Naked Apron

Well, that's a view of Mutsume we haven't seen before...

Key: Taiyo, this is what we call "The Naked Apron". It makes men crazy.
Taiyo: Naked Apron?
Key: Say louder! Ready!
Taiyo & Robots: Hadaka Apu-ron!!

—Spaceship Agga Ruter

A trope in comedy, pornography and nearly any source of Fan Service, Naked Apron, frequently called "Hadaka Apron" due to its popularity in Japan, is the practice of wearing an apron over a scantily clad or outright nude body.

The trope's popularity comes originally from the pin-ups American soldiers brought with them during World War II; a common motif were titillating shots of women in otherwise normal domestic situations, such as cooking or cleaning. These pinups were emulated by Japanese artists around the same time Manga began to develop as an art form in the years after the occupation of Japan (1945-1960).

The appeal of the trope (outside of the obvious) is due to it allowing for the character to appear with modesty preserved from the front, but with a risqué surprise awaiting the viewer. In a somewhat meta sense, it is just as frequently used as a surprise for the audience as the characters viewing. Examples can be split between a character holding a perfectly casual conversation with another character who, upon turning around, reveals that they were in fact, nude; and the character being fully aware of it but the audience not seeing it until a certain panel—a Reveal Shot of a very revealing shot.

Frequently mixed with other such risqué Japanese tropes, such as bloomers and school swimsuits, or more generally, lingerie or a bikini (for when the character wants to pull this off, but is too modest). This trope is extremely popular amongst couples in Japan, as it is considered a traditional form of foreplay between newlyweds. As such, it comes up extremely often in Anime and Manga for Fan Service, especially in Harem Anime and Magical Girlfriend shows.

A traditional outfit of Ms. Fanservice and The Vamp when attempting to attract a more innocent target, or when attempting a more long term relationship. The Innocent Fanservice Girl also might end up dressed like this, because she doesn't understand you're supposed to wear something under an apron—in which case the viewer will have to explain it before any misunderstandings occur. The Shameless Fanservice Girl might choose to wear this, because it's technically required wear for cooking (splatters hurt), but has no qualms about how technically risqué the ensemble is.

All in all, a frequent source of nudity as comedy—often without actually showing any nudity!

Very similar in theory and practice to Theiss Titillation Theory; whereas Theiss's Titillation Theory states that the higher chance of a Wardrobe Malfunction causes an outfit to be sexier, a large portion of Hadaka Apron's appeal is the fact that it's a nude body that's "covered, but only technically", and any number of poses or gusts of wind would cause a Wardrobe Malfunction. The fact that almost all shots of Naked Apron are also examples of Vapor Wear (almost invariably due to Sideboob and "Sidehip" being shown) also adds to the Theiss Titillation Theory element.

Can also be worn by men, in which case it's usually played up either for laughs or for Ho Yay—sometimes both.

Compare and contrast Theiss Titillation Theory, Body Paint, Godiva Hair, Scenery Censor, Sideboob, Stripperiffic, Barely-There Swimwear, Toplessness From the Back, Vapor Wear.


No real life examples, please; All The Tropes is not an eroge site.

Examples of Naked Apron include:

Females

Anime and Manga

  • Ren from DearS is an Innocent Fanservice Girl who ends up in this early on.
  • Ditto for a character from Nagasarete Airantou. Having lived on an island her entire life without ever having met a male, everything she's learned about inter-gender relationships was from[1] books and magazines that washed up on shore.

"But it says in this magazine that you don't wear anything under the apron when serving dinner..."
"Don't listen to that kind of magazine!"

