Dressed to Oppress

By Dystopian Edict, military uniforms and Commissar Caps are in!

Often, mediums use visual cues to denote what kind of political system someone is participating in. Since the rise and fall of fascism and the advent and end of The Cold War, a kind of sartorial shorthand has developed in media to indicate that a given political leader is The Generalissimo, A Nazi by Any Other Name, or otherwise heading up The Dictatorship.

Many of these are inspired by the grandiose fashion senses of actual dictators such as Benito Mussolini, Idi Amin, Muammar Gaddafi, Augusto Pinochet, and many, many more. In particular, Adolf Hitler and Those Wacky Nazis have influenced enough of this trope that they have a Sub-Trope — Putting on the Reich — all to themselves.

Such fashion cues include, but are not limited to:

• Constantly wearing ceremonial military uniforms like greatcoats — usually grey, black, dark blue, or green — to reflect how militaristic the dictator is, often paired with:
  • Commissar Caps — the larger-crowned, the better, likely to make them look taller or more grandiose.
  • A Chest of Medals, or other forms of Bling of War, to highlight their accolades — earned or otherwise.
  • Large epaulets — also to make them look bigger and grander.
• A sash or baldric — to signify their status as leader, like a monarch's crown.^{However, in real life...}It's worth noting that dictator or otherwise, sashes are traditionally granted to many countries' presidents. The prevalence of presidential sashes in Latin America in particular might explain why in cultures not familiar with this tradition, they're associated with stereotypical Banana Republic leaders.
• Sunglasses — usually aviators, and usually for the leader of a Banana Republic. This can make them look more intimidating.
• Nazi-style armbands — often with a symbol of their regime on it.
• A red-and-black colour scheme.
• Facial hair — popularized by Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler.

Expect Dirty Commies, Commie Nazis, and especially Banana Republic leaders to shop at these outlets. The Sukhomlinov Effect may come into play.

Super-Trope to Putting on the Reich, Red and Black Totalitarianism, and Commissar Cap. Sub-Trope to Dress-Coded for Your Convenience and Villainous Fashion Sense. Compare Stock Costume Traits. noreallife

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Fullmetal Alchemist: Führer King Bradley prefers to don dark military greatcoats and has a very prominent moustache.
• Voltes V: Marquis Zaki, the Emperor's Asshole Ambassador, dresses in an exquisite red suit with golden frills and has long hair. He's also a monster who's responsible for the deaths of many Boazanians because he enjoys telling the Emperor bad news, and abuses Prince Heinel based on his heritage.

Comic Books

• Marvel Comics:
  • During the Secret Empire crossover event, Captain America, of all people, is revealed to be an agent of HYDRA, an organization with ties to Nazi villains of World War II, like Baron von Strucker. HydraCap takes over America and installs a more oppressive regime, with him as its leader. In his "civilian" garb, he wears a militaristic green outfit and a yellow cape (HYDRA's colours).
  • Uncanny Avengers (2023): The Fenris/Strucker twins, children of Nazi/HYDRA commander Baron Strucker, despite being mutants, are allied with Orchis, who has run a successful anti-mutant campaign during Fall of X. As part of their ensemble, they wear black militaristic uniforms with a red coat, golden yellow boots and an armband with a symbol on it.
• Tintin:
  • In The Broken Ear, General Alcazar, the military dictator of San Theodoros, is shown wearing a Chest of Medals and gold epaulettes.
  • In The Calculus Affair, statues and images of Borduria's Marshall Kürvi-Tash show him with a military greatcoat, and in particular showing off his curvy 'stache. Senior figures like the secret police and its leader Colonel Sponsz wear very high-peaked Commissar Caps.
  • When Tintin returns to San Theodoros in Tintin and the Picaros, Alcazar's rival General Tapioca and his inner circle wear green military uniforms, with figures like Colonel Alvarez wearing very high-crowned Commissar Caps (perhaps not a coincidence that Borduria was supporting Tapioca's regime) and Tapioca himself wearing ample medals plus a short moustache.

