Sweater Girl lately suffers from excessive misuse and ZCEs for people who don't recognize the pre-existing term and stereotype used off-site, mistaking it for any girl who wears a sweater or girls who always wear sweaters a.k.a Limited Wardrobe.

Let's review the history of the trope briefly. A TRS thread was made in 2013, where it concluded with redefining Sweater Girl to focus on the intention of characterizing the attractiveness/sexuality of the character in a reserved or wholesome manner to match it with its definition outside the site. Both off-site and on here, it's defined as bombshells wearing body-hugging sweaters to accentuate their bustlines, with other sites adding that they typically wear bullet bras underneath the sweater to make their boobs appear bustier. However, the previous thread was just an attempt to make the trope match the usage of the term off-site, but it didn't fix/clean up the ZCEs and misuse, and here we are.

The issue was raised here, as well, although it was left unanswered. So, I took matters into my own hands and made the wick check which confirmed that our concerns are true.

The quick results are as follows:

• 10/55 or 18% are correct examples.
• 24/55 or 44% are misuse for women who just wear sweaters without fanservice.
• 21/55 or 38% are ZCEs, other forms of misuse, and unsortable examples.

Long analysis: Less than a quarter of the wicks are correct and follow the off-site use of this trope. Meanwhile, the rest of the wicks, the majority, are misuse for any time a woman wears a sweater, regardless of her bust or fanservice or other forms of misuse. And being an appearance trope with a non-indicative name, it indeed attracts ZCEs, which make 38% of the overall wicks. This trope might have more correct examples, so getting rid of it wouldn't be a good idea.

• Proposed solutions:
  • I don't like to go for renames as the first immediate option, especially since this is a well-known concept outside the site, but part of the trope's problems is that the name is very broad, so renaming it to Busty Sweater Girl or Fanservice Sweater Girl might help a lot.
  • Or make a definition-only page for the off-site term and and make a Busty Sweater Girl/Fanservice Sweater Girl a trope, like how we did with Stuffed into the Fridge -> Targeted to Hurt the Hero.
  • Clean-up misuse and ZCEs.

[Points the microphone in the audience's direction] What do y'all think should be done?

1. Bust-Contrast Duo: Sweater Girl and Sexy Secretary Joan Holloway (Busty) and the more Hollywood Homely and Plucky Office Girl Peggy Olson (more average in bustline) start off like this in Mad Men with Peggy starting off as very naive and shy while Joan is seductive and the Alpha Bitch looking forward to quitting her job before marriage. They both undergo Character Development where Peggy becomes savvier, more confident, and stronger while Joan really leans into her natural strength and demands to have her intellect and experience be taken seriously. — Joan is busty so it counts
2. Fanservice Costumes: A busty woman wears a tight-fitting sweater.
3. Navel-Deep Neckline: Humorama: Many of the women in the gag cartoons showed off lots of cleavage. When not wearing Stripperiffic outfits, many wore low cut tops and tight-fitting sweaters. Likely for fanservice
4. Characters.Archie Comics: (Veronica), Veronica's clothing trademark is wearing tight fitted sweaters of any color. She's Ms. Fanservice after all
5. Characters.Doki Doki Literature Club: (Yuri), Yuri wears a beige sweater when meeting with the protagonist outside of school to work on the festival decorations. However, it probably isn't just subtle fanservice. Notice that it has long sleeves... — Played With example?
6. Series.Charmed 1998: The girls of like wearing sweaters. In one episode, Phoebe wore a white sweater with fur-trimmed sleeves.
7. Fate/Grand Order - Sabers G to M: (Ibuki-Douji), She wears a light pink sweater in one of her Ascensions which really serves to accentuate her large bust. When asked, she says she wanted to get acquainted with clothes from the modern age, and seems to be really attached to that sweater in particular. When reaching her third ascension, she's almost annoyed at having to take it off in favor of her divine garments.
8. Characters.My Hero Academia Main Characters Families: (Fuyumi), Has worn form-fitting turtleneck sweaters several times, which due to how buxom she is and the stripes on her sweater greatly emphasize her very large boobs. The author has further emphasized this by having some of this art (including a Twitter sketch and a coloured volume back cover) involve her lying on her back or raising her hands in the air to push her chest forward even more on display.
9. Film.Bande A Part: Odile is given to tight sweaters. In the scene where they're dancing in the cafe, Godard in his narration says Odile is wondering if the boys are noticing her breasts moving underneath her sweater.
10. Film.Pleasantville: Jennifer is taken aback when she puts on the typical sweater and bullet bra.
    Jennifer: I could, like, kill a guy with these things.

