Take Off Your Clothes



A comedy trope, also commonly used for ship teasing. One character, most usually a man, asks another, most usually a woman, to take off her clothes (or maybe just one particular item of clothing).

The important point is that the demand is never prurient in nature, and there is a perfectly pragmatic reason for the man to demand that the woman disrobe. Maybe the clothes are wet and she could catch a cold. Maybe they are too recognizable, and she needs to don a disguise. Maybe the man suspects there is a tracking bug (of the non-incredibly obvious kind) inside the outfit. Maybe he's a doctor and wants to give her a physical....

Whatever the case, however, the woman mistakenly concludes that the demand is sexual in nature, and reacts in kind... which can lead to different developments, among which:
 * The woman slaps the man around for being a pervert...
 * The woman, especially if she's romantically inclined toward the man, gets all flustered and bashful, arguing that it is too soon or not the right place and time and that they should wait for marriage... to the man's puzzlement.
 * The woman enthusiastically complies and strips, maybe taking off much more clothing than expected (like not stopping at the underwear), before trying to get frisky with the man before he could explain that he didn't mean it that way.

Either way, Hilarity Ensues.

To restate, this works only if the request is done innocently. If the man is just using the pragmatic reason as an excuse to see the woman naked, then it isn't this trope.

Contrast Please Put Some Clothes On or You Can Leave Your Hat On...

Anime & Manga

 * Happens early in Inuyasha. When he sees Kagome dressed as a Miko, Inu-Yasha soon asks her to take off the outfit. To which Kagome respond with a rock to the head and calling him a pervert. But Inu-Yasha doesn't want to see her naked (yet); it's just that with the priestess garb, she looks too much like Kikyō and that makes him uncomfortable.
 * In the last episode of Full Metal Panic Fumoffu, after a seemingly deadly virus spread to the school, Sōsuke drags Kaname to the infirmary and asks her to take off her clothes. Kaname reacts all flustered, believing he wants to make love to her before they'd die.
 * Ho Yay example: In From Eroica with Love, flamboyantly gay hero Dorian ends up wearing a pair of underpants that has a top-secret microfilm hidden in the trim (he doesn't know about this). Major Klaus (the antagonist/LoveInterest) hunts him down and demands he strip and hand over the undies, leading to a "why Klaus, I didn't know you cared" scene before Klaus puts him straight.
 * Eiken: Almost immediately after Densuke somehow ends up joining the Eiken club against his will, Kirika orders him to take off his clothes to wear a rather effeminate outfit. He begins to ask why and protest, but she forcefully makes him do it anyway... In fact, throughout the series, Kirika usually tells him to take off his clothes and then forcefully strips him mid-sentence.
 * Detective Conan (a.k.a. Case Closed): After Kazuha is attacked by a mysterious assailant in one case, Conan and Heiji find evidence that she may have been tased. Cue the two men storming into the room where she's resting up and demanding that she take off her clothes (with Conan going as far as doing it for her). One panel later, Heiji has a slap mark on his face (Conan is spared because he's "just a kid"), and a very red-faced Ran confirms that Kazuha does indeed have taser burns.
 * Ichigo says this to Renji in one infamous Bleach filler.
 * The Haruhi Suzumiya story arc The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya: Kyon, lost in an Alternate Universe, tries to talk to Mikuru, but she doesn't remember him. Then he mentions that the Mikuru he knows has a star-shaped birthmark on her chest -- and he asks her dumbly to show hers. This earns him a punch in the face.
 * In Fullmetal Alchemist, Scar says this exact line to Marcoh, seemingly out of the blue. Marcoh's initial reaction is one of complete bewilderment.
 * Not the exact example, but none of the Earthland!characters in Fairy Tail can't quite bear to see Edo!Gray in layer upon layer of jacket. They often demand that the counterpart to their guildmate wear about as much as their Gray does.
 * Female-and-female example: In Hidamari Sketch, a slip on the stairs by Miyako and a good catch by Yuno leads to the strap on the outer part of her uniform to come loose. This isn't too bad, as the uniform also has a white shirt, and Miyako is wearing a T-shirt underneath, to the disappointment of some boys. The strap problem leads Miyako -- and Yuno, who came along -- to the art preparation room, where Yoshinoya-sensei would sew it back together. While there, however, Yoshinoya notices a loose button on Yuno's shirt, and has her take it off, to her shock. (Though it is temporarily replaced with... whatever that is.)
 * Volume 6 of Futaba Kun Change starts right away with Female!Futaba worriedly saying "You want my clothes... off?" In fact, Misaki and Negiri just intend to make her a swimsuit for an idol festival. Though it starts out rather innocently, plenty of ecchi antics follow.
 * In To Aru Majutsu no Index, Accelerator eventually notices Last Order's Verbal Tic and asks her to take off her hood to show her face. Wearing only rags with the hood being part of them, she starts protesting... until Accelerator gets bored and tears said rags off. In the middle of the street. Granted, it was nighttime but still... While she was covering herself blushing like crazy, his reaction was a mere "huh" (as in, "oh, it's you").
 * Female to male example: In Dragon Crisis, Bianca tells Ryuuji to take off his clothes (since she's performing a physical examination on him). This being Dragon Crisis!, Hilarity Ensues.
 * In the Hetalia Bloodbath 2010, Germany asks both the Italy brothers to take off their clothes immediately after he chides them for wearing too little clothes for the winter weather. Italy enthusiastically complies, and so does Romano, who states that he is doing so only for his brother's sake.
 * Gamble Fish
 * Tomu asks his two female allies to take off their uniforms so he can wrap himself up in them, in order to protect him from a burning-hot cauldron.
 * Later in the series, Tomu takes the blanket that was covering Mika's naked body to protect him. Her immediate lines afterwards were for him to wait as they could take it slow when they get back to school.
 * In School Rumble, Harima tells Tenma to take off her clothes in the creepiest way possible, to the point that the eavsedroppers think he's about to rape her. Thankfully, Tenma's brain works in much the same way as Harima's, so she realizes he just wants her to take off her wet clothes so she doesn't catch a cold.

