Limited Wardrobe: Difference between revisions

[[File:limitedwardrobe1.jpg|frame|That one gray shirt must be for special occasions.]]

 

 

The character always wears the same outfit, regardless of the setting or season. Winter (or at least a [[Christmas Episode]]) may sometimes see the addition of a heavy coat, but circumstances will conspire to put the character in a situation where they must shed the coat, at which point it is never seen again. (A more likely choice is a hat, scarf, and perhaps mittens, which imply colder weather without obscuring the character's trademark wardrobe).

* Lampshaded in a 1990s [[McDonald's]] commercial which showed [[Ronald McDonald]] in his morning routine, including opening a closetful of identical clown suits while pondering "what to wear, what to wear..."

 

* All the main characters of ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' have signature outfits that they always wear. Perhaps explained by their being dirt poor.

* In ''[[Durarara!!]]'' Shizuo Heiwajima is always seen in his bartender uniforms even though he no longer works as a bartender

** They do sometimes wear more practical outfits for an assassination-job, along with occasional disguises, but this is done very inconsistently. Sometimes Mireille does her work in top, miniskirt and high heels, even though she would have had plenty of time for switching to a better outfit.

** [[Stalker with a Crush|Chloe]] from the same series takes the opposite tack. While she occasionally is seen in tunics at the [[Ancient Conspiracy|Soldats']] headquarters her entire closet at her Paris apartment is filled with identical green cloaks. Another episode has her closet filled with colourful, frilly dresses - that she never, ever wears. Supposedly it's a reference to her seiyuu's previous role as Tomoyo of ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]''.

* Similarly, Maia in the anime ''[[Daphne in the Brilliant Blue]]'' wears the same fancy party dress every day, when she's not in agency "uniform" or a disguise—and sometimes as ''part'' of a disguise.

* In the same vein, Ishida Uryuu in ''[[Bleach]]'': after his mantle is destroyed, he pulls out an identical spare. Other than this, however, the anime is known for providing its characters with a very wide variety of unique casual wear when not in their school uniforms.

* The various ''[[Zoids]]'' anime are particularly grievous examples. In all four seasons, most of the characters have one or two outfits each, their "day" wear and what they wear when driving their Zoid - and even then, the latter seems optional. The only time a character will wear something else is if the plot needs it.

* The [[Royal Blood|royalty]] and [[Blue Blood|nobility]] of ''[[Le Chevalier d'Eon]]'', even thought their few clothes are still [[Pimped-Out Dress|Pimped Out Dresses]].

** Justified in that they're {{spoiler|just animated dolls}}.

* Just about every character in ''[[Soul Eater]]'' has a trademark outfit, and with recent chapters, sometimes even two or more.

 

 

* In the ''[[X Wing Series]]'' comics, Wedge Antilles basically wears only three outfits: orange Republic flightsuit when flying, white-and-black formal uniform in formal occasions, and his civilian clothes, which consist of black boots, blue pants, brown jacket, and a vertically-striped turtlenecked shirt. Anything else, and he needs a plot reason to wear it.

* While most supervillains have actual costumes and can thus be a little justified in this, Ox of [[Marvel Comics]]' Enforcers just wears a distinctive set of normal clothes that serves the same function but without the justification. Apparently he just likes turtlenecks, vests, and khaki slacks. The other Enforcers have a similar deal going on but tend to mix it up a little more often.

* The [[The Sandman|other Sandman]] can wear pretty much anything he or whoever is looking at him can imagine, but when he's alone, he always wears the same emo ensemble of black t-shirt, black pants, and black boots. His sister is much the same, with a tank-top instead of a t-shirt and an ankh necklace.

** He seems to think it is. He's said at least once that it's not a costume, and he is "simply The Tick."

* From the ''[[Shazam]]'' comics Billy Batson, the original Captain Marvel, is one of the few mainstream superheroes who embodies this trope in his secret identity. From the Golden Age through to the 21st century, Billy is almost always depicted as wearing the same blue jeans and red sweater with a yellow collar. (At least he stopped wearing the saddle shoes after a while!)

* In issue 85 of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' comic, a pair of marketing experts decide that the Simpsons are the perfect indicator of popular culture, and model all of their company's products- including clothes- after their lifestyle. Cut to everyone in Springfield dressed like the Simpsons. After everything returns to normal, Marge reveals that she bought all of the duplicates of their normal wear. in the final panel, a small box with a Matt Groening pops up and Groening says, "And ''that's'' why the Simpsons always wear the same clothes!"

* [[Steelgrip Starkey And The All-Purpose Power Tool]] and his partner Flynn "Flyin'" Ryan almost always wear the same clothes—a red short-sleeve shirt and blue jeans for Steelgrip, and overalls and a white T-shirt for Flynn. Justified in Steelgrip's case because it's his company uniform.

