When a character is referred to by a signature outfit or piece of clothing that they wear. It is NOT just for any character who has a signature article of clothing; the clothing must be in the title of the work or else be part of the name the character is consistently called by. Often, no other name is even given for the person in question.
See also The Adjectival Man, Clothes Make the Legend, Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep", Iconic Outfit, Signature Headgear, No Name Given. Compare The Noun Who Verbed and "Burly Detective" Syndrome. This trope is not related to The One Who Wears Shoes.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Luffy from One Piece is often called "Straw Hat" and is the leader of the Straw Hat Pirates (despite being the only member of the crew wearing one). He even has it on his Jolly Roger! Ironically, Shanks and Roger never were identified with the hat in quite the same way despite wearing it constantly during their early years as pirate captains.
Art
- Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer.
- Generally, a lot of works by prolific portrait or tronie (a Dutch genre of non-specific but characterful face painting) artists have names like this: the names of the subjects may not have survived, the artists usually didn't give them any specific titles, and so the names we know them by are identifications from property inventories or catalogues. It gets occasionally silly — like at least one portrait by Frans Hals known as "portrait of a gentleman in black with lace collar and cuffs", which also describes 90% of Dutch fashion of the time and thus most of his male portraits.
- The Woman In Gold is a nickname for the Gustav Klimt painting Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. It was the subject of a film of the same name (see Film folder below).
Asian Animation
- Lamput has Specs Doc. "Specs" is short for "spectacles", an old-timey word for "glasses", and he wears glasses when his friend Skinny Doc doesn't. Hence, the doc with the specs.
Comic Books
- In Bone, the villains frequently refer to Phoney Bone as "the one who bears the star" after the star on his shirt.
- One of the members of the Elite in The DCU is called Hat, after his magic hat.
- The Hood, whose cloak and boots came from a demon and are the source of his magical powers.
- Red Robin: The only other name Ra's al Ghul's sister the "Mysterious Cloaked Lady" is referred to with is Daughter of Acheron, a title used by multiple people with the same power set to indicate their allied status and the source of their powers.
Fairy Tales
- The Brothers Grimm's All-Kinds-of Fur and Bearskin
- Joseph Jacobs's "Tattercoats", "Catskin", Cap o' Rushes, and Rushen Coatie.
- Charles Perrault's Donkeyskin, Little Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots.
- The ghost story The Woman in Black.
Film — Animation
- In Meet the Robinsons, neither Wilbur nor Lewis know who the villain is or what exactly he wants, so they just refer to him as "Bowler Hat Guy." (His hat, incidentally, is an Unnecessarily Creepy Robot who's his Hypercompetent Sidekick and a Dragon with an Agenda.) Eventually they learn that he's actually the future version of Lewis' roommate, Goob.
- Again, Hat of the Elite in Superman vs. the Elite.
Film — Live-Action
- The ABCs of Death: In "S", Roxanne's pursuer is only identified as 'The Hooded Man'.
- In Black Patch, Clay Morgan's nickname 'Black Patch' comes from the black Eyepatch of Power he wears.
- The titular Devil in a Blue Dress, though we do learn her name; Daphne Monet.
- The Busby Berkeley Number "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat" from The Gang's All Here, with the lady in question being Carmen Miranda, wearing one of her famous fruit hats.
- In Goldstone, Patch, the leader of the Howlers motorcycle gang, gets his nickname from his Eyepatch of Power.
- The Boy With the Purple Socks from the film version of Harriet the Spy.
- Two of the key characters in the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade are credited simply as "Panama Hat" and "Fedora". The latter character is the one who presents the young Indy with his trademark fedora. While advertisements for the movie proudly announced that "The Man with the Hat is back!"
- That Lady in Ermine
- In Long John Silver, Silver's first mate Patch gets his nickname from his Eyepatch of Power.
- Men in Black: The Men in Black are a secret organization who polices Earth's alien population, while also keeping the aliens' existence a secret from humanity. They all wear black business suits.
- The Man in the White Suit: Subverted at the end, as the suit falls apart when its experimental fabric decomposes.
- In The Mountie, the criminals contemptuously refer to Corporal Grayling as "Red Coat". Not that it particularly bothers Grayling. He is proud to wear the scarlet tunic of the Mounted Police.
- Black Hat from Priest (2011), though he's never referred to as such in the film, only in the credits.
- Ronin (1998): Although not involving clothes, the unseen man who recruits the mercenaries is only referred to as "The Man in the Wheelchair".
- The character in The Princess Bride whom Inigo Montoya calls "The Man in Black".
- The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe and its remake, The Man with One Red Shoe.
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: Gold Hat
- The Woman in Black
- Woman in Gold is titled after the nickname for the painting at the center of the story, the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.