1. Contractual Purity: "Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band. The speaker fondly remembers a young blue-eyed, sweater-clad girl from school that he had a crush on way back when, and sees her again as an adult later...in a porn magazine. He is initially shocked as it clashed with her squeaky-clean image, but eventually, he not only accepts it but embraces it.
2. Peek A Bangs: Star Spangled Rhythm ridiculed Veronica Lake's hairstyle in song, along with Paulette Goddard's sweater and Dorothy Lamour's sarong. The musical number's punchline was a "peek-a-boo bang" on the face of Adolf Hitler, who is blamed for dictating the fashion.
3. Sexily Modest: When Bitch-Sensei in Assassination Classroom undergoes a Good Costume Switch, swapping out of short-skirt and cleavage-baring top for a modest sweater and Proper Tights with a Skirt. The male students actually find her far more attractive afterwards for doing so. — A fanservice-y character but wearing a sweater wasn't for fanservice purpose but the opposite
4. Anime.Shenmue: Nozomi, with the Asian cultural differences applying to her.
5. Blog.Adventures In Lurning: Sketchbook is this and it is adorable.
6. BojackHorseman.Tropes P To S: Joseph Sugarman's secretary is said to be this in the 1940s flashbacks.
7. Characters.Birds Of Prey 2002: (Batgirl), About half of Barbara's wardrobe are cardigans.
8. Characters.Buffyverse Willow Rosenberg: Season 3 Willow.
9. Characters.Despicable Me The Gru Family: (Edith), Wears a pink sweater in her normal attire. — She's a child at that
10. Characters.Gravity Falls Mabel Pines: Under Large Ham: You take a Cloudcuckoolander, feed her a bag of sugar, give her a massive collection of home-made sweaters and a Cute, but Cacophonic voice that seldom goes below 75 decibels, and you've got Mabel Pines. Sometimes she can be really over the top.
11. Characters.Invader Zim A Very Tall Problem: (Mooshi, Ina, Zii, and Aka), Mooshi's outfit is a simple pink sweater.
12. Characters.No 6: (Safu), She often wears sweaters that her grandmother knitted for her.
13. Characters.Kaguya Sama Love Is War: (Rei), Onodera's most prominent physical characteristic is the buttondown sweater she wears during the colder months.
14. Characters.Sailor Moon Ami Mizuno: Crystal adds a gray sweater to her school uniform.
15. Characters.The Loud House Adults: (Agnes), She wears a turtleneck.
16. Fanfic.A Snowflake In Spring: Of the non-form-fitting variety. Elsa's trademark article of clothing is her oversize blue sweater, the sleeves of which are long enough to cover her hands. She considers their thickness and weight a "shield" against the outside world. — Shoehorn
17. Fanfic.Pretty Cure Heavy Metal: Under Ascended Extra: Kaori Furuya has a more major role in a few episodes of World Tour in Japan-centric scenes, and she's shown practicing with the Oriyama Ballet Company. Especially in recent times, she feels comfortable spending company time wearing a loose-fitting sweater that exposes her shoulders and tight-fitting slacks. — An excerpt of a long example
18. Film.Anchors Aweigh: Susan wears a purple fuzzy sweater in a few scenes.
19. Film.Mr Arkadin: Milly is really stress-testing a sweater in the scene where she confronts Arkadin about his Nazi-friendly past.
20. Film.The World Of Suzie Wong: Gwennie Lee wears cardigans and hand-hiding sleeves to emphasise her cuteness. — Misuse + Cute Oversized Sleeves
21. Franchise.Barbie: A number of her outfits over the years. The early 80s set "Fashion Jeans" included a pink, fuzzy sweater, even though a doll with that name could have included any kind of top.
22. Literature.Alice Series: Under Good Bad Girl: Jill, who's mentioned to be sleeping around with Justin, Elizabeth's former crush.
23. Literature.Then Again Maybe I Wont: Tony buys Lisa a sweater for Christmas and uses his binoculars to watch her try it on.
24. Recap.Law And Order Special Victims Unit S 6 E 16 Ghost: Alex is mostly wearing cardigans in the episode.

