Basic Trope: A character has any number of possessions that aren't flashy, but still cost a lot.
- Straight: Princess Mary wears a simple velvet dress, a silver hoop on her head, and an emerald necklace. The outfit pales in comparison to her mother's Costume Porn, but still costs almost as much of one of those fancy dresses.
- Exaggerated: Mary wears jeans and a Fun T-Shirt, that were each hand tailored by France's most celebrated fashion designer.
- Downplayed: Mary has a basic mink coat. Still obviously expensive, but also not as grand as more expensive furs.
- Justified:
- Expensive items are fine, but making a show about it is against Mary's faith.
- The Minimalism in Mary's outfits is symbolic of her humble nature which is in direct contrast to the rest of her haughty and pretentious family.
- Princess Mary's clothes were once everyday clothing, until the process that made them was lost. Mary's plastic watch, aluminum bracelet, and rubber raincoat are cheap by modern standards, but incredibly valuable After the End.
- Five times as expensive though they may be, they still last twenty times as long as what the common man can afford.
- Princess Mary’s clothes get their value from the materials and craftsmanship. The dress might be simple in design, but the fabric was made from thousands of silkworm cocoons, and all the silkworms had to be hand-raised. The jewelry may be understated in style, but making such dainty and delicate pieces out of metal and stone took countless hours by skilled artisans.
- Princess Mary lives in a culture that elevates the beauty of simplicity, such as Edo Japan or Regency England.
- Princess Mary’s possessions are nothing special in and of themselves, but their symbolic meaning makes them priceless. That plain silver circlet is believed to be a divine gift from the country’s patron deity which protects its wearer from evil.
- Princess Mary is an aristocratic elitist who believes that flashy things are for vulgar new-money types.
- Inverted: Mary wears a Pimped-Out Dress covered with frills, but a cheap mass produced one she bought at a costume store.
- Subverted: Mary lifts the skirt of her velvet dress, and we see the dress is lined with ermine, and her petticoat is Gem-Encrusted...
- Double Subverted: ... but the gems are so small you have to look up close to see them.
- Parodied: Do you know how much it cost to make her sports car look like it came from the junkyard, but still run reliably and perform like new?
- Zig Zagged: Mary owns a Cool Car that was mass produced-but is now the only surviving example of it's once common model.
- Averted: Mary just wear clothes that look about as much as they cost.
- Enforced: Mary's dresses are only expensive In-Universe. They are made of cheap materials to save on the costume budget, but if they don't look too flashy, it's hard to tell.
- Lampshaded: “This dress might not look like much, but it costs more than a car. I only buy the highest quality”.
- Invoked: The dressmaker loves to buy materials, but hates to put on too many trimmings. He just makes simple dresses that still cost a lot.
- Exploited: Mary uses this look to show her people that she's not wasteful, like past rulers.
- Defied: Mary just buys moderately expensive things for her castle. Why spend that much, no matter how the thing looks?
- Discussed: “She paid HOW MUCH for that Little Black Dress?! Where are the ribbons, the bows, the rhinestones?”
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Mary's dress is eventually commented on as being a lot more expensive than it looks, which leads to rumors about how much power she really has. This could go either way: she may suddenly get social callings by others wanting to get in her good graces, or she may be seen as a haughty Holier Than Thou or Aloof Dark-Haired Girl type that's too snobby to socialize; either way, Mary is going to be put into a social situation she is not comfortable with.
- Reconstructed: It's really only Nancy who figures out that Mary's subdued wealth signaling in a sea of much more loudly designed rich dresses is a kind of Secret Test of Character Mary puts out at upper-crust social events to see who has the brains to piece things together without needing to be told, as Mary is a Silk Hiding Steel type who prefers making moves quietly in a Deadly Decadent Court. Nancy becomes one of Mary's most trusted friends because she's able to demonstrate her own acumen and discretion when talking with her.
Back to Simple, yet Opulent.
