Wardrobe changes bring variety and color to a show's characters, especially in an animated work where the characters have a default costume that they use all the time. These new clothes accompany downtime in an ongoing story arc when characters are relaxing, playing, or fooling around. However, no matter how welcome costume changes are, they simply can't stay. When the chips are down and the plot gets moving again, our heroes put their Plot Pants back on and get into the action.
Superheroes, as a rule, tend to have their actual superhero costume, usually some Sensual Spandex Painted-On Pants that might actually be high-tech armour, Unstable Molecules, My Suit Is Also Super, or something of the kind, usually for the purpose of protecting their secret identity (mask optional) but then when out of their hero identity, whether they have a Secret Identity or not, they'll wear more casual clothes. The sole exception is heroes who have an open identity and operate sans costume, either Civvie Spandex or just literally whatever they're wearing (Luke Cage and his wife Jessica Jones being good examples). Expect however even heroes who do use a superhero suit to have some encounters where they have to fight in their casual clothes, which might be a problem when My Suit Is Also Super or Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing is in play as their casual clothes will likely not survive the fight in-tact, or when a secret identity is at risk of being exposed, or even when the hero relies on gadgets built into their suit that they're currently without, putting them at a disadvantage.
Not to be confused with Magic Pants, which is when getting transformed doesn't destroy your clothes or they reform afterward. Often the result of Limited Wardrobe, when the characters always wear the same outfit day after day, so it's noticeable when they don't.
Sub-Trope of Significant Wardrobe Shift, the general trope for changes in a character's wardrobe reflecting character development. Sister Trope of Important Haircut, when a character drastically changing their hairdo symbolizes personal growth.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Digimon Adventure 02: The new team gets a set of clothes for whenever they appear in the Digital World (the original team simply wear whatever clothes they were wearing on Earth). The most obvious are Davis, Yolei, and Cody, who have the most dramatic wardrobe changes. The show suggests this is due to inconsistencies in their self-image, which TK and Kari don't share, as they wear the same clothes as they had been in the real world. (The show appears to have forgotten this in later episodes, as TK and Kari will shift to their standard green-yellow and pink-white outfits when they travel to the Digital World, even if they were wearing different clothes on Earth).
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Edward Elric wears different clothes on occasion when he's not running around being the Fullmetal Alchemist, but when something important happens he's usually wearing his customary black outfit and red jacket.
- Future Boy Conan: The characters change out of their wardrobes when they're relaxing at High Harbor, but every time trouble starts up they jump back into their old, ragged clothes as fast as they can.
- My Hero Academia: In the Dark Hero arc, Izuku resolves to leave U.A. to prevent Tomura, who can now locate him at any time, from harming his loved ones. As a blessing, Gran Torino lends him his yellow cape. Throughout the arc, Izuku fights many villains almost without respite, causing his costume (which he now wears with the hood on at all times) and cape to get torn. This tattered appearance will come to symbolize his inner anguish and how his stubbornness to hold the weight of the world alone erodes him. It's only when he's rescued from himself by his friends Ochako and Iida, that he accepts he has people who will stand beside him no matter the danger. By the next arc, he's returned to his usual look thanks to his hero costume getting repaired.
- Naruto: At the end of the Itachi Hunt arc, Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, is killed by Pain while infiltrating the Hidden Rain village. This leaves his pupil devastated when he returns to Konoha. Throughout his mourning, Naruto Uzumaki absconds to his apartment and doesn't wear his ninja attire, remaining in a t-shirt and shorts for a while. By the beginning of the next arc, he's been convinced by his friends to honor his mentor's legacy and pick up training again. Moreover, by the time he makes his Big Damn Heroes entrance, he's not only wearing his iconic orange-and-black outfit, but also a badass red cloak product of attaining sage stage.
- Soul Eater: This is prevalent with all of the recurring characters, with the exception of the members of Spartoi, who have two sets of Plot Pants.
- Spellbound! Magical Princess Lil'Pri: Inverted. The costume-changing Magic Idol Singers wear a different outfit every time they transform into Lilpri but wear the same exact outfits when they're not regardless of whether they are in school or it's raining or shining. The only exception is their Halloween Princess Fairytale card outfits —which they like well enough to use 5 or 6 times.
- Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms: The day Minami's radiation poisoning starts catching up to her, she feels her muscles go limp and never recovers. She's never seen wearing her work clothes anymore after that, only her pajamas and the sandals Uchikoshi gifted her. The next day, she's no longer able to stand, so she stops wearing the latter too. It coincides with her progressing illness.
Arts
- Psyche and Cupid (Bouguereau): Psyche's ascend to godhood is represented by the contrast between "Psyche", in which she is clothed, and all of the other paintings, which depict her naked. This ties back to Academicism's nude symbolism—it's a way to signal a character is not human.
Comic Books
- Cuori Grassi: Rocco changing into a tracksuit always signifies one of his many attempts at losing weight by doing exercise. It never lasts, and he's quick to revert to his usual clothes.
Fan Works
- Redbone AU: We are introduced to Midoriya and Bakugo in "Part 1: Wildside". There, we see a synchronised montage of them getting dressed in their work outfits as, respectively, an information broker and a pro hero going incognito. This means the plot is about to start.
Films — Animation
- Cinderella: After Cinderella's relatives wreck the dress she and her animal friends crafted, she cries in despair. The Fairy Godmother donning her an even more beautiful gown sets the movie's second act in motion, as it signifies Cinderella's chance at a better future.
