Her dress became a pool of cerulean around her feet, revealing a silk teddy that was poetry in black lingerie.
— The Last Kiss Goodbye
It becomes necessary (or desirable) for a female character to take her clothes off in a non-cable show.
We cut to a shot of her slipping her dress off her shoulders — then we cut down behind her feet and see the dress tumble to the floor around her legs.
See also Sexy Discretion Shot. Often overlaps with Toplessness from the Back, Sexy Coat Flashing, Ready for Lovemaking.
Compare Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing, where such a shot also involves shapeshifting of the subject, rather than simply removing their clothes.
Examples:
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Advertising
- This Somper Furs ad
plays with this trope. When a woman sees how good her fur coat looks in the mirror, she grabs the straps of her dress, and the next shot is her dress falling to the floor, indicating she is wearing nothing under the coat.
- In this Anne Klein commercial most of Sally's clothes are already off. Rather it's her bra that hits the floor.
- Suzanna Jones taking off her bikini top at the pool in this Mandalay Bay commercial.
- In this ad for Dior, Charlize Theron throws her luxury accessories onto the ground, before unzipping her dress, cutting to a shot of it falling onto the ground.
Anime & Manga
- In Black Lagoon Gretel does this. It's intended to be disturbing. We also aren't sure of her gender, It Makes Sense in Context.
- In Bleach, Yoruichi pulls this on Ichigo, mostly for her amusement. We only see the first bit of her clothes hitting the ground, and from there it's all Ichigo's increasingly panicked offscreen reactions.
- Diva pulls this one in Blood+. It then turns into Fan Disservice when she rapes and kills Riku...
- Token Mini-Moe and humanoid weapon BW-Alpha in Crystal Blaze before she transforms.
- Done by Mayu in Elfen Lied during her backstory, when she's being abused by her stepfather.
- In Fairy Tail, Erza grabs Lucy's belt and wraps it around her arm in order to prevent some snake poison from spreading, and the next panel we see Lucy's skirt sliding down to her feet along with a very excited Reaction Shot from three nearby guys. Why her panties were censored in this exact situation isn't known, since they are shown regularly in the series and even later in the same arc.
- The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex episode "CASH EYE" plays this trope out in a rather interesting way. When it's time for Motoko to advance to the next stage of her mission, the moderately revealing evening gown she's wearing hits the floor... and somehow reveals a full-body Spy Catsuit underneath.
- Magic Knight Rayearth appears to pull this off when Presea unclasps her dress and it pools around her feet. The next shot shows her previously held up, white dress is now loose and she starts to dance to turn the mineral Escudo into weapons.
- Doing this actually causes Tohru's attempts to seduce Kobayashi while the latter is under the effects of a Gender Bender spell to backfire in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, since Kobayashi considers the sight of a maid uniform left sprawled on the floor to be a major turn-off.
Kobayashi: You took off your maid outfit... Not cool.
- This happens out of nowhere in the Negima!? (second season) OP.
- In One Piece during the Wano arc Nami's towel drops in the bathhouse, the panel is framed behind and Nami is mostly silhouetted so we don't see anything... but the bathhouse attendants, Basil Hawkins and certainly Sanji do.
Comic Books
- After much parading about in an open, transparent nightgown, Talia al Ghul pulls this trope◊ in Batman: Bane of the Demon.
- SpyBoy: When Madam Imadam has Sean at her mercy in her bedroom, she comes out BARELY wearing a wrap around her body. Then she drops that seconds later and seduces him.
- In Superman & Batman: Generations, Bruce Wayne Jr. (Batman) and Kara Kent (Supergirl) make out in midair above his penthouse while he is dressed in civilian clothes and she is still wearing her Supergirl costume. By the time Mrs. Bruce Wayne comes out to meet with her son on the terrace, Supergirl's costume ends up falling right on top of her.
Fan Works
- Being To Timelessness: In chapter 32, Rose seduces the Doctor, slipping out of her clothes to make clear she doesn't want to wait a minute more.
Rose Tyler: [telepathically] Take us into the Vortex, Doctor, and then take me to bed. [He moved jerkily to do her bidding, but she could still feel his confusion]
The Doctor: Barcelona…
Rose Tyler: Will wait. I don't need a fancy hotel or flowers every morning. I just need you. [The time rotor chugged up and down, and Rose dropped her clothes to the grating] Take me to your room and make love to me.
