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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"Hell, stop making every character look like their clothes were chosen by blind clowns. That would HAVE to save some time."''|'''[GM]Dave''', [https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID{{=}}25324432&postID{{=}}3504847340618960362 Bannable Offenses]}}
Some characters wear a realistic outfit, to the point that a cosplay of them might be relatively simple. But this gets kind of boring; it's not a challenge for the cosplayer to put together, and very few people will actually realize that he or she is in costume. (Which might explain why even mundane series tend to gravitate towards [[Joshikousei|unique school uniforms]] and such).
Sometimes the character designers realize that their characters' wardrobes are too realistic or [[Distinctive Appearances|just don't stand out enough]] from other characters in similar media. One way to compensate for this is by mixing bits and pieces of what might be a number of perfectly acceptable outfits into a bizarre Frankenstein mess. The outfit may be comfortable, but something about it just looks slightly, but not totally, off.
Often involves [[Too Many Belts]], [[Zipperiffic]], [[Goggles Do Nothing]], [[Virtual Paper Doll]] (with some questionable mixing and matching), and [[Impossibly Tacky Clothes]]. See also [[Rainbow Pimp Gear]], where video game characters achieve this effect due to their ideal gear being unfortunately mismatched.
Contrast [[Pimped-Out Dress]], which could have loads of accessories, but (usually) in a stylish manner. See also [[Improvised Clothes]]. For clothing that ''isn't'' supposed to stand out, see [[Stock Costume Traits]], [[Master of Disguise]], and (sometimes) [[Wig, Dress, Accent]]. When a costume, though it may be distinctive, indicates which faction the character belongs but doesn't stand out within said faction, it's [[Dress-Coded for Your Convenience]]. If faction members want stand out from each other within the dress code, they go for the [[Nonuniform Uniform]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
▲== Anime and Manga ==
* This is the ''default'' mode of clothing for the cast of ''[[Fist of the North Star]]''.
* Most of the ''[[Digimon]]'' cast's
** ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' provides some [[Justified Trope|justification]] in that the strange clothing, excluding Takeru and Hikari, is automatically applied to the Chosen Children upon arriving in the Digital World; their outfits in the real world, again excluding Takeru and Hikari, are much more normal. Said Digital World clothing is said to be a manifestation of how they see themselves and, well, they're all eleven or less. Some individual cases and situations are also justified, such as [[Digimon Tamers|Ryo]].
* The cast of ''[[Naruto]]'' alternate between [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]] and
** Naruto's safety-orange hued jacket and pants certainly [[Highly-Visible Ninja|stands out]]. On the few occasions where Naruto isn't wearing his jacket you can see he has some sort of layer of chainmail under it, which explains having something so loose if not the color. By the time of the second series he abandons the goofy looking orange jumpsuit in favor for a less goofy looking orange jumpsuit.
** Although every ninja wears a village headband, ''where'' they do so varies: it's usually on the forehead, but it can be on the neck, on the arm, on the head, the waist...
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* In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', the outfit one's [[Transformation Sequence]] results in is called a "Barrier Jacket", and is partially determined via the subconscious. As the series progresses, more and more barrier jackets are a pastiche of random pieces of medieval armor, capes, military uniforms, and exaggerated modern teenager apparel. Which actually makes sense, as later characters have more exposure to different cultures (Belka, Midchilda, and Earth) with those aspects.
* Haruko from ''[[FLCL]]'' is a big example. Naota isn't; cosplayers are only recognizable as such due to [[Limited Wardrobe]].
* Handwaved in ''[[
* ''[[Solty Rei]]'' plays with this when, during a shopping trip, the main character goes through a series of fairly reasonable outfits. Without looking, her guardian assures her to just pick the current one, and she does out of
* The Bount in ''[[Bleach]]'' had strange accessories like headphones and chains to make them look less normal.
