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.
Not to be confused with Magic Pants, which is when getting transformed doesn't destroy your clothes or they reform afterward. Contrast Limited Wardrobe, when the characters always wear the same outfit day after day. Sub-Trope of Significant Wardrobe Shift, the general trope for changes in a character's wardrobe reflecting Character Development.
Examples:
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 clothing 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.
- 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.
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.
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.
- 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.
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.
Western Animation
- 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.