Films — Animated

• My Little Pony: A New Generation: After Sprout becomes Drunk with Power and declares himself the ruler of Maretime Bay, he starts wearing a military cape, sunglasses and high-collared cape combo strongly reminiscent of Augusto Pinochet.

Films — Live-Action

• The Dictator: Admiral General Shabazz Aladeen has many of the hallmarks — green military uniform, sunglasses, Commissar Cap, sash, Chest of Medals, and even a Beard of Evil. The latter becomes a plot point in the film, as a dissident hitman kidnaps Aladeen and shaves his beard during a failed assassination attempt, resulting in him being unrecognizable to his own followers.
• Ebirah, Horror of the Deep: Red Bamboo's leaders bear grey uniforms, white Commissar Caps, and in one case, a blinged-out Eyepatch of Power.
• The Great Dictator: Being a satire of the rise of fascism in Europe released nearly a year into World War II, with specific focus on mocking Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, both Adenoid Hynkel and Benzino Napaloni are inevitably dressed in dictatorial outfits mimicking their real-life inspirations. Hynkel dons a military jacket with his double-X emblem on both lapels and black jackboots, and is often seen wearing a Commissar Cap that also bears the emblem. Meanwhile, Napaloni wears a military jacket and a large sash.
• Moon over Parador: President-for-Life Alfonse Simms's regalia includes a greatcoat, baldric, and a Commissar Cap worn at a jaunty angle. After he dies, actor Jack Noah, coerced into impersonating him, wears the regalia. Even when out jogging, his tracksuit is imprinted with a contrasting sash with the nation's seal.
• Red (2010): Joe successfully exploits this trope to get inside Dunning's house by posing as "General Baptiste", an African warlord looking to make an arms deal. His disguise includes enormous epaulettes, medals, a large green sash, and aviators.

Live-Action TV

• In The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen, Jeff Ross dresses as a stereotypical dictator, adopting a Gadaffi-inspired haircut while wearing a sash, sunglasses, a light blue suit with yellow epaulets and stickers to represent medals.
• Community: When Ben Chang seizes control of Greendale Community College and turns it into a tiny tinpot dictatorship, he takes to wearing a Napoleonic uniform with a sash and embroidered coat (and some truly impressive epaulets).
• Racules Husty from Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger wears a red and black version of an 18th-century military uniform in order to emphasize his status as a tyrannical ruler.

Music

• The cover of "Weird Al" Yankovic's album Mandatory Fun depicts him as a comically serious dictator wearing a Red Army-inspired uniform including a Chest of Medals and a baldric. Another image for the album shows him wearing a Commissar Cap as well.
• In the "In the Flesh" sequence near the end of Pink Floyd's The Wall, as Pink goes further and further into isolation-induced madness and gets drugged up by his managers, he imagines himself as a fascist dictator leading an army of black-uniformed skinhead minions (played by real skinheads). Pink's own outfit in the movie is a black uniform inspired by Italian and British fascists with a black and red "hammer" armband, a black leather baldric across his chest, and a black leather greatcoat that he wears like a cape.

Video Games

• Evil Genius 2: After Red Ivan went from Henchman to full-fledged Evil Genius, he was given his own country to rule. This brought with it a change in attire to a red military uniform, with several medals (complete with a giant one on his sash), oversized epaulettes, and a big Commissar cap.
• Far Cry 6: Anton Castillo is the military president of Yara, and dresses in a white military uniform with a red shirt, numerous medals on his chest (one of which he tortures his son Diego with by putting the medal in Diego's hand and making him squeeze it until the pin pierces his palm), and a nice case of Perma-Stubble instead of a full beard. Anton doesn't wear a Commissar cap, but two of his enforcers, Admiral Ana Benitez and Anton's nephew General Jose Castillo, do: in Jose's case, he's most impressive in that he manages to keep his cap on no matter what bad things happen to him, like being shot In the Back by his own cousin or having his personal attack helicopter blown out of the sky.
• The Just Cause franchise tends to have its villains dress like these.
  • Just Cause: President Salvador Mendoza wears a white military uniform with gold accents and leaf pattern, some medals, a sash, and topped off with sunglasses.
  • Just Cause 3: General Sebastiano Di Ravello wears a Commissar Cap, a Chest Full of Medals, a sash with even more medals on it, and has a well-trimmed mustache over his scarred face.
• Street Fighter:
  • M. Bison/Vega earns his disambiguating Fan Nickname of "Dictator" thanks to his red and black uniform with greatcoat and Commissar Cap.
  • Street Fighter IV: Cammy has an alternate outfit that depicts her in a skimpy leotard version of Bison's dictator uniform and Commissar Cap. This is meant to represent an Alternate Universe where Bison was successful in using Cammy's body as one of his Dolls to transfer his power into.
• In Super Animal Royale Tonight, the Finch is introduced wearing a red armband with the Rebellion's insignia on it, along with a bandolier. In later episodes, we see him wearing a military uniform with a sash. His appearance is likely highlighted by the fact that his feathers are green.
• Tropico: The standard template for a male Presidente (and the one that appears in all the series' marketing) has a Commissar Cap, sunglasses, and military apparel, complete with medals and epaulettes. With the game being a parody of dictatorships and Banana Republics in general, it makes sense.

