Fullmetal Alchemist - Fashion Gallery

Welcome! Here I'll be cataloguing the various outfits that appear in FMA, and discussing them. I have a background in costume design, so this is a subject that really interests me. I hope this page will be of interest to you too, and I especially hope it'll be useful to cosplayers! I'll be covering the manga as the main focus, but I also discuss both anime, the live action movies, and the video games. This is a large undertaking, so check back every now and then for updates!

I'd also like to give a huge shoutout to the Toriyama's World scanlation group, Evil Genius scanlation group, Serpent's Cross scanlation group, ZOMGFTA scanlation group, TMI scanlation group, Franky House scanlation group, Binktopia scanlation group, FMA Screencap on Tumblr and anyone who's uploaded FMA scans to Zerochan and Minitokyo. Without all of you I wouldn't have any images to use (or at least I'd have to scan them myself, which would look a lot worse). Thank you very much!

Use the navigation below to jump to different characters. (No, seriously, you're gonna want to use the navigation for this one- This is a LONG page, lol.)

Edward Elric 🜝 Alphonse Elric

Edward Elric

Our dear Fullmetal Alchemist has gone through quite a number of different looks over the years! You'd be surprised how many different variations there are of his standard red coat, black leather pants, black and white top design. Let's take a look!

Incidentally, something of note is that the colors used in Ed's character design- black, white, gold, and red- correspond to the stages in the Magnum Opus, aka the process of creating the Philosopher's Stone. These phases are called nigredo (blackening, a destructive phase that leaves behind ash), albedo (whitening, a sort of cleansing phase), citrinitas (yellowing, a phase where things start to come together), and rubedo (reddening, when you get the final product). These phases also seem similar to Ed's character development, don't they? Anyway, let's check out his outfits.

Look 1: Chapters 1 and 2

Ed's earliest look is similar to later incarnations. Throughout most of the series, the part of Ed's outfit that changes the most is his shirt or inner jacket. Here we see it tucked into his belt, and closed up to the collar; There's no visible zipper or buckle. And of course, his jacket is shown to have the flamel symbol on the back.

Another trait unique to early incarnations of Ed's outfit is that his jacket seems to be fastened at the shoulders in some way. What are these things, exactly? Are they buttons? Snaps? Magnets? Are they just decorative? The jacket hangs around them in a way that seems to indicate they're fastening it to his underclothes, but when he takes it off, there's nothing on the shirt that it could be buttoned to. ????

In colored illustrations, the mystery buttons are colored gold. The chapter 1 illustration shows a variant on this outfit, where he's wearing a simple black sleeveless tee instead of the more detailed front-opening shirt shown in the story. (We know this isn't an undershirt because he isn't shown to be wearing one in the story either.) He wears this particular outfit fairly regularly throughout the series. By the way, I'm not quite sure where the second image here comes from; I can definitely identify the style as being early manga official art, but I'm not sure where exactly it appeared, so if anyone recognizes it please let me know!

In the 2003 anime, the buttons(???) are instead colored dark grey. By the way, I don't believe this outfit ever appears in Brotherhood; His outfit in the Reole episodes is the same as his second look.

Chapter 2 also gives us a pretty good look at his shoes (note the weird harness thing, and the sole design that becomes a standard)...

...As well as his belt.

Now, his belt is an interesting subject. It seems to consist of two layers, with ostensibly the actual "belt" part running through loops securing it to the backing. These loops button at the bottom, and his pocket watch is secured to the one on his right. We can see here that there's a large patch in the back that the outer belt runs through as well. What's up with that? Where does the inner part of the belt actually close? Also, seeing as his pants themselves don't appear to have any sort of loops securing the belt to them... Does it actually hold his pants up at all? Does it somehow attach to his pants on the inside (doesn't sound very comfortable)? Is it just, like, some sort of waist cincher for the sake of fashion? Much to ponder. My sincerest condolences to all the cosplayers out there.

