Meaningful Appearance

"In real life, you can't judge a book by its cover, but in fiction that is what the cover is there for."

— Red, Overly Sarcastic Productions, "Trope Talk: Are We The Baddies?"

The appearance of people used as a way to convey information about them.

As humans are very visual creatures, the easiest way to gain insight into a person's being is to simply take in their appearance. A person's physical features as well as their clothing can give the audience cues to their personality, morality, and their social status among other things. Attributes like color or what type of traits/clothing the character has can also add additional symbolism. The meaning of the particular features the person has or the clothes they wear can be something that has cultural significance in the real world or something that has importance in the work's universe.

Even when characters are wearing costumes or disguises, we can still visibly ascertain things about their fake identities.

Foreshadowing can also be done this way.

Of course these tropes aren't always revealing, and some writers will use these just to bait and switch the audience.

Compare Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance, Exposition (when information is given through dialog), Meaningful Name.

Things the audience can tell, whether it's certain or likely, from looking at hair, clothing, eyes, hands, etc.

Clothing/Costumes and Accessories

Adventurer Outfit: These people are going to an exotic place to do something extraordinary.
Armored Villains, Unarmored Heroes: You can tell who is evil because they actually want to protect their bodies when in battle. The fiends!
Badasses Wear Bandanas: Wearing a bandanna shows one is at least trying to look tough.
Bad Job, Worse Uniform: You work at a minimum wage job, and dress like it too.
Bankruptcy Barrel: A barrel is free clothing when you have no money.
Barefoot Loon: Eccentrics and crazy people often go barefoot in public because they are either flouting societal conventions or are simply oblivious to them.
Barefoot Sage: Sages, mentors and enlightened characters frequently eschew footwear for reasons of religious asceticism, connection to nature, or because they're too wise to care about social conventions.
Battle Ballgown: A lady in an armored dress, so she knows how to fight wearing it.
Battle Strip: You're taking your clothes off? You are definitely taking this fight seriously.
Blatant Burglar: You're dressed to steal, not to be inconspicuous.
Blind People Wear Sunglasses: Sunglasses used as a visual shorthand for blindness.
Bling of War: For people who think victory starts with a good tailor.
Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: Clearly the wedding went south in some manner.
Boyish Shorts: Young boys wear shorts to display their youth and/or immaturity.
Brown Bag Mask: One didn't have the time and/or means to find or make a good disguise.
Casual Sports Jersey: You must really like that team, or once played on it.
Chest Insignia: Yes, the picture on your pectoral area makes it clear you have superpowers of some kind.
Classy Cravat: This character's old fashioned clothing items show one has old fashioned values and graces.
Clothing Reflects Personality: Personal attitudes can affect dress.
Coat Over the Shoulder: This character is sophisticated, but in a relaxed manner.
Color-Coded Patrician: The leader wears a distinct color from the rest.
Commissar Cap: A hat that screams "Tyrannical Leadership".
Consistent Clothing Style: A specific way of dress that distinguishes a character.
Conspicuous Gloves: When you don't typically see gloves, them being worn is important.
Conspicuous Trenchcoat: What's this person hiding under that?
Cool Crown: Nine times out of ten, you're looking at royalty, or at least high nobility.
Coordinated Clothes: Two or more people match clothes to emphasize their togetherness.
Costume Evolution: Looks like the costume designer decided to mix things up... and there has likely been significant changes for the character.
Costume Porn: The clothing budget, or animation budget if drawn, isn't being held back. That and the characters are really showing off their wealth
Crown of Horns: Don't expect a gentle or timid monarch.
Culture Equals Costume: Fashion makes a quick geography lesson.
Cute Oversized Sleeves: The wearer has these big sleeves to showcase how adorable they are.
Custom Uniform: That outfit stands out. Keep your eyes on it.
