His date will probably have the same reaction.
Miranda: You have no sense of fashion.
Andy: I think that depends on...
Miranda: No, no. That wasn't a question.
Clothes are an expression of ourselves. Not everyone will look like they stepped out of a fashion magazine, but most people have clothes they like to wear. Whether these clothes are trendy, have sentimental value, or are simply comfortable or easy to move in, most people have no problems looking at least passable in everyday society.
Fashion Disasters regularly pick out the worst outfits imaginable and believe they look good in them. Hot pink Hawaiian T-shirts and parachute pants from the '80s. Trenchcoats, short shorts, and flip-flops. These people are garish to the extreme. Onlookers gape and gawp at them. The fashion-conscious will weep and keel over in pain at the sight. All in all, these people are behind the trend at best if not outright oblivious to the fact that they're getting all the wrong kinds of attention.
These characters are often Cloudcuckoolanders, people with No Social Skills, Bunny-Ears Lawyers, or Endearingly Dorky fellows whose sense of style simply doesn't mesh with that of others. In almost every case, this lack of fashion sense implies that they're either odd, awkward, independent, don't care about what they wear, or are simply unable to comprehend that they're wearing Impossibly Tacky Clothes and committing a flagrant Fake Fabric Fashion Faux Pas,
These folks are likely to be Rummage Sale Rejects wearing Impossibly Tacky Clothes who need an intervention from someone with better fashion sense to go out in public without getting mocked or gawked at. It's not uncommon for these characters to get a glow-up once they're put in a decent outfit someone else picked for them.
Sub-trope of Bad Taste Call-Out. Related to Age-Inappropriate Dress and Outdated Outfit, where one's fashion woes are tied to wearing clothes intended for people of a different age or if they're stuck wearing the same outfit for years. If this awful outfit is their only outfit, this is Limited Wardrobe. In video games, this may be justified by Rainbow Pimp Gear. I Was Quite a Fashion Victim is when a character used to be this but has since grown out of it. I Want My Beloved to Be Fashionable is when a lover forces their unfashionable date to wear something nice-looking.
The inverse of The Fashionista, Impossibly Cool Clothes, Opulent Outfits, and Man of Wealth and Taste, where characters dress extremely well.
Please note, for characters to qualify for this trope, their lack of fashion sense must be acknowledged by the characters in-universe and they must explicitly have trouble picking out outfits themselves. Audience reactions to tacky clothes fall under WTH, Costuming Department? and Fashion-Victim Villain.
In-Universe Examples Only:
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Anime & Manga
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: Shirogane's fashion sense is just as bad as all of his non-studying skills when Kei gets a look at his wardrobe outside of his school uniform. Kei directly compares his clothes to a middle school student due to how edgy and ridiculous it looks. Shirogane justifies it that his clothes are from middle school and he hasn't bought clothes since moving to high school to save money.
- Kengan Ashura:
- Kokomi Yoshizawa encourages Dr. Hanafusa to wear something other than his usual lab coat, then makes him wear a combination of a tiger-print pimp jacket, extremely short shorts, suspenders, and a straw hat. When she brings him out in the get-up, all the passersby give them weird looks, while Dr. Hanafusa wonders if he should fix her brain to correct her fashion taste.
- In the sequel Kengan Omega, both Koga and Ryuki accuse each other of having terrible fashion taste when they go clothes shopping for Ryuki. Koga picks him trousers with mismatched leggings and excessive accessories that make him look like a wannabe punk. Meanwhile, Ryuki tries to pick a T-shirt with a teddy bear print that looks like something a pre-schooler would wear. Both immediately veto each other's choice.
- Kuniya's gimmick in Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei is his absolutely atrocious fashion sense, which he demonstrates whenever he's out of his school uniform. It's bad enough that when the class is watching a field news report on a crime, they spot him in the background with an incredibly gaudy t-shirt and get so distracted that nobody can even remember what the crime that was being reported was (and one of them even asks if it was a guy wearing a gaudy t-shirt and staring at the camera.)
Comic Books
- One of Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire's epithets is "Worst-Dressed Sentient", though he could easily pass for wearing normal clothes in the 20th century.
Comic Strips
- Garfield: Pretty much every character In-Universe except Odie (who can't speak) comments on Jon's awful fashion sense. For example, his go-to dating outfit is a purple oversized suit and a rotten bowtie, which is constantly commented on. Jon has been struggling with this for more than 30 years!
