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

 

 

* 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.

* A similar case is the Sandman, who is iconically associated with his brown slacks and green horizontally striped shirt; an early attempt to give him a more traditional supervillain costume never caught on. In this case, it really ''is'' justified - that's part of his body after the accident that gave him his powers.

* 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!)

* [[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.

* In ''[[The Beano]]'' pretty much every character wears the same clothes all the times however their clothes have occasionally changed for example ''[[Dennis the Menace (UK comic strip)||Dennis the Menace]]'' originally had a little tie back in 1951 but his clothes change to a stripy jumper and then to a Black and Red Jumper, once his strip gained the colour red, and his clothes have never changed since except for the occasional gag about how old fashioned his clothes are. This also true for a number of strips especially The Bash Street Kids where Teacher was worn an old fashioned Teacher's outfit completer with mortarboard since the 1950s which is frequently [[Lampshaded]].

 

=== Fan Works ===

* 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 ===

* 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 ===

** 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?"

** 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.)

* [[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.

* Billy Batson in ''Superman/Shazam: The Return Of Black Adam'' is shown to have multiple copies of the same shirt and pants hanging in his closet.

* Almost everyone in [[Huntik Secrets and Seekers]]. The four proantagonists only change their clothes for a couple of missions, but other than that, they're always seen wearing the exact same outfit.

* The three main characters of ''[[Dan Vs.]].'' basically wears the same clothes almost episode, and sometimes when Dan switches up he's wearing Chris' clothes.

* ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' characters rarely dress in anything but their standard sets, which is funny considering Rhonda is such a fascionista and often makes snide remarks regarding other people's clothes... but never her own never-changing style. Though in one episode she claimed to be wearing brand new designer boots, it they looked just like the ones she regularly wear.

 

=== 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]].

* 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.

{{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]].''

* 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 ===

 

== 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).

* 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.

* Averted in ''[[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]''. Aside from Captain Hammer; Billy, Penny, and Moist all change outfits, with Penny having the most changes of clothes, Billy in second place with a grand total of seven casual outfits, two versions of his lab coat (white and red), and Moist shows up in four different outfits for each of his appearances. Captain Hammer just has his superhero outfit with a slight variation of him wearing a leather jacket in the autographed photo one of the groupies was holding. Then again, this is Captain Hammer we're talking about.

** [[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}}