Dashingly Dapper Derby: Only the most charmingly suave wear those hats in fiction. Unless...
Dastardly Dapper Derby: Okay, even villains can be suave when wearing bowlers.
Dead Hat Shot: The wearer is gone, or the writers just want to psyche us out.
Dork in a Sweater: The wearer may or may not be attractive, but certainly won't be an asskicker.
Dreadlock Warrior: Dreadlocks + Looking peaceful or contemplative = Asskicker.
Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: Each side dresses in distinctive ways (whether it's due to uniforms or other reasons).
Dressed to Heal: Trust me, I dress like a doctor.
Dresses the Same: One of them is going to insist that the other will have to go home and change.
Dress Hits Floor: If the character isn't naked, she will be as soon as the underwear hits the floor.
Earthy Barefoot Character: Characters who have a spiritual connection to nature (or just rural characters) usually enjoy going barefoot. The Nature Hero, Barbarian Hero, Noble Savage, Hot Gypsy Woman, Jungle Princess and Tarzan Boy are almost always barefoot.
Empty Piles of Clothing: The wearers either disappeared quickly and peacefully, or disappeared horribly.
Ermine Cape Effect: The writers, er, royals, feel appearance matters over practicality.
Evil Costume Switch: Someone just did a Face–Heel Turn.
Evil Wears Black: If one is wearing black, and it's not a superhero film, that person is likely a villain.
Expressive Accessory: In cases where characters aren't showing their feelings, their clothing accessories will.
Expressive Mask: Same as above, but for masks.
Expressive Shirt: Again, but for a Fun T-Shirt.
Eyepatch After Time Skip: If one is from the future, one of the key things to look for first is an eyepatch. Then you know the future may not be a good one.
Eyepatch of Power: However they got them, don't mess with these characters.
Fairytale Wedding Dress: The bride, or whoever paid for the dress, just wanted a classic look for the wedding.
Fashion-Based Relationship Cue: What you wear indicates what kind of relationship you're in, and possibly what you're into as well.
Feather Boa Constrictor: This character has a tough streak.
Fluffy Fashion Feathers: The fancier the plumes being worn, the more wealthy and/or powerful the buyer.
Forced into Their Sunday Best: If they don't look happy, they didn't dress this way willingly.
Frames of Reference: The type of glasses can tell you about characters.
Frilly Upgrade: A Magical Girl just got a power upgrade.
Future Spandex: These outfits show this isn't our normal world.
Gas Mask Mooks: Fear the wearers more than whatever their masks are supposed to protect them from (if there is even a reason they are wearing those).
Gendered Outfit: You can tell the sex of the wearer... in the cases where it's not immediately obvious otherwise.
Genuine Human Hide: Wearing skin shows the person may not be fully sane.
Glove Slap: This person believes in gentlemanly confrontation.
Glove Snap: This character is about to need those gloves, for whatever is about to be done.
Go-Go Enslavement: She's wearing significantly less. If we didn't already know she was captured, we would now.
Going Fur a Swim: Someone is trying to dress sexy, and sybaritic.
Good Costume Switch: Someone just did a Heel–Face Turn.
Graceful Ladies Like Purple: She'll be feminine, but not as girly as one wearing pink.
Gratuitous Use of the Tallit: Someone's being actively Jewish, and not just telling us they're Jewish.
Halloween Costume Characterization: On Halloween or other costume events, the choice of costume reflects the wearer's personality.
Handwraps of Awesome: Because wearing full gloves (even just fabric instead of padded boxing gloves) is for wimps.
Happy Harlequin Hat: Here comes the king's Butt-Monkey.
Happy Holidays Dress: This lady wants to both look her best, and be seasonally appropriate.
Hat of Authority: A distinctive, but important looking, hat? Must be someone in charge.
Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: This guy on vacation is not going to set the best example for his home country.
Hazmat Suit: Everyone in the area had either be wearing this suit, or have good Plot Armor.
Headphones Equal Isolation: Someone is using music to "Make the world go away".
Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: No helmet means a good, and important, character.
Her Boyfriend's Jacket: She's wearing something from him, and he wouldn't have given it to her if they weren't stepping up their relationship.