[Her explicit request broke through the last of his reserve. Before Rose could even blink, he had her in his arms and was carrying her down the corridor] - In the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls fanfic Courage and Change, Twilight unzips Sunset Shimmer's dress while they were making out, followed by Sunset letting her clothes hit the ground.
- Kara of Rokyn: Subverted. After lounging in a spa, Kara walks in the dressing room wearing nothing but a towel, finds her rival Jasmine waiting for her, and drops her towel... in shock and embarassment, not in acceptance and eagerness as Jasmine wants to interpret.
Kara entered the dressing room, and found that she was not alone.
Jasmine was there, clad only in a short robe. She was looking straight at Kara.
Kara Zor-El dropped her towel and her jaw at the same time. - Naru-Hina Chronicles Mini-sodes: Hinago goes to Naruko's home for a sleepover. While there, he thinks she's wearing a yukata. However, she reveals that she's actually wearing a bath robe and she's about to take a shower. The next panel is a shot of her legs while her robe hits the floor, with Hinago having a major Nosebleed upon seeing her naked.
- Fluttershy reveals herself this way in A Pleasant Surprise. It's a really heartwarming, beautiful moment that becomes extremely important in Midnight's character arc.
- In RONMAN THE BARBARIAN!, Kim's gown hits the floor when she and Ronman are about to make love for the first time.
- In Tales of the Otherverse, Kara is talking through a comm. device, wearing nothing but a towel, when Rogue walks into her bedroom. Kara decides everything else can wait, and lets her towel slide off her body. Cue scene change.
"Something up?" Rogue asked, planting herself on the edge of Kara's bed as she continued to dry her hair.
Kara looked at her for a long moment then stepped away from the comm. unit, letting the towel drop. Why not?
"Nothing that won't wait for a bit." She replied in a husky voice as she approached the bed.
Films — Animation
- In Adolescence of Utena, Anthy strips so Utena won't be the only one naked (Anthy was drawing a nude portrait of Utena), and we cut to a shot of her feet as her skirt falls down her legs and to the floor. Everything else is in silhouette.
Films — Live-Action
- Ajnabee: When Sonia removes her Modesty Towel in order to change, we just see her towel pooling around her bare legs and we get a Reaction Shot from Raj who's peeking on her from the corner of the room.
- This scene in The Big Lebowski:
Maude: Jeffrey.
Dude: Maude?
[robe hits floor]
Maude: Love me.
Dude: That's my robe. - Change of Habit: When the nuns change into street clothes, their habits are shown hitting the floor.
- Dances with Wolves does this for the love scene between Stands With A Fist and John Dunbar. It would have been more explicit, but notably shy Mary McDonnell nixed that idea.
- In Richard Lester's The Four Musketeers sequel, Milady (Faye Dunaway) disrobes in this fashion, stepping out of the daintiest of boudoir slippers as well. The camera slowly pans upward from her feet as she moves to dip her toes in the bath, only to find it full of bloody water from Rochefort letting his wounded hand drip into it.
- A non-sexual use in Gone with the Wind, when Melanie removes her nightgown to mop up the blood of the Union soldier Scarlett killed.
- Heatwave (2022): Claire first sees Eve when she disrobes like this to swim in the pool where they are.
- In Hot Bot, Sexbot Bardot's Modesty Towel hits the floor when she asks Huffy and Nard Do You Want to Copulate?
- The James Bond films have quite a few examples...
- Memorably gender-flipped with Bond's kilt hitting the floor in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, along with a clear implication that he's a true Scotsman note .
- Done as well in Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, ... well, what Bond movie is it not done in?
- For Your Eyes Only gives us two people dropping their dressing gowns.
- In Tomorrow Never Dies with Teri Hatcher's character and the discovery, via a Toplessness from the Back shot, that she's not wearing a bra.
- In Die Another Day also, very briefly and matter-of-factly by Miranda Frost, with another Toplessness from the Back shot.
- A Jolly Bad Fellow: After demanding that Bowles-Otterly marry her, Delia slides off her peignoir before leading him to bed. The camera follows it as it slides down her naked back and pools on the floor at her feet.
- Juno: Cherry boy-briefs hit floor.
- Malibu Beach: When Dina and Bobby go upstairs to her room to make love, every article of clothing except for her panties and his underpants land on the staircase.
- In the The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) extended version movie, The Spy With My Face, made from the first-season episode "The Double Affair", Senta Berger (playing the thrush Femme Fatale, Serena), walks into the bathroom of her luxury apartment where Napoleon Solo is taking a shower. (Long story.) The camera focuses on her legs and feet as she lets her dress fall to her feet, kicks her high-heeled shoes off, and then follows her nude legs as she walks into the shower. The scene fades out as Serena begins running her foot up and down Napoleon's wet, naked leg.
