Style and Fashion
Rin has a lot of boots.
Whenever Rin makes an appearance, she's wearing a completely different set of clothes. Throughout the entire series, she wears at least 40 different outfits. In some cases, she has at least five clothing changes in one chapter!. The only outfit she seems to wear more than once is her school uniform; even some dresses that appear similar at a glance actually have very different details.Takaya Natsuki herself said that Rin was "in charge of sexy." Most of the characters tend to dress conservatively where Rin is more inclined to wear things that are revealing. Her theme tends to lean towards a combination of punk rock and gothic, which complements Hatsuharu's similar style of dress.
Below are all of Rin's outfits as they appear chronologically in the manga, organized by the various stages in Rin's life. A few outfits aren't seen here because their details were obscured by speech bubbles or lacked detail due to scale.
CHILDHOOD
Rin's parents, before they went crazy and started abusing her, made her wear frilly, girly dresses. She actually looked really adorable back then!
HOSPITALIZATION
Throughout the series, Rin has been hospitalized several times. Each time, it seems she has something different to wear, likely dependant on what hospital she's at.
SCHOOL UNIFORM
Rin's school uniform is different than the one that Tohru wears because Rin attends an all-female high school. Rather than the navy blue sailor uniform that Kaibara students wear, Rin's uniform consists of a white drop waist dress with long sleeves, a yellow scarf, green cuffs, black tights and black mary-janes. The summer version of her uniform has knee-high socks and shorter sleeves.I don't feel that this school uniform suits Rin at all. I don't think it looks bad, but I think I'm so accustomed to seeing her wearing more exotic clothing that a school uniform seems so out of place.
STYLES WITH LONG HAIR
After Rin is abandoned by her parents, she begins to rebel through fashion. No longer wearing the frilly, cute attire that her parents dressed her in, Rin's now sporting a lot of sexy, form-fitting outfits. Many of her clothing consists of low bust-lines, very high slits on the legs of longer skirts, belts, straps, buckles, mini skirts, knee-high or thigh-high boots and thigh-high stockings. This style is referred to as goth punk in Japan.I feel that all of the buckles, straps and belts she wears act as a physical symbol of the bondage that Rin must endure via the curse. Or it may be that she just really likes the style. ;)
STYLES WITH SHORT HAIR
Rin's short hair signifies a major change for her outlook and her life. Upon coming out of confinement, she learns that the curse is breaking on its own and that she can finally relax and enjoy being with Haru. Being trapped under Akito's control will not last. Her fashion seems to reflect this somewhat; she's wearing more comfortable, loose-fitting clothing. She still wears some straps, though it's been toned down quite a bit.
It's also worth noting that in the Cat Fanbook, Takaya Natsuki notes that Rin's preferred style of clothing may change in the future now that she's overcome some personal obstacles.
