Outfits
From Tomb Raider Wiki
In the Tomb Raider Series, Lara Croft wears a number of different outfits. From the simple teal tank top and brown shorts in the first game, to a different outfit for every occasion in Tomb Raider: Legend - not to mention dozens of unlockable outfits - Lara's wardrobe keeps expanding.
Outfits in Tomb Raider
In the original Tomb Raider, Lara wears a teal tank top and brown/khaki shorts, brown boots, blue and white socks, and carries a brown backpack. While in the FMV sequences, she has a long braid which would go on to become her signature look, within the game itself, the braid itself is missing (due to technical limitations in animating it at the time), and Lara wears her hair in a bun instead.
In the opening FMV of the Peru section, Lara is seen wearing red sunglasses and an embroidered poncho. She takes off both in the course of the FMV.
The game also features a second outfit - a grey gym/yoga outfit, which is seen only in the Mansion training level.
Outfits in Tomb Raider II
Lara's wardrobe expands considerably in the second game of the series. Apart from her original outfit, which she wears in the China, Venice and Offshore levels, Lara wears a blue and grey Sola wetsuit while exploring a sunken ship, and a brown bomber jacket over her regular outfit in the snowy mountains of Tibet. She also has a new gym outfit in the training level, and a blue bathrobe/nightgown in the last level, Home Sweet Home. Her long braid makes its first appearance in-game.
Outfits in Tomb Raider III
Lara wears a different outfit in each of the 5 different areas of the third game: her regular outfit in India; a shorter and differently coloured version of the same in South Pacific; a black catsuit in London; a black top and blue pants in Nevada; and a winter outfit, complete with an orange jacket with an RX-Tech logo, in Antarctica. Her gym outfit in the training level is a slightly modified version of the same in Tomb Raider II.
Outfits in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
This game is unusual in that, except for in the two flashback levels, Lara wears only her regular outfit. But since its action takes place in only one country, over a span of a few days only, this is perhaps not too surprising.
The teenage Lara seen in the first two levels wears green shorts, a white T-shirt and a green vest, and has her hair in two pigtails. She has no backpack at the beginning of the game, but acquires one - presumably the famous backpack that she continues to use as an adult - in a cutscene about halfway through the first level.
Outfits in Tomb Raider: Chronicles
Chronicles returns to the tradition of expanding Lara's wardrobe: she has 4 outfits in-game, including her default outfit in Rome, a new snowsuit in the Russian levels, the young Lara outfit/skin in the Ireland levels, and a modified version of the Tomb Raider III catsuit in the VCI levels.
Lara also wears in an strapless blue evening gown - with long gloves and high heels - in the opening FMV of the Rome section, but this outfit is not seen in-game.
Outfits in Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
Lara has 5 outfits in this game including one casual outfit, 3 action outfits and a blue wet suit.
For the first time in the history of Tomb Raider, we see Lara with more casual clothing, wearing jeans and a denim jacket, with a black top on the first section of the game, the Parisian streets area. She loses her backpack in the opening FMV, so she has no backpack with this outfit.
From the second section - the Louvre levels - onwards, she wears the Action outfits. These are all very similar: a sleeveless black top combined with either combat trousers (in the Louvre section and the first two Prague levels) or shorts (from the third Prague level onwards), and a small vest and in certain levels.
Towards the end of the Aquatic Research Area level, Lara puts on a blue wet suit for a section involving underwater swimming. She changes back to her shorts outfit in the middle of the next level, The Vault of Trophies.
Lara is usually seen wearing dark sunglasses in the FMVs and cutscenes, but when she is playable, the glasses are usually never seen on her - though occasionally, players have reported bugs in which Lara wears the sunglasses in-game too.
Outfits in Tomb Raider: Legend
This game had the most outfits so far: Lara wears a total of 7 outfits in-game. She wears a brown short-sleeved top and shorts, black boots and white socks, carries a black backpack, and wears her hair in a ponytail (as opposed to a long braid in most of the previous games) in the Bolivia, Peru, Ghana and Bolivia Redux levels. In the flashback section of Peru, she wears her old default outfit, complete with braid. The Japan level begins with Lara in a black evening dress and high heel, with her hair loose and her backpack slung over one shoulder like a purse. This she changes into the black ripped evening dress outfit in the course of a cutscene by ripping the sides of her dress, kicking off her shoes, wearing her backpack normally, and tying up her hair. The Kazakhstan level begins with Lara in a winter outfit, with brown jacket and khaki pants. She removes the jacket halfway through the level when it catches fire, and is seen in the rest of the level wearing a blue sweater. She wears the complete outfit in the Nepal level as well. In England, she wears a biker outfit, with a black and red biker jacket, black leather pants and a light blue top. She is also seen wearing this outfit, minus the jacket, in the two Croft Manor cutscenes.