- Tippi Hedren, when her nightgown is removed by Sean Connery in Marnie.
- Mephisto: Barbara is changing in the bedroom when Hendrik passionately embraces her. There's a shot of her dress hitting the floor, then a Sexy Discretion Shot to the next scene.
- In Roberto Benigni's Il Mostro, the female protagonist (a police agent who believes Benigni's character is a sexual predator and serial killer and has infiltrated as his flatmate) wears a special dress tricked out to fall by touching one brace.
- In Stardust, Lamia shows off her rejuvenated body in this fashion.
- Done beautifully in The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) remake, by Rene Russo.
- Persis Khambatta lets her sari slither to the floor when she has sex in the closet with Sidney Poitier (where they're hiding from South African secret-police agents) in The Wilby Conspiracy.
Literature
- In The City Who Fought, the inhabitants of SSS-900-C have created a Synthetic Plague that they want to spread to the invading Kolnari through close contact. A nervous volunteer holds the virulent capsules in her mouth and waits for someone to come to her - to her alarm, five enter her quarters at once - then drops her robe to the floor as she says "Welcome to my parlor," and thinks said the spider to the fly.
- In The Faraway Saikat, Ivar manages to catch the eye of a Kni'lina female, who offers to go to his quarters (both races have fairly lax sexual mores). After a few minutes of examining his quarters, the woman touches a single clasp on her jumpsuit, and it falls right down to the floor (Kni'lina don't wear undergarments). Then, everything else takes a back seat as they get it on (also doubles as Zero-G Spot, as Ivar's bed is in a zero-g field).
- Georgia Young does this in Honor Harrington. After rather forcefully explaining to her husband why he shouldn't try and attack Honor directly at the current time she decides he needs a bit of a carrot make sure the lesson sticks.
- Alice Wroke executes this, plus Sexy Coat Flashing in The Demon Princes. Played with somewhat in that she has to take a minute to set it up. Clothes don't fall off all by themselves, you know.
- In Jack McDevitt's Omega (part of his Priscilla Hutchins series), Digby "Digger" Dunn has fallen in love with Kellie Collier, the captain of the research vessel he's traveling on, and she seems to reciprocate his feelings, but Academy regulations forbid a captain from sleeping with passengers, so she insists they have to wait. But the ship gets diverted for a rescue mission that may add up to a year to their voyage, and Digger is scheduled for a risky landing on an unexplored planet with aliens of unknown temperament. He visits her quarters the night before the landing, and... robe hits deck. End scene.
- In the 1820 book poem Ruslan and Ludmila by Alexander Pushkin, in a description of a wedding night it says "On carpets of Byzantine splendour / The jealous covers fall" (падут ревнивые одежды на цареградские ковры).
- In Shadow of the Conqueror, Sharra does this to nonverbally offer Daylen some Rescue Sex. Due to both her age and circumstances, he turns her down.
- In the epilogue of Wicked Lovely, Donia undoes the tie holding her skirt together, and it is strongly implied that her and Keenan have sex, but it's never described.
Live-Action TV
- Babylon 5: When Londo takes Lennier to experience the "real" Babylon 5 in "The Quality of Mercy", he takes the hapless Minbari to the Dark Star and sits him down right in front of the dancer on stage, moments before her skirt drops to the floor around her legs. Lennier is... fascinated.
- In Battlestar Galactica (2003), Number Six does this all the time.
- Done in Bottom when Richie is about to lose his virginity to Lady Natasha Letitia Sarah Jane Wellesley Extrong Skiponsong Smythe Smythe Smythe Smythe Smythe Oblomov Boblomov Dob, third Viscountess of Moldavia. The shot focuses on Richie's reaction as each garment hits him.
- When Anya "seduces" (in the "loosest" sense of the word) Xander for the first time in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "Please remove your clothes now." And the amazing thing? "Still more romantic than Faith."
- Copper: Happens when Sarah reconciles with Matthew and meets up with him at his practice in "Aileen Aroon".
- Done at least once by Edie in Desperate Housewives; probably more times...
- Mata Hari apparently seducing the Doctor in the Doctor Who episode "Pond Life Episode 1".
- When Emma Thompson performs this impromptu striptease on Doctor In Charge, her blouse flies into the crowd and her bra hits the man's chest.