  • Ranma ½
    • In one chapter of the manga, a mirror image of girl-type Ranma come-to-life tries to seduce the original Ranma wearing this outfit. Nabiki hangs a lampshade on the trope and its popularity in Japan at this occasion.
    • Ukyō, one of Ranma's suitors, wears it at the beginning of the second Ranma ½ Non-Serial Movie (subtitled Nihao My Concubine in the U.S.). Partly justified in that she is a cook by profession, she was cooking at the time, and she was wearing a bikini-bottom underneath—they were at the beach.
  • In Sakura Diaries, Urara uses this outfit several times as a method to try to seduce her cousin Touma, with little success.
  • In chapter 53 of The Wallflower manga, Sunako, of all people, does this when suffering from a strange delusion: she was so humiliated that she ended up buck naked on top of Kyohei (due to a cursed gem that made her act like an exhibitionist—long story) that she forcibly blocked it out of her mind. Unfortunately as a side effect, when she bathes the next day, she blocks out the fact that she's naked afterwards, and hallucinates that she's instead already dressed. Seconds later, she's wandering around the house in Hadaka Apron, making breakfast for the guys. The four Bishonen who share the house with her can't believe it, either, and Kyohei has to chase her around school keeping her safe—in her mind, she's already wearing her school uniform under the apron, in reality, she just flashed her roommates and was a few minutes away from streaking the entire school.
  • Lampshaded in the Hentai anime Spaceship Agga Ruter (by Tenchi Muyo! creator Masaki Kajishima), when Spaceship Girl Kei continues her campaign of teaching her adopted son (and lover), Taiyo, about the opposite sex through nothing but Porn Tropes—including the "Legendary Hadaka Apron".
  • Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl
  • In Chocotto Sister, Choko believes her handbook (apparently written by a perv) when it claims that older brothers like this.
  • To LOVE-Ru
    • One episode has Lala wearing this when preparing to make a meal for Rito. When Rito tells her she's supposed to wear the apron over clothes, she adds a bikini bottom. She also does in a recent chapter of the manga, saying her friends told her boys like it.
    • And again in one of the OVAs, where Rito actually takes an interest. And for the manga, Rito accidently forces her into one a second time when he takes over Peke.
  • In the Enishi sequel series for Ai Yori Aoshi, Kaoru has a couple of Imagine Spots of Aoi wearing this.
  • Girls Bravo
    • In an episode of the anime, Innocent Fanservice Girl Miharu dresses this way to cook breakfast after finding a magazine of Yukinari's.
    • In the manga, when Lovable Sex Maniac Fukuyama is giving cooking lessons, he does one of his trademark Instant Cosplay Surprise to put Kirie, Koyomi and Miharu in aprons, though he let them keep their underwear (at first). When Lethal Chef Kirie proves still resistant to his teaching, he strips her nude save for the apron, under the pretext she needs her full freedom of movement. This ends up as a Congruent Memory situation: Kirie learns to cook properly, but can do so only when otherwise naked. (Her Home Economics teacher is not amused.)
  • Siesta, the Meido from Zero no Tsukaima, uses this in one episode to attract main character Saito. Works really well.
  • Chi of Chobits is sort of naive about this and sort of not—she picked up the behavior from one of Hideki's hentai manga, but she doesn't understand anything about it other than that Hideki liked the manga.
  • Several of the gynoids in the Ghost in The Shell manga (although, being robots, they don't mind). Also see Stripperific.
  • Samataro's goddess mom in Kamisama Kazoku wears it at her husband's request. But then, when her son and his female angel guide Tenko come home to see her in it, she doesn't mind at all. She even proudly explains that "It's called being naked under the apron. It's a romantic gesture that really tickles mortal men's hearts."
  • Tira has a dream involving her wearing this in the Sorcerer Hunters manga. It kind of comes to a sudden halt when she ends up being the newlywed bride to her sister, Chocolate.
  • Yoshinoya-sensei, the Cosplay Otaku Girl of Hidamari Sketch, also does this once after seeing that another class was engaged in baking. To be fair, the aprons those girls are wearing ARE rather cute. And she reassures her students that she is wearing a swimsuit underneath—it just doesn't show when viewed from the front.
  • The eponymous Ai of Video Girl Ai does this fairly early on in the series. Viz declared it scandalous and drew panties on her. Because that makes it better.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima
