History Main / FrozenFashionSense

Related to JacobMarleyApparel and FashionDissonance. If they can pull it off in style -- and few do -- it's AwesomeAnachronisticApparel. Compare and contrast DiscoDan. Completely unrelated to [[Disney/{{Frozen}} the Kingdom of Arendelle's]] fashion statements.

* ''{{ComicBook/Preacher}}'': Subverted by Cassidy (who goes with casual wear, originally being a poor Irishman in the early 20th century) and Eccarius, who dresses up as a ClassicalMovieVampire despite vampires being completely different in the Preacher verse, being unable to transform or enthrall victims (and don't even need human blood to survive). Cassidy calls him out on his behavior.

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Mentioned in the first episode, where Buffy spots a vampire by his Seventies wardrobe and then dropped afterward for all but a very few vampires like Dracula and The Prince of Lies. A lot of the low level vampires tend to just wear the sort of clothes you grab off the rack - or, of course, take off people you kill.
--->'''Buffy:''' Deal with that outfit for a moment.\\
'''Giles:''' It's dated?\\
'''Buffy:''' It's carbon-dated.
** According to the pilot commentary, the original idea was the vampires eternally wear the clothes of the era they died in. This idea was swiftly dropped with the introduction of vampires centuries-old who pass for yuppies. The reason given in the commentary was that after seeing it in the pilot the creators realized it was stupid.
** The character of Spike could be considered a loose example. Originally a plain vanilla vampire from Anne Rice era, he lifted some fashion tips from Music/BillyIdol and [[Music/SexPistols Syd Vicious]] (though Spike would claim they stole ''his'' look) and remains stuck in the 80s. Going by flashbacks he'd been rocking variations of the look for nearly a century before it became popular, although his iconic leather coat is a trophy from the actual '70s.
** Another dead giveaway is their hilariously outdated dance moves.
* This trope made a brief appearance on ''Buffy'''s spinoff, ''Series/{{Angel}}'', when an obnoxious, Creator/RatPack-era vampire from Las Vegas arrives in town for a museum heist.
* In a 1989 ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E3TheCurseOfFenric The Curse of Fenric]]", the sequences where the haemovores rise up to feast on the living display everything from Elizabethan doublets to eighteenth-century seawool. Justified, as they've all been holed up since they were turned, and haven't exactly had a chance to nip down to the shops and pick up something more trendy.
* Averted in ''Series/TrueBlood''. Most of the main vampires wear perfectly modern clothing. In fact the first view we get of Godric, known to be about 2,000 years old, he's wearing sweatpants and a simple shirt. They also dress to fit in, if they are trying to infiltrate an organization, such as Godric and Eric dressing as [[PuttingOnTheReich SS officers]] during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII when looking for [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]]. On the other hand, Russell Edgington, who is 3000 years old, prefers to dress in an old-fashioned manner at home... and then go out to meet his werewolves in a leather jacket.
* ''Series/BeingHumanUS'' has the vampire Elders who prefer to live among the Amish and dress as the Amish do. However, the Elders are 1000+ years old so for them that is already modern clothing.
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* The Countess's coterie in ''ComicBook/OnceBitten'' all dress in the style appropriate to when she brought them over. Victorian prostitute, civil war soldier, etc.

* In a 1989 ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E3TheCurseOfFenric The Curse of Fenric]]", the sequences where the haemovores rise up to feast on the living display everything from Elizabethan doublets to eighteenth century seawool. Justified, as they've all been holed up since they were turned, and haven't exactly had a chance to nip down to the shops and pick up something more trendy.

* Literature/MercyThompson has met vampires who only do this for formal events. They dress in appropriate contemporary style the rest of the time, but in a formal setting wearing clothing appropriate to their native timeframe is a visual indication of how old they are, and therefore how powerful they may be as well.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' most of the Red Court of vampires dress in contemporary clothing, although they do have ancient {{Mayincatec}} outfits for ceremonial occasions. The White Court frequently dress in the height of fashion, or at least what will be the height of fashion in a month, but appear particularly fond of catsuits. The Black Court isn't well represented, but the sole prominent member seen, Mavra, does tend towards ancient styles of dress. Seeing as she's also unmistakably a walking corpse, and can become invisible, there's not much point in keeping up to date. At one point Harry notices that her centuries out of date clothing is machine made, so presumably she just likes the style.