Look 2: "Classic" Ed, Chapters 3 - 34

This is Ed's best known look, the one on which most of his anime appearances are based and the one that usually comes to mind when people think of him. His pants, belt, and shoes are unchanged, but the buttons-or-whatever on the jacket are gone. He also now more distinctly wears a black sleeveless shirt tucked into his pants, and an open inner jacket with a sort of buckle at the neck. In chapter 3, this buckle is narrow and undecorated.

By chapter 4, the buckle has a rivet on either side. Chapter 4 also provides another good look at the back of the belt and the bottom of the shoes. Hey, did sensei forget his hair antenna here?!

Chapter 5 gives us a look at the shirt, and also reveals that the buckle snaps on.

Here's some examples of this look in color.

As well as in promotional art for the 2003 anime and Brotherhood respectively. (You can also see him wearing it in actual episodes, but screencaps are usually a bit trickier to find and I don't feel like taking any myself right now, lol.)

By the way, he's seen without the inner jacket throughout the entirety of the Scar fight, likely due to the fact that he sort of rushed out of his room to ask Hawkeye about Nina. In chapter 6, we can see him sleeping in just the shirt and a light-colored pair of either boxers or pajama shorts. Ed travels light, but I hope he has a pair of warm pajamas for colder weather...

Look 3: Chapter 9

When visiting Winry and Pinako to get his automail repaired, Ed wears a sleeveless shirt and a pair of shorts with a stripe down the side, colored light blue and white in Brotherhood. The astute reader may notice that this is one of very few examples of Ed wearing light colors; According to Arakawa's comments in the second art book, the reason Ed primarily wears black is because grease from his automail tends to stain his clothes, and dark colors help hide it. So it's not just because he's a Hot Topic customer.

Since automail requires not just engineering, but also surgery and lengthy recovery and rehabilitation, my guess is that the clothes Ed wears in this chapter are ones the Rockbells have on hand for patients.

A little later in the chapter, Ed goes out to visit his mother's grave. Here he wears the same shirt, but switches to his usual pants, boots, and jacket.

Look 4: Hospital outfit, chapters 14 and 15

While in the hospital after lab 5, Ed wears patient clothes consisting of a pair of pants with elastic cuffs, a wrap-front sleeveless shirt, and a pair of slippers. Arakawa really likes putting Ed in sleeveless shirts, huh? The better to show off his automail, I guess.

Look 5: 12 years old, chapter 24

The outfit Ed wears in the flashback to his state alchemy exam is pretty similar to the one worn in Reole. The difference is that the shirt/inner jacket is not tucked into the pants, and has a big zipper pull at the neck. The trim also doesn't seem to extend around the top of the collar.

Look 6: Workout clothes, chapter 26

While working out at Izumi and Sig's place, Ed is seen wearing a black tank top, and a pair of light-colored shorts. He also has his hair pulled back into a high ponytail instead of his usual braid.

Look 7: Chapter 30

This outfit only appears for a few pages, when Ed's cleaning Al's armor after the Devil's Nest massacre. It consists of a simple black long-sleeve T-shirt, cargo pants, and slides.

Look 8: "Classic" 2, Chapters 35 - 39

This is probably my favorite of Ed's outfits! He first wears this in Central City, just after the trip to Rush Valley. Like most of his other outfits, everything is the same other than the inner jacket. This time, it's completely open, with a partially detached collar with a button or snap on either side.

While I did say that the thing on the collar is a button or snap, as it appears to be most of the time, there's a panel where it looks more like a grommet. Here you can see the "grommet" version on the left, and the "button" version on the right.

Here's an example of this look in color.

This outfit made it into the 2003 anime, too! Here it is in concept art and in the fourth opening.

Weirdly enough, the Brotherhood episodes corresponding to this portion of the manga instead uses look 2, but with the buckle at the front of the inner jacket left open. ????