 

=== Fan Works ===

* Lampshaded in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series]]''. When Yugi appears in a different outfit, he remarks, "Isn't anyone going to notice I'm not in my school uniform?"

* Both John and Ringo in ''[[With Strings Attached]]''. Not by choice, though. John's [[Winged Humanoid|physiognomy]] is such that he really can't wear too much. And because they do a lot of universe shifting with little time to prepare, Ringo gets stuck in the same all-green outfit throughout the third part of the Third Movement and the entire Fourth Movement (he had a chance to buy a new outfit briefly but spent all his money on [[Healing Potion|healing potions]] and gifts instead because he thought he was going home). His outfit ends up pretty grimy and smelly.

 

=== Films ===

* In ''[[The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus]]'', [[Louis Cypher|Mr. Nick]] always wears the same outfit (black suit, overcoat, and bowler, grey waistcoat, red bow tie), even in a flashback to his first meeting with Doctor Parnassus a thousand years in the past.

* ''[[Up in the Air]]'': Natalie only ever wears her business suit although there is a more relaxed version where she takes the jacket off and lets her hair down while partying. This is [[Truth in Television]] since she is fresh out of college and new to business. Presumably she wouldn't be able to afford several smart pieces of work attire yet.

 

=== Literature ===

* A central plot point in the children's story "[[Milly-Molly-Mandy]] has a New Dress" by Joyce Lankester Brisley. Milly-Molly-Mandy wants to exchange her pink-and-white striped dress for a new dress with flowers on it, but meets a girl named Bunchy who only wears flowery dresses and decides Bunchy should have it instead. Lampshaded by little-friend-Susan: "If Milly-Molly-Mandy didn't wear her pink-and-white stripes people might not know her at once. And that would be a pity!"

* In Patrick Senecal's ''Aliss,'' a [[Bloodier and Gorier]] twist on ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'', Bone ([[The Mad Hatter]] [[Expy]]) is wearing the same [[Awesome Anachronistic Apparel|Victorian suit and top hat]] every time Aliss sees him. After a while, Aliss begins to wonder if he has an entire closet filled with identical clothes.

 

=== Live Action TV ===

** Boss Hogg was rarely seen without his white continental suit and cowboy hat.

** The sheriff's department – Rosco, Enos and Cletus – were almost always seen in their sheriff's uniforms.

* Steve from preschool show ''[[Blue's Clues]]'' has the same outfit, including the green-striped shirt, in every episode while his "brother" Joe has a variety of different outfits.

** Although all of Joe's outfits were the same design just with a different color.

* ''[[Torchwood]]'''s Captain Jack Harkness: blue shirt, dark trousers with braces, and a rather iconic RAF greatcoat (apparently Ianto's first priority after breaking Jack out of jail is to find a replacement coat for the one that got blown up).

** Ianto's wardrobe seems to entirely consist of impossibly well styled three-piece suits.

* The various ''[[Power Rangers]]'' series' have a variation of this: while the actual outfits of the characters may change, the outfit is always predominantly, if not entirely, of that character's color as a Ranger. In ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'', Tommy Oliver, who has been a [[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|Green, White]], and [[Power Rangers Zeo|Red Ranger]] in previous series', hangs a lampshade on this by complaining about having to change his wardrobe when he becomes a Black Ranger.

** In ''Mighty Morphin'', the background cast also didn't vary their dress much.

** To mention Tommy again, he wasn't immune to this from the start, especially when he was in his "evil" phase. Apparently being mind-controlled makes you want to keep to a select wardrobe. Even afterwards, that one green flannel shirt showed up in a ''lot'' of his outfits.

* While all of the characters of ''[[LazyTown]]'' have one default outfit, most of those can be excused because the character is either a puppet or a superhero. Stephanie has the most variable wardrobe for non-plot reasons, especially in season 2, but Robbie Rotten is only ''ever'' seen in a red-and-purple striped suit or red-and-purple striped pajamas except for plot-related disguises, despite an extremely large and apparently magical wardrobe.

* On ''[[Lizzie McGuire]]'', Tudgeman always appears wearing the same yellow polo shirt. That doesn't seem to be washed frequently (if at all).

* Clark in ''[[Smallville]]'' wears a red jacket over a blue shirt 95% of the time, as an homage to his [[Superman|future superhero identity's colors.]] In fact, one of the dead giveaways to the viewer that an evil alien clone was masquerading as him was that the clone was wearing those colors inverted.

* Justified on ''[[Lost]]:'' Most of the characters are plane crash survivors living on a deserted island, and the only clothes they have access to are the ones in the luggage that survived the crash, and so they often wear the same outfit for several episodes at a time.