    • Konoka Konoe, being one of the more maternal girls, does show in this.
    • Invoked again later, as a part of Setsuna's Cosmo Entelechia a.k.a. the world she wants the most.
    • Haruna is definitely going for the look here, although she's wearing a bikini underneath it.
  • Ninin ga Shinobuden has this in episode 11, when Sasuke takes over the show and turns it into an Unwanted Harem. Kaede's mom is wearing only an apron.
  • Lilika does this in Burn Up Scramble. For some reason, she takes off the underwear that was all she was wearing before. She then realizes Maya is out of salt and goes out to get some. Lilika should definitely be kept away from alcohol.
  • Great Teacher Onizuka: When Fuyutsuki puts him up to help him cram for his exams, Onizuka fantasizes about having her wear nothing but an apron.
  • Misako wears an apron and nothing else while seducing her son Yuu in the Hentai manga Super Taboo.
  • In Change 123, Kosukegawa imagines Motoko as his future wife in a hadaka apron a couple of times.
  • The three heroines of Zettai Karen Children unleash a school-swimsuit-under-apron variation on their supervisor Minamoto. Freakout Ensues.
  • Senjougahara of Bakemonogatari offers to cook for Araragi while wearing nothing but an apron.
  • When she appears in Kämpfer, Mikoto wakes Natsuru up like this, having already made breakfast. Natsuru offers her his shirt when she tries to force him to react.
  • In the Too Hot for TV episode 26 of Excel Saga, "Going Too Far", Watanabe has an Imagine Spot of a seductive Hyatt (or rather, Miss Chihaya Ayasugi) wearing just an apron.
  • In Chapter Two of the first volume of the manga version of Blue Drop, Kenzou wears an apron naked to try and seduce Shouta into having sex with her.
  • The movie Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0, when Asuka attempts to prepare a meal she enacts this trope, opting only to wear a pair of Daisy Duke shorts and a bra under her apron.
  • In Highschool of the Dead, Saeko Busujima wears this and panties when she has to do the cooking for the group while her clothes are drying from being cleaned for the first time since the Zombie Apocalypse started. Even funnier in a bonus chapter in the manga when Takashi's friends say that they want to see Saeko in just an apron. Even more egregious when the plot conspires to have Saeko make a Big Damn Heroes entrance riding on top of a Humvee, still in just the apron and panties, and proceeds to do battle with a zombie horde wielding a wooden sword. It's that kind of series.
  • Soul Eater
  • In the Love Hina manga, Keitarô at one point has an Imagine Spot in which he fantasizes about being waited on by Naru, Mutsumi (seen in the page's picture), and Shinobu, all wearing Naked Aprons.
  • Kazehana of Sekirei does this to greet back Minato one day. Miya immediately forbids it.
  • Ikki once fantasizes this on Simca in Air Gear.
  • In one episode of Oruchuban Ebichu, while Ebichu is cleaning house, Ebichu gets an anonymous call from a creeper asking what they're wearing (not knowing that the caller is a talking hamster), and Ebichu replies innocently, "Well, all I'm wearing is an apron, but besides that, I'm naked..."
  • The Goddess of Victory from Gintama ends up in one of these. Of course, this being Gintama, it was played for laughs as well as fanservice.
  • Umi no Misaki: Soyogi has a female classmate with a crush on her who regularly cooks for her. She once met Soyogi at her own door wearing just an apron.
  • Happened to most of the female cast of Medaka Box after Kumagawa (a.k.a Naked Apron-senpai) was voted most popular character.
  • The 3rd OAV of the Hentai anime 15 Bishoujo Hyouryuuki (15 Beautiful Girls Adrift) manages to parody the trope, with a mother and daughter both putting on the Naked Aprons, starting with Flung Clothing and then through a Transformation Sequence worthy of any Magical Girl show.
  • Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun: The girls wear aprons and School Swimsuits in one episode while cooking dinner for Shungo's sister. Pity anyone who walks in on them because they get roped into wearing them as well. (It's implied that the mushrooms they were using in the stew were intoxicants or aphrodisiacs.)
  • In Oku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo, for some reason, Ureshiko's apron is the only piece clothing left while using her powers to start the vacuum cleaner in the first episode.
  • Waiting in the Summer, episode 10. Not done in a sexual context, though; what else would Mio, who was raised as a nudist, wear in the kitchen?

