Why is Chevy Chase's clothing sometimes visible in "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" and sometimes invisible?

Question

In this first clip his clothing is visible.

In this second clip, his clothing is invisible, as otherwise the men who are hunting him would have seen his clothing.

Is there any rhyme or reason to when his clothing is visible and when it is invisible, or did the director simply not care about this inconsistency? Is it possibly because when his clothes are invisible it is because those are the clothes he was wearing when he was in the building fire, and those became invisible as well, and the times when his clothing is visible is because he is wearing different clothing, clothing that wasn't in the building when the accident occurred?

Answer 1

You effectively answered your own question, but I'll add some evidence.

First of all, these are the clothes Halloway was wearing when he was turned invisible. Of particular note are the white shirt, the dark suit jacket and trousers, and the dark shoes, because we see these again and again in later scenes. (The waistcoat and tie are discarded in his apartment.)

Shortly after the accident that turned him invisible, Halloway mentions that he can't see his body or his clothes, indicating that the clothes he was wearing at the time were turned invisible, just as large portions of the building he was in were.

I walked over to the mirror. I was right. There was no reflection. My body, clothes, everything was gone. I was invisible.

However, he puts on a hat that was hanging on a coat stand in a portion of the building that wasn't turned invisible, and that's perfectly visible, to him and everyone else.

So the rules are clearly established here. The clothes he had on when he was turned invisible are also invisible, due to the same accident. But any clothes which weren't affected by the accident -- such as a hat located elsewhere in the same building -- are visible, and remain visible even if he wears them. These rules apply consistently throughout the film.

Note that when Halloway flees from his apartment the following morning to avoid being captured by Jenkins' goons -- as shown in the second of the two videos you posted in your question -- he puts on the same clothes he had on when he was turned invisible. They look the same (white shirt, dark suit jacket and trousers, dark shoes), and you can see him feeling around for the jacket with his hands, and fumbling while trying to put it on, because he can't actually see it.

Halloway was wearing visible clothes when Jenkins' goons showed up again at the beach house, because he thought they wouldn't find him there, but wisely changes back into the invisible clothes before escaping in a car with Alice, to reduce the chances of being seen and caught.

To summarise, in any scene where Halloway wants to be fully invisible -- like when he's fleeing or hiding -- he either strips naked, or wears the same clothes he had on during the accident (usually the latter). He only wears different clothes when he wants to be seen, or when he's alone, and those clothes are always shown to be visible.

The first of the two videos you posted is one such example, but there are more.

In the scene below, Halloway strips fully naked to avoid being seen, when his friend, George, unexpectedly turns up with guests at the beach house he was hiding out in. Again, note that the clothes he took off in this scene (the ones George had just picked up off the floor in the image below) are not the same clothes he was wearing during the accident.

Answer 2

That is precisely the situation. As we see in the source novel for the film, the clothes (and indeed an entire chunk of the building) in which he was standing when the accident occurred are invisible.

There was another odd thing: I couldn't see the finger. Or the hand. I covered both eyes with the hand. There was absolutely no change in my field of vision. The sun was higher now and I could see everything around me — trees, lawn, bright blue sky — just as clearly as ever before in my life. More clearly, perhaps. Trembling, I reached down and felt my missing legs. It seemed that they were intact and in the appropriate place. I straightened up so that my weight was on my knees, and ran my hands over my entire body. It was all there — clothed, furthermore, in the usual business suit. Still, no matter how I turned my head or focused my eyes, I could see nothing of myself. In fact, there was nothing whatever to be seen anywhere within the spherical area of the crater. I could feel myself to be materially intact, and I was conscious and thinking after a fashion. And I was dimly aware of hearing myself whimper inarticulately. But then, I could plainly see that I was no longer material at all. I simply could not make my mind work; the situation was too terrifying and illogical. Trying to think clearly was like trying to run in waist-high water. But finally, in a flash of dreadful insight, I arrived at an explanation which covered all the facts. Evidently, I was dead.

But when he puts on clothes or holds an object, it remains visible.

Alice set out early on the day of our departure to fetch her car from its garage somewhere in Queens. On her return she found me waiting in front of the building, fully arrayed in gloves and ski mask and dark glasses. The doorman had been a bit startled to see me emerge like that from the elevator — the lobby being maintained at a steady eighty degrees — and as he helped me load the skis and the luggage, he kept glancing at me suspiciously, but I was too elated to care.