Hereditary Wedding Dress: A bride wears a wedding dress to honour her mother.
High-Class Fan: Used by noble ladies to give them an air of elegance and sophistication.
High-Class Glass: It's the eyeglasses equivalent of a finely tailored suit.
High-Class Gloves: The wearer is covering all the bases in looking properly fashionable. This goes double if the work is taking place after The '60s.
High Collar of Doom: High collar? Likely a villain. And if more than one character is wearing a high collar, then the most sinister looking collar belongs to the villain.
Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: We need to see soldiers, even if the scene calls for them not being visible.
Hobo Gloves: Badly worn, fingerless gloves as a signifier of crushing poverty.
Homemade Sweater from Hell: Did Bob just get handed a tacky sweater? He's gonna have to wear it.
Horny Vikings: Nothing says "Norse badass" like Hollywood Costuming.
Hyperspace Holmes Hat: The Cuckoolander is about to try to play detective.
Iconic Outfit: You only have to see the outfit first to know the character.
Impossibly Tacky Clothes: If the character doesn't like the outfit, we're likely not supposed to either.
Jacob Marley Apparel: Gives us a clue to what happened with the ghost in life.
Jeweler's Eye Loupe: If this is the first thing we see, we know the character has a profession covered by this trope.
Kiddy Coveralls: Kids wear overalls to keep clean and be rambunctious.
Kimono Is Traditional: Wearing this outfit shows the character's old fashioned values.
Labcoat of Science and Medicine: We know that character is either one of these professions.
Lady in a Power Suit: This lady is smart and tough, as well as dresses smart and tough.
Lady in Red: Older work? Woman is wearing bright red? She's gonna be hitting on someone.
Lampshade Wearing: Someone had one drink too many.
Little Black Dress: This lady believes in timeless and Simple, yet Opulent elegance.
Living Mood Ring: When a character's appearance changes to reflect their emotions.
Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: If the character's lives weren't in danger, they'd go back and get it. So clearly things are serious.
Magical Barefooter: Characters with magical powers sometimes go barefoot — this may be because they need contact with the soil for their powers, because they are invulnerable to injury or soiling, to demonstrate their lack of interest in social conventions, or to demonstrate their "higher being" status.
Malevolent Masked Men: The more the mask covers, the more dangerous the wearer.
Man in a Kilt: This is a true Scotsman.
Man of Wealth and Taste: He's well dressed, but in a sinister way. Villain.
Martial Artists Are Always Barefoot: Martial artists are often portrayed as being habitually barefoot even in non-combat situations.
Martial Arts Headband: It's like wearing a black belt, but also visible for closeups.
The Men in Black: The suit and the shades, combined with a certain air about them, let you know a conspiracy's afoot.
Mystical High Collar: High collar, and this person has an exotic flair? Likely a wizard.
Naked Nutter: No clothes = crazy.
Nemean Skinning: Someone just killed a dangerous beast, and wants everyone to see it.
Nubile Savage: We can tell this character because she dresses like she had to make her Fur Bikini herself, but her Beauty Is Never Tarnished.
Ominous Opera Cape: This garment helps show that the villain has sophistication and style.
Overalls and Gingham: We see characters like this, we know it's farmland.
Parasol of Prettiness: She's carrying a parasol, so she's elegant, graceful, and demure.
Pauper Patches: We know the characters are in almost as bad a situation as they'd be if they were wearing a barrel.
Pelts of the Barbarian: Those furs are less about showing off wealth than how many skulls you can break with your axe.
Pimp Duds: Those distinctive coats and hats let us know that he's about to hook some characters up with some booty.
Pimped-Out Cape: Someone wants to show off wealth, and in a regal manner (whether royalty or not).
Pimped-Out Dress: A lady is very wealthy, or knows someone who is... or knows a Fairy Godmother, and this lady doesn't want to dress simply.
Pink Is Erotic: The appearance of pink means that something erotic or sexual is about to happen or be alluded to.
Pink Means Feminine: She's wearing pink? Then she's a Girly Girl.
