Basic Trope: A character wears fancy clothing in battle.
- Straight: Alice wears a fancy dress in battle and performs great feats of agility/strength/etc. when fighting her foes.
- Exaggerated: Alice wears a super-glamorous dress in battle.
- Downplayed: Alice wears a kinda fancy school uniform in battle.
- Justified:
- The scene in question is a Ballroom Blitz; there isn't time or opportunity for a Proper Lady to change into something else.
- Alice is a Girly Girl and so she is always fashionably dressed, even in battle.
- Alice is a spy and/or assassin whose job involves infiltrating high-class events with a strict dress code and which inevitably end in trouble.
- Inverted:
- Alice is the only character to wear clunky armor.
- Chainmail Bikini
- Alice prefers to get nude for her fighting.
- Gender Inverted:
- Bob wears a high end tuxedo to fight.
- Badass in a Nice Suit
- Subverted: Alice's peers expect Alice to wear a fancy dress, but she ends up with a Battle Ballgown.
- Double Subverted: ...However the armor comes off and Alice prepared a fancy dress to kick ass in battle, because that armor was too heavy and cheap.
- Parodied: Alice is literally kicking ass in her finery.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice sometimes wears fancy dresses in battle, sometimes she doesn't.
- Averted: No use of this trope is seen.
- Enforced: "Hey, why not make this character have some Costume Porn? Let's her fight in a fancy dress."
- Lampshaded: "Whatcha think of this gun with my dress?"
- Invoked: Alice the Action Girl attends a swanky party that she knows Dave The Dragon is also going to attend.
- Exploited: Alice brings Bob the photographer with her so she can get publicity for it up to and including hearing from modelling agencies.
- Defied: Alice decides to wear clunky armor because she doesn't want to ruin her dress.
- Discussed: "Hey, Alice, why do you wear fancy clothes when we fight Evulz's mooks?" "Why do we fight Evulz's mooks when I'm wearing fancy clothes?"
- Conversed: "The writers are obviously banking on the Rule of Glamorous to excuse Alice wearing a ballgown to a battle. Though I guess it could also be Rule of Cool or even Rule of Funny."
- Deconstructed: Dresses are terrible garments to wear to a fight. Alice trips over herself constantly, gets shot in the face repeatedly, and has her nice fancy dress ruined.
- Reconstructed: Alice commissions a special dress that is easy to move around in and clean, ensuring she can both look fashionable and fight effectively.
Back to Kicking Ass in All Her Finery
