The clothes maketh the sign.
Pattern recognition is a key tool that enables radiologists to evoke certain diagnoses based on a radiologic appearance. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Polonius tells his son Laertes to dress well because "apparel oft proclaims the man"; this phrase is now expressed in modern parlance as "the clothes maketh the man". Similarly in radiology, appearances are everything, and in the case of radiologic signs, occasionally "the clothes maketh the sign". The radiologic signs described in this pictorial review resemble items of clothing, fabric types, headwear, or accessories and are found in the musculoskeletal, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary systems. These "clothing signs" serve as a useful visual trigger to help radiologists to identify particular disease entities.


CONCLUSIONS
• Pattern recognition enables radiologists to evoke a diagnosis based on radiologic appearance. • The radiologic signs described in this review resemble clothing, fabric, or accessories. • These "clothing signs" serve as visual triggers that evoke particular disease entities.
Department of Radiology, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
Bryan
B
Buckley
Department of Radiology, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
Victoria O
VO
Chan
Department of Radiology, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
David P
DP
Mitchell
Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
Shaunagh
S
McDermott
Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
Ron L
RL
Eisenberg
Department of Radiology, St Vincent's University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin, Ireland.
Eric J
EJ
Heffernan
Department of Radiology, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. cridge@mater.ie.
Carole A
CA
Ridge
Magnetic resonance imaging; Pattern recognition, Visual; Radiography; Tomography, X-ray Computed; Ultrasonography