How many costume tropes can you spot here?
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"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."
Yes, things you wear can be tropes. Time, place, setting, characterization, situation, symbolism, and what the costumer/artist feels like, can all dictate what characters wear.
These tropes can be included in works for several reasons, such as:
- Garnishing the Story: The writers just thought including these would help make the story more appealing.
- Meaningful Appearance: A piece of clothing can be worth a thousand words of Exposition
- Spectacle: The costume department just wanted to show off.
General Costume Tropes (see sub-indexes for more)
Related:
Categories:
- Bejeweled Tropes
- The Caped Index
- Characteristic Clothing Colors
- Clothing Reflects Personality
- Coats and Jackets
- Cranium Coverings
- Dramatic Dangling
- Disguise Tropes
- Dresses, Gowns and Skirts
- Fanservice Costumes
- Glasses Tropes
- Glove Tropes
- Good Guys Garb
- Improvised Clothes
- Let This Index Be Your Umbrella
- Mink Becomes This Index Most
- Opulent Outfits
- Partial Nudity Tropes
- Standard Superhero Suits
- Stock Costume Traits
- Stripperiffic
- Stripping Tropes
- Swimsuit Index
- These Tropes Are Made for Walking
- Tropes in Pants
- Tropes in Shining Armor
- Uniform Tropes
- Unmentionables
- Villainous Fashion Sense
- Who Was That Masked Index?
- 11th-Hour Costume Change: A character changes their outfit before confronting the big bad or at the end of the story.
- Action Fashionista: An asskicking character who is also very fashionable.
- Adaptational Modesty: A Stripperific character wears more modest clothing in an adaption.
- Adaptational Skimpiness: A character wears clothing that shows more skin in an adaption.
- Adventurer Outfit: An outfit normally worn by someone going to an exotic place.
- Age-Inappropriate Dress: Someone wears clothes that they're typically considered too young or too old to be wearing.
- Ammunition Backpack: Backpack full of nothing but bullets, bullets, and even more bullets.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Beating a challenge results in a new piece of clothing for your character.
- Anti-Gravity Clothing: A part of an outfit that floats independently from the rest of the clothing.
- Appropriate Animal Attire: Animals wearing accessories and pieces of clothing, but are not considered naked.
- Arsenal Attire: Weapons are incorporated into clothing rather than simply hidden within them.
- Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: A character wears an Outdated Outfit just to stand out and look cool.
- Awesome Backpack: A backpack that comes with a bunch of cool gadgets.
- Badass Bandolier: A utilitarian accessory worn so a badass can keep their tools of the trade handy.
- Bandage Mummy: A character who is badly injured is shown completely encased in plaster casts and/or bandages.
- Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: An outfit that shows off the wearer's midriff to indicate their femininity.
- Beta Outfit: A superhero's first outfit before they decide on their final costume.
- Blind People Wear Sunglasses: Sunglasses used as a visual shorthand for blindness.
- Blindfolded Vision: A character wears a blindfold to impair their vision.
- Braids, Beads and Buckskins: The costume for Native Americans portrayed in fiction.
- Bubble Pipe: A prop that is shaped like a tobacco pipe that blows bubbles.
- Bulletproof Fashion Plate: A character with a costume that does not suffer Clothing Damage.
- Can't Tie His Tie: A man allows a woman (who he may or may not be romantic with yet) to tie his tie, showing their closeness.
- Casual Sports Jersey: A character (often a Jerk Jock who wants their identity to be known) that wears a sports team uniform outside of a sports environment.
- Chafing Against the Dress Code: A character reacts negatively to being bound by a particular dress code.
- Chained by Fashion: Wearing chains intentionally as a fashion statement.
- Changed My Jumper: Time-travelers somehow don't attract attention in the past with their modern clothes.
- Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: A character instantly changes costumes in the midst of a battle or Chase Scene.
- Cheap Costume: A character makes a costume with whatever they can find.
- Chest Insignia: A symbol that a superhero wears on their chest.
- Clark Kent Outfit: An outfit worn by a superhero to hide their Heroic Build.
- Classy Cravat: Old fashioned clothing items that show one has old fashioned values and graces.
