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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup

 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
type
FeatureClass
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
label
Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
page
GlassesAndPonytailCoverup
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })There is one favorite Hollywood method to change a character's appearance massively without having to actually change the actor's appearance to unrecognisable levels. A ponytail, and a pair of glasses.
The superficial features of the character's appearance have been changed enough that the Willing Suspension of Disbelief is not broken when other characters don't recognise them but for most viewers, they are still obviously the same character. The idea became so prevalent that it also moved to non-visual media, with the glasses-and-ponytail being an indicator of plainness. Adding or removing these items to/from a girl may be used as a disguise, with removing them also being used to clean up nicely.
Most typically used as a form of Paper-Thin Disguise or for She Cleans Up Nicely (the glasses and ponytail look usually invokes Hollywood Homely). Usually Always Female, but not necessarily. In either case, glasses and ponytail (or really any style that does the hair up one way or the other) is a stock 'coverup' used and enforced to make a character (recognisably) unrecognisable.
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })Related to Clark Kenting.
See also The Glasses Gotta Go (an ugly girl with glasses discovers that she looks better without them), Long Hair Is Feminine (since a ponytail would be perceived as less feminine), Tomboyish Ponytail, and Shaking Her Hair Loose/Letting Her Hair Down.
Examples:
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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2021-08-30T23:24:06Z
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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2021-08-30T23:24:07Z
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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Dropped link to LoopholeAbuse: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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Dropped link to StacyKeibler: Not an Item - IGNORE
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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DBTropes
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_1b386512
type
Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_1b386512
comment
Ranma Saotome from Ranma ½ has this as one of his favorite disguise methods and it almost always works due to everyone around him being clueless and gullible, especially Ryōga.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_1b386512
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 Ranma ½ (Manga)
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_1b386512
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_30b255fb
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_30b255fb
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Supergirl dons the ponytail-and-glasses disguise in several continuities. In Supergirl (Rebirth), she improves the disguises with a holographic device which changes her hair color.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_30b255fb
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 Supergirl (Comic Book)
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_32c541e6
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Fullmetal Alchemist: Riza Hawkeye puts on a pair of glasses and lets her hair down for her civilian disguise as "Elizabeth."
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_32c541e6
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 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_32c541e6
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 Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga)
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_32c541e6
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_43041cff
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_43041cff
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The Made-for-TV Movie Model Behaviour — supermodel Janine Adams is easily able to pass as Alex Burrows by donning Alex's glasses and wearing her hair back. Even their own family members are fooled.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_43041cff
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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Supergirl (2015): It is frequently mentioned by those who know Kara/Supergirl's dual identity that her disguise is not good, especially with Cat mentioning that when you work with someone (that you know the morals of, at least) it's really easy to distinguish their features. However, Kara's boss after Cat, Snapper, calls her only by the nickname "Ponytail", which reinforces the idea that he reduces people to a predominant defining feature and won't look beyond the hair or glasses.
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 Supergirl (2015)
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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Superman: The Animated Series: When Supergirl moves to Earth she creates per her cousin's advice a secret identity wearing glasses and her hair in a ponytail.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_5c208620
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 Superman: The Animated Series
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_7149a731
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Discussed in Wonder Woman when Diana arrives in London and Steve wants to give her glasses and tie her hair up. Etta comments how basically nothing could disguise the fact that she's got to be the most beautiful woman in the world, and Diana quickly shucks the glasses and lets her hair loose, remaining disguise-less for most of the action.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_7149a731
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 Wonder Woman (2017)
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_8df5521b
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When Superman had a mullet, so did Clark Kent, pulled back into a wee ponytail.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_8df5521b
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 Superman (Comic Book)
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 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_8ec667ec
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_8ec667ec
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Parodied in Not Another Teen Movie, with Janey Briggs being the most unattractive girl ever for having glasses and a ponytail, with everyone reacting appalled. When her date's sister pseudo-erotically removes them, everyone reacts as if she has become the most attractive girl in the world, and asking who she is at prom.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_8ec667ec
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 Not Another Teen Movie
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 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_9f1766e4
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_9f1766e4
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In The Brady Bunch episode "My Fair Opponent", Marcia transforms ugly duckling Molly Webber into an attractive girl by doing just that.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_9f1766e4
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 The Brady Bunch
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_9f1766e4
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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Played with in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Samantha "Sam" Sparks was a bit of a geek as a child, and she had glasses and a ponytail. When people made fun of her for her demeanor, she started trying to hide her intelligence and stopped wearing glasses and putting her hair in a ponytail. When she meets Flint and begins to reveal her true colors, he appreciates her for who she is, convincing her to regain the glasses and ponytail.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_a5fbd473
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 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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During The Surtur Saga story arc of The Mighty Thor, Thor couldn't turn into his usual secret identity of Donald Blake, so he had to do the ponytail-and-glasses thing to become "Sigurd Jarlson", a construction worker from Norway.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_b9c9efbe
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 The Surtur Saga (Comic Book)
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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In El Goonish Shive, Ellen wears sunglasses and her hair in pigtails plus a baseball cap to disguise herself. This proved to be so effective, many readers were thrown off by her appearance leading Dan to add narration and mention it in The Rant.
Previously in this comic, Rhoda refers to dressing like this (along with a turtleneck) as her "old look" that she went back to. Why? Because being interviewed by a reporter at school when a certain creepy child briefly appeared made her a magnet for unwanted attention from geeks in particular.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_bd310eaa
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 El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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In The Faculty, the popular girl Delilah dons a pair of glasses to avoid getting detected by the alien-possessed teachers. We see her infected later, so it clearly didn't work.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_d55f8bad
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 The Faculty
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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MacGyver (1985): Mac would don glasses and pull his hair back in a (rather short) ponytail when he went undercover as computer nerd Dexter.
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_f15f622e
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1.0
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 MacGyver (1985)
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
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Discussed in Carrie (2002) (which doesn't feature the trope) by having Tommy mock She's All That for having the 'ugly girl' played by "a supermodel, but we're not supposed to know it because she's wearing glasses."
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup / int_fa450b74
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 Carrie (2002)
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
processingCategory2
Glasses Tropes
 Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
processingCategory2
Hair Tropes
 Supergirl (2005) (Comic Book) / int_724ce186
type
Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade (Comic Book) / int_724ce186
type
Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 The Mighty Thor (Comic Book) / int_724ce186
type
Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 The Surtur Saga (Comic Book) / int_724cdda6
type
Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Supergirl (Rebirth) (Comic Book) / int_724ce186
type
Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Silver Mics (Fanfic) / int_724ce186
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Ever Since Eve / int_724ce186
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Model Behavior / int_724ce186
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Not Another Teen Movie / int_724ce186
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 The Faculty / int_724cdda6
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Wonder Woman (2017) / int_724ce186
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 GlassesAndPonytailCoverUp
sameAs
Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 MacGyver (1985) / int_724ce186
type
Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Supergirl (2015) / int_724ce186
type
Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 The Brady Bunch / int_724ce186
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Glasses and Ponytail Coverup
 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs / int_724ce186
type
Glasses and Ponytail Coverup