Cosplay Girl Wearing Tifa Lockheart Costume

Initially Nomura had difficulty deciding whether to give her design the mini-skirt or long pants. Seeking input, he passed his sketches around Square's offices, and the majority of the staff members approved of the mini-skirt design. This additionally served as a contrast to Aerith, whose "Long Skirt" was her trademark. The attire was explained in respect to the game as giving her freedom of movement due to her affinity of weaponless fighting, and the skirt, noted as "quite short giving a considerable degree of exposure", kept as a staple of her alternate costumes. The developers additionally noted that due to her figure, her otherwise plain garments took on a pleasant appearance.
When developing Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, director Takeshi Nozue had difficulty developing a framework for Tifa's body that was "balanced, yet showed off her feminine qualities". Her outfit was also redesigned at this point, with emphasis on expressing those qualities while being pleasing to the eye. A white tank top with black zipped up vest covers her front, a red ribbon wraps around her left biceps, and boots cover her feet. A black buttoned-up skirt covers her thighs with shorts beneath, with a piece of cloth similar to a coat tail ending at her ankles extending from the back of the skirt's waistband. While her gloves remain, they are worn only during the film's fight scenes, her hands otherwise being bare. Her hairstyle was changed to end at the middle of her back, additionally removing the dolphin tail tip from her original design. This last alteration was done due to the difficulty of animating her original length of hair, as well as problems that arose due to its black color and lighting.