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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"No cow was sacrificed to a greater cause."''
|'''Dave''', ''[[Drop the Dead Donkey]]''}}
There's a reason we call the trope "[[Draco in Leather Pants|Draco In
Leather's [[Badass]] associations originally stem from leather being the garb of choice for [[Badass Biker|bikers]], who wore it for practical reasons. One of the quickest ways to show that someone is [[Badass]] or sexy in a "[[All Girls Want Bad Boys|bad boy]]/[[The Vamp|girl]]" way is to dress them up in shiny black leather.
It ''will'' be ''black'' leather the vast majority of the time. Other colors just don't have the same effect in most cases, though white and red do sometimes work, as does the traditional brown. For increased [[
See also [[Spandex, Latex, or Leather]], [[Pretty in Mink]], [[Dominatrix]], and [[Leather Man]].
{{examples}}▼
For the colloquial meaning of "Hell-Bent for Leather", see the faster side of the various [[:Category:Velocity Index|velocity tropes]], especially [[Too Fast to Stop]].
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''. Takahashi seems to love this one.
** Surprisingly enough, though, it's mostly his ''protagonists'' that wear leather. Hell Kaiser Ryo in Season 2 of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' plays it straighter than most.
* Tsume in ''[[
* Naomi Misora and Mello in ''[[
* Edward Elric from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' is never seen without his leather pants and occasionally even leather jackets. He's regularly mocked for his tacky taste and gaudy fashion sense (at least, in the manga).
* Fate Testarossa of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has been fighting in a leather one-piece since she was ''nine.'' Before her mother, Precia, was first shown to viewers, many of them wondered why she let her child dress like that. Turns out that, besides being the [[Abusive Parents|worst mom ever]], she ''also'' dresses like that, and her device's most commonly used form is a [[Whip It Good|whip]].
* Nico Robin from ''[[One Piece]]'' wore a very tight, very leather ensemble during the CP9 story, complete with [[Zettai Ryouiki|grade A length]], [[Combat Stilettos|high heeled]] leather boots.
* In ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' [[The Movie|''Endless Waltz'']], Duo wore a leather jacket and matching pants.
* Kira Yamato often wear leather outfits as his civillian clothes, mainly in ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]''. They are usually complex designs with zipper sleeves and other strange styles.
* [[Designated Villain|Clair Leonelli]] of ''[[Heat Guy J]]'' wears black leather pants. (Like hats in Westerns, they are contrasted to [[The Hero|Daisuke Aurora's]] white jeans.)
* Archer of ''[[Fate/stay
* [[Panty
* Surprising amount of characters in ''[[Gunnm]]/[[Battle Angel Alita]]'', starting from the [[Broken Ace|heroine herself]] and [[The Ace|Zekka]], even though they technically don't really need clothing ''at all'', most of them being [[Hollywood Cyborg
* Former [[Badass Biker]] and now [[Troubled but Cute]] Riki wears a leather jacket and pants in ''[[
* On ''[[Tokko]]'', all members of Tokko wear leather jackets and pants except for Ryoko, who wears a standard police uniform.
* [[The Lancer|Joe]] [[Mr. Fanservice|Asakura]] from [[Gatchaman]] wore normal yet skintight clothes in the TV series, but he switches to leather pants and jacket in the OVA. [[Walking Shirtless Scene|Note that we only said "pants and jacket"...]]
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[The Authority]]'''s Midnighter. Head to toe.
* And his inspiration, [[Batman]] (though just ''what'' that costume's made of [[Depending
** Jason Todd/Red Hood wears a leather jacket most of the time.
* ''[[Planetary]]'s'' Jakita Wagner. Black leather body suit with red trim. And a bit on the front she leaves unzipped at all times to expose some of her cleavage.
* Durham Red in ''[[Strontium Dog]]'' is certainly fond of leather.
* The Raven royal family in ''Scion'' LOVE black leather.
* Most of the Front Line in ''[[No Hero]]'' wear non porous leather with special masks for protection.
* [[Blackhawk|The Blackhawks]] are a classic example. Zinda Blake, aka Lady Blackhawk, continues the tradition in ''[[Birds of Prey]]''.
