She obviously has plenty of clothes to choose from, but all her selections are characteristically Annie.
"Zoey... 'Stammers too much.' 'Lacks confidence.' 'Wears too many sweaters over collared shirts.' Not sure how that one is quite performance-related..."
— Zoey Clarke, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist
This character always dresses a certain type of way.
We don't mean a uniform or a Limited Wardrobe — this character changes clothes quite frequently, probably to the point of an Unlimited Wardrobe — but all the outfits of their choosing seem like variations on a theme, to the point that the character has a signature sense of style. Maybe it's a certain color combination or pattern or a similar but overall consistent way of pairing tops and pants. Whatever style it is, unless it's a special occasion, they will dress this way 90% of the time.
Because Clothing Reflects Personality, this may signify something about a character. For example, a Girly Girl might dress exclusively in florals, a grizzled biker has a rotating stock of leather jackets, or a stoic businessman wears power suits everywhere. However, the real purpose of this trope is to help a character stand out from the rest of the cast through a unique visual style without resorting to dressing them in the same outfit every time. The audience then begins associating this look with the character.
In visual media, this is more common in live-action shows than in animated ones, as resource constraints often make it easier to give animated characters a Limited Wardrobe. On the other hand, live-action shows (especially those set in "our world"), have to keep their characters distinct even though they would realistically be changing clothes regularly. Describing a character's fashion sense can also be useful for visualizing characters in written media. In general, it can help distinguish a large Ensemble Cast or when one has characters who look similar.
Compare Iconic Outfit, when a character becomes associated with one outfit, and Iconic Item, which is about a single item. A long-lasting deviation from this is a Significant Wardrobe Shift, which goes hand-in-hand with change in the character. Not to be confused with Same Clothes, Different Year, which is when the exact same outfit is used in a flashback or a flash-forward so the audience can tell it's them. A Color-Coded Secret Identity may be involved.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Ayakashi Triangle:
- Suzu's outfits have some kind of hoodie and something that leaves her legs mostly exposed, usually shorts. She even wears a cardigan to school with her skirt, getting as close to the look as the dress code allows. When she eventually has an outfit for fighting made, it's largely based on her hoodie, though with leggings added on.
- Though Matsuri has a standardized outfits for combat, school, and other purposes, the latter outfit (a jinbei) and anything else he wears always include (usually baggy) shorts and sandals.
- The Dangers in My Heart: Ichikawa regularly wears dark clothes with skull/bone prints on him. He says it's out of convenience when Yamada points out the former, though the latter suggests otherwise; he's always going to have a skull on him somewhere when he's out and not in his school uniform.
- One Piece:
- Once Luffy starts changing his outfit each arc, they still tend to be his usual vest and shorts, just in different colors. His outfits get a lot more varied after the timeskip.
- Despite having one of the most varied wardrobes among the main cast, Nami's outfits have a recurring motif; she often wears skirts or pants with two rings on either side, especially early on.
- Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: Panty and Stocking wear different outfits in nearly every episode, and both of them have a distinct sense of style. Panty prefers summery clothes and warm colors, usually wearing minidresses, tank tops, short shorts, and crop tops; while Stocking goes for gothic fashion in cool, dark colors, most often wearing various types of Elegant Gothic Lolita dresses.
- Pretty Cure:
- HuGtto! Pretty Cure: Emiru's wardrobe almost exclusively consists of dresses with a lot of frills and details, mostly in red and pink.
- Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure: Nodoka's outfits often have flowers incorporated into them, usually via jewelry. The only time she doesn't is in her pyjamas.
- Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure: It's very rare that Yui isn't wearing a skirt or dress; she has pink dresses for casual wear, a pink Cure dress, a brown blazer and skirt for school in the winter, and a blue blazer and skirt for school in the summer.
- Soaring Sky! PreCure: All of Sora's main outfits, these being her Sky Land outfit, Earth outfits for summer and winter, pyjamas, and Cure outfit, are all predominantly blue.
- Ya Boy Kongming!: Eiko favors oversized jackets and a black cap with simple, mostly monochrome, t-shirts and shorts.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Rin has the most outfits out of any character seen in the show, which otherwise is all about Limited Wardrobe, and all of them are in soft and bright colours with prominent shades of pink.
Asian Animations
- Shinbi's Haunted House:
- Gaeun usually wears violet and feminine outfits. In the season 1, she worn a violet dress. In the season 4, she worn a lighter-violet shirt with a violet pinafore.
- Hari tends to wear pink clothes with an illustration of a cartoonish skull. In the pilot, she worn a pink T-shirt with a simply-drawn skull. After the season 1, the skull became relatively complicated than the pilot's one. From the season 2, the clothing became a hoodie with the skull and since the season 4, the hoodie was changed into a stadium jacket with the skull.
- Hyunwoo tends to wear T-shirts with a symbol of a burning eye. In the early seasons, he worn a blue one with the symbols that are printed on the front and the sleeves. In the season 4, he worn a teal one with the symbol on the front.
Comic Books
- Incandescence: The title heroine, when in her Secret Identity as Audrey, has a Meaningful Appearance that shows her interest in punk and dance, and may be as distinctive as her superhero costume. She normally wears a decorative hairband or hair clip, music-related t-shirt, Kinky Cuffs on her wrists and/ or ankles, a micro-miniskirt with Too Many Belts and chains, Proper Tights with a Skirt, and ballet flats or Mary Jane shoes.
