History Main / EtherealWhiteDress

* The ghost of Rosa appears as this in the second season of ''Series/AltaMar.''

* La Llorona, a Mexican myth about a crying ghost, is also called this. Just about every Spanish-speaking country has mythology related to La Llorona, even Spain. Generally speaking, though, the story is usually the same: she was a beautiful young mistress who tried to permanently win the heart of the man she loved by [[OffingTheOffspring drowning her own children]] because she knew he wasn't all that fond of kids. It wasn't until he called her out on it that she [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realized how horrifying her actions were]] and promptly drowned herself in an effort to find her children. Naturally, she's a ghost said to haunt riversides calling for her children.

** In chapter 60 of the sequel, Jean and [[spoiler: Maddie]] appear in Harry's mindscape wearing pure white dresses (their psychic forms having previously merged into a pure white gestalt), emphasising both their [[PsychicPowers unearthly nature]] and purity. Here, they're unambiguously benevolent, doing their best to help heal Harry.

* In Bohemia, there's the legend of the [[http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%ADl%C3%A1_pan%C3%AD White Lady]], the ghost of [[http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perchta_z_Ro%C5%BEmberka Perchta of Rožmberk]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Rukia Kuchiki's Zanpakutou, Sode no Shirayuki, is a pure white blade and possesses powers over snow and ice. Rukia's sword and power is based on the legend of the yuki-onna, the ghostly 'snow woman'. Her Bankai activation transforms her into the snow-woman of legend: her hair becomes white, her skin icy and her dress snow-white. The world around her transforms into one of snow and ice, and she becomes a detached, mystical being that is possessed of an otherworldly beauty. In anime filler, her Zanpakuto Spirit is introduced long before her Bankai reveal and acts as foreshadowing: the spirit is a woman with white hair, very pale skin and a snow-white kimono; she is quiet, well-mannered even when rebelling, is portrayed in a detached, mystical manner, and also possessed of an otherworldly beauty. Any female [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Arrancar]] who wears a white dress or robe would also qualify.

** In several openings and endings of the anime, however, Ran is seen wearing white dresses and playing the strope straight.

* In ''Manga/PeacemakerKurogane'', although male, [[UsefulNotes/TheShinsengumi Okita Souji]] plays the woman in white when out-of-uniform, using [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns feminine speech patterns]] and invoking the innocence aspect of white with his cute pet pig and a fondness for sweets and playing with children. Of course, to those who know him it's a double-entendre of sorts, with the death-and-mourning aspects of white evoking his deadliness as a swordsman.
* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'': The Wili Maiden, the ghost of a woman who [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide]] and now tries to bring young men into the afterlife, dresses in an all-white tutu with white tights. Of course, she's based on a character from a ballet which shares the name of the episode--"Giselle".

* The Forest Spirit in ''Film/ThroneOfBlood'', who looks like an old woman dressed in white but is possibly a {{Youkai}}. She offers Washizu some eerily accurate prohecies that tempt him into evil but ultimately lead to his downfall, so she is simultaneously helpful but with suspect motivations.

* ''Film/TheWailing'': While investigating a crime scene, Officer Jong-goo meets a strange woman wearing a white robe who throws rocks at him and tell him that the strange Japanese man living alone in the woods is the culprit, before disappearing. [[spoiler:She turns out to be some kind of local deity trying to protect the village against the stranger, who might be TheDevil himself, to no avail.]]

* There is another myth about white dressed women, it's about the Mulher de Branco (it means exactly the trope name), in Brazilian North / Northeast. She is the ghost of a bride that died (mostly killed) before entering the church to marry, and now, searches for her groom near the place she died, usually in a dark, creepy forest. If she finds a man she thinks is like her groom, she takes him to the world of dead with her... Unless said man runs like hell, which they promptly do.

* Sally Bones from ''Literature/VarjakPaw'' is a cat version of this trope. She's completely white furred, very mysterious, and everyone is utterly afraid of her.

* Music/AkikoShikata poses in a white dress in most of her album covers. Quite fitting for the atmosphere of said albums, where there are a lot of songs about nature and magic. On the cover of ''Turaida'' she even holds a white instrument.