* Chassis Mcbain's racing suit in ''[[Chassis]]''. It's not specified exactly what it is made of, but it certainly appears to be leather.
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* [[No Examples Please|Not an example]], but Scrooge [[McDuck]] utters this phrase when he sees a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|tidal wave]] of kangaroos go stampeding past him.
* The [[The Lord of the Rings
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* ''[[
▲* The [[The Lord of the Rings (Literature)/Fanfic Recs|Official Fanfiction University of Middle-earth]] gave us Elves in Black Leather. (There's some fanart as well.)
* Part of the Isuten Junior High uniform in ''[[
▲* ''[[Mario Kart (Video Game)|Mario Kart]]'' AU fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4777932/1/Firefly Firefly] stars a human Bowser whose [http://lightninglaveau.livejournal.com/990.html clothing tastes] consist almost solely of leather and spikes, likely inspired by Nintendo's official [http://raypc.webs.com/photos/Bowser/224252-bowser_1_.jpg designs] [http://www.bowsershrine.com/Images/Media/Renders/bowserdoubledash.jpg and] [http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/characters/images/bowser/bowser.jpg artwork] for him.
▲* Part of the Isuten Junior High uniform in ''[[Pretty Cure Heavy Metal (Fanfic)|Pretty Cure Heavy Metal]]'', for both the boys ''and'' the girls!
== Film ==
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** And again in ''Terminator 2''.
*** And once more in ''Terminator 3'', though with red leather, and increased sexiness.
* Most of the protagonists in ''[[The Matrix]]'' dress in a combination of leather and latex.
* ''Catwoman''.
* Late-night DJ [[Memetic Sex God|Midnight Mark]] wears clingy leather trousers in ''[[The Boat That Rocked]]''. Later lampshaded by Quentin.
* Selene from ''[[Underworld (
* [[Razor Blade Smile]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20180305192519/http://0to5stars-moria.ca/horror/razorbladesmile.htm
* Velma in the Scooby-Doo movie dresses in leather to seduce [[Seth Green]]'s character. Played for laughs because she sounds like she farts when she moves.
* ''[[Mad Max]]''
* ''[[Austin Powers]]'': [[Mimi Rogers]] in skintight black leather. Sweet Jesus...
* Heroic characters in ''[[The Deaths of Ian Stone]]'' generally avoid leather, but the [[Humanoid Abomination|Harvesters]] seem to have realized its intimidation factor. {{spoiler|[[Woman Scorned|Medea]]}} in particular really works it.
* Red is featured again in the Klingon dinner dress attire in [[Star Trek VI:
* Emmanuelle Singer in ''[[Frantic]]'', in [[Wrong Side of the Tracks|deliberate contrast]] to suit-wearing [[Harrison Ford]].
* [[Fight Club]]: Tyler Durden wears red leather and goes as far as to say that in an ideal world a man will own just one set of clothes for his entire life, made of leather. {{spoiler|He's supposed to be a subconcious representation of the repressed protagonist's idea of masculinity.}}
* Johann Schmidt from ''[[Captain America:
* The alternate title of the 1968 British-French film ''The Girl on a Motorcycle'' is ''Naked Under Leather''.
* In the movie, ''[[Eragon]]'' and just about everyone of importance wears leather of some kind. This is extremely [[Did Not Do the Research|not accurate]]. Justified, though not trope-wise, in that the wardrobe production was given little time to make the vast amounts of costumes needed, and someone had bought large quanties of leather; they had to use what they had, budget wouldn't allow more costs.
== Literature ==
* Arya from the ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]'' wears black leather in combat, presumably for [[Fan Service]].
** Well it wasn't for logic, the elves of the series were of the "die-hard vegan, would die rather than kill an innocent bunny" variety.
* ''Every'' male character in J.R Ward's ''[[Black Dagger Brotherhood]]'' wears black leather when fighting lessers.
* Sherrilyn Kenyon's ''[[The Dark Hunters|Dark Hunters]]'' series: [[Badass Army]] protecting the human world from things that go bump in the night.
* Caine, the [[Badass]] protagonist from ''Heroes Die'' always wears black leather.
