As the titular character of one of the world's most beloved franchises, Zelda has gone through some major artistic and stylistic changes over the 20+ years Zelda has been around. From the sprites in the original NES and SNES titles to the 3D models in recent years, her look is almost always recognizable when she appears on screen.
As Zelda has grown as a character over the years, somewhat breaking out of her role as a damsel in distress (at least sometimes), her design has evolved from the plain artwork of The Legend of Zelda into more of an active role. As such, even more thought was put into her outfits than ever before. But how do said outfits stack up against one another in terms of ranking?
10 Toon Zelda
The Zelda from Wind Waker, Spirit Tracks, Phantom Hourglass, and The Minish Cap all wear nearly identical outfits in their appearances and artwork, making them easy to group as one outfit. Each version has a similar necklace, dress, and feathered hairpiece, along with the red jeweled crown Zelda typically wears and a sash showing the Triforce. Even the artwork around the Triforce, which often changes from incarnation to incarnation, is the same across all four games. While it makes sense for the Wind Waker timeline Zelda to have the same look, it is disappointing that her outfit was copy-pasted for The Minish Cap as well.
9 Hilda
While not named as such, Hilda from A Link Between Worlds is the Lorule equivalent of Zelda in her world and fulfills the same position as her counterpart. Unlike many other 2D Zelda princesses, Hilda's design takes more inspiration from the 3D titles rather than the older sprite-based Zeldas seen in the likes of The Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past. Her crown, shoulder armor, and dress, complete with an inverted Triforce, give her a similar appearance to the adult Zelda from Ocarina of Time, although with a less intricate design around the inverted Triforce.
8 Tetra
Before she took back the title of Zelda, she hid herself from Ganon as the pirate Tetra, taking on a look that hadn't been since on the princess before or since. Her general appearance aside, she also wields a typical pirate's scimitar as opposed to the rapier she uses in later titles, or the bow she is often known for in 3D titles.
Princess Zelda is fairly recognizable in-game, and it is easy for players to pick when she does appear, but Tetra's design is so different that it was a shock when King Daphnes revealed her true identity in The Wind Waker, as there were many fans who thought that Aryll, Link's sister, could be this game's version of Zelda.
7 Ocarina of Time
Before A Link to the Past, Zelda's look fit pretty plainly into the stereotype of a princess, with her simply wearing a plain pink dress and essentially looking like a Peach knock off. While A Link to the Past's Zelda did away with much of the pink coloration of her dress, Ocarina of Time's outfit embraced it fully. This results in a garish amount of pink and purple on her and makes some of the art on her sash blend too much into the background. That said, it started the trend of how she would look in years to come, making it one of the more iconic looks for Zelda.
6 Skyward Sword
Zelda from Skyward Sword is, canonically, the first incarnation of the titular princess, and therefore not yet royalty. As such, her appearance in the game is much less regal. Though she retains the signature pink dress she is most known for, the rest of her outfit is far less princess-like. She is also the first Zelda to not wear the Triforce somewhere on her person, though the sash around her waist does bear the Hylian crest that would be associated with the Hylian royal family in the future.
5 A Link To The Past
For the first time in Zelda's history as a character, her Link to the Past outfit made her look somewhat ready for battle, with the armored shoulder pieces and bracers being a new addition to her otherwise standard pink dress outfit. Although it is hard to make out the intricacies of her outfit in her in-game form, as the sprite work leaves little room for much detail in her appearance, her official artwork makes her look much less like the damsel in distress that she had been for the past few entries in the series.
4 Sheik
Sheik's appearance in Ocarina of Time may be even more recognizable than her princess outfit, if only for the reason that it is so vastly different from any of her others in the series. Donning the signature Sheika outfit, complete with the Eye of Truth on her chest, it made it very easy for players to guess that Sheik was connected to Impa in some way, which made her reveal as Zelda a little underwhelming.
Unlike other incarnations of Zelda, who primarily used light magic or a bow, Sheik is significantly more agile than one would expect, especially for someone who isn't usually fighting on the front lines.
3 Twilight Princess
Zelda's Twilight Princess outfit takes a lot of notes from Ocarina of Time, which makes sense considering its direct link to the Child Timeline of the series. Like her other incarnations, Zelda's outfit is the standard dress, sash, and armored shoulder pieces. However, the dress is significantly less pink than her predecessors, as that would detract from the dark aesthetic that Twilight Princess was going for. Unlike previous Zeldas, this one also wields a rapier-like sword rather than the light bow she normally uses, and the jewel in her crown is light blue rather than its usual ruby red color.
2 Hyrule Warriors
As a Musou game, it makes sense that this incarnation of Zelda would need to look ready for battle, and as such, she wears the most armor of any of her previous incarnations. Her signature pink dress is minimalized in favor of the armor and for the first time it is open at the front, which would make it much easier for her to sprint around levels hacking hordes of bokoblins to pieces with her rapier. Her crown is also noticeably spikier than previous incarnations, adding to the fierce aesthetic of a princess who is done being rescued by Link over and over and wants to take the fight to the enemy.
1 Breath Of The Wild
Zelda's main outfit in Breath of the Wild is arguably the best she has had in the series. With no crown or sash bearing the Hylian crest or Triforce, there's very little to her outfit that screams "princess," and the fact that she is wearing the same blue outfit as her chosen warriors gives her a sense of purpose in her story that other Zeldas haven't been able to utilize. In saying this, her outfit is still somewhat regal and is able to separate her enough from the other warriors in terms of power structure. She's in charge, so she doesn't need to be as prepared for battle, but she's still going to dress for the occasion.