* The school uniforms in ''[[Princess Tutu]]'' are distinctive enough (and odd enough) that they don't fit under this...but what the characters like to wear outside of their uniforms are just normal enough to make you scratch your head. Ahiru wears big poofy yellow shorts and a midriff-baring sweater that is appropriately bird-like, while Fakir seems to be wearing one of the standard boy's dance outfits...except that he has inexplicably torn up the top and haphazardly sewn it back together.
* Chrono from ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' has an outfit that at first glance seems distinctly anime, but when he takes off his coat it's apparent that he's wearing what would be a normal outfit for a young boy living in New York during the 1920's -- as long as you ignore the [[Bring My Red Jacket|bright red color]] of his shorts, anyway.
* Kino, of ''[[Kino's Journey]]'' is a fairly subtle version of this. She looks to be wearing normal traveling clothing most of the time, but then you realize she's wearing two trench coats of completely different designs, a hunting cap, [[Goggles Do Nothing|goggles]], a dress shirt, pants, a belt with [[Rob Liefeld|a ridiculous number of pouches]], a second belt for her gun, a boatload of weapons, a scarf, and metal wrist guards. As a traveler, clothing is supposed to be practical rather than pretty, but it seems overkill until the later episodes.
* Very often, Mikako from ''[[
* Sadamitsu in the Tokyo Arc of ''[[Otogi Zoshi]]'' looks particularly ridiculous. His jacket - an orange and yellow thing with Cupid-style cherubs on the chest and a large red heart in back - is bad enough, but he supplements this with a [[Bare Your Midriff|midriff-baring]] black shirt, shiny leather pants, studded leather wristbands, a silver medallion necklace, and some skull jewelry on his hands.
* [[DOGS Bullets and Carnage|Badou Nails]] is almost a living embodiment of this trope, in all of his outfits. See [http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y210/badou/diary/top-12.jpg this cover] from Ultra JUMP for evidence. Granted, he's half blind and most of his clothes might have been literally rummaged for, but still.... Most of ''DOGS''' characters are this way to some extent - some stylishly, and some.. less so.
* Raikou Shimizu of ''[[Nabari no Ou]]'' is a triumphant example, sporting a sleeveless... jean-jacket... thing in combination with black hakama and colorful bracelets (plus pink hair and a huge number of talismans...) And it gets [[media:
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* [[The Creeper|Jack Ryder]] actually got his costume from a costume shop's rejected costume parts. And it shows. In ''Batman: The Animated Series'' he acquired the costume from various clothes in a Vintage Clothing boutique.
* [[Green Lantern|Alan Scott]] got his costume from a theatre's box of spare costume parts.
* Ditto for Jack Knight as [[Starman (
* [[X
** Wonderfully [[Lampshaded]] in the Marvel vs DC [[Crossover]]: Robin appears out of nowhere in front of Jubilee and she just replies (paraphrasing) "Nice outfit." They end up as potential love interests
* Also from the ''[[X
* Subverted with Manhunter, whose costume was assembled from whatever super-weapons she could grab from the evidence room. It looks [[Badass]].
* One incident forced [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]] to done pieces of costumes from his fellow West Coast Avengers to retrieve one of his missing armors. Hawkeye ended up giving him the joking name "Spare Parts Man". Thankfully, he retired that "armor" pretty quickly.
* Hay Lin of ''[[
* Delirium from [[The Sandman]] comic's patchwork outfits are always an odd mixture of thrift store fixtures.
* In ''[[Elf Quest]]: Rogue's Curse'', Rayek literally assembles a new outfit by raiding boxes of leftover wares. [http://www.comicvine.com/winnowill/29-1888/all-images/108-212307/winnowill___rayek/105-1226508/ Some people rather liked the results.]
* Issue 79 of Marvel's ''[[Star Wars]]'' comic book features a gag comic showing assistant editor Eliot Brown demonstrating [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YlP_N-gXx-A/Tg92tXYHogI/AAAAAAAAAPk/Spj-wFfa0sc/s1600/Star%2BWars%2BEliot%2BBrown.jpg how to create a Darth Vader costume out of junk].