* Although deriding the idea that vampires have an inate fashion sense, ''Literature/TheRhesusChart'' by Creator/CharlesStross does point out the difficulty that older vampires (who out of necessity are isolated from society, as well as being occult sorcerers more interested in research than interaction) have of fitting in with society as it changes around them (not just fashions but also the English language has changed over the past century). One vampire gets round this by training a {{Renfield}} from every generation to act as his surrogate.

* The higher ranking "New Shadows" faction in the game ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline'' tend to dress in eighteenth century clothes. The mooks dress in torn rags, and the Big Bad of the faction wears armor similar to, but sufficently different from, the armor worn by Vlad Dracul during the back story of ''Film/BramStokersDracula''. And still wears it in a modern day New Orlea... err, Vibora Bay, that is.

Related to JacobMarleyApparel and FashionDissonance. Compare and contrast DiscoDan. Completely unrelated to [[Disney/{{Frozen}} the Kingdom of Arendelle's]] fashion statements.

* Averted in ''Film/{{Underworld}}'', where most vampires wear up-to-date clothing, even for a formal occasion. Amelia's outfit, for example, wouldn't be out-of-place at the Academy Awards. Then you have Victor, but he can be forgiven, as he has just been woken up after a century-long slumber, and he didn't get his normal update on all events of the past century (he also brings his sword into a gunfight and actually manages to use it). The decadent vampires dress for a party, while the Death Dealers and Kraven's goons prefer [[HellbentForLeather leather]].

This trope is becoming less and less popular for live action features, since it's all but impossible to put a vampire in tights and a doublet in TheCity and take the character seriously. Or to avoid the FridgeLogic this trope entails, as period costume would presumably wear out after a few decades' use, and similar replacements would get increasingly hard to come by. Conversely, you almost never find a vampire wearing clothes from the 10-20-years-ago low point of the PopularityPolynomial that are considered dated but not yet retro.

[[folder: Anime]]

[[folder: Comics]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

--> '''Buffy''': Deal with that outfit for a moment.\\
'''Giles''': It's dated?\\
'''Buffy''': It's carbon-dated.

** The character of Spike could be considered a loose example. Originally a plain vanilla vampire from Anne Rice era, he lifted some fashion tips from Music/BillyIdol and [[Music/SexPistols Syd Vicious]] (though Spike would claim they stole ''his'' look) and remains stuck in the 80s. Going by flashbacks he'd been rocking variations of the look for nearly a century before it became popular, although his iconic leather coat is a trophy from the actual 70s.

* This trope made a brief appearance on ''Buffy'''s spinoff, ''Series/{{Angel}}'', when an obnoxious, Creator/{{Rat Pack}}-era vampire from Las Vegas arrives in town for a museum heist.

* Averted in ''Series/TrueBlood''. Most of the main vampires wear perfectly modern clothing. In fact the first view we get of Godric, known to be about 2,000 years old, he's wearing sweatpants and a simple shirt.
** They also dress to fit in, if they are trying to infiltrate an organization, such as Godric and Eric dressing as [[PuttingOnTheReich SS officers]] during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII when looking for [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]].
** On the other hand, Russell Edgington, who is 3000 years old, prefers to dress in an old-fashioned manner at home... and then go out to meet his werewolves in a leather jacket.

[[folder: Film]]

[[folder: Literature]]

* In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', this trope is in effect in Elysiums (places where vampires can gather and socialize). When they are, well, [[TheMasquerade masquerading]], they are pretty keen about not standing out.
** The physical appearance of vampires in V:tM is unchanging from the time they turned. This includes hairstyles-- their hair will not grow, but it also cannot be cut, nor can it be dyed. Tough luck if you had one of the more epic examples of EightiesHair when turned...
*** Well, technically you ''can'' get a haircut and dye your hair and such. It's just that by the next night they will have restored to the situation they were in before anyway. This in itself comes in handy to cover your tracks, since nobody will assume that that guy over there with a full beard and long hair is very same person as the skinhead who wrecked your store yesterday.
** There's mention in one book of a hunter taking his apprentice into a bar and asking her to find the vampire. She pointed to the guy in 1800s attire. She was right.