** Further justified by the fact that multiple ''Lost'' episodes routinely took place over the course of a single day. For example the framing portions of "Dr. Linus", "Recon", "Ab Aeterno", and "The Package" all took place on the same day.

** While most characters would change the wardrobe every few episodes, Frank Lapidus only got to change his clothes once over the course of ''three full seasons''.

* Contrajustified on ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'': they're a zillion light-years from home, they have to make do with what they can scrape together, but the top priority is getting the rebels out of their leather trench coats and steampunk armor, and into the exact same Starfleet uniform as everyone else. Flag on the play.

* In ''[[Knight Rider]]'' (1982), Michael Knight always wore a polo shirt (often red, sometimes blue or pink... don't ask about the pink) underneath a leather jacket, with jeans. It helps a lot with [[Stock Footage]].

** The 2008 series has Michael Knight (Jr.) with a gray t-shirt and khakis. For cold weather, Michael wears a red long sleeved shirt underneath the gray t-shirt. Word of God says that the iconic leather jacket will come into play later in the season.

* Justified for Annie in ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'': she's a ghost, and always wears the clothes she died in. However, there are subtle changes depending on her mood, etc. The benchmark seems to be her strength and confidence in herself; the stronger she is, the more form-fitting her outfit is, but when she's more scared and self-conscious, she develops more layers to hide in.

* Jamie Hyneman on ''[[MythBusters]]''.

* Kotaro Minami from ''[[Kamen Rider Black]]'' and ''[[Kamen Rider Black RX]]''. {{spoiler|In a recent press conference to promote the upcoming crossover movie in ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'' his actor is seen wearing an updated version of one of his old jackets.}}

* [[Columbo]] wears a shabby raincoat, an odd asymmetrical haircut, and a tiny cheap cigar. Equally iconic was Peter Falk's real glass eye that caused him to constantly look at things crooked.

* Patrick Jane, ''[[The Mentalist]]'', only seems to own the one set of clothes (brown shoes, dark blue suit, light blue shirt, no tie, blue waistcoat).

* Understandable on ''[[Farscape]]'', where the characters are refugees and former prisoners who are frequently on the run. However, over the course of the series their wardrobes ''did'' evolve, reflecting the [[Took a Level in Badass|levels of badass]] they were all accruing. The most obvious case was when Crichton gave up his IASA jumpsuit for Peacekeeper leather.

* Ben Matlock on ''[[Matlock]]'' always wore the same light colored suit in court. One episode even made fun of this when his daughter tried to get him to wear more modern custom suits for an episode.

** There are some inconsistencies, including both Chloe and Rush getting new outfits. From a production perspective this makes sense as the alternative would be them wandering around in alien jumpsuits for the rest of the series.

* Justified in the reality shows ''[[Survivor]]'' and ''[[The Amazing Race]]''. On the former, teams are dumped in a remote location with only the clothes on their back, while in the later teams have to carry their entire wardrobes on their back.

* Played completely straight in ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' and ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]''. One assumes the costume designers didn't want to create any alternate outfits.

** It's justified, though, in that the main characters of both series [[Walk the Earth]]. It's not like they'd have a place to store alternate outfits.

* Japanese comedian Toshiaki Kasuga wears the exact same outfit for nearly every appearance he makes (both in ''and out of character''): White pants and a pink sweater vest over a white shirt and an orange tie.

* Both Sheriff Carter and Deputy Lupo only ever wear their uniforms on [[Eureka]], so, justified. In the pilot, though, Carter has a different justification, as he's not yet Sheriff. He spends several days only wearing one suit. He's stranded in a small town by a car wreck and only ''has'' the one suit.

 

 

=== Video Games ===

* ''[[Street Fighter]]'' does this a bit. Ryu is only ever seen in a karate gi (apparently, it's all he ''has'' to wear), Sakura still wears a schoolgirl uniform even when she's supposed to be ''20'', Dan only ever wears a pink gi, and even when M. Bison [[Grand Theft Me|changes bodies]], he's always got the same getup. Not to mention Zangief running around in a Speedo... in the cold Russian north... at playgrounds full of children...

** Averted with two characters in ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' games: Athena and Benimaru receive new costumes with every sequel. This also holds true to the [[Capcom vs. Whatever|crossover games.]] Kyo, Terry, and Kensou also have gotten new duds in the series, but not at the frequency the former two have.

* [[Justified Trope]] in ''[[Devil Survivor]]'', as the characters are caught in a lockdown a good distance from their homes for the course of the game.

* ''[[Disgaea]]''. Most of the female characters have more than one outfit, but for the guys, it's to the point where Laharl ''[[Fridge Logic|sleeps with shoes on]].''

** In the ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'', Link's limited wardrobe is taken even further: Link is actually shown going to sleep and waking up in the same clothing he wears all day. He does change to a different outfit early in the game—his traditional green ensemble—but this only serves to make it more ridiculous, since he is thereafter shown sleeping in his chain mail.