* [[
== [[Film]] ==▼
▲== Film ==
* Tyler Durden's outfit in the movie version of ''[[Fight Club]]'', although the [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]] aspect of his thrift-store outfits is probably a result of them being worn by [[Stupid Sexy Flanders|Brad Pitt]].
** [[Word of God]] is that the tacky pink bathrobe he wears in one scene actually belonged to his girlfriend at the time.
* [[The Dark Knight Saga|The Joker]] was apparently designed with this look in mind, to seem as though his outfit was pieced together from different suits he'd stolen. Surprisingly, the cops who tried to determine his identity from his possessions discovered that the entire suit was custom-made.
* Diane Keaton made this look famous in ''[[
* Everything worn by anyone in [[Liquid Sky]].
* The [[Puma Man]] costume definitely qualifies. Khaki pants and a poncho do not a superhero costume make.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* Most of the time, when characters in the [[X Wing Series]] have their clothing mentioned at all, they're in pilot's jumpsuits. But in ''Wraith Squadron'', when three Wraiths doing [[The Infiltration]] are passing as [[Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist|wild-shirted tourists]], well - better just to quote.
{{quote|
[...] Donos looked mournfully at his outfit: a shirt with thin red and green horizontal stripes and shorts with black and white vertical stripes. "Sir, permission to kill Face?" [...]
Face unfolded his own fashion disaster. A black silken shirt with a variety of insects picked out on it in glittery silver, shorts in a brighter, more painful shade of orange than that of New Republic pilot's suits, and a red kerchief for his neck. "As you can see, I saved the best for myself." }}
** Later in the same series 'Red Flight' are told to dress in the local [[Feudal Future]] fashion for a diplomatic dinner. Wedge, Tycho and Wes choose nicely coordinated outfits, but Hobbie throws together random colours and styles from the wardrobe on the basis that:
{{quote|
* Claudia from ''[[The
** One book includes a minor character who constantly wears incredibly tacky pants and brags about how little he spent on them.
* In ''[[American Psycho]]'' most of the other characters apart from Bateman embody this trope. The clothing they are all wearing is fine if you don't think about it too much. However the second you start to imagine what all the other characters are wearing your quickly realise that they would all look really stupid.
* In ''[[Lonely Werewolf Girl]]'' Agrivex deliberately dresses in the worst faux-punk outfits she can create as a way of rebelling against her fashion obsessed, always immaculately dressed, Aunt.
* ''[[
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==▼
* A ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' flashback shows us that back in '77, Spike was one of these. He's got dogtags, some other necklaces, an awful vest-shirt-thing with some strange pattern on it, a stupid looking belt with a few loops hanging off it, spiked up hair (which would take way more hair gel than Angel uses), two bracelets and ripped pants. Fortunately, he takes his first step to looking badass again by killing Nikki Wood and taking her leather jacket.▼
▲== Live-Action TV ==
▲* A [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] flashback shows us that back in '77, Spike was one of these. He's got dogtags, some other necklaces, an awful vest-shirt-thing with some strange pattern on it, a stupid looking belt with a few loops hanging off it, spiked up hair (which would take way more hair gel than Angel uses), two bracelets and ripped pants. Fortunately, he takes his first step to looking badass again by killing Nikki Wood and taking her leather jacket.
* Various incarnations of [[Doctor Who|the Doctor]] take this approach to their outfits. The later versions tend towards less outlandish but nonetheless distinctive looks.
** The Second Doctor had a many-pocketed, unkempt coat to go with his 'space hobo' look.
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** The Seventh Doctor's question-mark sweater (with question mark-handled umbrella) which ''might'' just have gone too far.
** Subverted by the Eighth Doctor, who stole his outfit from the locker of someone who was going to a costume party. After rummaging through and apparently giving a certain amount of consideration to [[Buffy-Speak|some really costume-y things]], he settled on a rather peculiar but elegant Edwardian suit.