Look 9: Xerxes ruins, chapters 40, 41 and 43

During the trip to the Xerxes ruins, Ed left the innner jacket behind, and swapped his red one for the same light-colored one worn by everyone else on the trip. He also wears it again on the way back to Central from Resembool.

Here's a similar look on the cover of volume 10:

As well as the album art for the Golden Time Lover single. (Kinda funny that Al's there too, considering he's in Central City for this part of the story.)

Look 10: Chapter 43

When Ed and Pinako went to dig up the thing the boys transmuted, Ed wore a simple black long-sleeve tee with his usual pants and shoes.

Look 11: Chapters 48 - 56

This look consists of his usual pants and boots and a casual black button-up.

Here's a color panel, as well as a closeup on his boots- In the first panel it looks like the design of his boots has changed, but it seems they're still pretty much the same as they've always been. Let's take a moment of silence for his left shoe, as he and Ling eat it shortly after this.

In the anime, Ed's shirt is a dark blue instead of black. Makes sense, considering how much black is used in general for these several episodes.

Look 12: Black jacket, chapters 56 - 62

After escaping Gluttony's stomach, Ed wears a black undershirt, a white button-up and later, a black overcoat with it. He does seem to have both shoes again, replacing the pair he ate, although there aren't any close-up details on the new ones.

It's worth noting that his pants seem to be regular slacks, rather than the leather ones he usually wears. You can tell by the pleat down the front and the lack of a zigzaggy highlight.

Here's the look in the anime.

Look 13 and 13 1/2: Chapters 63 and 64

In a rare occurence, Ed wears two different oufits in one chapter this time. The first is still the black overcoat, now with leather pants again, and the return of the chapter 1 jacket! Yay!

Then, when at the library, he wears a comfy-looking long-sleeved black shirt with a short zipper at the neck.

We can also see that he's now wearing what seems to be a pair of fairly ordinary black shoes, rather than his platform boots, which as previously mentioned were eaten.

By the way, neither of these outfits made it into Brotherhood. Instead, he just continues wearing look 12 during these scenes.

Look 14: Cold weather, chapters 64 - 80

At Briggs, Ed wears a cold weather take on his classic looks. His red jacket is a bit bulkier, with a white fur lining on the hood, and it now closes in the front (zipper? snaps? who knows) with a placket to help keep out the cold. The inner jacket is similar to the one from his original look, but isn't tucked in, and has two buttons or grommets on either side of the collar.

He still doesn't have his platform boots back...

But he does briefly get a cute lil bandana when knocking down icicles. It's like his time was frozen still...

Here he is in color.

And in the anime.

Later, while indoors, he can also be seen wearing the inner jacket open.

After Winry switches Ed over to cold weather automail, he gets a new pair of platform boots (note the changed design of the soles), as well as a shin guard to help protect his leg (since the cold-weather automail isn't as durable as his usual).

Look 15: "Full Throttle", chapters 81 - 83

Another personal favorite of mine, this look includes a torn white jacket instead of Ed's usual red, plain shoes, and an inner jacket with a large zipper.

He initially wears his hair loose with this outfit, but later ties it up into a high ponytail.

Interestingly, the manga depicts the teeth of the zipper, but no pull, while the anime shows a large pull, but no teeth.

Look 16: Black overcoat, chapters 84 - 89

This look appears to be identical to look #12, with the exception of a change of hairstyle (formerly a braid, now a high pony).

Look 17: Chapters 89 - 108

Ed's look from chapter 89 forward is identical to his classic look (the no-inner-jacket version), so I won't go in-depth on it. But I think it's worth noting that at some point, he seems to have gotten new boots to replace the one that he and Ling ate! Congrats, Ed!

He also seems to have gotten a new, more typical belt. We can see the old one as recently as the cover of volume 18, so this does appear to be new, and the only actual change seen in this outfit.

Look 18: Journey home, chapter 108

A short-lived outfit worn on the way back to Resembool. This look includes a white zip-front hoodie and a simple black shirt and pants.