- The Woman in Green
- The Woman in Red
Literature
- Exploited by the man in The Black Fedora who wears his iconic outfit to make it harder to recognize him when he takes it off and reverts to being one of the main characters.
- The Boxcar Children: Book 33 (The Pizza Mystery) has the Piccolo family identifying most of their regular customers by a signature piece of clothing or accessory, such as "The Lady in the Red Hat". Zigzagged when she gives her real name and becomes an employee shortly afterward.
- The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (also a movie)
- The Man in the Red Sweater from The Call of the Wild.
- The Cat in the Hat and Fox in Socks.
- The King In Red from The Craft Sequence.
- One of the more humanoid guests at Lord Thymon's eldritch birthday party in the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids story Lord Thymon and the Impossible Guests is referred to as "the Man with the Panama Hat" (that is, until Pythe figures out he is a (benign) version of Nyarlathotep).
- The Man in the Yellow Hat from Curious George.
- The Man in Black in Callum Phillpott's Cyber-Hunt.
- The Man in Black in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.
- Deerskin by Robin McKinley, an adaptation of the fairy tale "Donkeyskin"
- The Sorceress in Green from the Dragaera series, whose name Vlad constantly mocks.
- The narration of Emil and the Detectives repeatedly refers to the antagonist as "der Mann im steifen Hut"note . He gives other names for himself but they're likely aliases.
- Ghost Roads: One of Rose Marshall's epithets is "The Girl in the Green Silk Gown", since that's her Jacob Marley Apparel. It's also the title of the second book in the series.
- Girl with a Pearl Earring (also a movie)
- The Boy with the Purple Socks in Harriet the Spy. Harriet never bothered learning his name. It's eventually revealed the rest of the class didn't know it either.
- The King in Yellow
- The Man in the Waistcoat and the Woman in White, two Eldritch Abominations from Knights of the Borrowed Dark.
- The Man in the Brown Suit: The title comes from a murder suspect who was wearing a brown suit when he was seen leaving the scene of the crime.
- The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
- The Man In The Iron Mask.
- The Man in the Iron Pail Mask by Shel Silverstein
- The Old Kingdom series has The Dreaded Evil Sorcerer Chlorr of the Mask. Her signature bronze mask is her only defining feature, given that she's been Body Surfing for 600 years.
- The Man in Black in The Princess Bride.
- The Lady of the Green Kirtle from The Silver Chair.
- The Assassin in White from The Stormlight Archive.
- The Man in Yellow, the otherwise unnamed Big Bad of Tuck Everlasting.
- The Man in the Mackintosh in James Joyce's Ulysses.
- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins: The title character is a young woman with cognitive difficulties whose eccentricities include an insistence on wearing an outfit entirely in white, including accessories such as hat and shawl. There's a mundane in-universe explanation for why she does it, but it also functions symbolically as an Ethereal White Dress.
Live-Action TV
- Raina, the titular character of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Girl in the Flower Dress". Other characters identify her by outfit (a whole wardrobe of slinky floral dresses) more often than by name.
- Arrow
- In Season One, the protagonist was called by most people "The Man in the (Green) Hood" or simply "the Hood" when not referred to as "the Vigilante". Oliver Queen doesn't like this moniker and so in Season 2 adopts the name "The Arrow", and in Season 4 "Green Arrow".
- When The Canary appears in Season 2, she's referred to as "The Woman in Black" or "The Woman in the Mask".
- Bananas in Pyjamas: the title characters and Rat in a Hat.
- CSI: NY: A mild example in "Pot of Gold." After Mac and Aubrey first Meet Cute in a deli, she leaves a note with the owner to pass on to him. Knowing where she'll be later, but not having a clue as to her name, he addresses one back to "The Beautiful Brunette Woman in the Green Coat." The woman he leaves it with addresses Aubrey as such when she arrives.
- Days of Our Lives: "Patch" Johnson.
- In Desmond's Augustus Neapolitan Cleveland Grant is only ever referred to as "Porkpie", because he always wears a porkpie hat.
- In the first season of The Flash (2014), before the heroes learn Reverse Flash's actual name, they refer to him as "the man in the yellow suit". In fact, Reverse Flash's introduction episode is even has this name as it's title.
- The Red Woman in Game of Thrones.
- During the first season, Bennett from Heroes was known as "the Man with the Horn-Rimmed Glasses", or simply "HRG", by the fans, the production staff and even the actor playing him. The use of the nickname/alternative name came about in the pilot, to preserve the surprise that the sinister Man with Horn-Rimmed Glasses is actually Claire Bennett's father.
- The Man in Black in Lost.
