Quotes / She Cleans Up Nicely

Anime and Manga

Guts: Casca showed up at the celebration wearin' a dress.
Griffith: Really?!
Guts: It's quite a sight to see...

— Berserk

Comic Strips

Wally: I'm thinking of growing a beard to disguise the fact I have no chin. Then I'll wear loose sweaters to disguise the fact I have no waist.
Alice: Maybe you should get a Sherlock Holmes outfit to disguise the fact you have no clue?

— Dilbert

Fan Works

The Eva Pilots' former classmates joined the group. Asuka blinked in surprise. Suzuhara was wearing a dark green Imperial Army cadet's uniform just like Shinji, but had just a single row of three ribbons on his. 'A Purple Heart, 2015 Angel War Campaign ribbon, and the Eva Pilot's Badge. Well, I guess he gets all three from his one technical mission,' Asuka noted. But it was her friend Hikari who was the stunner. Her habitual pig-tails and student uniform look was gone, replaced with an elegant black cheongsam with a dragon coiled around her body picked out in silver embroidery, and her hair was now styled into a slightly longer than shoulder length cut with a fringe above her eyes, set off by thin lighter brown highlights throughout. "Wow, Hikari. You look good. And Suzuhara almost looks like a civilized person worthy of hanging out with you, instead of an overgrown monkey in a track suit."

— A Crown of Stars

It took Shinji a moment to realize who he was looking at. She was wearing her hair loose in ringlets instead of her usual pigtails, along with artfully-applied makeup that made her look a few years older. It was also the first time he'd seen Hikari out of her school uniform, and the rather adventurously-cut sundress and court heels were not the kind of thing he'd imagined the famously straitlaced Class Representative wearing at weekends.

— Doing It Right This Time

Asuka, despite the eyepatch and arm harness, looked stunning in form-fitting beaded bodice with a chain belt across her waist.

— HERZ

Film

"Before I put on this dress, you couldn't even remember my name."

— Carter to Donny, Princess Protection Program

Literature

Ianthe: Harry, have you never read a trashy novel in which the hero gets a life-affirming change of clothes and some makeup, and then goes to the party and everyone says things like, "By the Emperor's bones! But you're beautiful," or, "This is the first time I have ever truly seen you," and if the hero's a necromancer it'll be described like, "His frailty made his unearthly handsomeness all the more ephemeral," et cetera, et cetera, the word mewled fifteen pages later, the word nipple one page after that?
Harrowhark: No.
Ianthe: Then we have no shared point of reference. Thankfully, however, this is not that part. Not even one of the Emperor's fists and gestures could give Harrowhark Nonagesimus a sexy makeover. Sometimes I think you look like a twig's funeral.

— Harrow the Ninth

She was attired in costly stuffs of deep and warm colours, such as befit the winter and the snow. Upon her head, her hair had been gathered together and became her as a crown. And she, who had seemed so little and so awkward in the attire of Matcham, was now tall like a young willow, and swam across the floor as though she scorned the drudgery of walking.

— The Black Arrow

Video Games

"Have you always been that pretty?"

— Locke to Celes at the Opera House, Final Fantasy VI

Webcomics

Frederick: Um... You... You're dressed a little different today...
Gwendolyn: O-oh yeah, it was suggested that we change into plaid for the occasion. I'm sure it looks really weird—
Frederick: No. It's nice...

—Cursed Princess Club Episode 49

"It's a cardinal rule of fiction: whenever a plain girl dresses up for a big debut, she transforms into a stunning beauty. When I do it, I just look like me in a dress."

— Helen B. Narbon, Narbonic

Web Original

Then they do another "Where Are They Now" segment with Francine — who, if you don't remember, was Justin Credible's "Manager" or "valet" or whatever you want to call her — who used to be a real crack ho-lookin' chick. And I noted that Francine is way hotter now than she was in ECW! She is MILF-y like crazy, man! OH yeah!
Francine said, basically, that she's retired, she doesn't want anything to do with wrestling. I'm sure she's really happy she's not here; they had a really cute baby. Seriously, Francine shutting up and saying she wanted nothing to do with ECW anymore was probably the highlight of the show. She was really good!

— Noah Antwiler on TNA HardCORE Justice

Tony Bennett makes every event a little more peppy and/or zesty. And he decided his date for the evening would be his current friend and singing partner Lady Gaga, which is always a risky move, because you never know what that bitch will show up in.
Thankfully, Gaga showed up showered and not wearing an outfit made out of trash stolen from the dumpster behind a fire-damaged Hobby Lobby. Which is to say she looks…good? I know, start donating all your old winter clothes to the people of Hell, because they clearly need them. She looks like a real old school gold digger. You know, the type of gold digger who confidently clips the tags off her gown before wearing it out of the house, because they know they’re going to see a return on their investment.
And the "Hiya daddy, can I have some money for the craps table?" look on her face is a nice extra touch. Very authentic.

— DListed

Western Animation

"So Neutron's the best man? Yeah, more like the best NERD! I bet he'll look like a—" [She looks over and gasps. Jimmy shows up outside the church in a tux. Cue fade to pink background, heart-eyes from her, and hair patting to himself] "...HUNKMUFFIN. Oh, hi! ...James."

— Cindy, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, "My Big Fat Spy Wedding"

John: Shayera, I wanted to...JUDAS PRIEST!
Shayera: Problem?
John: No, no, it's just...I've, uh, never seen you in a dress before.

— Justice League Unlimited

"See? You're a pig, Barney's a pig, Larry's a pig... we're all pigs! Except for one difference: Once in a while, we can crawl out of the slop, hose ourselves off and act like human beings."

— Moe Szyslak to Homer Simpson, The Simpsons

"Whoa, mama, you clean up nice!"

— Anne Boonchuy to Valeriana after her Good Costume Switch, Amphibia

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