Clothes

What Sims wear. Sims are only without clothes when bathing, streaking, or WooHooing.

The Sims
Types of outfits:
 * Everyday
 * Pajamas
 * Swimwear
 * Formal (adults only)
 * Winterwear (The Sims: Vacation)
 * High Fashion (The Sims: Superstar, adults only)

There is no need to buy new Everyday outfits, as wardrobes already contain all of them. Prior to Hot Date, a wardrobe's "Change Clothes" option would change a Sim into the next available Everyday outfit for his or her age, gender, and skin tone, even if it didn't use the same body type. Hot Date changed wardrobes so the "Change Clothes: option opens a dialog which allows the player to look through the Everyday outfits for the Sim's age, gender, skin tone, and body type. However, many custom wardrobes were never updated. While they will still work if Hot Date or later is installed, they will work in the old, pre-Hot Date manner. If a Maxis dresser allows Sims to change into winterwear and/or high fashion, and a custom dresser does not, that's a sure sign that the custom dresser is an "old-style" one.

Beginning with Hot Date, new outfits of other types can be bought on community lots, though a Sim can only have one of each at any given time.

Players can have Sims try on outfits before buying them. The Sim will go into a changing booth, change into the selected outfit, and pose in front of a mirror. After a short time, the clerk will approach the Sim, and the player will be asked if they want to have the Sim buy that outfit. If the answer is "Yes", the Sim will follow the clerk to the register and pay for the outfit.

Players who do not have The Sims Complete Collection, but do have Hot Date or a later expansion pack will find that the types of outfits Sims can buy will depend on which expansions they have. This is because the various clothing racks were not carried forward from the expansions in which they were introduced. For example, a player who has Unleashed, but not Hot Date and Vacation, will be able to use buyable swimwear, pajamas, and formalwear, but will need to use a third-party utility or a hacked wardrobe to have Sims wear them, because the clothing racks which sell those types of outfits will not be present.

Each type of clothing has its own rack. Children can use the racks for swimwear, pajamas, and winterwear, as long as they're in community areas that kids can travel to. In addition, there are two "generic" racks, one for adults and one for kids. The racks, by expansion pack, are:


 * Hot Date
 * The Tubula Swim Suit Display, which sells swimwear for §45.


 * The "Don't Mention It" Lingerie Rack, which sells pajamas for §75.


 * The TresSheik Formalwear Display, which sells formalwear for §149.


 * The Ploomie's Garment Rack, which is the "generic" rack for adults. It sells winterwear if Vacation is installed, but does not sell high fashion if Superstar is installed.


 * Vacation
 * The SlopeStyle Skiwear Rack, which sells winterwear for §100.


 * The Rags-A-Muffin Garmenteria, which is the "generic" rack for kids.


 * Superstar
 * Bob's Haute Coutoure Rack, which sells high fashion for §249.

The Sims 2
Types of outfits:
 * Everyday
 * Formal
 * PJs
 * Undies
 * Swimwear
 * Athletic
 * Outerwear (The Sims 2 Seasons)

Sims receive a new set of clothing when they age. Otherwise Sims must go to community lots to purchase more clothes. In The Sims 2, all clothing racks sell all types of clothing. Since clothes are bought for the household, not for the individual Sim, Sims can buy clothes for other ages, and for the opposite gender. So, teens, adults, and elders can buy for toddlers; and teens and adults can buy for their next life stage. However, young adult clothing can only be bought on college community lots, so teens cannot plan their college wardrobe ahead of time. Also, young adults getting ready to leave campus cannot buy their adult clothing in advance. (Young adults can go to other areas and buy adult clothing, but will not keep it when they leave campus.)

Players can have Sims try on outfits for their own age and gender. This can be useful, as the "manikin" figure that appears when using the Buy option for the Sim's age and gender isn't always a good representation of the Sim. For example, the "manikin" will generally be light-skinned, even if the Sim is not. The player will not be given the option to add tried-on clothes to the Sim's cart, so having them buy those clothes will involve using a clothing rack's Buy option, and finding them again.

Sims can change and plan outfits with a dresser. Most outfits are one-piece outfits. but Everyday clothes can also be bought as separate tops and bottoms, which allows players to mix-and-match tops and bottoms for unique Everyday two-piece outfits.

The Sims 3
Types of outfits:
 * Everyday
 * Formal
 * Sleepwear
 * Athletic
 * Swim-wear

There are no longer clothing shops as Sims have access to all outfits except special career outfits. In The Sims 3, players have the ability to customize the pattern and color of every article of clothing. Shoes are now separate pieces from the rest of the clothes, and every outfit category has the ability to choose different tops and bottoms. Sims can now choose one of three different outfits from each category of clothing and wear them periodically. Also, you can assign hair to a outfit, as featured in The Sims 2: Seasons. Though, you must be wearing the category of clothing to assign the hair to that outfit, in The Sims 2: Seasons you do not.