- Emma Frost from X-Men has a uniform, but will often be seen outside of it when operating in the business or political world. Regardless, though, it's always almost all white with a focus on sexiness. Even her body size fur coat for the Hellfire Gala had a boob window.
Comic Strips
- Garfield: Jon favors long-sleeved collared polo shirts—usually in blue, although he's been shown to wear other colors on occasion—black pants, and brown shoes. When he starts dating Liz, we get to see her out of her vet's uniform; she usually wears short-sleeved collared shirts and blouses, although she'll wear sweaters in various solid colors during winter strips. Most of the strips Liz appears in only show her upper body, but on the few occasions we see her legs, she'll be wearing pants that are coordinated to match her top.
- In Madam & Eve, Eve is almost never seen without her apron, while Madam is always shown wearing her large hoop earrings.
Fan Works
- The Bolt Chronicles: In "The Coffee Shop," Penny is now a young adult in her 20s. When not in a veterinarian's white lab coat, she exhibits a distinctive, informal clothing style which she refers to as being "neo-slacker."
Her shape was the type that worked well with skinny black jeans and a plain dark t-shirt worn under an open, slightly oversized men's shirt, as well as sneakers or sandals depending on the weather. It was a look she dubbed "neo-slacker," and was her preferred attire once she doffed her veterinarian's lab coat.
- Ebott's Wake: Dr. Aster is always wearing black and white with a single yellow accessory, like a yellow bowtie for formal occasions or yellow sneakers. Otherwise, he is always quite conservative and professional with his clothing, like slacks, coats, button-up shirts, etc.
- Insomnia (Undertale):
- Sans is always wearing Fun T Shirts with science puns on them and hoodies.
- Frisk is always wearing sweaters with horizontal stripes in different colour combinations.
- Ma Fille: Most illustrations of Katrina, at any age, depict her wearing at least one pink article of clothing.
- In My Immortal, the goth characters always wear dark colours and Ebony tends to wear fishnets and "corset stuff".
- Servant Shenanigans:
- Ritsuka is always wearing Fun T Shirts and even has an enforced fun t-shirt day when they force everyone to wear a custom t-shirt. After Cerebus Syndrome hits they stop wearing them because they're not relaxed anymore.
- The different versions of Cu Chullain all have an obsession with Hawaiian T-Shirts and leather pants, which are acknowledged by everyone to look horrible. That said, Proto and Alter also has decent semi-formal clothes; Proto attributes this to a previous master of his who was apparently very fashion-conscious.
- Mordred's style boils down to "expensive delinquent" with a signature red leather jacket.
- Kage always wears several warm layers, like sweaters.
Films — Animation
- Frozen:
- In the first movie, nearly every outfit Anna wears is some form of a predominantly-green dress. The tendency to wear green also carries over to Ralph Breaks the Internet, where her Oh My Disney self's casual outfit is also that color. This consistency makes the aversion of this trope in the second movie notable.
- Elsa consistently dresses in cool tones, especially an icy blue, that evoke her ice magic.
Films — Live-Action
- Babe: All of Esme Hoggett's outfits have some sort of floral pattern. This also includes the clown costume she's forced to wear in the third act of Babe: Pig in the City.
- Bridget Jones's Diary: Bridget is often seen wearing cardigan sweaters or shrugs over blouses and short skirts, highly feminine dresses, and curve-hugging evening wear (let's not forget her Iconic Item of shapewear) with an Elsa Peretti heart necklace in tones of blue, gray, black, and pink while Mark Darcy is consistently seen wearing sharp two- or three-piece suits with a tie in neutral tones (when he isn't wearing the Holiday-themed sweaters and ties his mother gives him).
- The Family Jewels: Donna always wears some variation of raincoat, beret, skirt, and moccasin shoes. The colors differ, especially when she's visiting a different uncle, and she might briefly ditch the raincoat when it's too hot, but her outfit remains mostly the same throughout the movie.
- Goldfinger: Though the eponymous Auric Goldfinger owns many different outfits, he is always wearing yellow due to his obsession with gold. The only exception is when he impersonates an U.S. army officer (and even then, he initially hides the uniform beneath a yellow-brown overcoat).
- MCU Spider-Man Series: Peter Parker tends to wear T-shirts with science-related jokes and slogans on them.
- Rags: Both Andrew and Lloyd, as part of their Coordinated Clothes shtick, are constantly wearing colorful shirts with jackets and often bow-ties. If they're going to be wearing one specific color, it's almost always red. In the end, Lloyd starts dressing more normally and in darker colors, signifying his shift away from his brother.
- The Souvenir: Julie dresses very demurely in sweaters, blouses, and skirts, and even her more casual dress style of patterned button-downs and jeans is rather conservative. This serves to emphasize her naïveté and youth, especially compared to her older, more worldly boyfriend Anthony.
Literature
- The Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy Thomas, president of the club, is rarely seen in anything outside of a sweater or turtleneck shirt, jeans, and sneakers. In meetings she adds a director's visor.
- Captive Prince: Damen's narration frequently mentions Prince Laurent's wardrobe, which is invariably severe, high-necked, long-sleeved, and tight-laced to match his guarded nature.
