Magic Pants / Literature

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• Older Than Radio: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It's worth noting that the actual text of the story doesn't specify what happens to Alice's clothes when she changes sizes, but you'd think it would warrant a mention if she were either running around naked or constantly creating makeshift clothes for herself. Also, the text does refer to Alice carrying things in her pocket and these things stay with her whenever her size changes. John Tenniel's illustrations from the book's original publication make it explicit that this trope is in effect and depict Alice wearing the same now famous outfit throughout the story. Pretty much every film version has followed suit, except for the Tim Burton one.
• At one point in The Alloy of Law, a villain sets off a stick of dynamite in his hand to escape a trap (he's got a Healing Factor); his shirt is predictably destroyed, but his pants survive unscathed. Presumably Brandon Sanderson just didn't want to deal with the image of the guy running around naked.
• And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid: Whenever someone transforms into a mermaid, their clothes are replaced by a top that's the same colour as their tail. When they transform back, their original clothes are restored.
• Played With: In Animorphs the characters originally found themselves shrinking out of their clothes or tearing them up, but soon discovered that skintight clothing actually could morph with them. They generally wear their "morphing outfits" under their normal clothes. Later they meet Estrid, an Andalite morpher, who is skilled enough not to have this problem at all.
  • Played straight with the Helmacrons' shrinking technology; Cassie is relieved to note that, even though she was now the size of a housefly, her clothes had at least shrunk with her.
  • This didn't affect the cover artists, since many editions of the books show characters and their normal clothes transforming in stages (i.e., somebody wearing a red shirt transforming into a cardinal).
  • The TV series (when it showed transforming at all...) played this straight, with clothes transforming to and from animal forms with the wearer — for budget and decency reasons, one presumes.
• In Patrick Graham's The Apocalypse According to Marie, three characters are subjected to a supernatural attack that only leaves Empty Piles of Clothing behind. However, they seemingly only leave their coats behind: any other article of clothing disappear with them without a clear reason.
• In David Eddings' The Belgariad tetradecalogy, a sorcerer's clothes and equipment are stored in Hammerspace when they turn into animals. Eriond later mentions that it's the same "space" that his Cool Horse uses to take Extra Dimensional Shortcuts.
• In the Tanya Huff book Blood Trail, the shapeshifters simply walk around naked or take off their clothes to change shape. Of course, there is also a very good reason for this — they are physically unable to shift form if wearing clothing (something about the 'unnatural' fiber interacting with their innate abilities).
• Acknowledged near the beginning of The Cloud Roads. Raksura lose their clothes when transforming into their bigger, spikier, winged other forms; making sure that they have them when they turn back is "a bit of magic." It can work on items they're carrying, too.
• The Chronicles of Dorsa: It's mentioned that the beastwalkers have perfected transforming into animals enough it no longer requires being nude to do. Now they can transform with their clothes as well, restoring them later.
• Similarly, in the Discworld series of books, the werewolf Angua von Uberwald has to keep clothes stashed around the city of Ankh-Morpork or in a doggy backpack while transformed. In Thud!, when she and the vampire Sally both end up completely naked after transforming into a wolf and a flock of bats respectively, they end up having to borrow clothes from a nearby strip club. It is explicitly stated that male vampires can reincorporate their clothes after shapeshifting, but female vampires cannot. This is probably a direct reference to Fanservice.
  • In Equal Rites, Esk's brother loses his clothes when she turns him into a pig, and remains naked when she turns him back again, leading Granny Weatherwax to testily demand "For pity's sake put some clothes on that child".
• Often averted in The Dresden Files, but played straight later on with Injun Joe, aka Senior Council Member Listens-To-Wind, when he fights the skinwalker and 'kicks its ass up between its ears'. Either that, or he wasn't wearing any clothes at all, and created an illusion for decency's sake.
• Same thing in the Fablehaven books.
  • This also sometimes applies to their Time Travel device. When the heroes use it to travel back in time to visit an elderly Patton Burgess in the 1940s, they take nothing with them, including their clothes. But oddly, when a young Patton travels from the late 1800s to the twenty-first century, he brings his clothes with him.
• The two shapeshifting Shi'ido in Galaxy of Fear go from clothed to unclothed forms with impunity, but when an unclothed form is damaged, it shows on the clothed form's skin and clothing. Presumably their clothing is just parts of their bodies. Subverted with Eppon, though, who outgrows his coverall and has to be given new clothes twice.