Legend is the first in Tomb Raider series to have unlockable outfits. About 30 outfits (including the 7 already mentioned) can be unlocked by completing Time Trials, finding certain rewards, and gaining 100% completion of the game. Many are just simple colour variations of the other outfits: for example, a red evening dress, a pink and an orange variants of the winter outfits, including versions with and without jackets, etc. There are also new types - sport outfits, goth outfits, business suits, swimsuits, a catsuit and snowsuit - some of which have colour variants of their own. Also, there are two Amanda skins: the regular and winter outfits that she wears in game.
The unlockable outfits can be tried out in Lara's closet in the Manor as and when the player unlocks them. But they can be used in the game proper only when replaying the levels.
Outfits in Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Since Anniversary is a remake of the original Tomb Raider, Lara wears only her regular outfit throughout the game. But like Legend, many other outfits can be unlocked as extras, in this case by collecting the 8 Relics. There are fewer outfits than in Legend, and all are unique (i.e., no colour variants). Also unlike Legend, all of these are in some a homage to the previous games in the series.
There are a total of 10 outfits (including the default one): Legend, which is the brown shorts default outfit from Legend; Sport, which is the grey gym outfit from the original game; Wetsuit, the wetsuit from Tomb Raider II; Camouflage, from the Angel of Darkness; Catsuit, the catsuits from Tomb Raider III and Chronicles; Golden, the gold "statue" that Lara turns into in the Midas's Palace level in the original game and in Anniversary itself; Classic, which is the low polygon version of Lara seen in the original game; Doppelganger, the doppelganger creature that imitates Lara's actions in The Great Pyramid level (Atlantis in the original game; and Scorched Natla, which is Natla in her "true" form.
Outfits in Tomb Raider: Underworld
As of September 2008, several outfits in Underworld have been seen in the media released so far: a default outfit that consists of a dark khaki tank top and dark shorts, a version of the same with long pants, an outfit with a long-sleeved dark shirt and dark pants, one with a jacket, a "home" outfit seen in a gameplay trailer of Lara in her manor, and a black and yellow wetsuit. Lara also wears a shiny black sleeveless top and black pants in the teaser trailer for the game, in which she is seen blowing up her manor. It is unclear whether this outfit will be seen in-game.
It has been mentioned that the game will have unlockable outfits.
Views regarding outfits
Lara's outfits have been criticised as too tight and/or skimpy right from the beginning of the series, as well as being called impractical - for example, the fact that she wears shorts in the snowy Tibetan levels of Tomb Raider II. But this criticism has come mainly from the external media, not so much the fans themselves. However, the plethora of outfits introduced in Tomb Raider Legend sparked off a particularly vitriolic brand of criticism from a large segment of the fans, who felt that so many outfits were not only unnecessary, but also that they debased the idea of Tomb Raider by turning it into a "dress-up" game. Many were irritated by the type of outfits on offer, stating that several - for example, the goth outfits, the pink versions of some outfits, etc. - were clothes that Lara would be most unlikely to wear. In addition, fans and media alike panned some of the overly sexualised outfits, like the evening dress which was backless and had a plunging neckline, and the two bikinis.
This reaction has been mollified somewhat by Anniversary, which put much less focus on outfits, and made the ones it had, relevant to the series. The outfits in Underworld also seem to have been created keeping in mind the feedback for the outfits in legend, so, for example, Lara's shorts are now longer and the neck-lines have be rationalised somewhat.
Needless to say, not all fans feel negatively about the outfits in Legend. Many see them as interesting extras, and incentives to replay. Using modding tools like TexMod and Tomb Ripper, many fans have created outfits of their own for Legend and Anniversary.
External Links
Gallery
Tomb Raider III Outfits
 The outfit worn by Lara in the Nevada levels |
 The outfit worn by Lara in the South Pacific levels |
 The catsuit worn by Lara in the London levels |
 The winter outfit worn by Lara in the Antarctica levels |