- Dr. Greta Helsing: In Grave Importance, the billionaire Egyptologist Leonora van Dorne always wears an understated Simple, yet Opulent wardrobe, accented with a single piece of authentic ancient Egyptian jewellery. She has an extensive private collection of both.
- In Harriet the Spy, Ole Golly always wears tweed dresses, which she refers to as her "things".
- In Into the Drowning Deep, Olivia the reporter always dresses entirely in white in a deliberate nod to Emma Frost, whom she also cosplays outside of work.
- Ian Malcolm's introductory descriptions in Jurassic Park state that he always wears all-black outfits. He notes that he doesn't have to worry about coordinating shirts, pants, or even matching socks as a result, since they'll all blend together no matter what.
- The Machineries of Empire: Unlike the other leaders of the Hexarchate, Nirai Kujen is an unabashed hedonist who always dresses in opulent, highly fashionable clothes with plenty of jewellery and never wears an outfit twice.
- Old Kingdom: Touchstone has a lifelong fondness for kilts. He's introduced Naked on Revival from being Taken for Granite and a kilt is the only legwear available that fits him at the time, but, decades later, he's still trying unsuccessfully to popularize them as king.
- Sheila Rae, the Brave: Louise always wears a hair bow, and (with the exception of one page) she always wears long-sleeved dresses.
- Wayward Children: Nancy Whitman only wears gauzy black and white clothes with one pomegranate-red hair ribbon since her years in the Land of the Dead, where colours were rare favours granted by the rulers. When her parents replace her wardrobe with bright clothes in a misguided attempt to restore her old personality, she's deeply distraught and immediately trades them to another student for more suitable ones.
Live-Action TV
- John Steed of The Avengers (1960s) is always in a dark suit and tie paired with a bowler hat, although the colors tend to vary.
- The Big Bang Theory:
- Sheldon always wears graphic t-shirts over a long-sleeved one and khakis. In Young Sheldon, he wore plaid T-shirts, oftentimes with a bowtie, and khakis.
- Howard wears turtlenecks under button-downs, often in clashing colors. He is also known for wearing form-fitting pants with a flashy belt buckle.
- Raj dresses in a combination of an undershirt, button-down shirt, sweater vest and track jacket, along with cargo pants.
- Leonard favors graphic t-shirts as well, although coupled with an army jacket and hoodie combo. Later seasons sometimes replace the jacket-hoodie combo with an overshirt. He later attributes the layers to the fact that Sheldon keeps the apartment so cold.
- Amy wears a cardigan/sweater vest over a long-sleeved shirt, along with a straight skirt and tights.
- Bernadette's usual getup is a short-sleeved cardigan over a floral-patterned dress, with colorful tights and heels.
- Stuart's usual setup is a t-shirt under an long-sleeved button-down under a cardigan with jeans or dark pants.
- In Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the characters are all cops, but because they are plainclothes detectives, they show up to work in varying office casual ensembles:
- Jake and Rosa both always wear a leather jacket, which Rosa pairs with black trousers, and Jake always wears with a plaid shirt.
- Terry is always wearing a long-sleeved button-down rolled up to his elbows paired with a tie and suspenders.
- Before her promotion to Sergeant, Amy usually wore a dark blazer/suit paired with a contrasting button-down top. This is often mocked by Gina, who once wore Amy's clothes in order to render herself invisible.
- Boyle favors short-sleeved work shirts paired with a tie and slacks.
- Hitchcock always has his shirt sleeves rolled up, with a pen, comb and wallet in his shirt pocket.
- Likewise, Scully is never seen without a sweater vest at work.
- Claws:
- Desna wears a lot of tight clothes and low-cut tops.
- Virginia wears revealing, colorful outfits, along with lots of jewelry and sparkly accessories.
- Quiet Ann always wears some combination of t-shirts, loose button-down shirts, and shorts. For formal occasions, she wears suits instead of dresses.
- Community:
- In the first four seasons, prim and young Annie is usually wearing a brightly patterned blouse or dress, sometimes paired with a cardigan, though this was dropped in Seasons 5-6.
- Nerdy Abed favors graphic shirts under a shirt or jacket.
- Amoral Attorney Jeff is usually in a button-down top and pants.
- Shirley, who is a wife and mother, dresses sensibly in a conservative top and trousers.
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Trent wears turtlenecks in all his appearances, which at first make him look like the successful lawyer Rebecca wants, but it later turns unsettling as his dark side is revealed.
- Fate: The Winx Saga:
- Bloom typically wears leather jackets and skinny jeans with either a t-shirt or a turtleneck sweater. A lot of her clothing is red.
- Stella wears a lot of coats and jewelry, her outfits often have sparkles, and she's fond of wearing pink.
- In Forbrydelsen, Sarah Lund always wears a Fairisle sweater and jeans. She changes which sweater depending on the day. (It crosses over with Limited Wardrobe in the seasons themselves, when she doesn't change frequently, but she also maintains the exact same style throughout 3 seasons.)
- In Get Smart, Harry Hoo always wears similar-looking (but not identical) white suits.
