"Following that unseen sauna, we get to see the women with nipples poking through their towels, which apparently operate like shrink wrap, and conform to their bodies perfectly." —Linkara,Atop the Fourth Wall on22 Brides #1

In comics, and some other drawn and animated media, clothing is often drawn fitting around the body far better than it reasonably should inReal Life.

All clothing will fit tightly around an animated woman's 15 inch waist, even if it's a dropped or empire waist style. Men too, will have an apparent narrow waist even in jackets that wouldn't show that in real life

Of course, the most common form of this is spandex outfits, which nowadays wrap around every curve and muscle (especially prominent since the late 1980s). But as the picture shows, any piece of clothing can wrap around better than it should if the artist so chose, whether it be an overcoat or the bodice of aPimped-Out Dress.

The reason this is done is likely a combination ofRule of Cool,Rule of Sexy andReality Is Unrealistic, with a heaping bushel ofFan Service for good measure. If the character has a good figure, the artist likely wants to show it off, to advertise the beauty or natural athleticism.

Another reason, particularly where superhero comics are concerned, is that artists are trained to draw human figures. It is faster and easier to add colors that imply spandex clothing than to actually draw the folds and wrinkles that come with wearing realistic clothing.

SomeLive Action Adaptations try to sculpt the outfits to simulate the look in the comics. Some of you might know aparticularly infamous example.

ASub-Trope ofImpossibly Cool Clothes.

ASuper-Trope toChainmail Bikini.

CompareMost Common Superpower,Sensual Spandex (which shows some skin as well as conforming to the skin it covers),Sweater Girl (although the sweater is designed to be form-fitting),Painted-On Pants,Superheroes Wear Tights.

Not to be confused withClingy Costume orBody Paint.

Anime and Manga

• The armor worn inSaint Seiya
• Theplug suits inNeon Genesis Evangelion, justified as necessary for synchronization and as a life-support system for the pilots. We're also shown how they get so tight: a vacuum-sealing button at the wrist to make them skintight.
• Dragon Ball Z has Vegeta's ever popular combat suit. It is a skintight bodysuit with chest armor over top, but the actual armor piece gets continually smaller until it's done away with completely in the Buu arc.
  • Vegeta's Saiyan armor is somewhat justified. While it's kind of unclear who exactly made the armor (it's called Saiyan armor, but it's mainly seen worn by Frieza's forces, even in flashbacks) the obvious intent was for it to match the form of whoever was wearing it (in the case of Saiyans, it is so that they can transform into their gargantuan Ozaru forms without destroying their wardrobe, while Frieza's men come in all shapes and sizes, in addition to being able to transform as well, so producing one type of armor that conformed to everyone's shape makes manufacturing them easier).
• Good God,Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple. Miu's clothing is so formfitting that she might as well be wearingBody Paint. Even herapron is form fitting.
  • It must be a Fuurinji family trait. Grandpa Fuurinji wears thick robes that somehow manage to show off all his abs and arm muscles.
  • That, or that he's so damnripped!
• InYu Yu Hakusho, whenever Yusuke is shown wearing blue jeans, they always look far too tight to be comfortable. This combines with some seriousClothing Damage to create a sizable female fanbase (with a little help fromKurama). His other clothes aren't nearly as bad, though.
• Excel Saga: All of the female characters, most of the time, no matter what they're wearing (including the Daitenzen suits, and the ACROSS girls "uniforms"). Of course, this is allAuthor Appeal, as Rikudo Koshi is known for his manyDoujinshi.
  • Lampshaded in Volume 15, between Missions 2 & 3. A single-panel image of Excel and Elgala being held prisoner, where, among other comments, the guard asks: "Purple-haired prisoner! Have you been tailoring your uniform again?" Elgala's prison uniform is unusually form-fitting. Even Excel's is needlessly tight around the bust and midsection.
• Gantz deserves special mention here. Not only do the full-body suits hug every curve so tightly that they're impossible to put on while wearing any undergarments whatsoever, the breasts actually seem togrow when the suits are put on. It's equal-gender-opportunity, though, and partially subverted when some characters (mostly men) insist on wearing street clothes outside their suits.
• Death Note: Mello'sleather wardrobe.
• Rurouni Kenshin frequently has bad guys wearing what appears to be 19th Century spandex, even to the point of having vacuum-fitting bandages.
• Any ofOrihime's shirts or outfits seem to be tailored to her large bust.

