Basic Trope: Royalty and nobility always wear their Requisite Royal Regalia. Always.
- Straight: Princess Daphne is never seen without her ruby-studded tiara, Pimped-Out Dress, or her favorite ring.
- Exaggerated: Princess Chiffon always wears an Impractically Fancy Outfit with Giant Poofy Sleeves, a wait ribbon, frills, flounces, pleats, goring, lace, jewelry, and lots of ribbons laced into her curly pink hair, even when she's sleeping, playing sports, or fighting off invading armies.
- Downplayed: Princess Chiffon wears an Impractically Fancy Outfit to ceremonies, but on normal days just wears a reasonably pretty but not aggravating skirt and blouse as well as a small but tasteful tiara to mark her rank.
- Justified: Daphne's signet ring identifies her as the princess, and she's been taught to always keep it on her. Her parents also taught her to always dress as befitting her station.
- Inverted:
- Princess Buttercup absolutely refuses to wear any of the royal finery she's expected to wear, to the point where they can barely convince her to accept a bare circlet in lieu of some fancy tiara.
- Ascetic Aesthetic
- Modest Royalty
- Subverted: The court is told to expect Princess Buttercup in her finest Pimped-Out Dress, and the court anxiously awaits her arrival, only to see her burst into the room wearing a ripped T-shirt and loose jeans. The rest of her wardrobe is even more scruffy.
- Double Subverted:
- It wasn't really Princess Buttercup after all, just a peasant who snuck past security. As the peasant is dragged out, the real Princess comes in, naturally decked out.
- Buttercup is The Gadfly and just wanted to see the looks on the courtiers' faces. She then quickly goes back to her room to change into a proper court dress.
- Parodied:
- Chiffon's attire is so over-the-top and elaborate that you can't even see her inside of it for all the ruffles and whatnot.
- Princess Daphne was born wearing Requisite Royal Regalia.
- Zig Zagged: When not out in public or acting officially, Princess Velvet usually wears very conservative, sensible clothing... especially when compared to her sister Chiffon, who is always decked out in fancy pink gowns. However, it turns out that Velvet's nightwear of choice is an extremely fancy peignoir with High-Class Gloves and sheer stockings, while Chiffon opts for a simple negligee. Then it turns out Velvet's nightgown is reinforced and hides weaponry in case of any assassination attempts...
- Averted: Royalty wears fancy clothing when appropriate, such as at state functions, and dress more reasonably at other times.
- Enforced: For simplicity's sake, the series uses a Limited Wardrobe, but also wants to establish the royal characters' wealth with their appearance.
- Lampshaded: "Pardon me, Princess, but would it not be easier to sleep without the crown?"
- Invoked: Princess Buttercup ensures that no one ever sees her wearing anything but her Requisite Royal Regalia, even though it's not the only thing she wears.
- Exploited:
- Emperor Evulz has his agents stir up dissent in other kingdoms by pointing out the ruling family's Conspicuous Consumption.
- The Intrepid Merchant gets rich selling expensive fabrics to the palace major-domo.
- Defied: The royal family gos out of their way to depict themselves wearing more normal clothes at regular intervals, specifically to avoid the implication that it's all they wear.
- Discussed: "Boy, Madam Princess really goes out of her way to make sure she's never seen poorly dressed, doesn't she?"
- Conversed: "Are those two princes really going to have a fight to the death in the full crown and cape? Seems like they should really be wearing something a little less obstructive for that."
- Deconstructed: Princess Buttercup has difficulty breathing due to her tight corset and trips up on the long train to her dress. She hates wearing the clothes because they're uncomfortable and only get in the way, but because of her position she has no choice.
- Reconstructed: Princess Buttercup hires an inventor who comes up with a new type of corset that's far more comfortable, and her tailor is able to modify her dresses so as not to trip her up. She also realizes that she doesn't have to be lavishly decked out in EVERY appearance, and so resolves to wear more mundane but still nice looking clothing to lesser functions, only wearing the Pimped-Out Dress for official functions.
- Played For Laughs: Chiffon's insanely poofy dresses turn her into The Klutz who's always tripping over her own skirt and ending up on her back like an ungainly pink turtle.
- Played For Drama: Chiffon's impractical trappings slow her down when her kingdom is attacked, and also mark her as an obvious target for the invaders' forces.
Back to Ermine Cape Effect. We'll start the fanfare when you're ready.