- Gilmore Girls:
- Emily Gilmore is almost always seen in a twinset with matching skirt and matching jewelry, befitting her upper-class mannerisms and Old Money status. In the 2016 reboot, after the death of her husband, Lorelai walks in to find her mother Marie Kondo-ing the house and wearing a worn t-shirt and jeans. When asked why she's wearing them (Lorelai has a "holy shit" reaction and deems this "terrifying"), Emily explains that nothing in her closet "sparked joy," and she doesn't even know where she found the clothes she's wearing — Lorelai explains they were hers, from her teenage years.
- Luke almost always wears a plaid shirt and a backwards baseball cap. In season 2, when his nephew Jess moves in, he objects to Jess's choice of clothing (a worn band t-shirt that has definitely seen better days) and insists he change. Jess does... into a flannel shirt and backwards baseball cap, claiming he thought this was "the uniform" for Luke's diner. Luke, of course, does not appreciate the humor.
- The Good Place:
- Tahani is always wearing long flowing dresses and gowns (if not in a floral pattern, then a bold solid color) to represent her wealth and femininity compared to Eleanor and Jason, who dress more casually.
- Chidi dresses like an academic in formal shirts and slacks, sometimes paired with a vest.
- Michael's suits are in line with the office wear of the other afterlife employees, but he's the only one who always wears bowties.
- Hannibal: In Seasons 1 and 2, Alana always wears a jewel-colored wrap dress with a matching coat or a wrap shirt and wrap skirt. This makes her Significant Wardrobe Shift in Season 3, where she wears nothing but vivid trouser suits, all the more noticeable.
- Happy Endings: Dave seems to wear exclusively v-necks, to the point that Alex and Max stage an intervention about it.
Dave: V-neck season is year-round.
- How I Met Your Mother: Unlike Ted and Marshall, who dress more casually, Barney consistently wears a suit, which emphasizes the type of character he is: a rich corporate womanizer. He even sang a song about his suits once
.
- Justified:
- Raylan always wears Levi jeans, a jacket, boots, and his hat to show that he's an Old West-type sheriff in the modern day. He switches between a shirt and tie or a T-shirt/henley with a shirt over it depending on the level of formality.
- Quarles always wears suits, which makes him stand out as an outsider in the generally extremely old, informal clothes of Harlan County.
- Killing Eve: Eve always wears plain, dark, and battered clothes: black trousers, a button-up shirt at work (a T-shirt at home), sometimes with a blazer, and always with her waterproof mac on top. This underlines when she wears the dress Villanelle bought for her or tries to channel Villanelle by wearing more feminine clothes (which never lasts) and to contrast her with Villanelle's Unlimited Wardrobe.
- While talk show hosts always wear suits, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has a bonus in John's plaid shirts. In an episode, John said that his credit report is probably low, given he spends HBO's money on "silly costumes, pyrotechnics, and checkered shirts."
- In Laverne & Shirley, Laverne's shirts and dresses usually have long sleeves. She also often wears tight sweaters. Most noticeably, all of her shirts, sweaters, and dresses have a cursive "L" on them.
- Mad Men: Costume designer Janie Bryant made it a point to clothe the characters in specific styles and even colors, to fit their characters and storylines.
- Joan Holloway is often outfitted in curve-hugging wiggle dresses and sheaths to enhance her hourglass figure. As she matured and fashion changed, she maintains the pencil skirt silhouette and adopts a-line styles and blouses with gathered sleeves but her color swatch is often jewel-toned and saturated colors that reflect her sex appeal, red hair and pale skin, and strong personality.
- Peggy Olson maintains a look where her dresses and skirts were practical a-lines or shifts with a feminine take on menswear with colors that get bolder and brighter as she gains more confidence and power at work (as a reflection of women's progress in the workplace).
- Betty Draper Francis maintains a classic, feminine, '50s look that changes very little (aside from the skirt width and length) in pastels and neutrals that reflect her icy personality and Trophy Wife status.
- Even the men get in on this with Pete Campbell's hip blue suits and skinny ties, Don Draper's classic suit and tie in neutral tones with classic polos and slacks off work, and Bert Cooper's 1920s style bright preppy colors and bow ties.
- Married... with Children: Al typically wore a long-sleeved button-down shirt and slacks, Peggy wore tight long-sleeved shirts (which often showed off her cleavage), tight spandex pants, and heels, Bud wore T-shirts, jeans, and hightops, and Kelly wore short skirts and either boots or high heels.
- Miami Vice: Sonny Crockett has pastel t-shirts under tropical suits. Rico Tubbs often wears suits with open-collar shirts, polos, or ties.
- Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: Fred Rogers would seemingly always wear a knit cardigan sweater of any color on his show. These were all hand-knit by his mother. (In fact, one of them sits on display in the Smithsonian.)
- Mrs. America: Costume Designer Bina Daigler dresses the two groups (the STOP ERA Moral Guardians and the pro-ERA Feminists) in distinctly different costumes.
- The STOP ERA women are often outfitted in pastel or neutral colors and styles that evoke the 1950s and 1960s (as a reflection of how stagnated their outlooks are) with twinsets, a-line skirts, ruffles, high-necklines, and shirtwaist styles, '50s Hair and '60s Hair, and no pants (the number of anti-feminists on the show wearing pants can be counted on one hand). Phyllis Schlafly often wears high-necked blouses with some ruffle and pastel two-piece suits or cardigans worn over a dress like a cape, Rosemary Thomson in super modest fashions that hide her figure, and Alice Macray often wears patterned shirtwaist dresses and pointed collar blouses with a solid color skirt.