• Goosebumps: In Monster Blood III, after Evan accidentally eats Monster Blood and starts growing huge, this trope is Hand Waved by Andy remarking that his clothes are growing because the Monster Blood splashed on them — even though it splashed on everything else in the basement as well, and nothing else is growing.
• When Animagi turn into animals in Harry Potter, their clothes disappear and reappear accordingly. Same for any victims of involuntary transformation into an animal by a third party.
• Lampshaded in The Invisible Library; someone shapeshifts while out of the room and returns after going back to their normal form. The protagonist notices that the shapeshifter still wears the same clothes as before.
• Inkmistress: Ina's clothing changes with her when she turns into a dragon and back.
• In the novel Lonely Werewolf Girl, clothes just disappear when a werewolf transforms, and come back when they shift back. When a human who witnesses the process asks Kalyx what happens to the clothes, she says no one really knows.
• In Masques, shapeshifter Aralorn can not only keep her clothes when transforming into, for example, a mouse, but also can take her sword with her. Interestingly, clothes don't, change size, though — she spends some time running around in ill-fitting clothes after stealing the clothes of a young man, shapeshifting into a person that fits into them, and then going back to her normal form.
• A Master of Djinn: Siti reveals that djinn changing their clothes to fit as they transform is a very basic ability they have, so they're not left in tatters every time.
• In the Mercy Thompson series, Charles can make clothes magically appear on his body due to his background. Most other characters aren't so lucky.
• The Mermaid Chronicles: When Cordelia turns into a mermaid, her clothes disappear, replaced by scales that cover most of her body. They reappear when she turns back into a human.
• In The Chronicles of Narnia it is played straight at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when the now adult Pevensies in their royal garb reenter the wardrobe from Narnia and return as children (or teens) back in their English clothing. It was averted in the other books as they either change back into their regular clothes or keep the clothes they put on in Narnia.
• The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series has Percy turned into a guinea pig briefly, and he shrinks out of his clothes during the transformation. When he's restored to human form, he's "somehow back in my regular clothes, thank the gods" (especially since it's Annabeth who gave him the cure).
• Generally played straight in Anne McCaffrey's Planet Pirates series. Wefts, the shapeshifting alien of the setting, are implied to shapeshift the appropriate clothing. Fanservice is generally avoided, however — they're naturally a species of crustacean with six sexes, and fall into the Uncanny Valley when assuming human form.
• The Sixty-Eight Rooms: The children's clothes shrink with them whenever they use the key's power, but do so at slightly differing rates as them.
• In Skin of the Sea, the mermaid Simidele has pink and gold scales that cover most of her body. When she leaves the water and turns into a human, her scales turn into a wrapper.
• Averted in the Tempest (2011) trilogy. Merpeople have to carry a pair of bikini bottoms or shorts around in case they want to turn into their human forms.
• In Tigers Curse, whenever the brothers change from tiger to human, they'll be wearing the clothes that they had on when they were cursed.
• The shapeshifters in The Twilight Saga destroy their clothes when they transform. To solve this problem, once they get the transformation under control, they undress somewhere where no one will see them and tie them to a leg before transforming — apparently, this somehow saves the clothes. Characters often complain about this when they first begin shifting, Jacob even once getting angry that he accidentally shredded his last pair of underwear. The movie doesn't really address this, but you can see scraps of destroyed clothing fly away whenever someone transforms into a werewolf.
• The Vazula Chronicles: When a merperson leaves the water and turns into a human, some of their scales stay wrapped around their hips and upper legs, taking the form of a skirt for mermaids and shorts for mermen.
• Averted in the Wereling (2009) series by Steve Feasey. Whenever Trey transforms into a werewolf, his clothing is destroyed. However, this trope is played straight on the covers, usually showing Trey wearing a pair of rather ripped trousers.
• In Wolven vampires' clothes are unaffected by their shapeshifting, though that's not the case for werewolves or Wolven. Maccabee explains that vampires' transformation is more magic and illusion than a natural process.
• The Xanth books are inconsistent with this, as some characters can keep their clothes and other can't. A notable, Lampshadey moment came when a clothing-losing shape-changer witnessed a clothing-keeping shape-changer, and wondered about the difference in their abilities. It was explained as one being a natural racial ability, and the other being a magical talent.
• Young Wizards: Averted in "Deep Wizardry" when Sree, a whale, tells Nita and Kit that they must remove their bathing suits before changing into whales.

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