Look 19: Trenchcoat, chapter 108

Ed's final look shows him with black (non-leather) pants, black shoes, a white shirt, a black waistcoat, and a dark trenchcoat.

The manga seems to show the trenchcoat as being an olivey brown, while the anime has it more green. This is just conjecture, but I wonder if it was colored green in order to more distinctly differentiate it from his Conqueror of Shamballa look, which is nearly identical aside from the colors and a few small details. (As to why it's identical to CoS Ed, I have no idea. CoS came out about 5 years before the manga ended, so I'm not sure if it's an intentional throwback, or just a result of Amestrian men's fashion not being terribly diverse.)

Whew! That's all of Ed's outfits. Right? RIGHT??? Haha just kidding!! I still have to go through all of his childhood outfits, his 2003 anime looks, the live action movies, and one-off promotional images and illustrations. A fashion girlie's work is never finished... Sigh...

Bonus: Early Childhood

Here's some outfits seen on young Ed in flashbacks and dream sequences from various points throughout the series. Ed's between the ages of 5 and 11 in each of these; I'll go more into detail on that in the next few sections.

This one comes from the Elric family bonus chapter. Ed seems to be about two or three years old here.

Another Hohenheim and Trisha flashback, looks to be a bit younger than the last one.

This one's the day Hohenheim left, sometime in 1904. I almost forgot about all these scenes, whoops...

These next sets of images come from the extended flashback arc from chapters 21 - 24, and can be more reliably dated. According to the complete official timeline seen in FMA Chronicle, Trisha died the same year Hohenheim left home, 10 years before the events of the main story begin; Therefore, these images can all be confirmed to be from 1904, making Ed 5 years old.

Almost missed this one too >_< This is from a brief panel in the Ishvalan War flashback, showing the Elrics comforting Winry while she worries about her parents. According to FMA Chronicle, the Rockbells left for Isvhal in 1907 and died in 1908, so he's between 8 and 9 years old here.

Most of these are from around the time Ed and Al started training with Izumi, so the summer of 1908 (Ed would be 9). Some may be a bit earlier. I'm particularly fond of the ones where Ed's rocking the authentic mid-2000s baby boy fit: Layered tees and cargo pants, lol.

Next we've got the winter of 1908, when Ed and Al return home. Again, I'm dating these based on the timeline from FMA Chronicle. Some of these are actually the same outfit, just with and without a jacket.

Some miscellanous one-panel looks from 1908 to 1910, and finally, his outfit from the night of the ill-fated transmutation.

Here's Ed shortly after the transmutation, on the day the boys met Mustang and Hawkeye, and again in 1911 after getting his automail.

And that concludes baby Ed! By the way, that's a total of 43 images for Ed's childhood looks alone. I'm tired!

Alphonse Elric

While Al hasn't had nearly as many looks as other characters due to not having a body for the majority of the storyline, he has a nice sense of style. In most colored artwork, he's seen wearing cool colors, contrasting with Ed's warm red.

Look 1 (Chapters 2, 23)

The outfit Al wore on the night of the human transmutation. Consists of a light colored, short sleeve button-up, medium-dark pants, and light colored shoes.

This outfit appears in both anime, including as an eyecatch and part of the first opening in Brotherhood.

Hilariously, the best image I can get of it in 03 is a top-down distance shot for some reason (yes, I went through the entire episode).

Look 2 (Chapter 21)

Here's a young Al reading Hohenheim's alchemy books. This outfit includes dark shorts, light boots with crew socks, and the ever-popular dark sleeveless tee. Given that Trisha (who died in 1904) is present in this scene, we can assume that Al is around 4 years old here.

Here he is wearing the same outfit in 03 and Brotherhood respectively, albeit in slightly different scenes. In 03, the shirt is dark green, the shorts tan, and the shoes light brown; In Brotherhood, the shirt is dark blue, the shorts a lighter grey-blue, and he's wearing brown socks (no shoes since they're indoors).