** The Ninth Doctor averts this: his dark pants, dark-colored v-neck t-shirt, and a black leather coat coordinate
** The Tenth Doctor wears a brown pinstripe or blue suit (it varies) with an open collar shirt, a tie and... Converse trainers. Not to mention the [[Badass Longcoat|duster]]. Believe it or not, the whole thing works.
*** The trainers-with-suit looked odder when Ten's stint started than it does now, since while it hasn't exactly become a trend, it definitely has its imitators.
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*** On the ladies (ie Zoe and Kando), the dresses actually look rather sexy; [[Epic Fail|The men, on the other hand....]]
** Those streamer outfits from ''The Ark''. Well, at least they tried something new...
* Ford Prefect in the television adaptation of [[The
* For a modest man, James May on ''[[Top Gear]]'' has a collection of incredibly loud shirts. He especially favors a purple-and-pink striped number. One of them, a white shirt with a blue flower pattern, even has its own fanbase. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by the man himself during an episode of ''[[James
{{quote|
** The use of this trope also turned into a [[Running Gag]] in series 12.
{{quote|
* Mason from ''[[Dead Like Me]]'' likes to take the layered look a bit too far and is very rarely seen wearing fewer than three tops at once, of which at least two are either frayed and/or make you wonder how it is they look halfway-decent on him.
* Harper in ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]''. Her clothes have been based around such things as food and markers.
** Harper goes beyond this and into crazy costumer, since she makes her own outfits.
* In ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'', Sarge claims that one thing he likes about the Army is that the clothes are always the same, and little wonder, as he has no sense of style. When he has to wear civvies - something he hates - they never even come close to matching.
== [[Tabletop
* The Flash Gits of Warhammer40000 "fame" often come across looking like the [[Pirate]]/[[Everything's Sparkly
** This is universally true, but not for the reason you think. Orks naturally respect the biggest ork around, and since orks grow in size the more they fight, when a Flash Git has more bling, they also tend to be bigger in size to account for all the heads they had to bash in to steal the bling they currently have.
*** Unless of course the ork being impressed is also a Flash Git. Then they respect the ork for all his [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|shiny fings]].
*** Although, by that time the other orks the Flash Git lived with have probably kicked him out of their clan for being too snooty, and then they somehow automatically become [[Space Pirates|Freebootaz]]. It isn't really explained how, nor does anything orky need to be.
== [[Theatre]] ==▼
▲== Theatre ==
* ''[[Rent]]''. Started a whole new fashion fad trying to duplicate the mismatching East Village thrift shop look, spending hundreds of dollars on what actually only costs $10 to achieve.
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* To a certain degree, any RPG where the character model changes based on the items equipped will have this going, especially at low levels when character don't have much choice in what's available to them. [[The Elder Scrolls]] IV, Oblivion, is particularly egregious about this.
* Taken to extremes in the ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' series of games: the bizarre half-barefoot footwear in the [[Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy|first game]] are a particularly notable example. In ''[[Jak 3
** Easily [[Hand Wave]]-able from ''[[Jak II]]'' onwards - outfits probably ''were'', in fact, cobbled together from what was at hand [[Darker and Edgier|in the grim darkness]] [[Bad Future|of the far future]].
* ''[[No More Heroes]]''' Travis Touchdown is no doubt a pathetic enough [[Otaku]] to [[Invoked Trope|deliberately dress this way]]. At least the single glove seems kinda handy for using his beam katana, but the rest... note that the player can choose exactly how ridiculous Travis' outfit becomes by buying more clothes (or diving for shirts in Santa Destroy's many dumpsters), all of them awesomely tasteless Otaku wear.
* Celine, from ''[[
* [[
* Most the major characters of ''[[
* While leveling in [[World of Warcraft]] you'll often end up with a medley of gear for your [[Virtual Paper Doll]]. [[Penny Arcade]] explores the problem in [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/1/2/ this comic].