Comic Books

• It would be easier to list superheroes with outfits thatdon't follow this trope.
  • A notable example would be Iron Maiden ofEarth X, though. She's wearinga suit of Vibranium (fictional metal) armor which molds to her attributes. All of them, apparently—the style of art in the original series makes it hard to see, but a concept drawing shows nipples, navel, andcameltoe. Only the armor's head, which looks like Iron Man's original helmet, is an exception.
  • In the Golden and Silver ages spandex usually wasn't so tight, and fit much more realistically. As time went on clothes got tight, to the point where a hero in spandex was essentially naked save for a few choice areas. Then it got even crazier and muscles just started appearing everywhere, reaching an apex withRob Liefeld and his followers. Nowadays things tend to be more subdued, thanks to colouring techniques having enough depth to render all those muscles through subtle shading rather than hard lines.
  • In many renditions of muscular males, you could even see theirveins through the material of their sleeves.
• Just about everything the girls inArchie Comics put on will wrap far better above the waist than they would in reality. Perhaps a way ofGetting Crap Past the Radar?
• Liberty Meadows. Brandy and Jen's jeans look more like they were painted on. In one strip, Brandy has difficulties with putting her jeans on.
• Almost continually averted for female pilots in theRogue Squadron comics; the outfits pilots and other characters wore sometimes hinted a little, but were seldom overt, and their pilot jumpsuits were all baggy and heavily pocketed. The most notable exception was the one time a character got into a formal gown which clung tight enough to reveal her abs - and rather than being anUnusually Uninteresting Sight, the pilot she was dating saw it and said "Wow!"
• InTwenty Two Brides, it showed two of the heroines dressed in bath towels that managed to shrink around their bodies to the point that their nipples show.
• Justified for the sake ofFan Service inEmpowered - her semi-sentient suit is thinner thanReal Lifelycra and actively forms itself to her skin.According to which rules it's actuallyless revealing than it should be...
  • Specifically, it doesn't show camel toe—which, if it was really a few molecules thick and more or less a superpowered form of bodypaint, would definitely be visible. This is lampshaded in comic and by the author several times, and both characters and author promise to explain it in a future chapter.Every volume.
• The comic book adaptation toSplinter of the Minds Eye puts Luke and Leia into "miner's uniforms". On Leia this outfit actually avert this trope, being tight but not apparently painted on. OnLuke...

Film

• TheBatman films did this, leading to themost extreme form yet of this trope: the bat-nipples inBatman Forever andBatman and Robin.
• David Bowie's pants inLabyrinth.
• InAnastasia, Anya changes into a flapper dress, which still hugs her waist and breasts, even though the point of that style wasnot to do that.
• Likewise Tiana fromThe Princess and the Frog lives inThe Roaring Twenties. Her blue gown has a belt where the correct waistline should be, but the top is completely form fitting.

Live-Action TV

• Various episodes ofThe Mighty Boosh have Vince in skin tight latex jumpsuits.
• Star Trek: Voyager, Seven of Nine wears mostly suits that are far more form-fitting than the regular uniforms.
• Star Trek: Enterprise, T'Pol has a jump suit that is not only more form fitting than the uniforms, but also for Vulcan clothing.

Tabletop Games

• Some Eldar armor inWarhammer40000 molds to the user absurdly well in the regions not covered by the stiffened overplates, especially noticeable with the Guardian model's easily visible abs.
  • Justified in that it's Psycho-sensitive plastic, so it conforms to the form for maximum protection while simultaniously affording maximum mobility.