Comic Books

 * A non-verbal example can be found in this strip of the French comic Game Over (a spin-off to Kid Paddle).
 * Even sweet and innocent Archie Comics get in on the act, with Archie doing it to Betty (as shown in the page image). Find full details of that story here.

Films -- Animation

 * Arthur and the Invisibles: Arthur asks Selenia to give him the lace holding her top together, so he can use it as a grappling hook.
 * Aladdin: "Good teenagers take off their clothes."

Films -- Live-Action

 * A variation occurs in the French film Sur un arbre perché. The car containing the protagonists goes off a cliff but is caught in a tree on the way down. Later on, the girl decides to take her clothes off to sunbathe (keeping her undergarments on) and notices another man looking at her thoughtfully. She playfully asks whether she's giving him ideas, to which he responds: "Yes! A great idea! We'll take off our clothes and tie them together to climb down!" Unfortunately, the ladder isn't long enough and they end up losing it (and therefore all their clothes).
 * Happens in Ninja Assassin, probably as a lukewarm attempt at establishing some UST. Anyway, she gives him a Flat What, and he follows with, "Wash, but don't use soap." It Makes Sense in Context.
 * In Logan's Run, after emerging from water into a frozen cave, Logan suggests to Jessica that they should take their clothes off, lest they freeze to death. Jessica complies. However, the presence of some dry clothes means that the nudity is short-lived.
 * In Evolution, Ira is reading the periodic table printed on the back of Allison's T-shirt. He has a sudden idea, and when Allison asks him he explains and adds "Take off your shirt, I'll show you." Those Two Guys hanging around exclaim together, "YES!"
 * The Wesley Snipes film The Art of War has a scene where he tells his interpreter, Julia Fang (Marie Matiko), to disrobe because she might be bugged..
 * A classic version of this happens twice in the second Crocodile Dundee movie.
 * First Mick tells Sue, "Take your bra off." She responds that it's "hardly the time" due to being on the run from a drug lord and his goons. He then uses the bra as a distraction for said goons. (Although Mick does look disappointed that Sue removes it without taking her shirt off.)
 * Later in the same film, when he captures one of the two lead drug lords and holds a knife to his throat, Mick orders him to take his pants off... in order to disguise himself. The look on the captive's face says he believes a different interpretation.

Jokes

 * A lady returns home late at night and finds one of her servants in her bedroom. She approaches him and says "Take off my shoes." He takes off her shoes. "Take off my dress." He takes off her dress. "Take off my bra.", and he takes off her bra. "And if I see you one more time dressing up in my clothes, you're fired!"