- Clingy Costume: A costume that a character can't remove.
- Clothes-Eating Wager: A character eats a piece of their clothing, sometimes as a result of losing a bet.
- Clothes for Christmas Cringe: Clothes as an unwanted gift.
- Clothes Make the Legend: A character's outfit stays the same because it's so iconic.
- Clothes Make the Maniac: An evil set of clothes or item that takes over its wearer/user.
- Clothes Make the Superman: A costume that gives a character superpowers.
- Clothing Appendage: A character's "clothes" are actually part of their body.
- Clothing Combat: Clothing that is used as an Improvised Weapon.
- Clothing-Concealed Injury: A character uses a piece of clothing to keep their wounds or scars a secret from others.
- Clothing Damage: Clothes get damaged, giving a glimpse of the character's flesh/underwear.
- Clothing Switch: Two characters put on each other clothes.
- Collared by Fashion: A collar that is so large that the person's neck can't be seen.
- Combat Hand Fan: Like your average hand fan... except weaponized.
- Containment Clothing: A character wears a suit that prevents their powers from hurting others.
- Consistent Clothing Style: A character's fashion sense consists of variations on a theme.
- Convenient Color Change: Sides are depicted depending on what color their outfit changes into.
- Cosplay: Dressing up as a fictional character.
- Costume Backlash: The look an actor despises the most becomes the one they're best known for.
- Costume Drama: A Period Piece with elaborate costumes.
- Costume Evolution: A character's main outfit changes over the course of a series.
- Costume Exaggeration: A character wears an outlandish version of a more well known outfit.
- Costume Inertia: A character wears an outfit that they logically no longer need to wear.
- Costume-Test Montage: A character tries on dozens of outfits until they find the right one.
- Costumer: An alternative reality episode that's an excuse to put the characters in period costume.
- Costumes Change Your Size: Costumes that somehow dramatically alter a characters body size and shape.
- Crafted from Animals: Clothing that's made from animal parts.
- Creepy Mascot Suit: Mascot costumes or masks are portrayed as being creepy, antagonistic, or both.
- Crossdresser: Dressing in clothing that's for the opposite sex.
- Culture Equals Costume: Fashion makes a quick geography lesson.
- Cute Oversized Sleeves: A character wears oversized sleeves to represent their cuteness or weakness.
- Deliberately Painful Clothing: Wearing unfashionable clothing that hurts.
- Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: Using a belt to deliver Corporal Punishment.
- Doomed New Clothes: A character buys expensive new clothes that ends up getting ruined not long afterwards.
- Dork in a Sweater: A character who may or may not be an asskicker wears a dorky sweater.
- Dragged into Drag: A male character wearing female clothing, whether he wants to or not.
- Dress Code: A school, workplace, or office that enforces rules on what to wear.
- Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: Each side dresses in distinctive ways (whether it's due to uniforms or other reasons).
- Dress-O-Matic: A machine that automatically dresses a character.
- Dress-Up Episode: The modern protagonists of the work in question suddenly and inexplicably need to dress as if it's the Victorian Era.
- Dressed All in Rubber: A character whose attire is mostly rubber, latex or PVC.
- Dressed in Layers: A character wears their costume underneath their regular clothing.
- Dresses the Same: A woman buys an outfit for an event and is humiliated when she sees another woman wearing the exact same outfit.
- Dressing Down: A character who's known for dressing stylishly chooses to dress more casually.
- Dressing to Die: A person wants to look their best when they die, so they dress before facing their end.
- Earned Stripes: A change in costume indicates that a character got promoted.
- Ear-Piercing Plot: A young character wants their ears pierced, but is either too scared to do it or is forbidden from doing so by their parents.
- Eccentric Fashion Designer: A clothing designer who has an incredibly quirky personality and fashion sense.
- Edible Theme Clothing: A character's clothing is made from food.
- Embarrassing Animal Suit: A character is forced to wear an animal costume.
- Embarrassing but Empowering Outfit: An outfit that grants its wearer immense power but is also embarrassing.