* [[The Witcher|Geralt]] is almost never seen out of his favorite leather jacket with ''lots'' of silver trim and studs, and matching pants. Somewhat justified in that leather indeed was a material of choice for a combat wear in [[The Dung Ages]], and silver is useful [[He Who Fights Monsters|in his line of work]], but we sometimes almost get to ''hear'' [[The Dandy|Dandelion]] cringe at his friend's fashion sense.
* [[Kate Daniels]] bought her black leather jacket in her teenaged "bravo" days, when she was deliberating trying to invoke this trope. [[Character Development|Developing]] into a more mature, sensible adult doesn't stop her from wearing leather at every chance, though, because leather affords some protection from attacks.
* In her first appearance in [[
* The Doctor's companion Fitz, from the ''[[
* Harry Dresden's distinctive, enchanted black leather duster comes up frequently in ''The [[Dresden Files]],'' though its badassery is rarely explicitly stated. It ''is'' brought up when Harry needs clearance to enter a decidedly shifty night club, but Thomas is able to get him in because he's "A man in a black leather coat."
== Live-Action TV ==
* [[Xena: Warrior Princess|Xena, Ares and Callisto]] all say 'hi'! (Especially Ares... [[Mr. Fanservice|w00f]]!)
* Brian Kinney of ''[[Queer
* Diana Rigg as the archetypal Mrs. Emma Peel in her first season of ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]''.
** Honor Blackman before her.
* Stella, ''[[Project Runway]]'' season five contestant, sure loved her 'leatha.'
* Max from ''[[Dark Angel]]'' even had leather ''PANTS''. Hell, the whole X5 Escapees group were hell-bent on wearing leather jackets.
* [[Life
* ''[[
** When Willow is worried that [[Betty and Veronica|Oz is paying too much attention to the sultry Veruca]], she dresses up in leather pants to seduce him.
** Buffy and Faith are both seen wearing leather pants and jackets on more than one occasion, especially Faith. ''[[
** ''Especially'' Faith. And don't forget: Spike's leather coat is one he took off the corpse of a Slayer he killed. So maybe it '''is''' standard issue clothing.
** Spike and Faith prefer black leather jackets, but change to brown leather on occasions when they're trying to get in Buffy's good books.
*** Leather pants in the Buffyverse are colour coded. We have the:
{{quote|
Red Leather Pants of Righteousness (Worn by Buffy.)
Green Leather Pants of Jealousy (Worn by Willow.)
Pink Leather Pants of Enthrallment (Worn by Buffy.) }}
* ''[[
** And Illyria. Oh dear Christ, Illyria.
** Angelus's trademark is his leather pants, which Spike makes a hobby out of making fun of.
* Parodied in one or more [[Benny Hill]] sketches. Benny plays an actor playing a bad boy dressed all in leather while filming a scene. Not only is it not sexy (cause, y'know, it's Benny Hill), the leather squeaks so much whenever he moves that it drowns out recording the dialogue, especially when he sits on a leather covered chair.
* Ross on ''[[Friends]]'' tries to look cool for a date by putting on tight leather pants. Then he goes to the bathroom and finds that he ''can't put them back on''.
* ''[[
** Was described as a "long, hot slog in leather" and Claudia Black has been known to say that all she needed to perk her up when she was tired or burnt out was Ben to walk in wearing his leathers.
** There is a reason [[Warren Ellis]] described ''[[
* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' did this increasingly so as the series went on. By season five virtually the entire main cast are wearing as their standard off-world outfits: black leather jackets (McKay, Keller, and occasionally Sheppard), black leather jacket and pants (Teyla), or [[Badass Longcoat|black leather trenchcoats]] (Ronon). [[Planet of Hats|Then there's the Wraith]]...
* Intendent Kira in the [[Mirror Universe]] on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''.
* Seven of Nine's first Borg catsuit on ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''
* Fonzie from ''[[Happy Days]]''.
* Often seen on ''[[
** On the Charmed ones as well. Leather hit a peak from about 1998-2003.
* Lampshaded on ''[[Married...