Literature
"One evening Boss showed up, tapping his canes and whuffling [snip]. He settled heavily into the visitor's chair [and] said [snip] to me, "Take off your clothes." From any other man that would be either offensive or welcome, depending. From Boss it merely meant that he wanted my clothes off."
 * Harry Potter: Hermione tells Ron and Harry to do just this in book 7. It is simply because they would draw too much attention to themselves out in the Muggle world in their robes. (She has spare clothes in her Bag of Holding). The clothes she's telling them to take off aren't just robes, they're dress robes, since they had fled from Bill and Fleur's wedding reception.
 * Another version occurs in Robert Heinlein's novel Friday.


 * Of course, he is Then again, given that this is late Heinlein, perhaps that does not mean much.
 * A scene from Emily Rodda's Rowan of Rin counts. Strong Jonn, Marlie, and Rowan just swam through an underground ice-cold lake, and on the other side Marlie is all businesslike about, "Let's change clothes immediately so we don't get sick." -- but Rowan just utterly refuses. Marlie's astounded by this: the whole crux of the plot is about overcoming fear, and they've been through X number of horribly frightening things so far, and how can Rowan think this is a big deal? But Strong Jonn knowingly tells Marlie to turn her back so that modesty can be preserved. It's a really cute scene.
 * In Artemis Fowl, The Time Paradox, N°1 does this to Artemis and Holly at the same time, because the time stream is too fragile to allow extra objects in.
 * In Solo Command, Wedge orders his 2IC Wes to strip while doing so himself. It's part of an elaborate prank.

Live-Action TV
"Joey: The bigger the boobs, the bigger the bra, the bigger the bra, the bigger the wire! (makes "duh" gesture)"
 * In an episode of Friends, Joey asks for one of the girls to remove her bra (after first asking who had the biggest breasts). It turns out he wants a piece of wire to pop the lock on a car door -- they were locked out and it was snowing.


 * Babylon 5: In one scene, Ivanova walks into a slum clinic run by Dr. Franklin, and Franklin, without turning around, tells her to start by removing all her clothes. Ivanova replies by asking for flowers and a dinner first.
 * There's one in Stargate Atlantis when McKay, Carter and Dr. Keller are trapped in an abandoned mine: McKay suggests that everyone disrobe so they can make a rope by tying their clothes together. Keller is about to comply... then Carter produces a coil of actual rope which was in one of the boxes. And earlier, he suggested that Carter flash some young boys who are standing at the edge of the hole in order to get them to help.
 * Non-verbal example in Bones, episode "The Goop on the Girl". After Booth is nearly caught in a suicide bomber explosion, Brennan is busy recovering the human fragments on his clothes, and undresses him herself so he didn't compromise the evidence. Naturally, Camille enters the room when Booth is down to his underwear, to everybody's embarrassment (except Angela's).
 * The first episode of I Dream of Jeannie has Jeannie, newly arrived in Captain Nelson's house, dressed in one of his white shirts. Captain Nelson tells her to take off the shirt. Cue Jeannie shrugging and starting to unbutton it, whereupon he corrects himself, and tells her to change back to her genie outfit.
 * Done in Human Target at least few times. In one episode the hero and an attractive district attorney are speeding away from a bunch of bad guys, hero tells her to take off her clothes since she has a tracking device on her. She gets all naked on the back seat of the car while hero drives. After a while he tells her to put some clothes on since it's very distracting.
 * In the 2010 Hawaii Five 0 episode "Pilot", as Kono is doing an infiltration job, the villain Sang Min order her to take off her dress, so he can check she isn't carrying any bug. She has no choice but to comply, leading to a Lingerie Scene. Fortunately, the spying was being done with a pinpoint microphone from outside.
 * In Malcolm in the Middle, Malcolm ends up having to take Cynthia's sweater off after it catches on fire. He sees her new huge boobs.
 * Young Blades: In "The Exile", Charles demands this of Jacqueline so he can use the Musketeer uniform in a Dressing as the Enemy ploy. It's perfectly innocent to him because she's disguised as a man (her "brother", Jacques). She ends up distracting him with the apparent Non Sequitur, "Would you speak to my sister like that?"
 * On Wild Boys, a female bushranger holds Jack and Dan at gunpoint and demands they take off their trousers.
 * In The Two Ronnies' "Limerick Clinic" sketch, the doctor asks his patient to undress; a nurse, also in the room, promptly strips.
 * Played seriously in an episode of Murdoch Mysteries, when the protagonist (a detective in 1890s Toronto) actually does tell a black woman to take off her dress... and is horrified and embarrassed when she immediately does so. She assumed he meant to rape her in return for her co-operation; he just wanted to examine the bloodstains on it.
 * In the Doctor Who episode "Let's Kill Hitler", a goes clothes shopping... by crashing a fancy dinner and demanding, at gunpoint, "Take off your clothes!"