- Person of Interest. Vigilante Man John Reese is always referred to as "The Man in the Suit" by the police detectives pursuing him and by New York's criminal underworld.
Elias: Personally, I think they could've come up with a better name.
- This causes a problem for the FBI in Season 2 when they capture Reese along with three Corporate Samurai, all Badass in a Nice Suit types so they can't tell which one is the man they're looking for.
- Pretty Little Liars where one of the main villains and Alison was simply "Red Coat".
- Not clothing-related, but similar in spirit: The Cigarette-Smoking Man from The X-Files.
Music
- The Beatles, "The Ballad of John and Yoko":
''The man in the mac says you've gotta go back, you know, they didn't even give us a chance.
- "Bananas in Pyjamas" written by Carey Blyton. See also Live-Action TV.
- Johnny Cash, "The Man in Black".
- Ray Charles's "What'd I Say":
See the girl with the diamond ring
She knows how to shake that thing
See the girl with the red dress on
She can do the Birdland all night long - Chris DeBurgh, "The Lady in Red".
- The Hollies, "Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)".
- Marty Robbins, "Cowboy In a Continental Suit."
- "The Guy with the Polka-Dotted Tie," one of the earlier song compositions of Jule Styne.
- This is inverted in the Logan Whitehurst song "The Villain Who Wears No Pants".
Pro Wrestling
- ECW's Hat Guy.
- Veteran Japanese referee Red Shoes.
Theatre
- In the stage version of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, all the women in the play are referred to by what color they wear.
- The Motherfucker with the Hat, about a man who finds someone else's hat in his girlfriend's apartment.
- The Green-Clad Woman in Peer Gynt, also known as the Dovrë-King's daughter.
- The Woman in Black
Video Games
- ANNO: Mutationem: The Mysterious Stranger that Ann encounters several times throughout the story is referred as 'The Masked Lady'.
- A Hat in Time: The protagonist, Hat Kid.
- Although they don't have official names, most of the mask-wearing characters in Hotline Miami are referred to by the name of their masks. This trope applies straight for the protagonist, nicknamed "Jacket" after his letterman jacket. The term has become a semi-official name for him.
- As of Kirby: Triple Deluxe, the unique Waddle Dee character with a bandana is officially known as Bandana Waddle Dee.
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty: Before his first encounter with Raiden, Solidus referred to him as the man in the sneaking suit.
- On account of being an unnamed protagonist, the main character of the original Persona is most often referred to as The Boy with the Pierced Ear.
- Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill series. Listed as "Red Pyramid" in the movie credits.
- Pokémon Red and Blue: The first generation of games, where opposing trainers other than unique ones, weren't named. All are Lost in Translation:
- Lasses are "Miniskirts" (ミニスカート) in Japanese.
- Youngsters are "Shorts Youngsters" (たんぱんこぞう OR たんパンこぞう) in Japanese.
Web Comics
- The Idiot in an Awesome Hat (listed as such on the vol.7 cast page) from Girl Genius.
- The Order of the Stick has Redcloak. As Cerebus Syndrome kicked in, we learn that he's formally called the Bearer of the Crimson Mantle, and that his cape is actually an Artifact of Doom that slows down his aging while also making him the prophet of his god, the Dark One. The Booted Wight also qualifies.
- Tower of God: Word of God says that Baek Ryun is an orphan and the name originates from the fine silk cloth that he was wrapped in when he was first found.
- Black Hat Guy from xkcd. Also Beret Guy.
Web Original
- That Guy With The Glasses
- And derivatives like "That Dude in the Suede".
- Linkara called himself That Guy With The Hat when auditioning.
- That Chick With the Goggles.
- Welcome to Night Vale has The Man in the Tan Jacket, whose other features - aside from a briefcase filled with flies - are quite literally immemorable.
- As of episode 32, he has a potential name. Everett, Emmett, and Ernest are all mentioned.
Western Animation
- A Looney Tunes short titled "Boston Quackie" had secret agent Daffy Duck tracking down a MacGuffin stolen by the Man in the Green Hat
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Twilight Sparkle's hastily improvised cover identity in the episode "Friendship University". "My name is Eyepatch. I wear an eyepatch".
- An animated segment on Sesame Street about the letter V featured "the villain in the Panama hat" (who even referred to himself as that).
- Throughout the South Park episode "Woodland Critter Christmas," the narrator refers to Stan as "the boy in the red poofball hat."
TV Tropes
Real Life
- Man in the Iron Mask (also a book by Alexandre Dumas and a few movies).
- Many figures seen in the famous Zapruder Film (the most complete and clear recording of the Kennedy Assassination) are known only by their clothing and possessions, most notably the Babushka Lady and the Umbrella Man.