* In [[Katawa Shoujo]], the girls typically have one casual outfit each, which they often wear for days on end. Lilly is possibly the best example, as she changes into her casual outfit of a peach off-the-shoulder sweater and a long tan skirt the most often, and {{spoiler|the outfit is the first thing he notices about her when she visits him in the hospital in the Good Ending}}. Hisao himself seems to only have one outfit- of a blue argyle sweater vest, a button down shirt and khaki pants.

 

=== Web Animation ===

** Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch always appear in the same clothing.

** Justified for Team RNJR in Volume 4, as they're on the road with little more than what they can carry on their backs.

 

* ''[[Adventurers!]]'' makes fun of the fact that [[Fight in The Nude|changing a video game character's equipment doesn't change that character's appearance.]]

* The main characters of ''[[8-Bit Theater|Eight Bit Theater]]'', it being a sprite comic, have so far only changed clothes to represent their class change.

* [[Walkyverse]] examples: Danny has his Indiana University sweatshirt, Sal has her mother's jacket, Mike has his black shirt with the SEMME yellow stripe, Jason has his suit, Walky has his sweatshirt...in fact, for most of ''It's Walky!'' all SEMME members qualify. It's somewhat justified in ''[[Shortpacked]]'', as most of the comic takes place in the titular toy store and therefore they mostly wear their work uniforms.

** Willis consciously averts this in ''[[Dumbing of Age]]'', instead giving his characters color motifs and recurring types of clothing, though as a [[Mythology Gag]] some things are remarkably similar to the original 'verse—Walky, for example, retains his sweatshirt (now stripe-less), Jason retains his bowtie, Ethan has a lot of green button-downs, Ruth's black-on-green ensemble in the first story arc evokes her original black overalls, and so forth.

 

=== Web Original ===

=== Western Animation ===

* Many of the western animation examples that follow below are of programs that originally aired on Saturday mornings, where children are the primary audience. The reasons vary, but one example can be what's stated in the explanation: children find it easier to identify a character by keeping what the character's wardrobe identical from episode to episode (along with hairstyle and other identifying characteristics remaining consistent). The trope is typically broken only when it relates to the plot, such as the characters going to a formal party (for instance, a pretty college-age girl who always wears a green T-shirt with her high school's name printed across the upper chest and blue jeans would not be acceptable, so she wears an evening gown to the party).

** Shaggy and (obviously) Scooby didn't actually change notably. Velma's outfit is identical, what's changed is that now she's got a figure (compared to the original series, when her body could be described as "boxy" at best, although I prefer "Hazmat drum on legs".) The change probably had something to do with the fact that Linda Cardellini (who played Velma in the live-action movies) is hot and looks really good in a bikini.

** In some of the newer animated movies, all of the human characters but Shaggy wear a variety of updated clothes, although Daphne still always wears something violet and Velma still looks nerdier then Fred and Daphne. They lampshade their previous consistency when they get sucked into a video game a friend of theirs made of their adventures. The computer version of them are all wearing traditional outfits. Daphne says that they must not have seen their friend often enough because he hasn't noticed their fashion changes. Then everybody stares at the two Shaggys who are identical except for the color of their T-shirts and the real Shaggy says "why mess with a classic?"

*** ''[[Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island]]'' took more than a few shots at [[Lampshade Hanging]] this, including Shaggy (who had the same outfit as always) opening a suitcase full of green shirts and then pondering what to wear and Fred (who had a new outfit for the movie) secretly posing in a mirror with his old scarf before discarding it in disgust.

** Used humorously in a [[Cartoon Network]] promo, where Mystery Inc. is waiting for someone in the van. It's Velma, barefoot, shuffling through drawers of socks trying to find orange colored ones.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Animated Series]]'' had an excuse since its characters all wore uniforms, but being a [[Filmation]] product, it still needed to cut corners further—Uhura's earrings never changed, and at least one ''Trek'' professional has complained about it.

** They also created force-field belts for this purpose, so that they could only slightly modify stock footage for those scenes, instead of having to animate the crew in the full spacesuits (which themselves only appeared in live-action once before [[Star Trek: The Motion Picture|The Motion Picture]]).

{{quote|'''Ray Ray:''' I am ''never'' taking off this shirt again!

'''Monroe:''' Hate to break it to ya, lad, but you never do. You're like Charlie Brown. }}

* The boys of ''[[South Park]]'' are defined almost entirely by their clothes, and this is parodied in "How To Eat With Your Butt", which features the boys without their caps on Picture Day. In another episode, Kenny is unrecognizable without his orange coat. In the episode "Super Best Friends", all of the people of South Park had shaved their heads and were wearing the same clothes, which made it impossible to tell them apart (Stan had to find Kyle by using their [[Catch Phrase]]). Kenny also removed his coat in the SP movie, revealing he has blond hair. Cartman is probably the major exception because he's visibly fatter regardless of clothes.