Films — Live-Action
- Ben 10: Race Against Time: Ben wears assorted clothes throughout the first chunk of the movie. Once it's hero time, though, he changes into the same white shirt with black highlights that he wore all throughout the original series.
- Harry Potter: Unlike the books, the films use clothing as a visual shorthand for adventure mode versus school mode. When the characters are in classes or in low-danger situations, you'll find them wearing their Hogwarts uniforms. However, whenever it's time for action scenes and for the plot to really advance, they are always wearing casual, Muggle clothing.
Live-Action TV
- 800 Words: On the search for Ike, Zac, George, Shay, and Steve bump into Siouxsie. They don't recognize her because she's without her usual makeup and dress, wearing a sweater and cargo pants instead.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy is the Action Fashionista, the exception being when she takes a serious hit to her self-confidence and changes into the Dungarees of Depression.
- Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: At the beginning of every episode, Mr. Rogers enters the house and immediately changes from his businesslike suit coat and dress shoes into a more casual cardigan and sneakers.
- Star Trek: Very rarely, officers will get out of their uniforms when off duty. Especially when on shore leave, or if we have occasion to catch them going to bed.
- Supernatural: Castiel going back and forth from his Iconic Outfit (a blue tie and a trench coat) to some other kind of wear tends to signify either a change in his mental state or his power level:
- "The Born-Again Identity": The first time we see Castiel without the outfit, for instance, he's an amnesiac going by Emmanuel, and wearing a blue sweater and casual pants. When he gets his memory back but goes into the mental hospital, having taken on Sam's Hell-induced trauma, the trench coat is back, but instead of the suit, he's wearing hospital-issue white scrubs.
- "A Little Slice of Kevin": Upon his return from purgatory, literally the first thing he does after greeting the boys is to go into a bathroom and freshen up, coming back in his trenchcoat-and-tie outfit, showing he's back to normal.
- "I'm No Angel": After losing his powers and becoming human in "Devil May Care" (meaning he can't keep his clothes neat and clean with his powers) he starts wearing casual clothes, including hoodies, t-shirts, and jeans or a simple white shirt and jeans with his work vest for his job at the Gas 'N Sip.
- "Holy Terror": Once he gets his powers back by stealing Theo's grace, the suit makes a reappearance as he tries to work with his fellow angels against Metatron, but his tie is still conspicuously absent, a signifier that he's not all there — considering his returned powers are actually the result of stealing someone else's, and, subsequently he's also dying.
- And that's without bringing in the instances where absence of bits of the outfit mean Cas isn't present in or in control of the body we typically see him in at all — like the trench coat's absence on Jimmy when he temporarily leaves Jimmy's body and possesses Claire Novak, or the absence of the trench coat when Lucifer's in control of Cas's vessel. It Makes Sense in Context, really.
Video Games
- Dynasty Warriors: Origins: At the beginning of Chapter 4, Ziluan is shown wearing a new, more armoured look. This is because at the end of Chapter 3, he chooses a lord to serve (be it Liu Bei, Cao Cao, or the Sun clan), and his new outfit reflects his new status. However, he wears the same outfit regardless of which side he joins, instead of being Colour-Coded for Your Convenience.
- Guardian Tales: As is customary for guests at Lilith Tower, the Knight is made to turn in their armor and weapons and don more formal attire, befitting the palace of the Demon Queen.
- The Lord of the Rings Online: Lorniel is met in a comfortable and casual dress, but for Golodir's rescue she changes into more sensible fighting gear.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed: The turtles sometimes wear clothes that differ from the film.
- Leo wears a blue flannel shirt, partially untucked in light brown pants and white sneakers.
- Raph wears a red letter jacket with his initial on the left, black pants and red sneakers.
- Donnie wears a purple t-shirt, sandy brown pants and purple sneakers.
- Mikey wears an orange beanie, an orange t-shirt with a tiger on it over a light orange shirt, black shorts, white socks and orange sandals.
Webcomics
- The Devil's Panties: Jen always wears a t-shirt depicting a labrys
unless there's a good reason not to.
- Shinigami Death Punch: Plot hoodie, in Purple's case. He gets his hoodie at the end of the first plot arc, marking him as the official main character, and whatever else he ends up wearing, the hoodie always comes back. Turns out it doubles as Magic Pants, which explains why an ordinary hoodie can survive hellfire.
Web Animation
- RWBY: In "A Minor Hiccup", Team RWBY takes to wearing new outfits for their investigation into the White Fang and Roman.
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: The protagonists spend the first half of season 3 out of their normal outfits to blend in with the Fire Nation, a period with more relaxed plots and the occasional character-specific growth episode. It's only in the mid-season that the story kicks back into the main plot of invading the Fire Nation, and they switch back to their usual nation-specific clothing.
- Get Ed: The Dojo kids normally wear a basic set of clothing, switching to power-up gear (complete with helmets and padding) to do their deliveries or fight Bedlam. However, in one episode they decide to go clubbing and switch to civilian outfits (which are, in fact, Palette Swaps of their regular models —not one polygon has changed).
- Kim Possible: The titular heroine and her sidekick, Ron Stoppable, alternate between hip, casual clothes at school and home, and their mission fatigues when out saving the world.
- Winx Club: The Specialists only wear their Red Fountain uniforms when they are on duty, especially if it's a plot-relevant mission. Granted, this is still most of the time, but they do change to more fashionable, casual clothing when going in dates with the Winx.
- World of Winx: The Winx wear all sorts of fashionable outfits when posing as talent scouts. When it's time to do their true job of defending humans from being kidnapped by shady magical users, they don dark blue spy uniforms.