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Fan Works
- In Mac Hires the Inception Gang, Arthur sees two outfits of Mac, one has him shirtless but with a black duster and one being a shirt with cut-off sleeves, and deems him someone whose dress sense would make people want to gouge their eyes out.
- A Study In Magic: It's a Running Gag that Robert Ju dressed in the most absurd clothes combinations that man can imagine and Jackie never fails to get an aneurysm out of it. In fact, once he finds out that his "fashion sense" is a Berserk Button for her, he appears to go out of his way to dress in increasingly outrageous fashion.
Jackie: You can't wear clashing rainbows!
- Servant Shenanigans: Cú Chulainn and his Alternate Selves all have a fondness for neon colours, Hawaiian shirts, and leather pants, and absolutely everyone comments how horrible the combination - and the individual clothing articles - are himself included.
Film — Animation
- Downplayed in Fantastic Mr. Fox; Ash likes to wear a cape and tuck his pants into his socks, which other characters comment on the weirdness of, and is part of him being "different". It's implied that he dresses this way to to emulate his favorite superhero, the White Cape, but it doesn't have the intended effect.
Film — Live-Action
- In The Devil Wears Prada, The Dreaded The Fashionista Miranda Priestley invokes this as a verbal attack on Andy for snickering at her work as though she were exempt from the fashion world. Miranda goes into rich detail on the specificity of what people wear, the cultural and economic impact of the fashion industry, and what it means to present yourself in society with what you wear. All while lambasting Andy for choosing a "lumpy blue sweater" from "a pile of 'stuff'" chosen by the people in the room they're standing in, humiliating Andy in the process.
- Fifty Shades of Grey: Ana's social awkwardness and lack of confidence is reflected in her early clothing choices and is best exemplified in the outfit she wears to her interview with Christian; she wears a rumpled-looking and oversized floral shirt, a shapeless cardigan, a heavy skirt and tights, clumpy footwear and a messy ponytail. The costume designer stated that it was intended to be "[Ana's] skewed idea of what a grown-up would wear. The whole look gives the impression that she's a kid." The designer did note that the blue color at least complements her features, though in-universe this is by accident rather than design. In the book, Christian notes that she's genuinely pretty but has awful fashion sense. Ana later begins dressing in more sophisticated (and pricey) outfits, especially thanks to Christian's influence.
- Invoked and Played for Laughs in Spy, where all of Susan's secret identities are given dumpy or downright hideous clothing; this includes tassled vests paired with voluminous gaudy skirts and a sweater printed with a cat photo worn under a shocking pink sweatsuit. Susan is less than impressed, even commenting that one outfit makes her "look like someone's homophobic aunt", and eventually splurges on some more glamorous clothes.
Literature
- Animorphs: Cassie is repeatedly mentioned as having no dress sense. Part of it is due to her helping her parents run a wildlife clinic so she needs clothes that aren't affected by animal droppings, but it's exacerbated by her being best friends with Action Fashionista Rachel, who is always well-dressed and often drags Cassie through the mall on shopping trips to dress her properly ("like her personal Barbie doll" is the expression used). She likes to tease Rachel by exaggerating this aspect, like suggesting she'll wear one of her mother's striped Bermuda shorts to a beach trip.
Cassie: Rachel could walk through the mosh pit at Lollapalooza on a rainy day and come out the other side looking like one of those models in Glamour. I, on the other hand, will show up for my own wedding someday dressed in jeans and boots and socks that don't match.
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Zaphod Beeblebrox has such a poor fashion sense he was voted "Worst Dressed Sentient Being in the Known Universe" seven consecutive times.
- Jeeves and Wooster: Wooster has a knack for choosing modern, up-to-date clothes which his valet Jeeves is resolutely against. The stories inevitable end with Wooster recognizing Jeeves' role in saving Wooster's bacon, and telling him to remove the offending item from the wardrobe... only for Jeeves to reveal it's Already the Case.
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!: As a noble woman with servants to dress her, Catarina is usually dressed well. However, in one episode of the anime, Catarina hosts a slumber party and her maid stares in silent exasperation as she tries out a series of outlandish pajamas that include a giant hooded onesie that looks like an eggplant, and another that has lit baubles all over it. Catarina's maid, Anne, makes her choose a simple nightgown for the slumber party she's hosting.
- In Rebuild World: Akira is a street orphan who has to steal to scrounge up enough money to get by every day. Because of this and his complete lack of social skills, he has a Limited Wardrobe and no concept of what is fashionable. So when Sheryl tries to get him to pick out clothes for her, he has to rely on Alpha to do the picking for him, as he has no idea what looks good or not. Sheryl seems vaguely aware of this and considers getting any reaction out of him beyond Dull Surprise to be a sign that she looks truly stunning in a particular outfit.