Plague Doctor: Things are not going well in ye olden days.
Please Keep Your Hat On: If they never take their hat off, they may be hiding something.
Post Apocalyptic Gasmask: It's After the End, and things are still dangerous outside.
Post-Apunkalyptic Armor: Gangs in the future can't just get Beyond Thunderdome when it comes to fashion choices.
Posthuman Nudism: Superhumans often go naked to demonstrate that they're above physical discomfort and social conventions.
Pretty in Mink: The fancier the fur garment(s) being worn, the more wealthy and/or powerful the buyer.
Princesses Prefer Pink: If she's wearing a tiara, and her poofy dress is pink, she's no mere Blue Blood.
Putting on the Reich: If the fashion looks fascist, so are the people.
Quirky Girl, Quirky Tux: If a female is wearing a slightly jaunty tuxedo or dinner jacket, she's probably a bit crazy.
Rainbow Pimp Gear: The game developers put different desirable bonuses on many varied clothing items.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: This combination is rarely for the good guys.
Red Hot Masculinity: Macho men often wear red.
Requisite Royal Regalia: Their very purpose is to visually indicate royalty.
Ring on a Necklace: A character is wearing a ring on a necklace rather than their finger for some important reason.
Robe and Wizard Hat: Even the audience would instantly say "You're a wizard, Harry", if he wore these.
Rough Overalls: Overalls tell you a character's a Working-Class Hero or a farmer.
Scary Shiny Glasses: What kind of monster wears glasses that reflect light so well?
Signature Headgear: A character's headgear makes them stand out as well as give them a little bit of personality. Up
Seashell Bra: Even before seeing the fishtail, we can tell she's a mermaid if she has clamshells over her chest.
Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: Only the good dress modestly. This goes double for women.
Sex Dressed: Even skipping the love scene, we know it happened thanks to this.
Sexy Shirt Switch: Another way we can tell someone had sex, even without showing the sex.
Sexy Sweater Girl: She may be attractive, but she likely won't flaunt it.
Shabby Heroes, Well-Dressed Villains: We know the bad guys are vain, while the heroes are too busy trying to save the world, to worry about looking their best.
Significant Wardrobe Shift: You changed your Iconic Outfit? It likely was for a plot or characterization reason.
Sinister Shades: Only a villain would wear shades in a creepy manner.
Staff of Authority: Carrying a staff as a symbol of office or authority.
Still Wearing the Old Colors: This character is holding on to something in the past.
Stock Costume Traits: The traits of a character's costume can convey a lot of information about a character.
Stylish Sunhats: A lady with a sunhat is a fashionista or someone important.
Suit Up of Destiny: Your new clothes indicate the first act is nearly over.
Suspicious Ski Mask: Whoever wears this is probably a criminal. Maybe they just want to keep their face warm, but unlikely.
Sukhomlinov Effect: You can bet on the winning side from clothing alone.
Symbol Motif Clothing: Spamming clothes with certain symbols means the wearer wants people to know what the symbol represents.
Themed Tattoos: Characters' tattoos share a common theme or appearance that carries a specific meaning to them.
Tomboyish Baseball Cap: Would a girly girl wear such a hat (if it wasn't pink)?
Toplessness from the Back: If the back is nude, so is the front.
Tough Spikes and Studs: Tough guys and gals wears clothing or accessories with spikes and/or studs.
True Blue Femininity: She will still be feminine, but more serene than with pink and purple.
Undead Barefooter: Undead characters (ghosts, vampires, zombies, mummies) are often barefoot as a way to let the viewer know there's something off about them (especially if they look human otherwise). This may be because they no longer feel pain or cold, or just because they died or were buried without shoes.
Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: Showing something about a character's personality via giving their clothes a small imperfection.
Whip of Dominance: Carrying a whip as a symbol of dominance, control, authority, or sadism.
White and Red and Eerie All Over: Color combination for creepiness.
White Is Pure: When a character wears white to reflect how they are morally pure and obsessed with being clean.
Widow's Weeds: All black, but not a villain? Her husband likely died.

