History Main / ErmineCapeEffect

->'''Mort:''' I'd quite like to see a real king. They wear crowns all the time, my granny said. Even when they go to the lavatory.\\
'''Death:''' [[AC:There is no technical reason why not. In my experience, however, it is generally not the case.]]
-->-- ''Literature/{{Mort}}''

'''Death:''' '''THERE IS NO TECHNICAL REASON WHY NOT. IN MY EXPERIENCE, HOWEVER, IT IS GENERALLY NOT THE CASE.'''

** Princess Azula and Prince Zuko (during the time periods he wasn't exiled) ''always'' wear their formalwear, except for the BeachEpisode. Although their formalwear is Fire Nation military dress uniform and not ridiculously overdone gowns, and so isn't very cumbersome for them. Upheld again in that Azula has been seen ''without'' being fully made up and her hair elaborately done only when woken up in the middle of the night, and/or in the process of losing her mind. Both times we see Azula being groomed, it was for a special occasion (a war meeting and [[spoiler:her coronation]]), but she was still made up the entire time she spent travelling through the Earth Kingdom (in fact she practically went nuts putting a ''hair'' out of place).
** Their father Ozai, on the other hand, gives [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill Hank Hill]] a run for the title of world's least animated [[WesternAnimation animated]] man. Save for burning his son's face off, walking around during a war meeting, and the final fight scene, he was ''only'' [[OrcusOnHisThrone seen sitting immobile on his throne]], done up in his most elaborate robes and regalia. Amusingly, he usually loses [[ShirtlessScene most of his clothing]] along with the regal wear both of the times he ''fought'' (the first because Agni Kai are traditionally fought shirtless, while the second was because the new clothes he had were [[FashionVictimVillain rather ridiculously cumbersome]]).

** Princess Celestia is constantly dressed in impeccable finery and a tiara every time she appears. Even in bed. And also, her rainbow gravity-defying hair. This is outright dressed down however, compared to the finery she wore in the finale of season 3. With the enormous, poofy dress and jeweled crown easily twice the size of her normal tiara, it's no wonder she doesn't wear it more often.
** Whenever he's not a disembodied cloud of smoke (so pretty rarely), [[EvilOverlord King]] [[EvilSorceror Sombra]] wears an ermine cape and a [[SpikesOfVillainy spiked crown]] along with [[BlingOfWar heavy plate]] [[TinTyrant armor]]. The cape has the side effect of always covering his Cutie Mark, giving birth to some fan theories about what it may be. There is also some speculation that it may conceal [[WingedUnicorn a pair of wings]].

* The autocratic Governor of ''Literature/TheGeneral'' wears about [[UsefulNotes/AmericanCustomaryMeasurements twenty pounds]] of gold embroidery every time he gets out of bed and the dress uniform of the Governor's Guard makes hero Raj Whitehall feel like a revue dancer.

''{{Royal|Blood}}ty and [[BlueBlood nobility]] always wear their RequisiteRoyalRegalia. Always.''

This is not literally true; in RealLife, the fancy dress is reserved for the ceremonies and the portraits. It was a popular belief, however, since ceremonies and portraits used to be the only places commoners got to [[RuleOfPerception see]] royalty. Formal dress is designed to do to the human eye what trumpet {{Fanfare}}s do to the ear.

With royalty becoming less distant these days, this is largely becoming a DiscreditedTrope, save for nations that still have absolute monarchies. Tragically, in most modern European monarchies such as Monaco and Britain, the royalty seems to generally favor the Western suit-and-tie businessman look (although one certainly cannot deny that those suits are very often very [[SharpDressedMan sharp]]),[[note]]The British royals are sort of a bad example, since the men are often in their military uniforms--which they all ''earned'', thank you very much--and the women are known for interesting fashion choices (particularly the Duke of York's daughters Eugenie and Beatrice). Nevertheless, the men are frequently found in suits--King Charles in particular seems to like the look[[/note]] as does the Japanese Emperor, the King of Jordan, and the King of Morocco (although he'll occasionally don a traditional ''djellaba''). In the [[ArabOilSheikh Gulf Arab monarchies]], the custom is to wear traditional dress (which even when luxurious looks surprisingly plain and simple for a region famous for ConspicuousConsumption), although the ambassador to a Western country might wear a suit. The kings of Bhutan and Cambodia generally wear traditional dress, while the King of Thailand seems to prefer his [[BlingOfWar blinged-out military uniform]].