- The Feminists are seen in a wider variety of styles (all to reflect, in contrast to the antis, the movement is made up of women from different classes, races, backgrounds, ages, and even political philosophies). However, a consistent pattern is that the feminists can be seen in pants and skirts, in the patterns and colors stylish during the late '60s and throughout the '70s, dark and bright colors, a lot of natural hair, and while there are stylish feminists there is less emphasis on looking Stepford perfect. Of the main feminists, Gloria Steinem is in short skirts and slacks with long hair, the Republican Jill Ruckelshaus in a more sporty and hip and professional version of the STOP ERA housewives (even wearing pants) with '60s helmet hair, Bella Abzug in her hats and pussy bow blouses and coats, Betty Friedan in Diane Von Furstenburg-style dresses and pantsuits, Shirley Chisholm in conservative suits and blouses with eye-catching patterns, and Brenda Feigen in casual separates and slacks.
- Never Have I Ever:
- Devi, the outspoken and hot-tempered protagonist, has a wardrobe consisting of bold colors & patterns, as well as statement earrings.
- The computer geek Fabiola wears simple polo shirts, khakis, denim, and jumpsuits. Fabiola's style shifts to something more edgy-chic after she starts dating Eve.
- The thespian Eleanor prefers bright colors, maxi-skirts, eye-catching patterns, and anything vintage.
- Ben wears graphic button downs, blazers, and the occasional tie to highlight his nerdiness.
- NewsRadio:
- Beth wears wild patterns, flashy jewelry, and midriff-baring shirts to emphasize her eccentric Genki Girl personality.
- Matthew, a ditzy nerd, wears dorky patterns such as bowling stripes or argyle on all his shirts.
- Bill always wears brown suits and elegant patterned ties to show his stuck-up personality and make himself appear more professional when in reality he is the opposite.
- Throughout Newhart, Dick Loudon's wife, Joanna, regularly wears form-fitting sweaters.
- Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn: Ricky always dresses semi-formal in sweater vests and ties, emphasizing his uptight personality and offsetting the much more casual style of his siblings.
- Once Upon a Time (2011):
- Emma's outfits mostly consist of t-shirts, jeans, beanies, and leather jackets, which reflect her pragmatic, no-nonsense attitude. Her wardrobe veers away from this in the final seasons, and not in a good way.
- Mary Margaret wears a lot of knee-length dresses/skirts, sweaters, and cardigans, showing her gentle personality. As Snow White, her tops often have puff sleeves.
- Killian is almost always seen wearing leather jackets/coats and black pants, as he's a pirate.
- Ruby always wears the color red somewhere on her outfit. As Red Hiding Hood, she always wears a corset.
- Mr. Gold always wears suits as a rich businessman. As Rumpelstiltskin, he wears mostly leather.
- Belle wears a lot of short skirts with high heels.
- Regina often wears business-like clothing, fitting her position as mayor. As the Evil Queen, she wears dramatic, extravagant gowns that show off her cleavage.
- Zelena, being the Wicked Witch of the West, wears a lot of black and green clothing.
- Orphan Black uses different hairstyles and distinct fashion sense to distinguish the otherwise identical clones:
- Sarah has a fondness for tight pants, hoodies, leather, and the color black.
- Cosima typically has patterns on her clothing.
- Rachel is almost never seen wearing anything but pricey business attire.
- Our Miss Brooks: Averted with Miss Brooks, who varies her wardrobe. Played straight with Mr. Conklin, who usually wears a three-piece suit. Mr. Boynton favours a two-piece suit, or his laboratory outfit. Mrs. Davis usually wears a dress with a floral print. In "Madison Country Club", Hilarity Ensues when Miss Brooks is forced to wear one of Mrs. Davis' dresses. Miss Brooks' entire wardrobe was locked in the closet, and Mrs. Davis' pet car Minerva had swallowed the only key.
- Series/{Riverdale}:
- Cheryl is always in red which matches her fiery red hair. White and black are her most frequent accent colors. She always looks like she's stopped out of a Gothic Horror.
- Veronica is always seen in dark colors of blue, black and purple with a white embellished collar and some type of pearl jewellery. In season 6 she adopts Arachnid Appearance and Attire after gaining poison powers.
- Betty wears a lot of pastel sweaters and has a Tomboy Ponytail. The ponytail vanishes after the timeskip replaced with long wavy hair and then a short bob.
- Jughead is always wearing a crown beanie until the timeskip. It even saves his life.
- And then whenever they want to do a Shout-Out to their source material they put the characters in their comic book outfits which makes for a trippy 50s dream sequence. Done for real in season 7 when they commit to the 50s setting and comic book outfits full time.
- The Sandman (2022): The Perky Goths Chantal and Zelda always wear matching black gowns and veils, sometimes with a taxidermied spider. Lampshaded when Rose sees them and wonders if she's underdressed:
Chantal: No, we always look this way!
Barbie: They do. Even at breakfast. - Schitt's Creek:
- Former well-off businessman Johnny is always in a suit.
- Moira wears extravagant, statement-making black and white outfits that are often from famed fashion designers, helping cementing how out of place her flamboyance is in the titular small town. Moira is also never without one of her signature wigs, which all have unique names and "personalities".