General

Angel Face, Demon Face: When a mon's or familiar's appearance is based on the morality of their owner.
Beauty Equals Goodness: Only bad people are ugly.
Braids, Beads and Buckskins: We may not be looking at the most nuanced portrayal of a Native American here.
Chromatic Arrangement: If they are color-themed, they are in a group.
Color-Coded Characters: You can use colors to tell them apart.
Distinctive Appearances: Giving characters unique character design elements to make them stand out.
Duality Motif: Dual aspects of characters can show in their appearances.
Evil Makes You Ugly: A Face–Heel Turn can sap your beauty.
Earned Stripes: The writers finally decided to change things up for this character... and this character earned a promotion.
Flashy Protagonists, Bland Extras: Major characters look distinctly different from extras.
Full-Frontal Assault: Someone going into battle this way may best be avoided if you can.
Good Colors, Evil Colors: Good and Evil have made their choice... of who uses which colors.
Group-Identifying Feature: Members of a group can be determined by a feature on their clothes, hair, bodies, etc.
Mark of the Supernatural: Something special about their appearance marks them as supernatural. Hair color, eye color, facial markings, whatever.
Power Makeover: Their appearance changed, so clearly they got stronger.
Psychotic Smirk: The show doesn't want any ambiguity over whether this person is evil.
Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain: Sometimes beauty doesn't equal goodness.
Visual Development: When character's appearance changes to reflect story/character development.