** The various quest reward gear items obtained between levels 60 to 65 are the most blatant example of this trope as well as the inspiration for the [[Penny Arcade]] comic. Mismatched in the most extreme case of garish color clash that could only occur if a clown car exploded in a Skittles factory, the stats on the pieces are still head and shoulders above the most powerful endgame raid gear obtained prior to [[The Burning Crusade]] expansion. Many players refer to this phase of a character's life as ''the pimp suit.''
* From Software's [[Evergrace]] duology: the jokey or downright strange looking (calling someone from this series pants-on-head retarded could be disturbingly accurate) weapons and armor, ranging from a frying pan '''''WITH''''' the bacon and eggs still in it, to a bird's nest with the bird still in it (worn as a helmet), to a downed tree (the 'sacred pole', which is about 20 feet long and when not in use is off the edge of the screen), to a random globe you find on someone's desk, to a fanservice-y bit of armor which is just two straps with gigantic pauldrons all megaboost one or more stats. (keep also in mind they can be upgraded and utilized like normal equipment too. The shopkeeper even calls you out on it. "YOU want to upgrade THAT? You're weird.") However, the best all-round builds with an even increase in stats are all plain and generic armor of sorts. And the best full set in the game only looks out of place because this is a medieval fantasy game. (It's a suit of futuristic armor that resembles one of the ''[[
* Sodom, the second Boss from ''[[Final Fight]]'' wears a [[Samurai]] helmet, a football jersey, and a pair of jeans. He'd look pretty ridiculous if he wasn't so dangerous. In ''[[Street Fighter Alpha 2]]A'', it's started that he's an "American Japanophile", meaning an American who is fascinated by Japanese culture, but does not truly understand it.
* Many male ''[[Pokémon]]'' characters wear very strange clothing combinations, like pieces of clothing designed for wildly different climates/temperatures mixed together (Gold's heavy sweatshirt and shorts, Lucas' winter scarf and skintight T-shirt in his original design) or highly unfashionable or ridiculous items thrown in an otherwise somewhat sensible outfit (Ethan's knickerbockers that would have been appropriate for a boy his age around eighty years ago but worn without stockings or even socks, Lucas' infamous beret, the ''thing'' on Brendan's head). Female characters, on the other hand, tend more towards [[Stripperific]], [[Age-Inappropriate Dress|on girls]] [[Age-Inappropriate Dress|''far'']] [[Age-Inappropriate Dress|too young to be wearing such things.]] Player characters aren't limited to this, however; Brycen wears what looks like half of a kimono, a mask, and slip-on shoes.
** In the case of Gold, his outfit is a real fashion native to the [[The Other Rainforest|Pacific Northwest]] where late spring and fall is warm enough for shorts but too rainy for T-shirts, so people usually go in shorts and sweatshirts. So [[Averted]] for Gold and Red (who just wears jeans and a T-shirt with a short-sleeved coat).
* The [[Fable]] series opens the door to this trope by allowing the player to customize the Hero's appearance. Most of the clothes (and tattoos) are parts of sets that at least compliment each other if worn together. If the player chooses to mix and match, though, the results can range from badass to completely ridiculous. Fable II introduces dyes for clothing and hair, which just adds to the fun.
* ''[[
** In-universe, the Soldier's 2011 Halloween costume comes across as this, consisting of a coat hanger, cardboard box, plastic cups, dryer hoses, and shoeboxes to dress up as a plausible yet hilariously poor-quality 'robot.' This is in stark contrast to the other classes' costumes, which are all quite clearly well designed in-universe. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that the Soldier is a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] in a state of [[Perpetual Poverty]], so the cheap, unconvincing robot costume suits him. He also makes up for it with unique and priceless vocal responses.
* ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]'': [[Hot Witch|Morrigan]]'s initial outfit consists of rags, polished stones, feathers and bits of armor. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] given she lives in a swamp, so every piece of clothing she owned was salvaged or found.
