History Main / ClothesMakeTheLegend

** ''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.

* [[{{Metroid}} Samus']] Varia Suit, with [[ShouldersOfDoom shoulder pads]] and an orange/yellow scheme as the default colors.

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

* [[{{Halloween}} Michael Myer's]] pale white mask and mechanics jump suit.

* Mai Shiranui, from ''FatalFury'' and ''TheKingOfFighters'' suffers from this, mainly due to her status as MsFanservice in both games. They attempted a change of outfit in the ''FatalFury'' series, but it only lasted two games and she returned to a variation of her original outfit after that. In ''TheKingOfFighters'' only minor changes were ever made to her clothing, and only in the ''Maximum Impact'' she get to wear different ''alternate'' outfits, which are still heavily based on her traditional one.

* Each incarnation of [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] generally spent most of their screen time in one distinct outfit, sometimes (in the John Nathan-Turner era) static, sometimes variations on a theme; the Fourth's floppy hat and scarf is especially iconic.

* Each incarnation of [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] generally spent most of their screen time in one distinct outfit; the Fourth's floppy hat and scarf is especially iconic.
** From the last season of the Fourth Doctor until the end of the original series, this trope was explicitly invoked. John-Nathan 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 Tom Baker was reputed to have hated and which may have hastened his leaving ''Series/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]]).
*** Conversely, StevenMoffat 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...) Word of God has further said that they had to separate Matt Smith from the bowtie because otherwise he would never have taken it off.

* The uniforms in ''StarTrek'' were just that, but aside from the movies, the shows largely retained the black and primary color look (except [[StarTrekEnterprise the canceled one]]).

*** Conversely, StevenMoffat 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...)

* Heracles from Greek Mythology is most often depicted wearing lion skin.
** Said skin came from the Nemean Lion, whose hide was so tough that no weapon could pierce it. Heracles instead strangled it to death and then just tore it off.
*** Or used its own claws to cut it off.

* Ash's hat in ''[[Anime/{{Ptitlei015gc004kw4}} Pokémon]]''. Later they did change it, but he always has a hat, and is the only major character to do so.

* [[FridayThe13th Jason's]] hockey mask was a horror icon since the third movie.

** In ''Ocarina of Time'', chronologically the second game in the main story, Link was raised among the Kokiri who ''all'' wore green caps and tunics (well, the girls had green headbands instead of hats, but you get the idea).

*** Note that ''Minish Cap'' is a prequel to the ''Four Swords'' side story, and shares few to no links with the main story set up by ''Ocarina of Time''. So ''Minish Cap'' may even predate ''Ocarina'', and be ''the'' origin of the hat.
*** Also, seen in the introduction of ''The Minish Cap'' is a stained-glass portrayal of a currently unplayable Link lookalike character called the "Hero of Men," much the same as ''Ocarina of Time'' Link is called the "Hero of Time" and ''The Wind Waker'' Link is called the "Hero of Winds." The Hero of Men also dons the green tunic, but not the cap.

*** In fact, Faron explicitly states that they are the ''exact same'' clothes ''Ocarina Of Time'''s Link once wore. Link's tunic, hat, and chainmail are quite literally a part of his soul.

** In ''Ocarina of Time'', chronologically the first game in the main story, Link was raised among the Kokiri who ''all'' wore green caps and tunics (well, the girls had green headbands instead of hats, but you get the idea).

* The leather jacket and fedora IndianaJones wears. Especially the Fedora. Take away the hat, and you've got Henry Jone Jr. Take away the jacket, whip and the gun but leave the hat... he's still Indiana Jones.

** From the last seaon of the Fourth Doctor until the end of the original series, this trope was explicitly invoked. John-Nathan 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 Tom Baker was reputed to have hated and which may have hastened his leaving ''Series/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]]).

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* Perhaps it's because he's a Mack truck, but [[{{Transformers}} Optimus Prime]] is always red-and-blue, with the truck's windshield acting has his pectorals. [[hottip:*: Except for [[BeastWars Optimus Primal]], of course.]] Likewise, it's quite common for Megatron to either have some sort of Fusion Cannon or other type of weapon on his right arm, or a strangely bucket-shaped helmet.[[LegacyCharacter Other examples exist in the Transformers francise]], such as Rodimus Prime (always red-with-orange, with flame decals on his chest and large spoilers for his alt-mode) or [[TheFaceless Shockwave]] (a black plate with a single red LED light for a face).

* 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.

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

* The leather jacket and fedora IndianaJones wears.

* Each incarnation of [[DoctorWho The Doctor]] generally spent most of their screen time in one distinct outfit; the Fourth's floppy hat and scarf is especially iconic.
** From the last seaon of the Fourth Doctor until the end of the original series, this trope was explicitly invoked. John-Nathan 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 Tom 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]]).