{{quote|
* The Ninth Doctor's signature black leather jacket on ''[[
** Parodied in "Smith and Jones" in which a "Slab" slave is supposedly leather all the way through. to which, the Doctor says ''"Someone's got one hell of a [[Fetish]]"''
* [[Robot Girl|Cameron]] from ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' has a leather jacket.
* The short-lived series ''[[
* ''[[Drop the Dead Donkey]]''. On seeing Helen's
* Both heroes and villains in ''[[Blake's
** ''Especially'' Avon.
* The Mord-Sith in ''[[Legend of the Seeker]]'' (and the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' novels) are a blatant dominatrix archetype. With Cara a main character in season two, every episode is chock full of skin-tight red leather goodness (and somehow even more cleavage than Kahlan).
* Future Claire in season 3 of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' has quite the black leather ensemble.
* Seldom has black leather and studs looked better than on Evillll [[Wizards and Warriors (TV series)|Prince Dirk Blackpool]]. But it just doesn't work on his brother Prince Geoffrey.
* The [[Classy Cat Burglar]] Alex on ''[[White Collar]]'' is known to wear a black leather jacket and leather pants pretty often. [[Fridge Logic|Probably too tight for a good thief to conceal anything]], [[Fan Service|but we're not complaining]].
* When Ryu Terui first showed up in ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]'', he always wore a leather pants/jacket outfit in either red or black. After {{spoiler|defeating Weather}}, he switched to some kind of lighter material with leather patches on the shoulders and joints in red or blue.
* This seems to be the standard attire along with the [[Badass Longcoat]] for Makai Knights in GARO.
* In one episode of ''[[That '70s Show|That '70's Show]]'' Kelso gets a leather jacket because he wants to look like [[Marlon Brando|Brando]] in ''[[
* ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'' gives us [[Fan Service|Damon Salvatore]], who is the king of this Trope. Stefan tries, but somehow it doesn't have quite the same effect.
* Alex Krycek of ''[[The X
** Mulder himself has been seen wearing a leather jacket.
* The Gorma Triumvirate in ''[[Gosei Sentai Dairanger]]''.
* Emma usually wears a red leather jacket in ''[[Once Upon a Time]]''.
== Tabletop Games ==
* Leather armor is, fittingly enough, the armor of choice of rogue classes, especially in ''[[Dungeons
* The "Leather armor" card in ''[[Munchkin]]''.
* In ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade
==
* [[Stranglehold|Tequila Yuen]] sports a brown one and pulls it off. Maybe it's because he is Chow Yun Fat...
* Trish from ''[[Devil May Cry]]''.
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* All of Organization XIII in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series wear long, black leather trenchcoats. Perhaps this has something to do with their [[Draco in Leather Pants]] status among the fandom.
** Also, [[Evil Makeover|Riku]] and [[Dress-Coded for Your Convenience|Va]][[Obviously Evil|ni]][[Malevolent Masked Man|tas]] pretty much fit this trope, y'know, with their tendencies to [[Draco in Leather Pants|wear odd outfits made of some ambiguous leather]] [[Evil Feels Good|made of Darkness]].
* Etna from ''[[
** In ''[[Disgaea 4:
* Haken Browning from Super Robot Taisen OG: Endless Frontier. His outfit is a black leather trench coat. He is ridiculed for complaining of overheating during the groups journey through East Elftale.
* ''[[Fallout]]'', after ''Mad Max'' above. Complete with one arm missing.
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* A lot of the characters in ''[[Brutal Legend]]'', but the Fire Barons, Zaulia, and Tainted Coil are standouts.
** This trope especially applies to Lita Halford, who wears a sexy outfit that consists of a [[Bare Your Midriff|midriff-baring]], cleavage-enhancing leather halter top and skin-tight leather pants.
** Special mention to the Baron leader who is modeled after [[Judas Priest
* Ezio Auditore of ''[[
* K' and Kula Diamond from The King of Fighters.
{{quote|
* Albert Wesker of the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' ''used'' to wear just normal-looking combat gear in the first game and ''Code Veronica.'' However, he shows up in 5 wearing head-to-toe black leather ''complete'' with a leather [[Badass Longcoat]], just in case the viewer still wasn't completely sure about his alignment.