- Game of Thrones:
- A rare male version of this trope occurs in "The Wolf and the Lion" when Ser Loras Tyrell removes Lord Renly Baratheon's pants (and any undergarment the latter may be wearing) in one swift movement and letting them drop to the floor.
- When Missandei seduces Grey Worm in Season 7.
- Non-sexual version in Gilligan's Island. When it's revealed that the detergent Gilligan used to clean clothes ate a hole in Mr. Howell's pants, Gilligan quickly grabs a blanket and covers Ginger with it before telling her he used a lot of it on her dress. Sure enough, the next shot is her dress falling off under the blanket.
- The Glades: Or 'towel hits floor' in this case. In "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves", Callie steps out of the shower wrapped in a towel and hears a knock at the door. Thinking it is Jim, she slips off the towel (which tumbles to the floor round her feet) and opens the door. It turns out to be Jim's dad.
- Home Improvement: In "It Was The Best Of Tims, It Was The Worst Of Tims", after Tim apologizes for taking Jill for granted, he reveals a tuxedo underneath his coveralls. Jill mentions she's not wearing anything under her robe. The robe hits the floor shortly thereafter.
- In Hunter, there is an episode where a rich woman robbed by a burglar finds him and bargains for return of some jewelry piece. When the robber suggests she is "wired", she drops her clothes to the floor to prove she isn't. This leads to Karmic Death of said robber, at the hands of the woman's jealous husband who wrongly assumes she's having an affair — she is, but not with the burglar.
- In Jane the Virgin, Petra seduces Lachlan by dropping her unbuttoned shirt this way.
- In the pilot episode of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Marilyn (a woman who asks Kwai-Chang Caine for help) is brought to the offices of the crime lord Tan, and is told to take her clothes off. Her dress drops to the floor just before she kisses Tan and then slaps him across the face.
- A variant on the trope—with knickers—occurs in The Last Enemy. Included the "Arm Bra"—an above-chest shot with said character holding her bra in her outstretched hand.
- Leverage:
- Used multiple times (along with Toplessness from the Back) as the models are changing backstage at the fashion show in "The Runway Job".
- The season 3 premiere plays comically with Parker, who's trying (badly) to strike mistress poses for Photoshop mock-ups that the crew needs for a job, then in her Asperger's/carefree manner, simply drops the dress, causing Hardison and Sophie to awkwardly look away.
Hardison: ...why am I looking away? - Played very straight on 2x30 of Magnificent Century, when Prenses İsabella decides enough is enough and she is now ready to seduce her way out. Followed in rapid succession by Scenery Censor, and Toplessness from the Back—and Ignore the Fanservice.
- Married... with Children: In the episode "Ship Happens", we see a babe suggestively taking off her bikini top and bottom and then showing them to Al.
- Midsomer Murders:
- Happens in "The Curse of the Ninth" as young woman prepares to take a shower, unaware that an intruder has just broken into her home.
- Happens in "Point of Balance" as one of the dancers goes to take a shower, then the camera pans to the secret spy camera someone has hidden in the bedroom...
- NCIS
- The episode "Under Covers". And there was much Squee until after the opening credits.
- In "Murder 2.0", a woman turns on her shower, Dress Hits Floor (more like bra hits floor), her husband puts on mood music, then blood starts spurting from the shower.
- Paris Police 1900: A gender-inverted example, as M. Lépine, before getting into bed with his wife, lets his trousers fall down and then steps out of them. We get to see his sexy sock suspenders. Must be a French thing.
- Pretty Little Liars: Happens in "Never Letting Go" when Samara is helping Emily adjust her dress for the show. Once she's done, Emily takes off the dress in this way, which prompts Samara to be distracted at Emily wearing nothing but black heels.
- Princess Agents provides a rare male version; the assassin trying to seduce Yuwen Yue slides off his outer robe, and the camera cuts to the robe landing on the floor.
- Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace: Shows up when Yanwan undresses before getting into the bath with Hongli.
- Mocked on Scrubs, when Jordan seduces J.D., we get the Between My Legs shot... of J.D.'s scrubs hitting the floor.
- In the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World episode "More Than Human", a mistress tries to seduce Roxton by taking off her dress this way in front of him. He walks over to her and puts her dress back up around her as she complains. Notable in that it was shot in both a Dress Hits Floor and uncensored version.
- Stargate Atlantis: in The Tower, Mara pulls this on Sheppard.
- Tales from the Crypt: Happens when Peggy changes out of her demure street clothes and into her sexy lingerie in "Lover Come Hack to Me".