- David, a Mama's Boy and former gallery owner, mimics Moira's style by almost exclusively wearing black and white, albeit more casually; sweaters are his main top, and he'll occasionally venture into Wholesome Crossdresser territory by wearing black skirts. He's also particularly fond of silver accessories, including a set of rings that he always wears; when boyfriend Patrick proposes, he gives him the same set in gold as opposed to a traditional engagement ring.
- Alexis has a very casual, bohemian, feminine style, favoring loose but figure-complimenting cuts and nature-inspired patterns classed up with heels and jewelry.
- Unlike the Rose family, who dress like they hadn't lost all their money, their new down-to-earth friend Stevie is usually wearing a plaid or checkered shirt and jeans, sometimes paired with a plain shirt.
- Seinfeld: Each of the four main characters has distinctive articles of clothing:
- Jerry always wears long-sleeved button-downs and sneakers.
- Elaine wears long coats and high-end blouses.
- George favors checkered long-sleeve shirts.
- Kramer wears short-sleeved vintage button-downs with crazy patterns such as leaves or lobsters paired with slacks. In Elaine's words, he dresses like a "hipster doofus".
- Star Trek:
- Star Trek: Voyager:
- Seven of Nine has several different catsuits.
- Kes has several different outfits, but she's usually wearing a dress with short sleeves and leggings underneath.
- Naomi Wildman's outfits are generally made up of a short-sleeved shirt, a dress with straps, and leggings.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation:
- Deanna Troi tends to wear bodysuits (until she was made to wear a uniform in "Chain of Command"), and she wears sparkly hair bands.
- Guinan changes her clothes, but she'll usually be wearing a long-sleeved dress, round hat, and baggy pants that are all the same colour.
- Mrs. Troi will typically be wearing poofy, colourful, formal dresses. When she starts dressing in a more reserved way in one episode, it tips off Troi that something's wrong.
- Star Trek: Enterprise: T'Pol's outfits are generally catsuits with the top half being wraparound.
- Star Trek: Voyager:
- Stranger Things: Mike always wears striped shirts or sweaters.
- The Studio:
- Matt and Sal almost always wear suits, as they're both professionals (and, quite literally, suits) who have almost nothing going for them outside of their careers. Matt favors lighter colors, while Sal goes for darker ones.
- Quinn wears a mix of suits and sweater vests over collared shirts, and has a fondness for cravat ties. As she gets promoted to junior executive and begins to have more of a say in decisions, she starts wearing more and more suits to match her mentor and boss Matt.
- Maya, an abrasive, foul-mouthed Jerkass who fancies herself as being much younger than she actually is, wears loud, garish, and hideously mismatched outfits that look like a mix of designer brands and thrift store wear.
- The Suite Life of Zack & Cody:
- Cody either wears sweater vests with a shirt underneath it or polo shirts. He also is the most likely to wear shorts, especially in On Deck.
- Zack wears patterned shirts and baggy trousers. His shirts have some symbol on them, usually an animal. He also tends to wear black, while Cody veers towards white.
- London wears a lot of glitter and shiny outfits and usually has some sort of hair decoration and jewelry. Also, all of her shoes have heels. Her outfits in On Deck tend to be less glittery.
- Bailey wears bright colours, especially her jeans. She also wears sandals most of the time.
- Moseby rarely wears anything but his Tipton uniform. In On Deck, he wears a variation of the uniform with knee socks (which he's occasionally teased for).
- Carey tends to wear jeans, a top and a patterned cardigan and cocktail dresses for her performances.
- Arwin rarely wears anything but his maintenance coveralls (which often have silly things stuck in the pockets).
- Ted Lasso:
- Ted always wears a collared shirt under a pullover sweater, khakis, and sneakers.
- When not in his AFC Richmond kit, Colin pretty much always wears a polo shirt buttoned or zipped all the way to the top.
- Toast of London:
- Jane Plough always wears brightly-colored, high fashion formalwear in 60's cuts, befitting her status as something of an artifact from the Mod era.
- Danny Bear and Clem Fandango's outfits vary wildly from episode to episode, from a Victorian suit with tophat and monocle, to see through raver shirts with holes cut out for the nipples to hip-hop style track suits, but the common thread is they're always wearing the most screamingly obnoxious Hipster fashion you could imagine, fluctuating wildly with the trends (in contrast to out of touch Steven who always wears the same thing).
- The titular character of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was kidnapped from high school and spent the last fifteen years or so as a Bunker Woman, so she's still unbeatably childish when she is rescued. This manifests in her outfits, which are usually brightly colored and brightly patterned.
- Victorious: Tori wears long sleeves and pants that are form-fitting but not revealing. Cat on the other hand wears shorts and tube tops. And Jade typically wears darker, more layered clothing but has a less consistent style.
- The Wire: Det. Bunk Moreland is almost constantly seen wearing a black suit with a tie, something that his best friend Jimmy McNulty jabs him about frequently. The only time he's seen wearing something different on the clock is when he moves to the Sobotka detail office, dressed in a gray sweater with his old alma mater logo on it.
Bunk: The Bunk is strictly a suit-and-tie motherfucker. At all hazards, a man must keep up appearances. Dignity, I say.