Physical Traits

Android Identifier: Unnaturally colored hair or skin, barcodes or tattoos mark someone as an artificial human or android.
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Pretty + Tall + Dark Hair = Distant Personality.
Bald Head of Toughness: Baldness used to reinforce the idea that the character is physically, mentally (or both) strong or resilient.
Bald of Authority: Bald = authoritative.
Bald of Evil: No hair on the head + Sinister expressions = He's evil.
Bald Mystic: Bald = spiritual.
Barbarian Longhair: Long, unkempt hair means he's from less civilized lands... and will likely kick your butt.
Beard of Evil; What kind of sick monster would actually trim his beard, instead of either shaving it all off, or not shaving it at all?
Big Anime Eyes: A character with big and expressive eyes like in anime, where this is an omnipresent trope.
Braids of Barbarism: Real warriors have no time to cut or style their hair.
Burn Scars, Burning Powers: Severe burns indicate the person has fire-related powers.
Carpet of Virility: A man's chest hair underscores his masculinity.
Childish Bangs: She's either a little girl or she acts like one.
Claimed by the Supernatural: That brand on you was caused by something paranormal? There could be many causes, but all are important and significant.
Color-Coded Eyes: Eye color used to symbolize a character's personality, powers, or allegiance.
Comically Cross-Eyed: Crossed eyes are a sure sign that someone is The Ditz or a Cloudcuckoolander.
Creepy Hairless Animal: Hairless and featherless animals are ominous.
Disease Bleach: You can tell that stress really got to them.
Distinguishing Mark: A mark/scar/birthmark that distinguishes a character.
Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: A character's half-closed eyes distinguish them as sarcastic, smug, lascivious, or constantly tired.
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: If her skin is pale, and her dark hair is unkempt, walk away now.
Evil Is Angular: Evil wants to appear imposing. Thanks to our evolutionary heritage, an easy way to do so is to avoid rounded shapes.
Evil Redhead: Being a redhead means they're going to be evil.
Expository Hairstyle Change: You changed your hairstyle? It likely was for a plot or characterization reason.
Family Eye Resemblance: You have your father's eyes. Well you are his daughter.
Fish Eyes: Eyes that turn outwards mean that someone is either unintelligent or insane.
Girlish Pigtails: She's either a girly girl or at least a Tomboy with a Girly Streak.
Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: The eyes are the windows to the soul, good and bad ones.
Good Hair, Evil Hair: Sometimes stylists believe in personality appropriate hairstyles.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Only bad people get ugly scars.
Gold Tooth of Wealth: Gold teeth used to signify wealth and/ or used as a status symbol.
Hades Shaded: A strange tan indicates a dark power source.
Hair Color Spoiler: The color or style of hair tips things off to the audience.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: If they're nice and blonde, expect them to be Purity Personified.
Hot Blooded Sideburns: Fiery sideburns = Fiery personality.
Important Haircut: You cut your hair? It likely was for a plot or characterization reason.
Lascivious Beauty Mark: Beauty mark means they are flirty, seductive, sexually forward, or very desired In-Universe.
Locked into Strangeness: If something causes a streak of hair to change colors, it wasn't something to be taken lightly.
Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Long, but clean and smooth, hair means he's going to be Bishōnen.
Long Hair Is Feminine: Her girlishness might be in proportion to her hair length.
Motherly Side Plait: Your mom wears her hair draped over her shoulder? She must be so nice.
Mystical White Hair: If their hair is white, more than likely there is something supernatural about them.
Ojou Ringlets: If her hair includes these, she's royal or nobility.
Prematurely Grey-Haired: A character has grey hair as a result of traumatic experiences rather than old age.
Prim and Proper Bun: She's going to be a Proper Lady.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: If her skin is pale, and her dark hair is clean and pretty, expect her to be nice and sweet.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: If their eyes are red, run like hell.
Redhead In Green: They wanted their clothes to complement their hair, not clash with it.
Red Right Hand: Any body part that looks wrong may mean one is a villain.
Reincarnation-Identifying Trait: This can be a physical trait used to identify reincarnations.
Regal Ringlets: The hair of high class ladies in period pieces.
Rose-Haired Sweetie: If her hair is pink, she's going to be nice.
Scars Are Ugly: Scars the elicit disgust and pity.
Shared Unusual Trait: Whether they are related, or tied by destiny, they will have a matching physical trait.
Shoulders of Doom: Big shoulder clothing indicates someone you don't want to mess with.
Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Blue hair means she's an introvert.
Significant White Hair, Dark Skin: This character is going to be important in some way.
Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: This character is going to be important in some way.
Slashers Prefer Blondes: Blondes have low odds of being the Final Girl.
Supernatural Floating Hair: Characters associated with the supernatural have floating hair.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: Gold eyes mean something special about a character, often something magical.
Sultry Bangs: The use of eye-covering bangs to denote sensuality or seductiveness.
Tattoo as Character Type: You got a tattoo? It likely was for a plot or characterization reason.
Tareme Eyes: Eyes that are slanted downwards to symbolize a kind, quiet, sad, fragile or otherwise soft character.
Tomboyish Ponytail: She's got a ponytail, and not a fancy one? She's a tomboy.
Tsurime Eyes: Eyes that are slanted upwards to symbolize a strong-willed, arrogant, or prideful character.
Villainous Gold Tooth: Gold teeth used to signify villainy and/or amorality.
Villainous Widow's Peak: Only the most diabolical would dare to be born with their hair trait.
White Hair, Black Heart: If their hair is white, they're likely evil.
Wingding Eyes: These windows to the soul decided to decorate themselves.
The Worsening Curse Mark: A birthmark, scar, or magical tattoo changes dramatically to indicate that something significant is happening to the character.
"X" Marks the Hero: A X scar on a character's face is often shown to mark said character as one of the heroes.

Examples:

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Anime and Manga

In the original Appleseed manga, female lead Deunan Knute is drawn as a blonde with bronze skin, which she explains is because her father is European and her mother is Sudanese after Hitomi comments she's darker-skinned than most Caucasians she's met. In most adaptations she's drawn with pale skin, though her Sudanese parentage is brought up in Appleseed XIII: Briareos mentions in an Internal Monologue that Deunan's mother was murdered by a soldier for violating a racial segregation law, which caused her father to go Knight Templar Parent and train his daughter into a soldier.