- Done in episode 4, season 1 of Veronica Mars. Veronica has a flashback scene to a game of Never Have I Ever, where it comes out that she's never skinny dipped. The end of the episode has her dropping her dress on the beach to do so.
- Several in Xena: Warrior Princess, including two 'Shipperiffic ones: "The Reckoning" (ohdearpowers...) and "The Bitter Suite".
Music
- Bruno Mars' "Versace on the Floor" is all about this.
So baby let's just turn down the lights
And close the door
Ooh I love that dress
But you won't need it anymore
No you won't need it no more
Let's just kiss 'til we're naked, baby
Versace on the floor
Ooh take it off for me, for me, for me, for me now, girl - Lorrie Morgan's "Out of Your Shoes" starts off with "You borrowed my favorite dress" and then ends with this trope.
- My Darkest Days — "Porn Star Dancin'"
She don't play nice, she makes me beg
She drops that dress around her legs
And I'm sittin' right by the stage
With this porn star dancing - Non-visual, but the chorus of Chris Young's "Gettin' You Home" definitely applies:
Walking through the front door
Seeing your black dress hit the floor
Music Videos
- The video for "Versace on the Floor" by Bruno Mars contains this with Zendaya.
- The Kylie Minogue video "On a Night Like This" has this happen twice (both involving her stripping down after she exits a pool).
- The beginning of the video for "Talking in Your Sleep" by The Romantics.
- The video for "Getting You Home" by Chris Young ends with this.
Video Games
- Devil May Cry 5: Lady is found naked inside Artemis, and brought back to the DMC van by Nero and Nico, where Nico covers her in a Modesty Bedsheet. Soon after though, Nico needs her help clearing a path for the van, so Lady dramatically stands up and lets the bedsheet hit the floor and shows all of Lady's "smokin' bod"... minus what's covered by a convenient lens flare, of course.
- Final Fantasy X did the wetsuit variation again, with Rikku. Though hers was slightly more on-screen. (She was wearing shorts and a top underneath it anyway.)
- In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Mistral drops her coat in this manner to Raiden showing off her (well endowed) cybernetic body. Considering Mistral blew Raiden a kiss earlier she's likely doing intentionally.
- In Geralt's interlude with Princess Adda in The Witcher, as her dress comes down she rips off his wolfshead medallion and throws it to the floor, where it is shown to be vibrating furiously. The added significance of this is that the medallion is tuned to vibrate in the presence of monsters, and Princess Adda had been cursed into a monstrous form in the past.
Webcomics
- The Other Grey Meat. In issue 118, in exchange for his half of the found brains, Beth strips completely for John and is seen in this shot.
- The Overture. Done by Janis in an attempt to be sexy for Richard. It works.
Web Original
- Happens in a joke trailer for Passion of the Christ 2 set in the modern day. Skip to 2:05. See the rest of the trailer as well.
Western Animation
- On The Critic, a lonely Jay imagines the Statue of Liberty doing this, her dress dropping with a loud clang.
- Apparently he's not the first, considering they had to put up a sign.
- In The Crumpets episode "Granny Strip", when Cassandra is mad because she thinks her Love Interest Pfff is watching the TV Weather Girl rather than returning to her, she rips and eliminates all her clothing other than her undergarments. The upper half of her body is seen as she drops her skirt to the floor, followed by the next shot focusing on her legs and shirt hitting the floor.
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Happens in "The Gamesmaster" when the Gamesmaster is spying on Lady Jaye getting undressed in a department store changing room.
- Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama has a version of this, except that it is a wetsuit that hits the ground.
- Subverted (and mixed with Sexy Coat Flashing) on The Mask episode "Flight as a Feather." During a bill-signing ceremony, Mayor Tilton's ex-girlfriend, Cookie (an exotic dancer with an apparent suicide bomber streak) crashes the ceremony and storms the stage. The mayor's aide tries to stop her, and she opens her trenchcoat and flashes him, leaving the mayor's aide to growl lecherously and comment, "Dy-no-mite!" Once the dress hits the floor, it turns out Cookie is fully-clothed — in two megatons worth of explosives strapped around her bust and waist before the Mask gives her a hilarious and well deserved Shameful Strip.
- Parodied in Tek Jansen, the Colbert Report show-within-a-show, when Abraxxxia undresses. Due to the complexity of the armour she's wearing, Random Metal Objects Hit Floor for some time. (The last one is a tray of muffins, which... let's just say it makes sense in context. There was a muffin joke on The Daily Show that day.)