- Embarrassingly Dresslike Outfit: A man finds a robe, nightgown, toga, etc. embarrassing to wear since it reminds him of a dress or skirt.
- Embarrassing Pyjamas: Pyjamas that embarrass a character.
- Environment-Specific Action Figure: A show's toyline has character costumes that do not appear in the actual show.
- Enclosed Extraterrestrials: An alien whose entire race is covered from head to toe by clothing, attire, or armor.
- Equipment-Hiding Fashion: Clothes that hide armour to allow players to better customize their character's appearance.
- Exposed to the Elements: A character is underdressed for the cold.
- Expressive Accessory: An item that changes based on the expression or emotional state of its master.
- Expressive Shirt: A piece of clothing with a phrase or logo on it that changes based on the wearer's mood or emotional state.
- Eyepatch After Time Skip: A character's future self wears an eyepatch.
- Eyepatch of Power: A badass character who wears an eyepatch.
- Fanservice with a Smile: A waitress who wears revealing clothing.
- Fashion Dissonance: Clothes that don't just tell you what year the show was made, they scream it loudly enough to deafen you.
- Fashion Hurts: Wearing clothing that looks good, but is also uncomfortable to wear.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: A character whose clothing is not even, but still looks cool.
- The Fashionista: A character whose main focus is fashion.
- Fashions Never Change: Anything set before the 20th century has the characters wear generic clothes for their time period as opposed to nuanced fashions existing.
- Fashion-Victim Villain: A villainous character in a really bad outfit.
- Fake Fabric Fashion Faux Pas: A character commits the unforgivable sin of wearing something made out of artificial fibers.
- Feather Boa Constrictor: Wearing a snake (real or fake) as though it's a fashion accessory.
- Flung Clothing: A character tosses their costume away in one flick motion.
- Forced into Their Sunday Best: A character is forced to dress up nicely, but not without complaint.
- Frozen Fashion Sense: Immortals (and especially vampires) often remain dressed in fashions that were in style when they were mortal.
- Full-Frontal Assault: A character runs into battle nude.
- Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: An animal character wears a full set of clothes, including pants and shoes.
- Fun T-Shirt: A T-shirt with a funny message on it.
- Future Spandex: A character from the future wearing a skin-tight outfit made of stretchable synthetic fibers
- Gadget Watches: A watch with lots of tools built into it.
- Gendered Outfit: A costume is altered depending on the gender of the wearer.
- Generic Cop Badges: Cop badges in fiction are poorly detailed and don't reflect the ones from Real Life.
- Giant Poofy Sleeves: A costume with sleeves that have puffs on or just below the shoulders.
- The Girl Who Fits This Slipper: A piece of clothing that can only be worn by certain people.
- Goofy Suit: A funny or ridiculous costume people have to wear at work.
- Gorgeous Garment Generation: A character is given extravagant clothing that appears out of nowhere.
- Gorgeous Period Dress: A character wears a large, extravagant dress from the 1800s-1950s.
- Gratuitous Use of the Tallit: The Jewish tallit garment is worn during a time when it realistically shouldn't be.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Seamstress: Falling through clotheslines gets you dressed in mismatched clothes.
- Halloween Costume Characterization: On Halloween or other costume events, the choice of costume reflects the wearer's personality.
- Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: A character on vacation wears a Hawaiian shirt.
- Hazmat Suit: A character wears a hazmat suit to protect themselves from germs or hazardous material.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: A badass character who wears leather.
- High-Class Fan: A hand fan carried by one of the nobility.
- Hollywood Cop Uniform: Fictional police officers wear unrealistic uniforms.
- Hollywood Costuming: A character wears clothing that does not fit the time period the work is set in.
- Hollywood Military Uniform: Fictional military personnel wear unrealistic uniforms.
- Homemade Sweater from Hell: A large knitted sweater that is often uncomfortable for a character to wear.
- Hyperspace Wardrobe: A character can instantly change clothes while offscreen.
- Hypno Trinket: A character wears an item that has the power to hypnotize.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Fashionable: A character tries to make their love-interest dress more to their liking.
- I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: An older character cringes at the clothes they used to wear.
- An Ice Suit: A costume made for people with ice powers.
