Just one of the ways her cape is pimped out.
Any part of an outfit that floats independently from the rest of the clothing. Done almost entirely for Rule of Cool, as there is little practical purpose for this.
Sometimes this is justified by magic or Applied Phlebotinum, but even when it's not, this trope usually appears in fantastic or futuristic settings.
In Renaissance art depicting Classical Mythology, the gods would likely wear nothing but their floating capes and sashes to showcase their divinity, yet also showcasing a bit of modesty. Far East Asian deities (China, Japan, Korea), especially goddesses, tend to have the ability to defy gravity. This is reflected in art, where you'll see the gods have flowing hair and stoles (called hagoromo) that float in the air.
A Holy Halo counts as this, when depicted as a floating circlet.
Compare Impossibly Cool Clothes (which can even overlap with this) and Power Floats (which usually does).
Not to be confused with clothing that gives the wearer anti-gravity abilities, that would be Clothes Make the Superman.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- When Rachel first shows her face in public in Glass Fleet, she wears a thick fur wrap that hovers over her shoulders.
- The Shoulders of Doom on the eponymous Powered Armor of Infinite Stratos are in fact separate units that hover in midair. While usually they inexplicably remain in place relative to the body, some armors
◊ are capable of using them as a form of Attack Drone.
- The rings on Kyubey's ears in Puella Magi Madoka Magica don't actually touch the ears at any point.
- The goddess in Saint Beast: Seijuu Kourin Hen has a gravity defying cloak. (Actually, pretty much a different coloured version of the page pic, random floating balls and everything.)
- Yugi of Tenchi in Tokyo wears a cape of sorts that hovers around her.
Fan Works
- Vow of Nudity: Not clothing, but the flashback to Fiora's time in university shows that her spellcasting orb normally orbits around her head when not in use, and will dart into her hand when she needs it.
Literature
- Dragaera: the Imperial Orb, a powerful magical artifact and the Requisite Royal Regalia of the Dragaeran Empire, orbits the head of the Emperor or Empress.
- The Dresden Files: In Skin Game, Hades has a crown of mordite made of pieces of the stuff floating around his head.
- In Trinity Blood, Seth's metal... circle thing floats around her shoulders.
Live-Action TV
- The Mandalorian: In season 3 episode "Guns for Hire", on her introduction, the Duchess, ruler of Plazir-15, is seen with a large holographic train hovering behind her, the centerpiece shaped like a flower and reminiscent of a carnival feather backpack.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons has Ioun stones, antigrav jewelry, that can orbit your character's head. These Color-Coded Stones can come in a variety of shapes and sizes with specific magic effects.
- Pathfinder like its predecessor also has Ioun stones but they can be cracked or cursed, put into a Wayfinder, or in a aversion to this trope even embedded in the body.
Video Games
- In Devil Survivor, Amane's clothes float when she's possessed by Remiel.
- In Evolve, you can select a player icon from a predetermined list. Players who have mastered a monster's abilities can add a floating crown to the icon representing that monster◊.
- The Didact's armor in Halo 4 features levitating pieces, a design trait Forerunners are very fond of.
- KanColle has Destroyers Murakumo, Hatsuharu and Nenohi, along with Light Cruisers Tenryuu and Tastuta having futuristic pieces of gear floating around them. Granted, they were all designed by the same artist.
- League of Legends has a few champions with weird floating neckpieces. One of them is a telekinetic so it makes sense. The other not so much.
- Caitlin from Pokémon Black and White has hair, bows, and a transparent cape that does this. Justified in that she's psychic.
- In Rune Factory 4, the three butlers Volkanon, Vishnal, and Clorica all have some sort of lacy armband that just floats next to their sleeve.
- Celine's shower curtain thingy and her hat-brim halo in Star Ocean: The Second Story.
- The divine stole mentioned in the description (called a hagoromo in Japanese) shows up a few times in Touhou Project. Oddly, never with actual gods.
- Warcraft:
- Magical vests (and chains) worn by Kel'thuzad.
- Kael'thas has three green orbs floating around him called Verdant Spheres and World of Warcraft players can loot one for themselves after beating him.
- As well as some of the armor pieces characters can wear in World of Warcraft. One example is the Poison Protocol Pauldrons, which seem to be three straps of leather surrounding an orb of blue fire on either shoulder. When looked at on the character, they don't actually touch the chest at all.
Webcomics
- Grrl Power: Sydney Scoville has her seven orbs, which default position is to float in a circle above her head, hence her superhero name of "Halo".
- Marcus from Hell(p) wears a beanie with a pompom on a string that floats like it's made of helium, giving him a bit of an Idiot Hair look.
- In Schlock Mercenary, some military uniforms have floating epaulets.
Western Animation
- The Fairly OddParents!: The floating crowns (mentioned in the theme song). And part of Timmy's hat.
- Steven Universe: Pink Diamond has white pompoms on her shoes, or rather, floating above her shoes.