▲== Web Comics ==
* Tsillah of ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/crazy-meter/ dresses like this.] It appears to be a deliberate stylistic choice on her part, as she is perfectly capable of [[Casting a Shadow|constructing stylish clothing out of shadows.]]
== [[Web Original]] ==
▲== Web Original ==
* Jericho, of the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'', dresses every day in clothes that are so gaudy and so mismatched that people actually get ill from looking at him. He's blind {{spoiler|and his psychic vision is black-and-white}} and uses that as an excuse.
** {{spoiler|He's specifically picked each part of his ensemble to not go with anything else in order to draw attention away from the crowd he hangs with. That or to fit in with them. Said crowd includes a Lamia, two tetra-armed demonic looking, fear aura packing receptive empath twins, a mute Ancient Apex Predator and an extremely violent current incarnation of the ''[[Ultimate Blacksmith]]''. Besides, if he's forced to, he will wear the school uniform. Just don't ask WHICH school uniform...}}
* [[Trope
== Western Animation ==▼
* [[Deadpan Snarker|June]] from ''[[Ka Blam]]'' wears: A long sweater that's orange with black spots (think [[The Flintstones|Fred Flintstone]]), a yellow t-shirt, green plaid baggy shorts, and purple shoes (or cleats in the earlier episodes). If anything, it just makes her even [[Badass Adorable|cuter]].▼
* Done intentionally with the Freedom Fighters in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', who are noted in the artbook to be wearing random piece of clothes they scavenged and pieces of armor they stole.▼
* In ''[[Batman: The Animated Series (Animation)|The New Batman Adventures]]'', [[The Creeper]] literally bought his costume (a speedo, boots, gloves, and a giant cape-like red boa) at a thrift store in Gotham.▼
* In the [[Halloween Episode]] of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', the [[Memetic Bystander]] "Derpy Hooves" is dressed in a costume which consists of five paper bags (one on her head and one on each hoof).▼
▲== [[Western Animation]] ==
▲* [[Deadpan Snarker|June]] from ''[[
▲* Done intentionally with the Freedom Fighters in ''[[
▲* In ''[[Batman: The Animated Series
▲* In the [[Halloween Episode]] of ''[[My Little Pony:
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[Prince]] and the Revolution in [[The Eighties]] had this as their default mode, especially between 1983-1985. [http://www.last.fm/music/Prince%2B%2526%2BThe%2BRevolution/+images Evidence], complete with predictable [[Eighties Hair]].
* If Prince was bad in the [[The Eighties]], [[Cyndi Lauper]] was worse.
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* [[Lady Gaga]], often intersecting with [[WTH Costuming Department]]. At this point the most shocking thing she could do would be to wear a t-shirt and jeans in public.
** If she did, [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|no one would recognize her.]]
* According to [http://whatareyouwearingbenedict.tumblr.com this blog], many of [[Benedict Cumberbatch]]'s outfits end up looking like this when he's not being dressed up by stylists.
* Admit it, you know someone like this.
** If you don't know a person like this, then you are that person.
* [[Super Junior]]'s 5th album concept ended up looking a lot like this. [http://static.allkpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110721_leeteuk.jpg Hilarity]{{Dead link}} ensued.
* Most Russian soldiers during [[The Nineties]]. They even had an ironic rhyme: Форма номер восемь, что спиздим, то и носим (Uniform #8, we wear what we steal).
* "Wacky Tacky Day", found at High Schools across the U.S.
* Grunge/Punk/Hard rock band the Lunachicks have the tendency to wear outfits like this. At first, it seemed as if it was out of necessity due to lack of a wardrobe budget; later on however, it was very much intentional. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWKi6F5jMjo Evidence:]
** See also: the video for "Babysitters on Acid."
* [[Visual Kei]] artists, bands, and fans, especially those with less money for costuming... or those who want to maintain that "authenticity."
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Costume Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Rummage Sale Reject]]
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