Comic Books

Loop: The time-traveling twins and Father Time have time-themed appearances, naturally.
- The blue twin's hair buns look like alarm clock bells, and the bow on her front looks like an infinity loop.
- The red twin's pigtails look like the hands of a clock, and the bandolier she's wearing as part of her cowboy getup is actually a giant watch.
- Father Time has a giant droopy clock draped over his shoulders, Roman numerals around his sleeve cuffs, and a tiny sundial in the center of his forehead.
Superman: Lex Luthor has green eyes. This served as a plot point when his doppelganger from another universe turned up dead: he was differentiated by having blue eyes. Luthor is also known to dope up on Kryptonite-based steroids, which make his eyes seem unnatural. And of course, given Luthor's intense jealousy of Superman, they're thematically appropriate.
In Young Justice Arrowette, after nearly murdering a man, worries that she might be evil which to her means "I'll have to get a tight, skimpy black leather outfit that shows off my cleavage. Oh God, I'll have to get cleavage!". In a later storyline her team gets sent to an alternate universe where they meet a much darker version of her, who wears a skimpy leather outfit and has cleavage.

Fan Works

Alicorn: After being revealed as an alicorn and Celestia's daughter, Rainbow is scared that from now on her alicornhood and royalty will be all anyone cares about and no one will look past it and see who she really is. As an alicor, her horn is longer and thinner than a unicorn's, making it both impossible to hide and the first thing anyone will noyice about her. Combined with her pre-existing Strong Family Resemblance, it also makes it extremely obvious who her mother is, which she would prefer to forget.
Anthropology: When Lyra is turned into a human, her hair is the same color as her mane: mint green. Thankfully, when she teleports to the real world she winds up in modern times, so no one really minds.
The Story of a Gardevoir That Became a Trainer: The main character has light green hair, one of her visual carryovers from her previous form as a Gardevoir.

Films — Animation

In the Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf film Moon Castle: The Space Adventure, the Bitter Gourd King wears a sheet of paper on his face bearing the Chinese symbol "苦", meaning "bitter".
In Turning Red, Tyler wears a sports headband and short-sleeved gym attire, befitting his Jerk Jock characterization and skills. Furthermore, with the addition of ear piercings, this matches the look of Aaron Z. of 4★Town. Tyler is one of Aaron Z's biggest fans (in part due to their shared heritage), and he modeled his looks◊ after the singer.

Films — Live-Action

In Big Trouble in Little China, David Lo Pan, the Big Bad, has to sacrifice a woman with green eyes in order to undo a curse that keeps his true form immaterial. Un/Fortunately the love interests of both the main protagonist and his kung fu buddy have green eyes, so they have to go defeat Lo Pan's crew in a wire-fight to the death.
Saw: Unlike other Jigsaw apprentices and certain relevant accomplices, Hoffman never wore a red and black robe similar to John's whenever on the testing field, instead wearing the dark blue parka he first had when abducting Seth. This represents that he had never believed in John's philosophy once, even when compared to other apprentices who defied it like Amanda.

Literature

In Great Expectations, Miss Havisham's backstory and refusal to move on are conveyed through the aged wedding dress she refuses to take off. She wears it in all of her scenes, which motivates Pippin to discover the circumstances behind her abandonment at the altar.
Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: In the first book, in the description of Claire, who plays a Sailor Senshi Send-Up, using Sailor Moon, whose Japanese name means "Rabbit / Bunny", and from the Princesses Don't Play Nice onwards, it also indicates her character's ability to transform into a rabbit-based melee attacking form:
A single oversized bow stuck out from the back of her dark brown hair like a pair of floppy bunny ears.
Captain Halsing in Victoria is tall, well-built, blond and blue-eyed, and handsome, as well as an imperturbably calm and composed Sharp-Dressed Man. Thus, practically everything about his appearance makes him a paragon illustrating the ideals of his Nazi ideology, even when he's out of uniform.
RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant: In The Warrior in the Woods, when the Warrior first appears, her cloak is torn, and her clothing is barely more than rags patched together. Even her weapon has seen better days, with the wooden handle cracked and beginning to split. She lives alone in the forest, constantly fighting the Grimm and thereby protecting the village. However, it's also a hint of where she comes from, and the tragic backstory that left her alone in the world with nothing to her name.

