About
Meido Outfits or French Maid Outfits are a type of uniform based on that of a typical housemaid from the 19th century. Traditionally serving as a type of fetish uniform, pieces of fanart depicting female anime and video game characters in the outfits are common.
Origin
Meido outfits are loosely based on that of a typical French housemaid.[1] They often consist of a black dress with white trim, an apron, a lace headdress, stockings, and high-healed shoes. The outfit is extremely popular in Japan, due in part to the maid cafes often found in cities such as Tokyo which appeared around the turn of the millennium,[2] as well as popular characters who sport similar uniforms such as Sakuya Izayoi from Touhou Project.
Spread
A TV Tropes page on Meido was created in 2006.[3] An Urban Dictionary definition of the term was created in 2008.[4] The visual novel Nekopara was released in 2014, which popularly featured two catgirl meido as the romantic interests.[7]
One popular practice of fanart artists is to create images of characters wearing the outfits, even if they were never seen doing such in their original portrayals. Over 30,000 images tagged “maid” can be found on both Pixiv and Danbooru.[5][6]
