Trope Workshop:Unique Uniform

When a character has a uniform different from everyone else's, deliberately assigned in order to set them apart. This may be in order to identify them as specialized or elite... or a General Failure may wear one himself, purely to look more impressive.

Compare Personalized Uniform, Custom Uniform.

Anime
"Rin: ...when I'm also a paladin, it'd suck to hafta wear such lame-ass clothes [as yours].
 * Gundam does this a lot:
 * The various Zeonic characters in UC Gundam tend to get their own special uniforms if they're awesome enough. See: Char, M'Quve, and Kycilia from Mobile Suit Gundam, Scirocco and Haman from Zeta Gundam, and Full Frontal from Gundam Unicorn, among others.
 * ZAFT from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Gundam Seed Destiny is slightly more standardized via Color Coded for Your Convenience; rank and file soldiers wear green, ace pilots wear red, ship captains wear black, group commanders wear white, and people who are sufficiently awesome (such as Andrew Waltfeld) can wear whatever they want.
 * In One Piece, the higher ranks in the Navy have more or less free-form uniforms, as long as the nave coat is somehow present.
 * Bleach's Soul Reaper outfits, the Captain's coats fit into this, as most of the Captains have done something different with theirs.
 * In Code Geass, Zero and C.C. have different uniforms and pilot suits than the rest of the Black Knights. In R2, Kallen, Tohdoh and the Holy Swords have a unique pilot suits with custom colors for each of them. Suzaku also possess a white pilot suit which is different to that of regular soldiers (how fortunate he is that the Knights of Round also have white uniforms that are different from that of their subordinates), and Viletta's day uniform as a Britannian Knight of Honor probably isn't regulation. Jeremiah wears a different uniform too, although he gets away with it by being nobility.
 * Blue Exorcist has Paladin Arthur August Angel, who has an extremely fancy uniform.

Angel: Unfortunately for you, I had these clothes made-to-order."

Comic Book

 * Judge Dredd: Most judges have identical uniforms, but senior judges (like Dredd) sometimes have differences (eg, a stylized eagle for one of their shoulder pads). The SJS uniforms also vary from standard judge uniforms, as do chief judges.

Literature

 * Howard W. Campbell, the American Nazi from Slaughterhouse-Five, wears a gaudy custom outfit instead of the standard German uniform.
 * Honor Harrington: Wearing a uniquely tailored uniform for anything other than utilitarian reasons is one of the Honorverse's stock Upperclass Twit traits; it's against regulations, therefore powerful aristocrats wear them to flaunt being above the rules.

Video Games

 * In Final Fantasy VI, each of Emperor Gestahl's three generals (Leo, Celes and Kefka) wears a different outfit, none of which resemble any Imperial uniform then in service. (Leo's comes the closest; at least it's approximately the same shade of green as those of the infantry).
 * If the player joins the Imperial Legion in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, they're required to wear a uniform Legion cuirass -- but in the final quests for the Legion, the player acquires the artifact Lord's Mail, which is basically the best heavy armor in the game and also a Legion uniform cuirass, giving them a unique appearance while still being in uniform.
 * Colonel Tendon Cobar and Colonel Mael Radek from Killzone (Liberation and 2, respectively) get the awesomest suits you'll see from any Helghast, the lot of whom wear really cool outfits anyway.
 * Most Alliance Marines in Mass Effect appear to wear black armor, in sharp contrast to Ashley's white-and-pink. Also, normal Alliance starships are white and red, while the Normandy is black and white. Miranda's Spy Catsuit in Mass Effect 2 doesn't seem to be standard-issue for Cerberus personnel, either.

Web Comics

 * In Goblins, one of the Brassmoon city guard officers wears a cape. He stopped when his commander threatened to kill him if he saw him in it again.
 * A mook wearing a medieval suit of armor while his comrades wear high-tech military stealth-suits does not escape the hero's notice in Antihero for Hire. He claims he gets to do whatever he wants because he's an elite, although he actually goes down easier than most of the regular ones.