** Exploited for an [[Un Reveal]] in "The Coon": when Mysterion takes off his mask, everyone gasps and comments on how they never thought it would be ''him''—but the viewers have no idea who it is.

** Lampshaded in episode "Ghost Channel", when a "bug" in the ''Matrix''-like simulation makes Sissi wear a yellow shirt.

* Apart from seasonal changes (winter, summer), nightwear, disguises, and other special occasions, the characters in ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' always wear the same. Chip always wears an aviator jacket and a fedora hat (with the exception of ''To the Rescue'' part 1 and half of part 2 before he finds the hat), Dale always wears a red Hawaiian shirt with yellow "flower" prints, Monterey Jack always wears a coat, a green turtleneck, an aviator cap, and a pair of matching goggles upon said cap (in one episode, he actually wears a ''second'' [[The Goggles Do Nothing|pair of goggles over his eyes]] in addition to the ones on his cap), Zipper always wears the red sweater, and Gadget always wears her trademark lavender coveralls with a purple belt, a pair of blue lab goggles, and a white shirt (which keeps disappearing, though). Apparently, Gadget also owns only one dress, specifically the red one from ''Double 'O Dale'' and ''Mind Your Cheese & Q's''.

* In ''The Transformers'', Spike and his father, Sparkplug, wear construction worker style clothing theoughout the series, and Spike's girlfriend, Carly, wears the same blue outfit and white collared shirt until the post-movie era. Spike and Carly's son, Daniel, typically wears an outfit with a monogramed 'D', a la Laverne [[De Fazio]].

* In ''[[G.I. Joe]]'', Cobra Commander either has a metal face-guard helmet or a cloth mask, with no particular pattern to when he changes them. I've seen him flicker between the two in the space of a single CCTV transmission.

** Inverted by Roger, one of whose defining character traits is his vast wardrobe of costumes and wigs.

** The cast of [[Seth MacFarlane]]'s other shows ''[[Family Guy]]'' and ''[[The Cleveland Show]]'' also qualify, although they do dress up for special occasions.

* ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'': Rocko always wears the same blue shirt with purple triangles, Heffer always wears the same red overalls, Mr. Bighead always wear the same suit, etc.

** The episode "Unbalanced Load" centered around Rocko doing his laundry (a pile of identical shirts) while wearing his "lucky shirt" (another identical shirt.)

* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' is an interesting case in that it played this trope straight for the first two seasons and later on subverted it. Everyone wore the same outfits. As the quotes page shows this was lampshaded at times. But in the later seasons Kim started wearing different outfits, although other characters still wore the same thing.

* In ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'', except for one single scene when he is undercover with Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen wears the same outfit for literally ''every scene'' in the ''entire series''. This includes when he is working his day job, going out on a date, and even when taking photographs during an alien invasion. Clark Kent predominately wears the same blue suit, but there is some variety depending on the situation (He is seen wearing pajamas when getting ready for bed, casual clothes with his family, etc.). Lois Lane has the greatest variety; there is a common [[Palette Swap]] on her daily clothes, and she wears numerous evening gowns for dinners, workout clothes when jogging, pajamas, and other outfits depending on the situation.

* [[Walking Shirtless Scene|Just a hat and pants for most of the male Smurfs]] in ''[[The Smurfs]]''.

* The cast of ''[[Fanboy and Chum Chum]]'', the titular duo being the guiltiest. They never take their superhero costumes off, even for bathing.

* [[Beavis and Butthead]] only have two outfits each: the [[MTV]] look (Metallica and AC/DC t-shirts) and the merchandising look (Skull and Death Rock t-shirts).

* Lampshaded in ''[[Futurama]]'', when Fry initially moved into Bender's apartment, which an area of roughly three square feet, not counting the closet. He asks where can he hang his clothes, and Bender responds, "Listen, you've only got one set of clothes, and you're not taking them off while I'm around." This is actually justified, since Fry is from the past/present, all he'd have coming out of the cryotube was the clothes currently on him.

* The kids on ''[[Recess]]''- even the fashionable [[One Steve Limit|Ashleys]] - only change their clothes when it relates to the plot. Examples: picture day, Spinelli dressing up for the pageant, TJ and Vince dressing as boy detectives "The Barnaby Boys."

* Each and every character on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' is limited to one outfit unless there's a special occasion (needing to perform in a band, snow days, etc). Lampshaded in the episode "Snowrilla", in which Jimmy confesses that he wears the same shirt everyday, followed by a [[Gross Up Close-Up]] to show how tattered and filthy the shirt actually is.