* Squall Leonhart from [[Final Fantasy VIII]] has his famous black leather and lion fur jacket and matching pants. On the opposite side, [[The Rival]] Seifer wears a white leather trenchcoat.
* Sephiroth of ''[[Final Fantasy]] VII'' fame, in black. His Gackt-Expy [[The Rival|rival]] Genesis from ''[[Crisis Core]]'' shops at the same place, but goes for red.
* [[Soul Calibur]]'s Voldo seems to have attended the Psycho mantis School of Fashion. {{spoiler|"Siegmare"}} wears leather pants as well, but he's far easier on the eyes, {{spoiler|even with a freak arm}}.
* The Dark Queen from ''[[
* Aside from her [[Badass Cape]], Karst's outfit in ''[[
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[Miscellaneous Error]]'', the main feature of Jack's [[Limited Wardrobe]] is a leather [[Badass Longcoat]].
* [[Girl Genius|Von Pinn]].
== Web Originals ==
* According to [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series
* Benedict from Warlock Games is an interesting aversion: although he wears leather, he leaves the one fight he helps in abruptly and eventually {{spoiler|dies offscreen.}}
* [[The Nostalgia Chick
* [[The Angry Joe Show
== Western Animation ==
* The Lead Eliminator in ''[[The Fairly
* [[Whip It Good|June]] the [[Bounty Hunter]] from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''.
* Vanessa Doofenshmirtz in ''Phineas and Ferb''.
* Episodic character [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|Sigmund the]] [[The Rival|Sorcerer]] from ''[[Fanboy and Chum Chum]]''.
== Real Life ==
* [[Jim Morrison]]. This was memorably deconstructed by [[Mitch Benn]] in the intro to his song "Stinky Pants":
{{quote|
* Gerard Way from [[My Chemical Romance]] used to wear leather jackets until they fell apart. See above, speculation on how bad Jim Morrison's pants smelled.
** "I have a leather jacket that could turn your stomach..."
* [[Joan Jett]] is a good female example of this- she's frequently seen in leather pants or jackets, or head-to-toe leather outfits. (Though if the leather flag sticker on her guitar is indication, this may be more than just a fashion choice.)
* Many metal artists, including [[Trope Namer]] [[Leather Man|Rob Halford]] with a similarly titled [[
* Red Commissars and Chekists of the [[Red October|Russian Civil War era]]. Their uniform included a black leather [[Commissar Cap|peaked cap]] (replaced with a red headscarf for female commissars), a black leather jacket and jackboots. Particularly [[Action Girl|Ksanka]] in the Soviet action movie ''The Crown Of The Russian Empire, or The Elusives Again''.
** The crew of Trotsky's personal armored locomotive train wore red leather
** Younger panzer crews in Nazi Germany, particularly in regiments which were formed in the middle to late war years, were fond of wearing U-boat crew leathers.
**** Both of the above had practical considerations, as both train crews and panzer crews were working with hot machinery that could probably set cloth on fire. Plus it really did look pretty badass. So... yeah.
**** Many steam-locomotive crews wore either a jacket or a vest made of thick black leather, to aid in protection from inclement weather in the open cabin and from searing-hot metal parts. Knowing [[Up to Eleven|how dirty one gets when dealing with coal dust and also how dirty is the job]] of lubricating the running gear of the locomotive with grease guns and oil dripper cans, they were [[Dirty Jobs|worse]] than Jim Morrison.
* Los Angeles-based clothing designers Lip Service are quite fond of this, as it's been their longest running line for about 15 years.
* Of the red leather variety: [[Michael Jackson|Thriller]].
* Early aircraft pilots wore fur lined leather jackets for the warmth, leading to Bomber Jackets.
* Suzie Quatro. Especially [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk6kvVGPURA here]
* Women have become the biggest consumer group for leather, surprisingly enough, during the 2010s. Most of the time it's leather ''pants'' that are worn rather than jackets, since they're skin-tight and allow the woman to flaunt her ass and [[She's Got Legs|legs]] (and get a few men interested) without being too inappropriate. Some women take it even further and wear ''latex'' pants, which mostly achieve the same effect, except they're smooth and very shiny.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Costume Tropes]]
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