- Zoey of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist wears a lot of collared shirts under sweaters or cardigans, and she usually pairs these with trousers and sandals/sneakers. Lampshaded; her peer review points out she wears too many sweaters over collared shirts.
Podcasts
- You'll never guess what Barry Bluejeans from The Adventure Zone: Balance always wears.
- Asmoraius from Brimstone Valley Mall always wears Victorian-style goth clothing, being quite The Fashionista and using it as a form of self-expression. His boyfriend Trent always wears... polo shirts. Literally always polo shirts, sometimes multiple at once. Asmo's response to this is basically "you're lucky you're cute."
Puppet Shows
- 31 Minutos:
- Tulio always wears a tie. Always. His outfit goes from colorful button-down shirts and suspenders in Season One to a coat and more matching shirt underneath since Season Two. This remained consistent for the rest of the show.
- Patana starts wearing clothes around Season Two, and is consistently clothed since The Movie. Most of her outfits are pink, and include a parka or track jacket.
- Rizzo the Rat in The Muppets has a variety of baseball jackets over white t-shirts.
Toys
- Barbie is an iconic symbol of femininity and it's evolution, and is practically synonymous with the color pink.
- Each of the main characters in Monster High has a consistent theme when it comes to their outfits.
- Frankie Stein's look is most often anchored to a preppy academic theme, with all three signature versions of the character having plaid patterning and outfits that are firmly school-associated. Their G3 clothing also makes consistent use of graphic text accents in their clothing and accessories.
- Draculaura's look is designed to reflect a sweet, feminine goth look with pink and black accents, and often includes some masculine, formal, and/or older-fashioned touches to reflect a modernized version of her father's attire.
- G1 Clawdeen Wolf's fashion is usually on the cutting edge and designed to look bold, confident, and trendy, with edgy hair colors, clothing cuts, and fur accents. Clawdeen's looks also feature frequent usage of gold jewelry as a subtle nod to werewolves' aversion to silver. Even as her future incarnations lessened her edge, she retains gold accents and fur costume elements as well as experimental hair colors and makeup.
- Lagoona Blue's fashion trends toward sporty activewear and mesh/fishnet accessories (as a reference to the fact that she's a water-dwelling monster), even in some of her more glammed-up looks.
- Cleo de Nile's fashion sense draws heavily from ancient Egyptian fashions and almost always has a very high-fashion spin on it to emphasize her class, wealth, age, and position as a queen bee among her peers.
- Ghoulia Yelps' outfits in both G1 and G3 trend toward the informal to emphasize her geeky qualities. G1 Ghoulia had a fifties/sixties theme with red and blue colors, all reflecting retro cinema and the era of the defining zombie movie. G3 Ghoulia has more of a street skater theme with bright popping colors that have a different modern-retro feeling.
Video Games
- Pokémon: Up until Gen 7, Player Characters never went without a hat and some form of bag (either a backpack or a sling bag.) note Typically male characters also wear a small coat over their shirts as well.
- Super Mario Bros.: Mario and Luigi are almost always depicted with a headpiece, either their own or whatever the current Power-Up they're using gives them. Downplayed by their overalls, which are usually, but not always, present. If both brothers are playable, it's also not uncommon for them to keep their respective colors as well for identification.
- Watch_Dogs: Unlike later games in the franchise, which offer vast varieties in clothing, Aiden Pearce's outfits are all variations of his main outfit: a shirt and pants with a hat, usally a baseball cap, and a long coat over it.
Web Animation
- The characters in RWBY have certain styles that help inform their personalities, and which fit their personal colour themes. Every time a new story arc changes, the major characters receive new outfits but always based on recognisable elements that fit their characterisation. Examples include: Ruby always wears a red hooded cape that is supported by a red and black ensemble consisting of bodice, skirt, tights, and combat boots elements; Weiss always wears expensive dresses, boleros, and heels that incorporate white, grey, and blue colours with red accents, and which are classy, high-quality and feminine; Blake never wears dresses and leans towards skintight fashion in black and white colours accented with purple; Yang also never wears dresses and leans towards tomboy-esque fashion in browns accented with yellow, orange and purple.
Webcomics
- Aqua Regia: While the characters change outfits pretty often, but wear consistent fashion, e.g. Rouge wears goth fashion, Anahí wears punk-ish outfits, Daniel is a fan of leather even at home, etc.
- Laura of Candi usually wears off-the-shoulder tops with sweetheart necklines.
- In Dumbing of Age, Joyce usually wears sweater vests, at least initially.
- Ménage à 3:
- Gary always wears light-coloured geek T-shirts with contrasting sleeves.
- Zii wears tight band T-shirts
- Yuki wears anime T-shirts, colourful miniskirts, and socks that reach her upper thighs.
- Kiley wears low-cut tank tops with spaghetti straps.
- Penny Arcade:
- Kara's usual outfits have a illustration of a wombat. Most of the clothes she showed in the strips are purple and casual.
- Charles' usual wardrobe is casual and has the Apple logo. Most of them are short-sleeved (mainly blue) white T-shirts with some highlights or black T-shirts. He wore a short-sleeved (which are blue) white T-shirt with the Apple logo and blue pants since 2000 to 2003 strips. The latter variations have appeared in 2010 and 2015 strips. However, in a 2004 strip, he wore a white T-shirt with the Apple logo with his neckline highlighted in blue, as well as pants in different colors. Since a 2005 strip until 2011, he started to show a short-sleeved black T shirt with the logo. In a 2011 strip, there is himself in the outfit that resembles 2004's one, but has green highlights.
