Sashaying with a sash.
A ribbon, sash, or obi
that is worn on the waist, tied like a bow, and large enough to see from any angle.
Ribbons like this aren't unheard of in Real Life, but rarely as large as in the trope (except for the obi), and smaller ones are used on dresses as a pretty alternative to a belt, especially if it matches bows already on the dress. They just aren't as likely to be that big.
This trope is applying Bigger Is Better to that, likely because the artist or costumer feels it adds a recognizable point for the outfit, or a character wearing it has a Limited Wardrobe.
Also, the rest of the outfit doesn't really matter. It can vary from a Pimped-Out Dress to even a Chainmail Bikini.
Compare Showgirl Skirt (which this can even substitute for), Peacock Girl, Giant Poofy Sleeves.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Hideyoshi and Ieyasu from Battle Girls: Time Paradox.
- In Naruto, several ninjas run around with enormous rope bows tied around their waists. Sasuke gains one post-timeskip, which was based on an even larger one that Orochimaru wears. Both are based on Shimenawa—coiled rice straw ropes that are tied around objects (and people) who are considered to be inhabited by spirits. In this case, this is most likely to symbolize that Orochimaru is simply inhabiting the bodies of those he possesses.
- Misao and eventually Aoshi of Rurouni Kenshin; the latter is affectionately given the Fan Nickname "Butt Bow" as a result.
- Sailor Moon's starts out too small to count, but gets bigger and fancier with every power upgrade.
- Her final uniform has the bow-shaped like big wings. This is hilariously examined at one point when she actually knocks things over just moving through a room due to how large it is.
- Mito of Space Pirate Mito has a bow so large that its tails have their own little bows.
- A lot of outfits in Kamichama Karin have this.
- Vita of Lyrical Nanoha has this as part of her Barrier Jacket.
- Post-henshin Juna from Earth Maiden Arjuna has prehensile waist-ribbons. They're see-through, they expand and contract as needed, and she can grab things with them. But most importantly: they float around dramatically behind her.
- Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier (pictured above).
- Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl is a good example.
- Akari from Il Sole penetra le illusioni wears a decent-sized one as part of her regular outfit.
- Matsuri of Ayakashi Triangle has a Ninja suit with a waist sash that hangs several feet down from each side. That such an accessory was present on a guy turned into a girl probably isn't a coincidence, though the lack of an actual ribbon makes it more masculine-looking (his still-male fellow ninja wears a more typical Scarf of Asskicking).
One of the suits Reo keeps lying around is a Chainmail Bikini version of Matsuri's where the sash is tied into a ribbon, but instead of being on the waist, it forms the back of a partial bra.
Comic Books
- Wonder Woman and the Star Riders: Starlily has a large ribbon around her waist which seems to attach to or be part of the giant flower-shaped ribbon/bow deal on her back.
Film — Animated
- Cynthia in The Secret of NIMH. It's the only thing she wears, actually.
- One of the outfits Tiana wore in The Princess and the Frog is a strapless light blue dress with a giant dark blue sash around the waist.
- Belle's Happy Holidays Dress in Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas has a large ribbon on the waist. It's red in the movie, but gold in The Merch.
- Eden's holiday dress at the end of Barbie in a Christmas Carol has a massive gold ribbon at the side of the waist.
Film — Live-Action
- In The Devil Wears Prada, a red dress in this style is modeled for Miranda with special fanfare, only to elicit the "pursed lips" reaction.
Literature
- In the original illustrations of Eight Cousins, Rose's dresses include these. There's actually an in-story reason for them - Uncle Alec refuses to allow her to wear a corset, and instead brought her a rainbow of long scarves from his travels which she uses to cinch her waist instead.
Live-Action TV
- In the episode of Reba where Brock and Barbara Jean were married, the hideous bridesmaid's dresses Cheyenne and Kira wore (shiny purple taffeta, Cheyenne said she looked like a giant bruise) had these. Originally, the bow was on the front of the dress (Cheyenne was pregnant at the time, and Barbara Jean thought that a huge purple bow right on her stomach would distract from the baby,) but it was moved to the back ("kind of like a counterweight.")
- Joan's sexy red, curve-hugging Happy Holidays Dress has this, only not so giant that it obscures her backside.
- Herman's Head. Louise wears one on the night she loses her virginity, but for a different reason than usual—she's jokingly offering herself as a 'present' for the man she's chosen to sleep with.
Video Games
- Meru of The Legend of Dragoon wears one.