- Iconic Item: An item or piece of clothing worn by a character that often defines who they are.
- Iconic Outfit: An outfit that's associated with a character.
- Iconic Sequel Outfit: A character's new costume becomes better known than the original.
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: Clothing which does things which are not physically possible and looks too cool to be real.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Clothing that is considered ridiculous and tacky.
- Incongruously-Dressed Zombie: A zombie wears clothes that makes them stand out more than the other undead corpses seen.
- Instant Cosplay Surprise: A character doesn't react to a costume they're made to wear until it's all the way on.
- Instant Costume Change: A character instantly changes from their regular clothes into a costume.
- Institutional Apparel: Uniforms worn by prison inmates.
- It's a Costume Party, I Swear!: A character is tricked into wearing a costume to a formal/casual dress party.
- Jacob Marley Apparel: A ghost shows up wearing the outfit they wore when they died.
- Jeweler's Eye Loupe: A small magnifying device worn over the eye to see tiny details closely.
- Killer Outfit: An outfit that kills whoever's wearing it.
- Kimono Is Traditional: Wearing this outfit shows the character's old-fashioned values.
- "Kiss the Cook" Apron: An apron with a message to "Kiss the Cook", or some variation of it.
- Labcoat of Science and Medicine: A scientist or medical doctor who wears a labcoat.
- Lady in a Power Suit: A female character who is smart and tough, as well as dresses smart and tough.
- Latex Space Suit: A space suit that is exceptionally tight, form fitting, and flatteringly cut.
- Limited Wardrobe: A character who wears the same outfit every day.
- Living Clothes: Clothing that is brought to life.
- Loafing in Full Costume: A character who does mundane things while dressed in a costume.
- Loincloth: Lower body underwear made of cloth or hides.
- Magical Accessory: An enchanted, magical accessory.
- Magical Floating Shawl: A shawl or stole that levitates and possibly grants magical powers. Usually worn by Asian deities and other supernatural beings.
- Magically Regenerating Clothing: Clothing that gets damaged is somehow repaired in the next scene.
- Meido: Moe-ified female domestic servant.
- Menswear Ghetto: Video games that don't come with a variety of male clothing.
- Mob-Boss Suit Fitting: An important, usually villainous, person continues conducting his business while being fitted for a suit.
- Mystical High Collar: A high, flared collar worn by characters with mystical powers.
- Necktie Leash: A guy has his necktie yanked by his Love Interest.
- Nerd in Evil's Helmet: A villain who seems imposing but is actually nerdy.
- No Dress Code: Characters in High School get away with ridiculously revealing or inappropriate clothing.
- No New Fashions in the Future: A series set in the future where the characters wear outfits resembling contemporary fashion.
- Noose Necktie: A character wears a length of rope around their neck that's been tied to resemble a hangman's knot.
- Official Cosplay Gear: Costumes or accessories sold by a company based on their work.
- One Size Fits All: Clothing or armor that can be worn by anyone of any size.
- Outdated Outfit: A character wears an outfit that is years out of style.
- Overalls and Gingham: An outfit that characters who live on a farm usually wear.
- Pajama-Clad Hero: A hero who is in their pajamas for most of the plot.
- Pantsless Males, Fully-Dressed Females: A female character who is usually more dressed than a male character.
- Paper Fan of Doom: Convenient when you need to beat the heat, or other people.
- Parental Fashion Veto: A parent forbids their child to wear clothes which are deemed "unsuitable".
- Pauper Patches: A character living in poverty is wearing clothes that are patched up.
- People in Rubber Suits: Monsters played by humans in costumes, sometimes quite obviously.
- Person with the Clothing: A character who is referred to by a signature piece of clothing that they wear.
- Phone Booth Changing Room: A superhero changes from their street clothes into their suit in a changing room.
- Plot Pants: A costume change, to default or new, indicates the plot is moving on.
- Popping Buttons: When clothing doesn't fit, the buttons come off or won't button.
- Prop: When part of a costume is used as a prop.
- Quirky Girl, Quirky Tux: an eccentric female character wears a slightly jaunty tuxedo or dinner jacket
- Rainbow Pimp Gear: The game developers put different desirable bonuses on many varied clothing items.