- Sourcery: The average wizard has about the same fashion sense and decorum as a magpie, resulting in mobile mountains covered in sequins and gaudy gemstones. When under the psychosis inducing influence of raw power that comes of being around a sourcerer, this gets worse.
- Thief of Time: Lady LeJean is very new to being human(ish), and can't wrap her head around the subtle rules of fashion. Cerise bloomers are a perfect complement to a sheer-cut black dress, because they're colourful and warm, right? And that's before getting into her makeup...
An exquisite mask on a bone structure like fine china had been made up by a clown. Possibly a blind clown. And one wearing boxing gloves. In the rain.
Live-Action TV
- The Big Bang Theory: The lead male characters are nerds whose lack of social skills is reflected in their abysmal fashion sense, which often leads to humorous interactions with their neighbour Penny.
- Penny takes Sheldon to buy a suit in preparation for an award ceremony. Sheldon comes out of the dressing room in ridiculously flamboyant outfits, which Penny forces him to remove. Though he eventually does try on an elegant black tuxedo, he is immediately repulsed by it and says it makes him feel like a clown.
- Penny helps Leonard get dressed for an award ceremony but is shocked to find out there isn't a single piece of clothing in his closet that is visually pleasing. She eventually decides that the least offensive outfit is a corduroy suit, though she still has to convince Leonard to not wear it alongside a paisley shirt.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: In early seasons, Willow's fashion sense is a work-in-progress, with some characters being more scathing than others; in Willow's first scene, Cordelia snidely states she looks like she shops in "the softer side of Sears", to which Willow meekly replies that her mother picked out her clothes. Willow tends to dress in a rather childish and directionless manner due to a lack of confidence, such as bulky sweaters, shapeless skirts, and dresses paired with tights, overalls, and pigtails; her overall color palette shifts between garish and drab. As she gains more confidence, her wardrobe gradually improves, with her choosing clothes with more flattering cuts and complementary colors and patterns, injecting more of her own personality into her looks.
- Doctor Who: The Doctor's various incarnations tend to wear outfits that are either distinctly anachronistic, gaudily strange, or some combination of the two, all without having any issues with it. A number of these strange fashion choices are repeatedly commented on by other characters and even the Doctor themself. The Sixth Doctor in particular earns the mockery of not only his peers but also his other incarnations thanks to his bizarre, multicolored coat (which he repeatedly insists is the height of intergalactic haute couture), with the Ninth Doctor outright binning it in supplementary material. Twelve explicitly mocks his past incarnations by referencing "bad fashion choices" like "long scarves, bow ties, bit embarrassing, really."
- House of Anubis: Alfie's Class Clown nature leads to him often dressing like a complete dork, even when he tries. His one attempt at dressing up in a suit for Amber only got him criticized for looking "weird", and she later yelled at him for wearing bright green shoes to the school dance, among other wardrobe disasters.
- Kamen Rider Build: After spending most of the series as a serious antagonist dressed in professional clothes or uniforms, Gentoku pulls a Heel–Face Turn and starts dressing in tacky clothing that he genuinely believes to be casual clothing in spite of Misora bluntly telling him that it's bad and the others being horrified at his fashion sense.
- Killing Eve: Eve is very beautiful but only wears frumpy, plain clothing, which is lampshaded and poked fun at by others, but she just doesn't really care about clothes. Villanelle, a highly stylish assassin who carries a torch for her, decides this simply won't do, and steals Eve's suitcase, later returning it full of new, gorgeous clothing that looks great on her. Eve is simultaneously creeped out and intrigued, and keeps the clothes, much to Villanelle's delight.
- NewsRadio: Beth the secretary dresses in extravagant, garish clothes that reflect her quirky personality. Dave once described her as dressing "like a barmaid from Blade Runner."
Music
- "Weird Al" Yankovic's song, "Tacky", is a parody of Pharell William's "Happy" about a group of people who defy all conventional social norms while dressed like fashion disasters. In the music video, Weird Al himself is dressed in a psychedelic-print blazer and dress shirt with mismatched slacks and hot pink sneakers for the opening shot. After a cavalcade of similarly poorly-dressed actors and singers, Weird Al shows up again in a pink shirt labeled "Tacky" in comic starburst font and yellow print pants.