Comic Books

  • Empowered features this, when the title character is cooking blueberry pancakes for ThugBoy. With a "Piyo Piyo"-imprinted apron straight out of Maison Ikkoku.
  • Io of the Amazons makes armor for Wonder Woman. She wears a leather blacksmith's apron but not a shirt (or bra) under it. She still wears pants so it's not a literal example of Naked Apron, but it's close.
  • Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire. A catgirl can be seen wearing one while Buck Godot is hiding at The Velvet Fist.

Fan Works


Films -- Live-Action

  • In a deleted scene of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Ron fantasizes that Veronica is married to him, and works in an apron—and nothing else.
  • In Empire Records, Gina puts on a MusicTown apron with nothing but stockings on underneath and dances around, saying "I think MusicTown is torn on the revealing garments issue".
  • Happens in Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay.
  • In The Quiet Earth (a 1985 sci-fi film from New Zealand), Joanne serves Zac breakfast in bed, wearing an apron. When she turns to leave, we (and Zac) see that she is not wearing anything else below the waist, causing him to spill hot coffee on himself.
  • In Gazon Maudit (released in Britain as French Twist), Victoria Abril's character is seen wearing an apron while otherwise naked. It's a turn-on both for her husband and her butch lesbian girlfriend.
  • Leah Cairns' character in 88 Minutes does this at the beginning to cook for Al Pacino's character.
  • Done in McVicar, a mostly-true story of a prison escapee, by a woman who wants to make sure the on-the-run lead character doesn't leave the house.
  • Jane March's character in Color of Night surprises Bruce Willis's character by showing up unexpectedly at his home and is cooking him dinner while wearing only an apron. It becomes very apparent when she turns around to retrieve an item from the oven and then feigns modesty by covering her rear with a potholder after she exposes her backside to him.
  • Pauline Lafont in Chabrol's Poulet au vinaigre.


Literature

  • In Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget has a nightmare where she has to take A-level French while wearing nothing but her Domestic Science apron. When she tells it to Daniel (her boyfriend) he asks her to "run over the bit" about the apron again.
  • In The Otherworld, Karl wants Hope to cook him breakfast naked for his birthday. She refuses—bacon grease is hot. So he puts her in his shirt, nothing else, no panties, which barely covers her butt.

Hope: Having sex with a woman while she's cooking your breakfast? Your fantasies are showing your age.

  • In one of Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Alice books, on the the main character's older brother's birthday, his girlfriend cooks him dinner while wearing only panties.
  • In The Master and Margarita, Dark Chick Hella wears this when she's not completely naked.


Live-Action TV

  • An episode of Bewitched, "Bewitched, Bothered, and Baldoni", features a statue of Venus being turned into a real woman and ending up as the Stephens' maid. Samantha hands her an apron and asks her to put it on. When Venus comes out of the bathroom, Darrin gawks and Sam is shocked.

Sam: When I said, "Put on an apron", I didn't mean just an apron! Now why don't you be a good girl and go out... (Venus starts to turn around) backwards! And we'll make sure you get a uniform to go with that apron.

  • The current popularity of this trope in Japan may be traced back to the aforementioned Gilgamesh Nights, wherein a pornographic actress named Yuki Hitomi would do a cooking segment wearing nothing but an apron.
  • In Highlander the Series, Amanda once did this while crashing in Duncan's place. Duncan was not pleased by this. (The fans, on the other hand...)
  • There was a Cooking Show, Cooking Naked, who featured this with their (rotating) hosts.
  • The Canadian cooking show Barely Cooking did the same thing, hosted by a couple (a man and a woman) who wore nothing but an apron.
  • In an episode of Wings, Joe and Helen, having kicked Brian and Casey out of the house, decide that they will celebrate their newfound privacy by being "all nude, all the time" while at home. This later leads to an argument when she comes out of the kitchen wearing an apron, but nothing else. (He's covered up by a newspaper he's conveniently reading at arm's length while walking down the stairs.)

