Klinger working in his tent on the latest addition to his Klinger Collection. Scene is from "As You Were" (Season 2).
Although Klinger wore women's clothing as a scam to get out of the army, he took the role seriously and developed a great deal of expertise in ladies fashion and became extremely proud of his "Klinger Collection".
Besides buying outfits, Klinger also made his own, investing money and effort buying the best materials from overseas. In Bug Out, Klinger tells Potter he spent $300 (a big sum in those days) on his "Klinger Collection", including a blue chiffon from "Murdoch's of Toledo". Also in The Colonel's Horse, Klinger asks Potter to help buy 4 yards of material from "Goldstein's on the Ginza". He had a sewing machine in his tent as well as tailor's mannequins. He was sometimes consulted by the nurses and even Margaret on fashion matters.
At least three times Klinger loses his entire "Klinger Collection" of dresses-once when he thought there was a ceasefire and thus he didn't need them for Section 8 anymore Ceasefire (TV series episode); once when he was sent to a Battalion Aid Station with Hawkeye and Houlihan, Radar sold them when he thought Klinger had been killed Aid Station (TV series episode); another time when the 4077th had bugged out to a new location, he has to trade them to Korean prostitutes so the MASH can use a "school building" as a new operating room Bug Out (TV series episode)! Although KLinger was not wearing these custumes on the series, the "April Fool" episode Potter proclaims Klinger dressed up as "Snow White" and in another epsiode Major Burns claims Klinger dressed up as a balerina!
Eventually, Klinger gives up wearing women's clothing, a change demanded by Farr because he felt his children would be ashamed of his appearing in women's clothing week after week on national television, and the views of the Klinger Collection became more rare from Season 8 onwards. The "Klingerpatra" costume in April Fools, one of his most memorable among the later outfits. The picnic outfit in Taking the Fifth is probably one of the last.
This page aims to be a complete study of the "Klinger Collection" with his various costumes arranged by the TV Season they appeared in.
Season 1[]
