Suspiciously Similar Outfit

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Two characters wear any article of clothing that looks exactly like each other, whether it's a t-shirt, pants, hat, uniform, or maybe even a costume. In most cases if both characters discover that the outfit they're wearing is identical, they may become angry about it (especially women) or just shrug it off and go on about their business.

Oftentimes, the real reason that the two characters dress the same is because they were either tricked into it or they didn't realize that the outfit they had was identical to the other.

Subtrope of Dresses the Same. Compare Limited Wardrobe. Not to be confused with Whole Costume Reference.


Examples of Suspiciously Similar Outfit include:


Anime and Manga

  • An episode of the Little Lulu anime had Tubby and Willy become angry with each other, once they discover that the Indian chief suits that they both bought are identical. They straighten it out and put it behind them in the end.

Film

  • In Not Another Teen Movie, Areola (the naked Funny Foreigner) goes to a party. We see another naked chick there. ANC's friend: "She's wearing your outfit!"
  • Yesterday Was a Lie lampshades this trope: When Hoyle and Singer show up at an event in the same dress (see Absolute Cleavage), they both remark that they "don't understand" why it's considered a faux pas. Also, Hoyle and Dudas both wear nearly identical white suits to a bar later in the film.

Theatre

  • In How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, the number "Paris Original" features all the women in the cast going to a party wearing a new Paris Original dress, only to find that they've been scammed and are all wearing the same thing.

Live Action TV

  • In an episode of Lizzie McGuire, Miranda and Kate turn up to school on photo day wearing identical outfits. The latter forms a plan, involving a tub of green paint, to sabotage the former's outfit.
  • One episode of The Golden Girls partially centered around Blanche and Dorothy both buying the exact same gown to wear to a formal event, and feuding over it until they both returned it and bought something different.

Western Animation

  • In an episode of Family Guy, Lois is wearing a purple dress to go to a party. Peter walks out of the bathroom wearing the exact same dress and insists that one of them is going to have to change.