** The narrator of "Ocean Soul" is a lonely, [[EmotionlessGirl detached]] BrokenBird. She is obsessed with beauty and the sea, hears angels whispering and dresses in white.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', the Geisterdamen (German for "ghost maiden") are a race of female monsters (it's not mentioned how they reproduce) who are entirely white, including hair, skin and clothing.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Rhapsodies}}'', Deidre the {{psychopomp}} dresses in all white outfits when on duty.

** The narrator of "Ocean Soul" is lonely, [[EmotionlessGirl detached]], and {{broken|bird}}, obsessed with beauty and the sea, hears angels whispering and dresses in white.

* The narrator of "Ocean Soul" by Music/{{Nightwish}} is lonely, [[EmotionlessGirl detached]], and {{broken|bird}}, obsessed with beauty and the sea, hears angels whispering and dresses in white.

This figure is either metaphorically or literally dead, dressed in [[UndeathlyPallor pale clothing]] that marks them as having one foot on the [[SpiritWorld Other Side]]. While this character is rarely a classical ghost (see CuteGhostGirl or BedsheetGhost for more typical ghost depictions), they are symbolically associated with death, often being [[GloryDays stuck in the past]]. It may be [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane difficult to determine if they are dead or alive]], or if they are [[AmbiguouslyHuman human or spirit]]. Despite LightIsGood, these ethereal characters may tend towards a more [[GreyAndGrayMorality ambiguous morality]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Rukia Kuchiki's Zanpakutou, Sode no Shirayuki, is a pure white blade and possesses powers over snow and ice. Rukia's sword and power is based on the legend of the yuki-onna, the ghostly 'snow woman'. Her Bankai activation transforms her into the snow-woman of legend: her hair becomes white, her skin icy and her dress snow-white. The world around her transforms into one of snow and ice, and she becomes a detached, mystical being that is possessed of an otherworldly beauty. In anime filler, her Zanpakuto Spirit is introduced long before her Bankai reveal and acts as foreshadowing: the spirit is a woman with white hair, very pale skin and a snow-white kimono; she is quiet, well-mannered even when rebelling, is portrayed in a detached, mystical manner, and also possessed of an otherworldly beauty.

* Although it's well known that the Victorian era had a predominance of using blacks and shades of gray as mourning colours, what's less well known is that it had been traditional to wear white as a mourning colour. This started dying out during the Victorian era but continued to be a colour worn to funerals and to visit the graves of loved ones right up until UsefulNotes/WW1. However, Queen Victoria, who always wore mourning black while in Britain, would change to all-white attire when visiting France due to the tradition of white being the mourning colour of French royalty. White was resurrected for royal mourning in 1938, when the then Duchess of York (Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, best known to us as [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor the Queen Mum]], or as [[Film/TheKingsSpeech Bertie's wife]]) was scheduled to make a visit to France five days after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_Bowes-Lyon,_Countess_of_Strathmore_and_Kinghorne her mother]]'s death. Norman Hartnell remade her dresses in a fortnight; they became known as the white wardrobe.

* In ''VideoGame/ThePath'', there's a mysterious girl in white who inhabits the woods.

* In ''VisualNovel/BalladOfAnEveningButterfly'', Chou who is a vampire, is clad in baggy, white clothes which seem to add to her enigma and mysterious personality. It also contrasts Yoru, her twin, who's completely in all black.

* In ''VisualNovel/BalladOfAnEveningButterfly'', Chou who is a vampire, is clad in baggy, white clothes which seem to add to her enigma and mysterious personality. It also contrasts Yoru, her twin, who's completely in all black.

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** [[ArcWords "...she died and we did nothing."]]