1. Happy Holidays Dress: Compare Sweater Girl, Homemade Sweater from Hell, Costume Porn, Stylish Protection Gear, An Ice Suit.
2. Meaningful Appearance: She may be attractive, but she likely won't flaunt it.
3. Sexily Modest: In period pieces this can be a subversion of the Old-Timey Ankle Taboo — or in fact overlap with it; may also overlap with Form-Fitting Wardrobe, Proper Tights with a Skirt and Sweater Girl.
4. The '70s: Came back from The '50s with a vengeance.
5. AdaptationalAttractiveness.Web Original: The animated webcast adaptation of the unfinished Doctor Who story "Shada" did this with two different characters:
   • The graduate student Clare was, in the TV story, dressed in frumpy 1970s office-style clothes. In the animation, she is redesigned as a late-1970s punkette, in a tight fluffy sweater, mildly Goth make-up, and a studded leather dog collar. — Not sure if this is meant for fanservice or not
6. Characters.Archie Comics: (Betty), Like Veronica, she can be seen wearing form fitting sweaters. I think it's for fanservice, but she's not as fanservice-y as Veronica, so idk
7. Hannibal – Supporting Characters: (Abigail), Downplayed, but almost always wears sweaters whenever we see her. — Limited Wardrobe
8. Characters.Spider Man Trilogy Main Characters: (MJ Watson), She wears sweaters a few times. — A correct example but as written lacks context
9. Characters.Stranger Things Main Cast: (Nancy), While she isn't as busty (by quite a long way; her bras are too big for her) as most examples of the trope, she is a Dude Magnet who is seen wearing sweaters or sweater like tops which fits in with her Midwestern environment while still showing off her figure. — Don't know if it's a shoehorn or a downplayed example
10. Characters.The Quintessential Quintuplets: (Miku), Unlike Ichika, who wears hers around her waist, she's always seen in her baby blue button up sweater as part of her uniform, even wearing it under her blazer. — Limited Wardrobe
11. Characters.Trixie Belden: (Beatrix), No context given
12. Characters.Vegas 2012: (Yvonne, in The Sheriff's Department's folder), No context given
13. Characters.World Of Horror: (Moriko, Main characters' folder), The sweater she wears by default not only suits her well, but plays a critical role in unlocking her, as somebody who's seen the news report about her can recognize the 'Bloody Sweater' as belonging to her. — Plot-relevant clothes, def not this trope
14. Creator.Lana Turner: She was also well-known in her heyday as the Sweater Girl of the screen. I know she's an example but this doesn't explain how the trope applies to her and not everyone knows her
15. DarthWiki.Miley Small: A rare male example with Mike. — This is an Always Female trope
16. Film.Definitely Maybe: Emily constantly wears sweaters. — Limited Wardrobe
17. Film.Glen Or Glenda: Including loaning the sweater.
18. Film.Wild River: Carol and Betty both have their moments.
19. Radio.The Goon Show: Referenced in The Mighty Wurlitzer, where Moriarty swears "By the great sweaters of Sabrina!"
20. Recap.Daredevil 2015 S 2 E 10 The Man In The Box: Under White Shirt of Death: After killing Jacques, Elektra is a white Sweater Girl of Death. — The trope used in name only
21. Series.Hart Of Dixie: Most of Lemon's clothes are this. — Limited Wardrobe