- Recursive Crossdressing: A character or actor disguises their gender.
- Red Sock Ruins the Laundry: A single deep-colored fabric stains the whole wash with its tint.
- Ring Around the Collar: A character wears a necktie, necklace, or shirt collar that obscures part of their neck.
- Rip Tailoring: Ripping a piece of clothing to make it better.
- Rummage Sale Reject: Clothing that looks like it was randomly put together.
- Russian Fashion: Traditional clothing used to identify a Russian character, such as a ushanka (tall fur hat) for men or a babushka (headscarf) for women.
- Same Clothes, Different Year: Clothing, usually an Iconic Outfit, that the characters have worn since their younger years.
- Shell Backpack: An anthropomorphic turtle or armadillo wears clothing that covers only the front of their shell.
- Shock Collar: A Slave Collar that shocks whoever wears it when they do something undesirable.
- Shrunk in the Wash: A piece of clothing gets smaller when splashed with water.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: A characters' clothing choices change due to age, experience or current fashions.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Bones used as clothing or armor.
- Slave Collar: A character wears a collar to show they're a slave.
- Space Clothes: Characters wearing wacky clothes in space.
- Splitting Pants: A character splits the back of their pants.
- Star-Spangled Spandex: A character wears clothing that appears to be made of stars from the night sky.
- Suit Up of Destiny: The Hero puts on an important suit/costume for the first time.
- Super Costume Clothier: A person who makes costumes for superheroes or supervillains.
- Superhero Team Uniform: The members of a superhero team all dress alike.
- Suppressed Mammaries: Tying down breasts to appear younger or male.
- Suspender Snag: Suspenders easily get caught on objects or by other people.
- Symbol Motif Clothing: A character wears a costume spamming a bunch of symbols, representing who they are.
- Tacky Tuxedo: A character wears an old fashioned tuxedo to the prom or school dance.
- Tan Lines: Where some parts of the skin are tanned while other parts (usually where clothes were worn) are not.
- Technically Naked Shapeshifter: A shapeshifter whose clothes are part of their body.
- Textile Work Is Feminine: All those costumes come from somewhere, you know.
- Themed Party: Matching clothes or costumes with a particular theme are a staple of these parties.
- Throwback Threads: When a character dons a uniform or costume from a previous era or arc.
- Too Many Belts: A character wears an outfit that is covered in belts.
- Underdressed for the Occasion: A character shows up to a formal occasion in casual clothing.
- Unlikely Spare: A character has an immediate replacement for a damaged article of clothing.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: A character who never wears the same outfit twice.
- Useless Accessory: Accessories with no functional purpose are consistently worn by a character.
- Utility Belt: A belt that a character uses to hold all of their gadgets.
- Virtual Paper Doll: A video game where you can change what a character's wearing.
- Waistcoat of Style: A character in a waistcoat is presented as particularly suave or stylish.
- Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: A character tries to dress well, but can't quite pull it off.
- Wardrobe Wound: Characters act like they have been wounded when their clothes get dirty or damaged.
- We Will Not Have Pockets in the Future: Futuristic outfits that don't have pockets.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Flag designs on clothing, vehicles, and so forth.
- Wearing It All Wrong: Someone puts a garment on a body part it was not meant to go on.
- Wet Sari Scene: Bollywood-specific trope of wet sari played for fanservice.
- Wet T-Shirt Contest: Contest to determine which (usually female) character looks best in a Sexy Soaked Shirt.
- White Shirt of Death: White clothing makes bloodstains look all the more dramatic.
- Whole Costume Reference: A character wears an outfit reminiscent of a similar outfit worn by another character or Real Life person, without explicitly dressing as that character or person.
- Widow's Weeds: A person in mourning dresses entirely in black.
- WTH, Costuming Department?: A behind-the-scenes costuming choice unintentionally makes a character look outlandish or ridiculous.
- Zip Me Up: One character helps another fasten the back of their outfit, usually done as a mildly intimate act.
- Zipperiffic: Numerous impractical zippers used to decorate an outfit.