Western Animation

• The Amazing World of Gumball: In "The Safety", Darwin turns Elmore into a Police State focused entirely on making sure that nobody is allowed to get hurt by even mundane possibilities. Inside his Supervillain Lair, Darwin is dressed up in a dictator outfit, a Commissar Cap with an exclamation mark inside a yellow triangle, large epaulettes, a Badass Cape, and tall black boots, and a riding crop.
• DuckTales (1987): In "Allowance Day", General Chiquita, the leader of a country literally named the Banana Republic, is dressed like a stereotypical tyrant: green greatcoat with a Chest of Medals, Commissar Cap, large epaulets and sunglasses. Fitting to the guy who wanted to exploit the chaos about what day it is and leave Scrooge without a contact and even shoot Scrooge and Fenton when they tried to clear the situation.
• Miraculous Ladybug: Malediktator, the akumatized form of Mayor André Bourgeois, has an appearance based on clothes of Napoleon I, such as a mask shaped like a bicorn hat great golden shoulder epauletes, as well as a sash coloured like the French Tricolore that also bears a French cockade (though it's worth noting that as Mayor of Paris, Bourgeois usually wears a tricolore sash — sans cockade — even when not akumatized).
• The Transformers: Abdul Fakkadi, Supreme Military Commander, President-for-Life, and King of Kings of the Socialist Democratic Federated Republic of Carbombya, prefers to don a Commissar Cap, medals, and facial hair.
• Urban Vermin: Ken has a grey-white military uniform with a silver sash and a Commissar Cap.

Real Life

• Adolf Hitler wore many uniforms throughout his political career. During his campaigning years, Hitler would wear the SA uniform, consisting of a brown shirt, tie, and trousers, or depending on the audience, a simple business suit. Once the Nazis seized power, Hitler was more accustomed to wearing brown civil uniforms and peaked caps. Throughout World War II, The Fuhrer wore simple feldgrau uniforms in order to ingratiate himself with the rank and file soldiery. Since he had also made a public oath that he would not take off his military uniform until the Endsieg, he wore it right up to his suicide. Hitler's uniforms weren't the most grandiose, especially compared to his underlings like Hermann Göring, in order to emphasize his common man image.
• As the first Fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini was arguably the Trope Codifier. When he first was appointed Prime Minister in 1922, Mussolini would wear the standard morning suit◊. Once his rule was cemented, Mussolini would commonly wear his most well-known ensemble: The standard uniform of the Royal Italian Army paired with a black shirt and tie, topped with a fez adorned with the fascist eagle.◊ When World War II erupted, he'd put on a full military dress uniform◊ of a peaked cap and gaudy insignia that undoubtedly inspired many dictators after his death.
• Muammar Gaddafi, the dictator of Libya, was infamous for many things; among them was his fashion sense. The Colonel's outfits were varied throughout his long period as Libya's Brother Leader. During his early reign he typically wore garish, medal-covered military uniforms and flashy suits. By the 90s and 2000s, Gaddafi settled on wearing elaborate bedouin robes, he was also partial to sporting sunglasses.

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