clothes." Later she was given a less offensively stereotypical HandWave as an offshoot of her fashion-designer background, and she has even designed costumes for other Avengers over the years.

* [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran's]] Varia Suit, with [[ShouldersOfDoom shoulder pads]] and an orange/yellow scheme as the default colors. So iconic, in fact, that for a long time people didn't know [[SamusIsAGirl she was a girl]]. ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' replaced it with a sleeker suit that was ''blue''/yellow by default... which hasn't been seen since, as every game since then has been a prequel. (To be fair, [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy some of those games]] have done their own meddling with the suit via power-ups, but it's always [[BagOfSpilling returned to normal]] [[StatusQuoIsGod by the end]].) Her blue [[VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission Zero Suit]] is also very memorable, cementing Samus' choice of clothing underneath her Power Suit from that point on after a variety of undergarments and casual wear featured [[VideoGame/Metroid1 in]] [[VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus the]] [[VideoGame/SuperMetroid previous]] [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion five]] [[VideoGame/MetroidPrime installments]].

** [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater Eva's]] AbsoluteCleavage jumpsuit.

* ''ComicBook/{{Vampirella}}'' is so synonymous with the red slingshot bikini that any attempt to make it TamerAndChaster inevitably fails. She wore a battle armor ChainmailBikini for a brief bit during the Harris years, and has had no less than three redesigns during the Dynamite years, including a BadassLongcoat and CoolShades in 2010 that just made her look like [[Film/BladeTrilogy Blade]], a roller derby outfit in 2016, and a little red dress in 2017. Before long, the bikini makes a comeback.

* Franchise/DocSavage's jodhpurs and torn white shirt. Eventually, every cover depicted him wearing them. Cover artist Boris Vallejo even had to rip a new shirt once after the original shirt was lost, using old cover paintings for reference. Ironically he forgot that he was facing into the painting and the new shirt turned out to be a mirror image of the old one.

** The Eleventh Doctor has a penchant for tweed jackets, complete with matching braces and bow tie, usually in red but occasionally in blue. (especially the bow tie). He also has the [[NiceHat fez]].

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'' has no explanation for the tunic, but Link meets a [[NiceHat talking green cap]] who serves as the game's ExpositionFairy. At the end of the game, [[spoiler:as the restored-to-true-form Picori wizard departs]], he leaves Link a replacement cap similar to the ones worn by other Links.

* Mages in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'' all have {{Nice Hat}}s, except the white mages, which almost always have nice hoods. Specifically, the blue [[RobeAndWizardHat robe, pointy wizard hat]], black or shadowed face, and yellow eyes are so iconic that they are almost as identifiable as Chocobos and Moogles. Still, it only appears in a few installments of the long-running series.

* VideoGame/ProfessorLayton and his [[NiceHat top hat]], which he hardly ever takes off. Many puzzles revolve around said hat, which is also an IconicItem and the game logo.

** Liu Kang just wouldn't be Liu Kang without his trademark red-and-black pants and [[MartialArtsHeadband red bandana]], which have been a staple for the character since his appearance in [[VideoGame/MortalKombatII the second game]] (in [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 the first game]], he wore simple black pants and no headband). The same is true of his fellow Shaolin monk Kung Lao--you can change the color of ''his'' pants, but you can never change his CoolHat.

** Expect for those in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' series, where only the bearer of a pure Model X has that scheme, with protagonists bearing a mix of ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero Zero]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX X]]'' outfits.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Snake's dark blue stealth suit and bandana.

* [[Franchise/MortalKombat Liu Kang]] just wouldn't be Liu Kang without his trademark red-and-black pants and [[MartialArtsHeadband red bandana]], which have been a staple for the character since his appearance in [[VideoGame/MortalKombat2 the second game]] (in [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 the first game]], he wore simple black pants and no headband). The same is true of his fellow Shaolin monk Kung Lao--you can change the color of ''his'' pants, but you can never change his CoolHat.

** Likewise, resident Earthrealm protector and thunder god Raiden is rarely seen without [[AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats his conical hat]] and some kind of white outfit, often accented with blue and/or gold starting in ''MKII''. ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance Deadly Alliance]]'' added a cape to his design, which proved popular enough to be a semi-recurring feature of his outfit in later games like ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse MKvDCU]]'' and ''VideoGame/Injustice2'' [[spoiler:as well as during his tenure as [[CameBackWrong Dark]] [[KnightTemplar Raiden]]]].

** ''King of Fighters'' native Iori Yagami has only had one outfit for about 10 years (from his debut in 1995 to ''The King of Fighters XI'' in 2005): a black jacket over a long white shirt with red pants that are tied at the knees. In ''The King of Fighters XII'', as part of his character's change away from flame powers to purely slashing attacks, he also got a new set of threads (the same black jacket but now over a short red shirt and a pair of white pants). ''XIV'' marks a more drastic deviation with Iori donning a red jacket over a mauve-colored shirt and black pants, though the look is vaguely reminiscent of his "Another Iori" design, a [[AssistCharacter Striker]] version of him in ''2000'' based on artwork depicting Iori when he's playing in concerts or at bars with his jazz band outside of the KOF tournament.
** Zig-zagged with Kyo. His schoolboy uniform is by far his most iconic, popular, and recognizable look, but he hasn't canonically worn it since ''The King of Fighters '97''. The developers have gotten around this by introducing several clones and doppelgängers like Kyo-1, Kyo-2, and Kusanagi, while some games (such as ''Maximum Impact 2'') have flat out featured a "classic" version of Kyo as a separate playable character. ''The King of Fighters XIII'' even offered the school uniform as a PaletteSwap for Kyo in Color Edit Mode. Additionally, whenever Kyo appears in non-canonical crossover games like the ''VideoGame/SNKVsCapcom'' series, he's usually wearing the schoolboy outfit instead of one of his more modern looks. The animated series ''Animation/TheKingOfFightersDestiny'' split the difference by giving him a leather jacket that's patterned after his uniform.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' and her black shirt, gloves, and cargo pants. For some, it was jarring when she got a new uniform in season four. Not many of the prodigious amounts of FanArt featuring her dress her in the new outfit.

** Ryu and Ken in their respective white and red gi's.

** As do Wario and Waluigi, except in the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' games where Wario has a different outfit. In the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series, though, he can use both.