 

=== Real Life ===

* [[The White Stripes]] dress exclusively in white, red and black. This does not extend to appearances and performances with their side projects, though.

* [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] has almost always been seen in a loud Hawaiian shirt, black trousers, and brightly-patterned Vans shoes since the 1980s.

** Until Al had his vision corrected with LASIK eye surgery in the 1990s, his distinctive large wire-rimmed eyeglasses were also part of his trademark look.

* Jay Leno. Lampshaded [http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/1996-dodge-viper-gts-coupe/1253617/ here].

* In general, people have favourite items of clothing that they like to wear often. Once you start to notice how that one girl at work always wears a plaid shirt, it [[Cannot Be Unseen]].

* [[The Cape (trope)|Cain Blueriver]] from ''[[Lost Universe]]'' had a literal closet with dozens of those capes of his, which he frequented after [[Clothing Damage|his escapades]].

* L from ''[[Death Note]]'' [http://i39.tinypic.com/o6i6qg.jpg really does have][http://i40.tinypic.com/2ennnk5.jpg a million of the same outfit.] During his time in the series {{spoiler|other than the flashbacks to his childhood}}, he pretty much never wore anything else. including while pretending to be a paramedic. {{spoiler|He's still wearing that outfit even as a ghost. Yep.}}

** Also, Kazuma only owns one outfit.

* Ruby of ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' has been shown to have multiple identical outfits, including multiple versions of his [[Nice Hat]].

* Wilhelmina Carmel from ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'' wears a maid outfit at all times. The third season shows her getting several identical copies of that outfit out of her closet.

 

* In the 1990s ''Power of [[Shazam]]!'' comic, Billy Batson always wore a red shirt with a yellow collar (the same shirt he wore in the Filmation series mentioned above). In one issue, he explains he bought twelve identical shirts because they were cheap.

** Also Inverted in that series when Billy discovers that, by concentrating on what he wants to look like as he says the magic word, he can transform into Captain Marvel in just about any clothing he likes—and he can change the length of Cap's hair and add a beard and/or moustache if he wants to. So the hero who would be expected to be in the same uniform all the time can vary his appearance (though somehow, there's generally red involved, particularly in terms of shirts, jackets, etc.) while the "secret identity", who can simply change his clothes, always wears the same thing...

* All the main characters in Brazilian comic ''[[Monica's Gang]]'' ([https://web.archive.org/web/20071016082847/http://www.monica.com.br/mauricio/cronicas/images/cron206.gif this image of the protagonist] sums it up).

* In classic ''[[Superman]]'' comics, Clark Kent always wears a blue suit, white shirt, and red tie.

** This was actually explained once: When he changes to Superman, Clark compresses his street clothes into a flat packet which he carries in a pouch in his cape. To prevent them becoming wrinkled, he has to treat them with a special chemical which has the side effect of dyeing everything red, white, or blue...

* The closet gag was explicitly used by Jughead Jones in the ''[[Archie]]'' comic book series, where he does the exact same thing as the cartoon up above: his closet has all clothes which are all the same.

** Katy Keene usually averts this trope, the main appeal of her comics is that her outfits are designed and sent in by readers, so she changes outfits very frequently.

* How much this trope applies varies from character to character in ''[[Luann]]'', but [[Hollywood Nerd|Gunther]] has admitted to owning seven identical shirts.

* Pointed out by [[The Flash|Wally]] in one of the comics based on the ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' cartoon when shopping with Superboy. "But don't you want a little variety? I mean you picked out a whole rack of the same black T-shirt..."

 

=== Fan Works ===

* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series]]'' does this with Calvin.

 

=== Films ===

''[[Answer Cut|(cut to Mojo Jojo looking at his own limited collection of clothes)]]''

'''Mojo Jojo''': Oh! That's nice. }}

 

=== Literature ===

** He probably does. It's likely a family tradition. Look at the Vetinari family arms. Blazon: Sable—that is, black (and ''nothing else''). [[Word of God]] is that it's not only black, it's a slightly shabby black (though how you do that in Heraldry is anyone's guess), like that of a well-worn robe that you automatically pick up and put on in the morning so as not to waste time worrying about what to wear.

 

=== Live Action TV ===

* A live-action example/subversion: In the 1998 [[The Remake|remake]] of ''[[Fantasy Island]]'', we see a closet full of white suits, as worn by Ricardo Montalban's Mr. Roarke in the original. The "new" Mr. Roarke (Malcom MacDowell) chooses the only black suit, and orders the others burnt.

* Similarly, one episode of ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' showed Steed with a closet full of identical suits, bowler hats, and umbrellas.

* Considering their level of income, it's no surprise that the characters in ''[[Reaper]]'' have an extremely limited wardrobe. Sock seems to own maybe three shirts, one of which is heavily stained.