Joe: Helen, what is with that apron? I thought we agreed, all nude all the time!
Helen: I am not cooking bacon naked.

  • Technically, it could be said that Chewbacca's wife wears one about 5 minutes into The Star Wars Holiday Special, but it's just confusing—like the rest of the show.
  • Law and Order Special Victims Unit
    • Played sadistically in the episode "Authority". The manager of a fast-food joint recieves a phone call from a police officer, who tells him to bind, gag, and strip-search a female employee until police arrive, leaving only her apron on. He complies, then the police arrive... to arrest him for sexual assault. The call was a fake. Ripped from the Headlines: The Strip Search Prank Call Scam.
    • The episode "Sacrifice" had the detectives crash the set of a porno that seemingly involved this.


Music

  • The video for Genesis' song "Jesus He Knows Me" features a woman dressed just this way during the pool scene at the bridge. She's the one working the barbecue.
  • The Garth Brooks song, "Somewhere other than the Night":

She was standin' in the kitchen with nothin' but her apron on
 And in disbelief he stood and he stared a while;
When their eyes met, they both began to smile....


  • This Trope was used in the pictorial for Lindsey Vuolo, Playboy's Miss November 2001.
  • Mary Louise Parker in Esquire (NSFW)


Video Games

  • Hadaka Apron Gakuen is a Japanese "Ero-Ren'ai" game (Erotic Dating Game, also known as a "Hentai Game" outside Japan) that takes this trope to its logical extreme. The hero passes out playing an Ero-Ren'ai game with a Hadaka Apron scene. When he awakes the next day, the world has changed so that every woman in the world is wearing nothing but an apron, and doesn't realize anything is wrong with this.
  • Its sequel, Seiai Gakuen Fechi Ka (literal English title "Sexual Love School: Fetish Department"; released in English as Cosplay Fetish Academy), introduces a new hero who traveled with two girls from his reality (so they're aware of the differences in the two worlds) as well as every other clothing fetish imaginable. This weird universe's strange clothing styles are explained as modesty being "inverted" in this world—the more a woman shows, the more modest she's being. Indeed, in the opening, the extremely shy girl is chased by the police as being a perverted "Dress-hibitionist" due to her fully covering clothing.
  • In Adventure Quest Worlds' Harvest Festival Feast event, Oishii looks like she's wearing one of these. At the very least, she's wearing it over a Stripperiffic outfit of the same color.
  • Equipping an apron but no other top on a female created character in Soul Calibur IV results in their usual bikini top disappearing. Oddly, if the apron is broken, their bikini top reappears.
  • World of Warcraft has a similar look when equipping a tabard (and optionally a belt) with nothing underneath it. Notably, since tabards (unlike most armor) aren't damaged when you die, this is used to give some semblance of dignity to "corpse runs".
  • Tyria from Ar Tonelico 3 wears one over a swimsuit in her true ending.
  • In Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 equipping an apron results in female's characters bikini top disappearing.


Web Comics


Web Original


Western Animation


Males

Anime & Manga

  • In a character special in the Bleach manga, Kon goes around interviewing characters around Urahara Shoten. He winds up skipping the interview with Tessai (large, muscular guy) after finding him putting on his trademark apron... with nothing on underneath.
  • Axis Powers Hetalia
    • England's "Sexy Waiter" Memetic Outfit is basically the lower half of a Hadaka Apron.
    • Hong Kong ends up wearing a white one in the Hetalia Bloodbath, after taking off his Meido outfit and getting scolded by China.
    • In the 2011 Aprils Fools even, America and Spain end up wearing "Sexy Waiter" outfits, too. America is embarrassed, Spain is amused.

Romano: Are you really okay dressed like that, you idiot?
Spain: It feels great, with the weather and the breeze!