[[folder: Video Games]]
* The higher ranking "New Shadows" faction in the game ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline'' tend to dress in eighteenth century clothes. The mooks dress in torn rags, and the Big Bad of the faction wears armor similar to, but sufficently different from, the armor worn by Vlad Dracul during the back story of ''Film/BramStokersDracula''. And still wears it in a modern day New Orlea ... err, Vibora Bay, that is.

* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', Alucard preferred the Victorian era, most likely. Just with gaudy red and modern Gothic design. We do see him [[BadassInANiceSuit rocking a business suit]] at least once, though, and [[BadassLongcoat his red coat]] is pretty snazzy, too.

** They also dress to fit in, if they are trying to infiltrate an organization, such as Godric and Eric dressing as [[PuttingOnTheReich SS officers]] during WorldWarTwo when looking for [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]].

* Although deriding the idea that vampires have an inate fashion sense, ''[[Literature/TheLaundrySeries The Rhesus Chart]]'' does point out the difficulty that older vampires (who out of necessity are isolated from society, as well as being occult sorcerers more interested in research than interaction) have of fitting in with society as it changes around them (not just fashions but also the English language has changed over the past century). One vampire gets round this by training a {{Renfield}} from every generation to act as his surrogate.

** The character of Spike could be considered a loose example. Originally a plain vanilla vampire from Anne Rice era, he lifted some fashion tips from Music/BillyIdol and [[Music/SexPistols Syd Vicious]] (though Spike would claim they stole ''his'' look) and remains stuck in the 80s. Going by flashbacks he'd been rocking variations of the look for nearly a century before it became popular, although his iconic leather coat is a trophy from the actual 80s.

** The character of Spike could be considered a loose example. Originally a plain vanilla vampire from Anne Rice era, he lifted some fashion tips from Music/BillyIdol and [[Music/SexPistols Syd Vicious]] (though Spike would claim they stole ''his'' look) and remains stuck in the 80s.

** According to the pilot commentary, the original idea was the vampires eternally wear the clothes of the era they died in. This idea was swiftly dropped with the introduction of vampires centuries-old who pass for yuppies.

Related to JacobMarleyApparel and FashionDissonance. Compare and contrast DiscoDan. Completely unrelated to [[Disney/{{Frozen}} Elsa's and Anna's]] fashion sense.

** The character of Spike could be considered a loose example. Originally a plain vanilla vampire from Anne Rice era, he lifted some fashion tips from BillyIdol and [[TheSexPistols Syd Vicious]] (though Spike would claim they stole ''his'' look) and remains stuck in the 80s.

* Though the 2001 film ''The Breed'' is set in a dystopic NotSoDistantFuture, many characters dress in stereotypical 50s detective noir get-ups. (Though to be fair, this is not limited solely to the vampires.)

Related to JacobMarleyApparel and FashionDissonance. Compare and contrast DiscoDan. Completely unrelated to [[Disney/{{Frozen}} Elsa's and Anna's]] fashion sense. [[note]]Then again, Elsa does look sexy in that glittering blue serpentine dress.[[/note]]

Related to JacobMarleyApparel and FashionDissonance. Compare and contrast DiscoDan.

* [[Manga/{{Hellsing}} Alucard]] preferred the Victorian era, most likely. Just with gaudy red and modern Gothic design.
** We do see him [[BadassInANiceSuit rocking a business suit]] at least once, though, and [[BadassLongcoat his red coat]] is pretty snazzy, too.
* [[Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund Mina Tepes]], when not in a [[NewTransferStudent school uniform]] or [[FullFrontalAssault naked]], leans toward late-Victorian[=/=]Edwardian wear.

* [[{{Hellsing}} Alucard]] preferred the Victorian era, most likely. Just with gaudy red and modern Gothic design.

* [[DanceInTheVampireBund Mina Tepes]], when not in a [[NewTransferStudent school uniform]] or [[FullFrontalAssault naked]], leans toward late-Victorian[=/=]Edwardian wear.

* This trope made a brief appearance on ''Buffy'''s spinoff, ''Series/{{Angel}}'', when an obnoxious, {{Rat Pack}}-era vampire from Las Vegas arrives in town for a museum heist.

* The American version of ''[[Series/BeingHumanRemake Being Human]]'' has the vampire Elders who prefer to live among the Amish and dress as the Amish do. However, the Elders are 1000+ years old so for them that is already modern clothing.

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