Wear my belt with suspenders and sandals with my socks(Because I'm Tacky)Got some new glitter Uggs and lovely pink sequined Crocs(Because I'm Tacky)
Video Games
- Final Fantasy XIV:
- Wawarukka's attempts to woo Kokomo go badly because of his inability to coordinate an outfit to look presentable. After showing up to his first date in what's essentially a pirate outfit, he gets the idea from his fellow miners to walk in with a linen shirt with no undershirt, a gladiator's subligar (to show off his chiseled body), a goldsmith's hat, bright yellow gauntlets and greaves, and magnifiers. The sight of this outfit seems to cause Redolent Rose, head of the Weavers' Guild and Sunsilk Tapestries, physical pain. Despite Rose's attempts to help him, Wawarukka doesn't seem to understand why his choice of clothes gets him treated like a clown, forcing Rose to pick out clothes for Wawarukka so he isn't immediately turned away.
- Jacke Swallow may be one of the deadliest coves this side of Limsa Lominsa, but his favorite outfits while off the clock are... interesting. After Oboro is stripped to his smallclothes in the Level 80 Ninja quest, Jacke lends him some of his own clothes. This outfit consists of a hot pink open shirt, garishly gold slacks, and brass-colored leather shoes. Both Jacke and Oboro are delighted by these clothes, while the rest of the Rogues' Guild looks on in dismay.
Jacke: Did I tell ye or did I yell ye!? Ol' Jacke's got ye lookin' benar than ever before! Every rum doxy in Limsa won't be able to 'er glazes off of ye!V'kebbe: [cringing] Nor can I... an' not in a good way...
- Fire Emblem: Awakening: Surprisingly, given her typically serious and focused personality, Lucina has this. Her support conversation with her mother has them going shopping together, and apparently Lucina's tastes run to the gaudiest and tackiest styles imaginable. This was continued in Fire Emblem Heroes where her Easter alt gushes over the very vividly coloured and patterned Easter Egg she's using as a weapon.
Mother: Why, Lucina! What a lovely surprise! Now let me get a look at this gorgeous... Er...dress? Oh dear. I've never seen so many...unusual colors and shapes in one piece of clothing.Lucina: I know! It's very modern. See all the giant pink polka dots? If you look carefully, you'll see that each one is a portrait of Emmeryn herself! I wager when Father sees you in this, he'll just scream with delight!Mother: (I bet he'll scream, all right...)
- The World Ends with You: Shiki constantly calls out Neku on his complete lack of fashion sense and total lack of awareness of fashion trends, which is actually important since fashion trends actually affect the effectiveness of psychic powers. He also doesn't appear to care about the state of his clothes, as he barely notices that one of the buttons of his pants is about to come off until Shiki points it out - and even then he doesn't care about fixing it until Shiki forces him.
Webcomics
- In Avengers Academy (2024), Justin's idea of casual wear includes a white, blue, and pink hockey jersey with a cutesy sasquatch on it, black-and-green shorts, long socks, and sandals. He sees nothing wrong with this ensemble and picked it out because it's comfy and his mom customized his jersey for him. Seeing him so happy in this getup gives Janet van Dyne a headache and she just subscribes him to an underwear of the month service instead of trying to convince him to put on something else since she knows she'll fail. The idea of being associated with Justin's choice of clothes leaves her embarrassed and ashamed.
- In 8-Bit Theater, when Black Mage gets his class change, he goes from being dressed in fairly sensible dark blue robes to gaining a moon-shaped symbol on his hat and what appear to be parachute pants with jester-like stripes on them. Thief jokes that Black Mage's class change was clown.
- In Villain to Kill, Cassian's first idea for his Villain clothes is just a black bodysuit and slacks with no discerning features. Moros immediately mocks Cassian's lack of fashion sense because of how boring it looks amidst his overly flamboyant and flashy superhero/villain peers, and many others who aren't trying to kill him do the same. It gets to the point that he winds up changing his outfit to something closer to his old Psyker gear to stop all the mockery.
Western Animation
- The Venture Bros.: While Samson and the Ventures are on the run, they contact Molotov Cocktease for help, who shows up for the clandestine meeting in a powder-colored tracksuit and sunglasses. At first Brock thinks it's simply a great disguise, only to be surprised when she tells him it's what she normally wears when she isn't working. Brock is so shocked at this lack of fashion sense that he claims he might have to rethink their whole frenemy relationship.
Hank: Who is that hoodrat? Brock could have any shorty he wants!