- The Petri Dish:
- Thaddeus usually wears polo shirts.
- Gordon likes to wear colourful ties.
- SWAP Ensemble:
- Vincent and Trudy both wear striped shirts and torn jeans. Vincent wears polo shirts while Trudy wears long-sleeved shirts.
- Cedric wears tank tops that are usually green and/or brown, while Braeden wears them in a wider variety of colors.
- Claire and Cyrissa wear knee-length skirts and dresses. Claire wears cool colors and sleeves while Cyrissa wears warm colors with no sleeves.
- Turie and Corbin pull off the bookish look in different ways. Turie is a Dork in a Sweater while Corbin is an Insufferable Genius in a suit.
- Cassie typically wears plain T-shirts and short shorts that apparently aren't cold.
- Caroline, the host of the competition, always wears warm-colored floor-length dresses.
- True Villains: Xaneth the demon always wears yellow shoes. A Blithe Spirit Archmage eventually admits to Sebastian that he Cursed him as a joke — Xaneth's shoes actually turn yellow, or, if he goes barefoot, his feet do.
Western Animation
- Marceline in Adventure Time favors a dark, muted color palette (greys, blacks, dark blues and purples, red accents), denim, and either boots or sneakers.
- As Told by Ginger: being a rare cartoon where characters change their clothes, this is often seen on the main female characters.
- Ginger Foutley is seen in bohemian-style peasant blouses with long sleeves, long skirts, sweaters, bright patterns, lace trim, baggy pants (even cargos) in warm tones and blues.
- Her mother Lois, when she's outside of her uniform, often wears casual turtlenecks or cleavage-enhancing tank tops with tight slacks and high heels.
- Popular girl Courtney Gripling wears pinks, blues, purples, and ice colors in feminine and trendy preppy separates and ensembles to reflect her wealth and popularity.
- Ginger's friends Dodie and Macie often wear clothing that makes them appear more childish than their peers with the key difference of Dodie wearing bold patterns and clothing items that run the risk of appearing like Rummage Sale Reject while Macie wears a nerd-chic look of sweaters or sweater vests with long-sleeved blouses and skirts.
- In Blue's Clues, Joe wears different shirts but they always have a pattern of three squares on them.
- In Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Daniel always wears knitted hoodies. The red one he normally wears is his favourite, but he also owns a blue one, a green one, and a yellow one.
- Fireman Sam: Across the three animation styles, these clothing traits remain consistent:
- Sam always wears blue; in the original series, he had a navy blue (almost black) fireman coat, as well as a blue undershirt and jeans for his casual wear. The 2003 redesign changes the fireman coat colour to more of a royal blue, which carries over into the CGI era.
- Sarah always wears pink, however the amount of pink decreases with time; she wore all pink in the original series, then only pink pants and shoes in the 2003 series, down to only a pink undershirt and pink shoes in the CGI era.
- Gravity Falls: Mabel's various outfits always consist of a colorful hand-made sweater (a different one every episode), a skirt, and a headband, coupled with the same white socks and black shoes.note This contrasts with her brother, who has been stated to wear the exact same outfit every day. Which he never washes.
- In The Magic School Bus, Ms. Frizzle wears a different dress and earrings every episode, but it's themed to match the subject being learned about in the episode.
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil: While most of the characters have a single default outfit with the occasional alternate outfits that they wear for certain events, Star cycles through a number of different dresses in most episodes that are all in a similar style and a light blue or dark teal color, with colorful striped tights and a pair of boots. She also almost always wears her red (or pink) horned headband.
- Steven Universe:
- Connie generally tends to dress in minty green or blue, and a lot of her outfits consist of lightly-colored shirts paired with a navy blue skirt or pants.
- Greg almost always wears a pair of dark grey pants and teal flip-flops as part of his casual outfits.
- Lars' outfits generally consist of skinny jeans with a rip in one of the knees, green sneakers, a long-sleeved undershirt, and a t-shirt. After he's revived and becomes a space pirate, he wears a captain's cape with skull earrings.
- Sadie's outfits usually include a pair of dark grey jeans and red shoes.
Real Life
- Queen Elizabeth II spent decades with her matching hat and dress ensemble in a monochrome colour because she was convinced that her own face and presence were rather invisible otherwise.
- Former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was frequently seen in shirtsleeves wearing a loosened red tie, in both real life and as depicted in political cartoons.
- Filmmaker Kevin Smith tends to be very consistent with what he wears in his public appearances: shorts, hoodies, sometimes Silent Bob's overcoat in the '90s and the early 2000s, jorts and custom hockey jerseys between then and his weight loss in the late 2010s, jorts and blazers of different colors since his weight loss. Somewhere during the late 2010s, he also started consistently wearing caps.
- Steve Jobs famously wore black turtlenecks and jeans. Characters who are trying to emulate the success of Jobs will often be shown mimicking this ensemble.
- Mark Zuckerberg is almost always seen wearing a neutral-colored plain t-shirt and jeans.
- Tom Wolfe was always seen in a white suit and bow-tie.