Video Games

 * A girl-to-guy example occurs in The World Ends With You. When Shiki sees that a button on Neku's pants isn't sewn on right, she demands he take off his pants to let her fix them. He doesn't really interpret it as a come-on, but he's incredibly uncomfortable around people and it's pretty awkward.
 * One scene in the first chapter of the Neverwinter Nights 2 mod "Dark Waters" has Heather demanding Daniel's belt so that she can construct a device to go rescue the player. Daniel has evinced an attraction to Heather before this point, so his responses are quite humorous.
 * One skit in Tales of the Abyss involves the party (minus Anise) complaining that inside a volcano, Jade seems to be walking off coolly while the rest is obviously getting too hot with the temperature... then the party suspects he's hiding some cooling Fon technique under his cloak... then Luke and the rest told Jade to take off his clothes and tried to strip him... only to be stopped by Tear.
 * At the end of the DeathGate computer game, Haplo rips his shirt open and dares his double (Sang-Drax in disguise) to do the same. When Sang-Drax complies, he reveals massive wounds crossing over his heart rune, which would have been fatal if Sang-Drax was who he claimed to be.

Visual Novels

 * In Fate Stay Night, Shirou does this to Issei. This wouldn't be so bad if he didn't get impatient and start taking his clothes off himself...

Web Comics
"Jack: The court tracks us through our food. I haven't eaten anything in days, so they can't find me. Annie: Wouldn't it make more sense for them to track us through our clothes? Those are also provided by the court. Jack: Good point. Maybe we should-- Reynardine: Do not finish this sentence if you know what's good for you, boy."
 * In this strip of Gastrophobia, Phobia doesn't take well to being asked "Take off your belt!" To be clear, if Filby wants the chronologium belt, it's only because he believe the material can help bring him back to his time.
 * A girl-to-girl example is Erika and Kimiko in this Megatokyo strip. Kimiko's expression in panel three says it all.
 * Gunnerkrigg Court has an example of this:


 * This strip from Arthur, King of Time and Space. Although Nimue doesn't think Merlin means it that way; she just doesn't have a nudity taboo.
 * El Goonish Shive has a scene where Girl!Elliot certainly looks ready to hammer Tedd for telling her to take her shirt off before he can hastily explain his wanting to test the particulars of Elliot's transformations. Of course, it doesn't help that Tedd both has a certain reputation and had suggested the same thing earlier for entirely perverted reasons.
 * in Magick Chicks, Cerise asks Brooke (from Eerie Cuties) for dating tips with girls (despite being straight; it's solely to get more popular at the all-girl school). Brooke thus drags Cerise to her bedroom and asks her to strip; Cerise obeys, despite being convinced that they'll end up having lesbian sex.

Western Animation

 * In the sixth season of Futurama, Zapp Brannigan suggests this to a pinned and dehydrated Leela so she can cool down, the first step of several to invoke an Adam and Eve Plot.
 * The Ren and Stimpy Show
 * In episode "Nurse Stimpy", Stimpy decides to give Ren a sponge bath. Ren's reluctant about taking off his fur, so Stimpy has to ask him to do that, eventually suggesting that he does it for Ren.
 * Another example is contained in "The Great Outdoors", where Stimpy decides to go skinny-dipping and has to talk Ren into stripping.
 * Wakfu, season 2 episode 8: While imprisoned in an Anti-Magic cell, the heroes have to throw some cloth over the device that neutralize their powers. However, all the first few attempts are failure, until the three males of the group are down to their underwear. Thus they turn toward their two female companions, Evangelyne and Amalia... who staunchly refuse to disrobe. Even when . But then they realize they omitted one piece of clothing: Yugo's Nice Hat.