Radio

In the world of Marus, as depicted in Adventures in Odyssey's Passages tie-in episode, different-colored eyes are recognized as a sign of prophecy. Interworldly interloper Alice physically goes from having brown eyes to blue and green, then loses them again when her time as The Unseen One's messenger is up.

Theatre

As detailed in this interview, King George of Hamilton is weighed down upon by his massive jewel-encrusted outfit, showing the unadaptable and outdated nature of the British Empire.

Toys

In Tamagotchi, Coffretchi wears a small pink cap that resembles a powder puff, perfect considering that she's a makeup artist.

Video Games

Team Fortress 2: The Administrator, who is Running Both Sides of the RED and BLU teams, wears purple.
Yuna from Final Fantasy X has heterochromia to indicate that she's half Al-Bhed. She has a green eye and a blue one.
Handsome Jack, the primary antagonist from Borderlands 2 appears to have heterochromia. His left eye is green and right eye blue. This serves as foreshadowing that Jack's face isn't real. The blue eye is his actual eye while the green is part of the mask. His actual left eye is scarred and appears to have no pupil.
Fletcher and Johnston from KanColle each have unique hair decs. The former wears a headband that's based on the early Fletcher-class destroyers. The latter, meanwhile, has hair ribbons that feature the historical USS Johnston's "NIKZ" callsign and hairpins that resemble the bridge structures of later Fletcher-class ships.
Persona 5: Ann has a four leaved clover on the hood of her Custom Uniform. She also has the highest Luck stat out of all the party members.
Wild ARMs 4: Jude wears a blatantly oversized jacket, which signifies that he still has much growing up to do, and not only in physical, but also in mental sence. The only question is if he has to sacrifice his ideals in order to fit into the Crapsack World he lives in.
Fate/Grand Order: Ashiya Douman's hair is split into two colors with one half being black and the other half being white. He is an Onmyouji, a type of Japanese sorcerer that uses the concept of yin and yang as foundation.
Guilty Gear: I-no the smoking hot guitar witch has a distinctive beauty mole on her upper lip. The fact that Axl's Lost Lenore Megumi◊ has an identical mark in the same spot foreshadows the reveal that I-no is an older Broken Bird version of Megumi from an Alternate Timeline.

Web Comics

Casey and Andy: Satan, who's a human looking Ms. Fanservice here, has two horns on her head and her orange hair has a red tuft at the front.
The Secret Knots: In-universe in "Glitches". Xeni can make herself look like anything she wants inside the virtual reality memorial that she spends most of her time in, and gives herself a jarringly ugly, expressionless mask that covers her entire head, saying that she wants to look the way she feels after the death of her friend.

Web Original

Can You Spare a Quarter?: In the restaurant, patrons notice the poor state of Jamie's clothes and the bruises on his face, and start watching and whispering with each other about this. He is after all a runaway kid who had run-ins with violent men on the street.

Web Videos

Jeremy Jahns wears a Star Wars curtain he had as a kid like a cape whenever he does a Star Wars video to convey how much he loves the movies.

Meaningful Appearance

Things the audience can tell, whether it's certain or likely, from looking at hair, clothing, eyes, hands, etc.

Examples:

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Meaningful Appearance

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Things the audience can tell, whether it's certain or likely, from looking at hair, clothing, eyes, hands, etc.

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