Video Games

• Most games avert this unless based on comic books, given that more curves mean more complex sprites if 2D, and more complex models if 3D, both of which mean moreRAM, processing andROM that could be better allocated elsewhere.
  • Inverted for a long time in the case of of some games -especially wrestling titles- where most create-a-character options involved applying new textures to a basic character model, since it's much easier to just draw a new pattern than it is to render lifelike clothing. The only exceptions would be some jackets and pants that flared out at the sleeves and legs, but otherwise looked "painted on."
• TheMetal Gear series follows this trope with main characters' spy suits.
  • Ditto with Sam Fisher's gear in theSplinter Cell games.
  • Both of these are justified in that tighter attire are better suited for sneaking.
    • Unlike most examples, Snake remarked how 'uncomfortable' the Sneaking Suit was until he 'breaks it in'
  • Solid Snake has pecs, abs andintercostal muscles visible through a padded bulletproof vest inMetal Gear Solid 1. InMetal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Big Boss's bulge (in his Battle uniform) is visible in alarming detail through a padded plate more than an inch thick.THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION.
• Often happens with badly made custom clothing forThe Sims 2: Women's shirts actually do not cling between their breasts, but it's easier to design skintight clothing.
• Armor inMass Effect. The same suit that fits on a human male will have no problem fitting a human woman.
  • InMass Effect 2, most of your squadmates: Miranda, Samara, Jacob, Thane, Kasumi, and Tali. The second downloadable appearance pack gives Miranda a suit of more sensible-looking but no-less form-fitting armor.
• Rubi, the protagonist ofWet, wears a surprisingly form-fitting jacket.
• Metroid, Samus Aran's "Zero Suit".
• City of Heroes: While both justified or averted for a lot of costume choices (such as spandex and hoodies), some materials can be surprisingly formfitting.
• In theSoul Series, Taki usually has at least one costume that's so tight as to look like body paint.
• Considering it hasover eighty playable characters and the various skins for all of them it should come as no shock at all thatLeague of Legends has a few of these. A recent example isRiven's Crimson Elite skin. ^{[dead link]}
• In theFinal Fantasy VII spin offDirge of Cerberus one of theTsviets namedShelke wears a suit that fits this trope.
• InDragon Quest III, both the female and male Cleric / Pilgrim class members wear avery tight-fitting orange bodysuit under their churchly attire.

Web Comics

• InThe Inexplicable Adventures of Bob, Jean's outfits are all extremely form-fitting; once in a blue moon, she does wear a skirt, though. Voluptua's costume is basically a one-piece swimsuit. Thanks to her fur, Molly revels in nudity.
• Doctor Voluptua (no relation) has a similar situation with her suit.
• Visarah fromUncreation has some seriously tight jeans, if theass-cleavage is any indication.

Western Animation

• Many adaptations of comic books actually avert this trope to save the animation budget.
  • The firstX-Men series did follow this trope.
• In an episode ofJustice League whereBatman,Wonder Woman andGreen Lantern chased aMad Scientist back in time, they decided to blend in by stealing clothes from some bandits they beat up. The clothes Wonder Woman stole fit her curves perfectly, despite the bandit having a figure similar to that of Batman.
  • To further highlight this problem, Wonder Woman's taller than the rest of the team. She might be able to wear the thug's socks comfortably; everything else couldn't possibly fit.
• InBatman: The Animated Series, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy lounge around inoversized shirts that still manage to show every curve.
• InReBoot, Dot's season 1 outfit didn't show the contours of her cleavage, because ABC complained. Later seasons, on different networks, did.

• Trope
• Pages with Broken Links
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe
• Costume Tropes
• Fanservice Costumes
• Improbable Appearance Tropes
• Rule of Sexy