* Not necessarily a gag per se, but it's certainly notable on ''[[Fringe]]'' when Olivia Dunham opens her closet and her wardrobe consists entirely of black jackets, pantsuits, white shirts, and grey scarves. They're slightly different, but all the same color scheme. {{spoiler|It's actually a plot point, since wearing monochrome is a "uniform," conditioned into the Jacksonville test subjects.}}

** Of course, that happened in the third-to-last episode of ''Angel'', so "the rest of the show's run" constitutes two more episodes...

** Rather amusingly, when he was unhinged following his acquisition of {{spoiler|a soul}}, Spike tried to "disguise" himself so he wouldn't be identified with the old Spike. His disguise? Wearing a shirt that wasn't black.

** Parodied in the ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' season 2 episode "What's My Line, Part 2": When Kendra (a slayer very dedicated to her call, with no personal ties whatsoever) has her shirt slashed in battle, she angrily comments on this by shouting (in her trademark accent) "That's me best shirt!", followed by the even more angry follow-up comment "That's me ''only'' shirt!" At the end of the episode, Buffy gives her one of her own shirts.

* Lampshaded on ''[[The Nanny]]''. Niles the butler usually wears a suit and tie, which is always more or less then same from one episode to the next. So when Fran snuck a peek into Niles' closet, she discovered that Niles had several dozen duplicates of the same outfit.

* ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' lampshades it in "Stranger And Stranger" where Hercules visits the show's [[Mirror Universe]] and finds his [[Evil Twin]]'s clothing rack, full of identical outfits.

{{quote|'''Narrator''': "Britt, Santana and Quinn quit the Cheerios. Now we get to see what they look like in street clothes."}}

* When Angus Deayton presented ''[[Have I Got News for You]]'', one running gag in the 1990s - discussed also in the spin-off book - was his brown suits.

 

=== Video Games ===

* ''[[Catherine]]'': Protagonist Vincent has a hanger with drying laundry on it in his apartment. All pink-spotted boxers.

 

* No closet involved, but in [http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20080616 this] spoilery ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'' strip, Ethan bemoans that "It feels like been wearing these clothes forever."

* [[Lampshaded]] in [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20061102.html this strip] from ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]].''

* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Real Life Comics]]'' as part of a costume retrospective; when they get to the first costume change, Dave quips; "It's about time; that shirt was getting ripe."

* In ''[[Scary Go Round]]'', the male characters wear outfits that don't vary much (Ryan appeared in [[Lampshade Hanging|the same T-shirt]] for several years, until [http://www.scarygoround.com/index.php?date=20031001 the girls ganged up on him]). Female characters have more varied outfits (though each has an identifiable style of dress). The difference is probably because John Allison enjoys drawing pretty girls in nice clothes, but is also fairly realistic.

** In an interview, he said that women's fashion was always shifting and he liked drawing the female characters in different clothes, while menswear was really "a matter of covering five tube-shaped areas".

 

=== Western Animation ===

* Similarly, everyone in ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''; one episode had the other cast members dressing up in Robin's spare uniforms while he was out. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAX7fZlJK4c Seen here.]

* In [[Venture Brothers]], when the Monarch kidnaps (and later invites to his wedding) Hank, Dean and Brock, Hank demands a change of clothes. Monarch calls out that he's always wearing the same clothes anyway. Hank points out that while it's true, he does wash them. The Monarch agrees and Hank spends the rest of the episode in a Monarch mook outfit, which is itself a straight example of the trope for the mooks.

 

== Exceptions ==

* ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' beats even ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' in that: not only are there a multitude of unique outfits in addition to the summer and winter school uniforms, but the [[Transformation Sequence]]s were reanimated for each exquisitely detailed outfit.

** Technically, only the outfits were reanimated. There was underlying [[Stock Footage]] of Sakura sans clothing (with [[Barbie Doll Anatomy]], natch).

* Nami from ''[[One Piece]]'' originally starts off with wearing the same clothes, but after {{spoiler|defeating Arlong, and thus ending her financial limitations}} she buys a pile of new clothes, and changes very often. Sanji, while mostly wearing his usual black suit, can be seen occasionally in more casual clothes.

** After the Strawhats hit the Grand Line, they usually get a new outfit early in the arc for reasons that make sense, and then maintain that look whether it makes sense or not until after they beat that island's [[Big Bad]]. You can tell the arc is over because they all change back.

** And in its sister series ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' while the characters each have a set of default clothing, they generally adopt the clothing of whatever world they land in, and then change outfits as appropriate. This is partly a form of [[Fan Service]] for CLAMP's female fanbase. Note, however, that this is NOT [[Unlimited Wardrobe]] as they are shown bartering old clothes for new and they do not change clothes in situations where they would not realistically have had the opportunity. (Example: Kurogane remains in his outfit from the previous arc in Acid Tokyo, because their impoverished hosts don't have much clothing to spare.)

* ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' subverts this trope as much as it uses it. The guys mentioned above generally wear different outfits when not in their fighting clothes (such as the infamous pink shirt worn by Vegeta). Then there's Bulma. Not only does she change clothes, but she also changes ''hairstyles'' more or less every appearance. In addition, the symbol on Goku's shirt usually changes every time he gets a new outfit.

* The characters in ''[[Wandering Son]]'' often change their outfits. Rarely are they seen in the same outfit, aside from school uniforms, and if they are it isn't for long.

 

* [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The original Wasp, Janet van Dyne]], was an important exception. [[Unlimited Wardrobe|She changed her costume all the time]].

** Eventually, anyway. When first introduced, she had a uniform that was always the same, but it began to evolve over the years. First she lost the pointy wimple, revealing her hair while everything remained as it was; then her costume changed occasionally, but with long periods between alterations; and then she went nuts and her costume became just one more outfit subject to the whims of fashion.

 

=== Fan Works ===

* [[My Immortal|Enoby]] has more sexxy oufitz tan you!! Yur just jealous, u stupid prepz!!

 

=== Films ===

* The animated movie ''[[Superman: Doomsday]]'' is an exception, as Lois Lane wears a different outfit every day. Other characters most likely do too (Supes' classic costume notwithstanding), but Lois is the most noticeable.

* In [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[Batman]]'' (1989), Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) is almost never seen wearing the same outfit twice, and varies her hairstyles a lot too. In fact, Basinger was assigned so many costume changes that Burton had to appoint a ''second'' designer to dress just her while the other designer was working on all the other performers!

*** Not in the books, where ALL Hogwarts students wear their robes every day of the school year. The only exceptions are the Weasly jumpers, which get worn under the robes or over pyjamas, but even on weekends the students have to be in uniform.

* Padmé Amidala from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' Prequel Trilogy, particularly during her stint as Queen.

 

=== Live Action TV ===

* ''[[Pumuckl]]'', the kobold protagonist of a German children's series, always wears a yellow shirt and green trousers.

* ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'' plays peoples wardrobe pretty realistically, i.e. different outfits that keep a common theme- Earl prefers plaid shirts and has one for every day of the week, Randy wears slacks a t-shirt and a short sleeve button down shirt, usually brown, gray and/or tan( in one episode he explicitly states that he has 3 pairs of pants and 5 shirts), Joy usually wears tube tops and pink is her favorite color, Catalina is most often shown in her maid uniform or stripper outfit but is also shown in jeans and different shirts when she isn't working, even Darnell isn't shown to have a completely limited wardrobe and occasionally wears a long sleeve thermal white shirt as opposed to his customary white a-shirt.

 

=== Music Video ===

** Murdoc wears black shirts and inverted cross necklaces quite a bit of the time. Everyone else is an exception, though.

 

 

=== Video Games ===

* The ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' series usually depicts characters wearing either their team uniforms, team tracksuits, or school uniforms, but some of the story characters also have additional set(s) of sprites depicting them in casual outfits, and the anime adaptation also depicts them in casual clothes whenever appropriate. The one major exception is our protagonist Endou, who seems to wear his soccer uniform or tracksuit in casual settings, [[Fridge Brilliance|although]] that ''is'' rather fitting for "the universe's number one soccer freak."

 

* Averted in ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]''. The characters wear all sorts of clothes, appropriate to the situation: they wear school uniforms most of the time, but they're shown in casual clothes on the weekends and in pajamas late at night. (When Zimmy and Gamma are seen in their uniforms late at night, it's a hint that something is off about them.) They also wear coats while going out during a cold night, and Annie wears a formal suit when going to a diplomatic meeting.

** Also, Kat (and to a lesser degree, Annie) changes her hairstyle every few chapters.

* The characters of ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' are always dressed the same way; when [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/4/23/ Gabe put on a suit and changed his hairdo], some readers couldn't recognize him.

* Justified and Lampshaded in this "ask the characters" strip of [http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/ask-the-cast-4/ Girls With Slingshots].

 

=== Web Original ===

** [[Informed Ability|Four sweater vests!]]

 

=== Western Animation ===

** Princess Bubblegum was shown in three different dresses, but she mostly wears the hot pink one.

* ''[[American Dad]]'' usually plays this straight (except for Roger's many disguises) but there was a one-off exception in "Stan Time." In the first scene, Hayley bugs Stan to drive her to the headband store. This isn't mentioned again, but in one later scene she is wearing a white headband (as opposed to her usual green) without comment.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Zany Cartoon Tropes]]

[[Category:Signature Tropes]]