- Disgaea - Rune Knight classes.
- This appears to be part of the traditional dress for members of the Snow Clan Disgaea 2, as seen with Fubuki and Yukimaru. Rozalin also has one as part of her Pimped-Out Dress which is one of the hints towards the fact that she's also a member of the Snow Clan.
- Yuna in Final Fantasy X; she also has it in a handful of her Final Fantasy X-2 outfits.
- Ayane from Dead or Alive series.
- Tekken: Ling Xiaoyu (standard Tekken 3 uniform only)
- Lemina from Lunar: Eternal Blue.
- RAcaseals (female robot gun specialists) in Phantasy Star Online have a bodies in a meido-style dress, complete with ribbon and bow around their waists.
- Sheena from Tales of Symphonia. She uses it to strangle Zelos in the OVA.
- Alice: Madness Returns feature a selection of dresses with this.
- Shao Lei-Lei/Hsien-Ko from Darkstalkers.
- Totooria Helmold of Atelier Totori.
- Kirbys Return To Dreamland: The Grand Hammer skill gives Kirby a rainbow-colored, pretzel-shaped giant ribbon.
- Ellis of Battle Arena Toshinden.
- DLC character Eliza of Skullgirls has one in the shape of an ankh, and not much else.
- Final Fantasy Tactics: The Oracle Job features them.
- Seen from behind, Deande from Battleborn has one of these which appears to be a part of her unique looking bustle-like coattails.
- Ayame from the Power Stone series wears one, done up in such a way that it holds up her kimono dress to prevent it from restricting her movement.
- The anime adaptation of Samurai Warriors gives Keiji a (purely decorative) giant shimenawa-styled waist ribbon that wraps around his shoulders in addition to his waist.
- Kyogoku Maria from Sengoku Basara 4.
- Dragon Quest I: Princess Gwaelin's golden dress is complete with a huge purple ribbon around her waist.
Visual Novels
- Maya from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Likewise, Pearl also has one.
- Hiyoko Saionji from Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair wears one as part of her kimono. Rather strangely, everything important that happens to her happens because she can't tie it by herself.
Web Animation
- In the first seasons of RWBY, Nora Valkyrie◊ wears a relatively understated one, but it's still wider than her hips.
Web Comics
- Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki wears a red one as part of her Mini Dress Of Power. She also gains the ability to manipulate it, something only Freya had ever done.
- Kanaya from Homestuck gains a purple one late in Act 5. It's not purely for fashion, it's covering the hole in her stomach where Eridan one-shotted her.
- Bonus points: It's Eridan's cape.
- Elliot from El Goonish Shive is transformed into a girl wearing one of these in this filler strip.
- Bittersweet Candy Bowl:
- Jasmine's Halloween costume.
- Don't forget about Lucy herself.
- Jasmine's Halloween costume
- Alchemical Aether has one in Sleepless Domain. Undine/Alchemical Water also gains one later after she's the only member of the team left to fight.
- Ms. Ribbon of Setback has a big red one on the front of her superhero outfit. Though this was largely due to the accident that gave her her power since it was originally a dress design that her camera's phone flashed and she just scaled it down to a more simplistic outfit when she found she could manipulate her clothes.
Western Animation
- The dress of the cookie girl from The Cookie Carnival is adorned by a giant purple one during her makeover sequence.
- Pearl from Steven Universe gets one in her second outfit, the change having resulted from being temporarily killed and forced into regeneration for two weeks. This is actually significant because it's wrapped around the area where she got stabbed.
Real Life
- Over the top Fairytale Wedding Dresses can sport these.
- Some Victorian dresses had these, often in conjunction with a bustle.
- Very possible with obi. Combining a ribbon-like giant bow with yukata or kimono is a common blunder in drawings by those not in the kitsuke know. However, informal kimono and yukata can be worn with fluffy bows IRL, and some "proper" obi knot styles are in fact just elaborated bows, and the stiffness of the standard obi lends itself nicely to truly gigantic bows... in theory. In practice, proportionally modest styles are favoured.
- Improperly executed, the Giant Waist Ribbon can mutate into the legendary Butt Bow of horrible bridesmaid's dresses.
- In Sumo Wrestling, yokozuna wear shimenawa, giant waist ribbons made of twisted strands of rice straw rope. These are traditionally tied around sacred objects or those that are said to be inhabited by spirits. Sumo wrestlers who reach the rank of yokozuna are considered to be as such, therefore they wear these.