Arts

  • The statue of Vulcan on Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama, was built to symbolize the city's thriving steelmaking industry. From most viewpoints, Vulcan looks majestic with a big blacksmith's apron and a raised hand. However, for decades the neighborhoods behind Red Mountain enjoyed the sight of a giant iron butt on top of the mountain, since Vulcan is only wearing the apron and it doesn't wrap around. Recently,[when?] the statue was taken down, and repaired. The iron moon is still shining, but it's not aimed at a residential area now.

Comic Books

  • Mister Mxyzptlk once made Superman powerless and dressed up in only an apron so that a super-powered Lois Lane could rescue him.


Films -- Live-Action

  • The male version happens in Free Enterprise.
  • Also in Mamma Mia!, where it's not obvious until the character turns around and walks away. According to some commentary online, the actor did this on his own as a prank.
  • Richard E. Grant does this in How to Get Ahead in Advertising as part of his nervous breakdown and disgust with his advertising career. It Makes Sense in Context.
  • Appears as a Funny Background Event in the second Naked Gun movie.
  • In an infamous scene in the classic Woody Allen film Sleeper, at one point protagonist Miles Monroe finds himself in an apartment where some gay men live. Enter the butler, clad only in an apron.
  • Buzz Hauser (Jason Alexander) at one point in Love! Valour! Compassion!
  • In Monty Python at the Hollywood Bowl, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, and Terry Gilliam perform "Sit on My Face" in waiter outfits and aprons. Once the song ends, they turn and walk offstage, revealing their naked buttocks.


Live-Action TV

Blackadder: Baldrick, why are you dressed like that?
Baldrick: Do you want the long answer or the short answer?
Blackadder: Mm, the short answer.
Baldrick: Whim.
Blackadder: "Whim". And the long answer?
Baldrick: It was a whim, my lord.

  • In an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun, Harry decided that clothes were a scam and spent the episode naked. He decided to put on an apron while frying... bacon or something, but frequently had to turn around, exposing his back to the grease. He turned back very fast.
  • Wally from The Brady Brides (a spinoff of The Brady Bunch) did this.
  • Walt does this (well, except he keeps his underwear on—thankfully) in the first episode of Breaking Bad.
  • In the Bravo reality show Chef Academy, contestant Emmanuel volunteered to serve a birthday cake to another contestant while wearing nothing but an apron (and a smile, and some body oil!). Since Emmanuel was very, very attractive (he'd had a previous career as a porn star), this was definitely Fan Service.
  • In an interesting inversion/twist, House starts out an episode making breakfast while naked at his and Wilson's place (when he was supposed to be away on a business trip), where Wilson's latest girlfriend runs into him. This is combined with Naked First Impression and Please Put Some Clothes On when she hands House an apron. (Which he does.)
  • Fringe: In Back to Where You've Never Been, Peter has a dream that he is back home, which includes his father wearing nothing but an apron while making him breakfast.
  • Happens in the Midsomer Murders episode "Destroying Angel". Barnaby arrives to question a middle-aged, male suspect only to find him doing a spot of baking wearing nothing but an apron.
  • Manchild did this once for laughs with Anthony Head's character. It was also a naked body apron in another sense, depecting a nude male body with a fig leaf in front.


Video Games

  • Not done for fanservice, since he's a Funny Animal character in a cartoonish everyone-rated game, but Tom Nook from Animal Crossing is wearing just a blue apron while he's running Nook's Cranny.


Visual Novels


Web Comics

Western Animation

  • Chowder: Shnitzel sometimes wears pants under his apron, sometimes not. This being a children's cartoon, the trope is mostly Played for Laughs (though given the show...)
  • Timmy's dad went one episode of The Fairly OddParents set in a hospital dressed only in an open-backed patient's apron. This was played very much for laughs and Fan Disservice, since Timmy did not appreciate having to see his father's naked ass.
  • Goofy at the very beginning of the House of Mouse short "How to Be a Spy".
  • The Larry 3000 on Time Squad sometimes wears a pink apron, a chef's hat, and nothing else.
  1. ↑ pornographic
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