* Very common in reported Marian apparitions. I.e [[TheSongOfBernadette St. Bernadette Soubirous]] and the kids [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1tima at Fátima]] (Portugal) initially reported seeing "a beautiful young lady all in white"; the people from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knock_Shrine Knock]] (Ireland) described Mary as wearing "a white cloak, hanging in full folds and fastened at the neck"; considering there were folk legends about terrible ghost women, it's no wonder their parents got upset, although some people figured Bernadette was seeing a harmless ''revenant'' spirit.
* Although it's well known that the Victorian era had a predominance of using blacks and shades of gray as mourning colours, what's less well known is that it had been traditional to wear white as a mourning colour. This started dying out during the Victorian era but continued to be a colour worn to funerals and to visit the graves of loved ones right up until UsefulNotes/WW1. However, Queen Victoria, who always wore mourning black while in Britain, would change to all-white attire when visiting France due to the tradition of white being the mourning colour of French royalty.
** White was resurrected for royal mourning in 1938, when the then Duchess of York (Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, best known to us as [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor the Queen Mum]], or as [[Film/TheKingsSpeech Bertie's wife]]) was scheduled to make a visit to France five days after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_Bowes-Lyon,_Countess_of_Strathmore_and_Kinghorne her mother]]'s death. Norman Hartnell remade her dresses in a fortnight; they became known as the white wardrobe.

* In ''VisualNovel/BalladOfAnEveningButterfly'', Chou is clad in baggy, white clothes which seem to add to her enigma and mysterious personality. It also contrasts Yoru who's completely in all black.

* ''Literature/GreatExpectations'': Miss Havisham is an old woman who always wears her white, tattered wedding dress, and she rarely leaves her room. Her character is utterly defined by her obsession with the man who left her at the alter, and she metaphorically died that day, becoming old, bitter, and refusing to grow.

* There's that poem/ghost story - I think it was by Creator/LordByron, but he might have just been reciting it - about a woman in white.

* When Isabel is in mourning in ''Literature/KingdomOfLittleWounds'', she wears white. She's no longer slim and pretty enough to be ethereal, but she's still mad and it leaves an impression.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Rukia Kuchiki's Zanpakuto Spirit, Sode no Shirayuki, being based off of a Yuki-Onna, has this appearance, having pale skin, silver hair, and a white kimono. [[spoiler:Rukia herself takes on this appearance in Bankai, as it's an externalization of her spirit, much like Ichigo's BadassLongcoat.]]

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* The Forest Spirit in Film/ThroneOfBlood, who looks like an old woman dressed in white but is possibly a {{Youkai}}. She offers Washizu some eerily accurate prohesies that tempt him into evil but ultimately lead to his downfall, so she is simulataneously helpful but with suspect motivations.

* ''{{Film/Pet}}'' has Holly, who qualifies for multiple variants, including [[spoiler: fragile, evil, and linked to death.]] And thanks to being played by Creator/KseniaSolo, she has the pale skin and platinum-blonde hair as well.

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* Manga/{{Bleach}}: Rukia Kuchiki's Zanpakuto Spirit, Sode no Shirayuki, being based off of a Yuki-Onna, has this appearance, having pale skin, silver hair, and a white kimono. [[spoiler:Rukia herself takes on this appearance in Bankai, as it's an externalization of her spirit, much like Ichigo's BadassLongcoat.]]

** Horribly subverted in a {{filler}} case, where the WomanInWhite is the actress Akiko Kinoshita... who only wears white clothes either when performing her StarMakingRole as the traditional "Yuki Onna" ghost, or when her lifeless body is found [[SnowMeansDeath buried in the snow]]. [[spoiler:She was murdered by Yoko Asanuma, her [[DrivenByEnvy envious]] BodyDouble, who also briefly wears white while impersonating Akiko and making everyone believe she was still alive.]]

* The [[Recap/SupernaturalS01E01Pilot pilot episode]] of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' features a WomanInWhite.
** There are also all the girls in white nightgowns who get killed by the MonsterOfTheWeek, or the girl in the white hospital gown who caused people in her town to act out fairy tales... Let's just say that women wearing white on ''Supernatural'' are either going to be the victim or the villain.

* Although it's well known that the Victorian era had a predominance of using blacks and shades of gray as mourning colours, what's less well known is that it had been traditional to wear white as a mourning colour. This started dying out during the Victorian era but continued to be a colour worn to funerals and to visit the graves of loved ones right up until UsefulNotes/WW1. However, Queen Victoria, who always wore mourning black while in Britain, would change to [[WomanInWhite all-white attire]] when visiting France due to the tradition of white being the mourning colour of French royalty.