The first appearance of Vegeta occurs when he is an adult right after the death of Radditz and Goku during Dragon Ball Z. Although this is his first appearance, I want to keep this in a time line form and to do that I must start with Vegeta in his youth.

Most of the images of Vegeta are seen in flash backs. Before Frieza enters the Saiyan world, Vegeta accompanies his father and his men who conquered planets. Wiping out races and eliminating worlds, Vegeta, although young, was enjoying battles. He usually wore the royal Saiyan armor that looked much like his father's.

After Frieza began his conquests and King Vegeta and the Saiyan race began to conquer worlds for him, Vegeta trains in a sleeveless blue outfit and wears the white gloves and boots that is part of the saiyan uniform. Vegeta doesn't wrap his tail around his waist during his battle with the Saibamen during the fight scene in the Bardock Special. He is extremely powerful for his age and impresses Frieza enough that he allows Vegeta to leave the planet to conquer a world to further his training. It is during Vegeta's absence that Planet Vegeta is destroyed. Vegeta acts as if the news of his father's death and the destruction of his planet is of little concern.

The next we see of Vegeta is after Radditz transmits the information that Piccolo reveals about the Dragon Balls. Vegeta and Nappa are on another planet and after receiving the transmission, decide to travel to Earth to get the dragon balls and wish for immortality. Because it is going to take a year to get there, Goku goes to train with King Kai, while the two evil Saiyajin begin their trip. During the journey, Vegeta and Nappa stop at Planet Arlia, where they destroy the tyrants that have taken over and then destroy the entire planet. During this time, Vegeta is dressed in reddish-brown and green armor with reddish-brown boots and gloves. He also is using the scouters that the Saiyajins and Frieza's men use to read power levels.

When Vegeta and Nappa arrive on Earth, Vegeta is dressed in a long sleeved blue outfit with white armor with yellow padding. He wears white gloves and boots and has leg and shoulder padding. He wraps his tail around his waist as all Saiyans do. Still using the scouter, Vegeta reads the power levels of the Z Fighters and waits for Goku to arrive. It is in this armor that he begins his fight with Goku.

The first major change in appearance that Vegeta makes is his transformation into his Oozaru form. The armor that he wears has the ability to expand with his massive transformation, which is explained during the Frieza saga. Needless to say, Vegeta's massive transformation into a huge monkey almost kills Goku. Yajirobe is able to sneak up on Vegeta and cuts his tail off using his sword. This action, returns Vegeta back into his normal form and removes his Saiyan tail. After being defeated by Goku's Sprit Bomb thrown by Krillin and deflected back at Vegeta by Gohan, Vegeta is spared by Krillin and allowed to return to his space pod and escape. Vegeta returns back to Frieza's base.

Vegeta returns to Frieza's base injured and must recover. During this time, having learned about the Namek Dragon Balls, Frieza and his men leave to collect them. After recovering, Vegeta follows, determined to get the Dragon Balls before Frieza. On Namek, Vegeta still wears the long sleeved blue outfit and the armor that he wore on Earth, but removes the leg padding. Vegeta almost gives up his scouter but at the last minute changes his mind. It is not until his confrontation with Dodoria that Vegeta gets rid of it. Later, Vegeta fights Zarbon. Zarbon injures Vegeta and takes him back to Frieza's ship. Recovers quickly Vegeta escapes, stealing the dragon balls Frieza has collected as he leaves. He then has his second fight with Zarbon in which he kills him.

After Zarbon's death, Frieza calls his elite fighters, the Ginyu Force. Once they arrive, Gohan, Krillin and Vegeta enter the battle just before Goku arrives. It is at this time that Vegeta leaves to go search for the Dragon Balls that have been recovered by Captain Ginyu. Vegeta gets the chance to change into some new clothes after killing all of Frieza's men that were guarding his ship. He gets rid of the shoulder padding, leaving the chest armor, and acquired yellow tipped boots. This is the armor he wears during his fight with Frieza and is later killed by a blast by Frieza through his chest.

After Vegeta is brought back to life and wished to Earth by the Dragon balls, he leaves the planet to find Goku. While in space, he wears a black outfit and the armor that he wore during his fight with Frieza.

Eventually, Vegeta's space ship runs out of fuel and he returns to Earth. Bulma cleans him up and gives him his famous pick shirt with "BADMAN" written across the back. He is wearing this when Frieza and King Kold arrive on Earth and are killed by his future son, Trunks.

After being warned by Trunks of the arrival of the androids, Vegeta begins to train. He wears workout clothes but decides to continue his training in space. It is there that Vegeta transforms into a Super Saiyajin for the first time. He is wearing saiyan armor with yellow shoulder straps and a high necked blue outfit underneath. This is the armor that he keeps during the Android saga and Cell saga.

The next major change that Vegeta goes through is his transformation into an Ultra Super Saiyan. Still wearing the Saiyan Armor with the yellow straps and dark blue outfit under it he obtains a definite increase in power and muscle mass. He fights Cell in this form and allows Android 18 to be absorbed. Vegeta is then defeated and is rescued by Trunks and Krillin while he is unconscious.

After Cell is defeated by Gohan, peace returns until Babidi succeeds in resurrecting Majiin Buu. By this time, Vegeta has completely gotten rid of his saiyan armor and wears a sleeveless outfit like similar to the one he wore when he trained as a child. He still wears white gloves and boots and has continued with his training.

Right before Buu is released, Vegeta has another change in his appearance and character. Babidi targets him because he has an evil heart and makes him his slave. Vegeta becomes Majiin and acquires the signature "M" of Babidi on his forehead. With this possession, Babidi removes all of Vegeta's emotions except his evilness and hate of Goku. Vegeta finally gets to fight Goku, who was previously dead but has been allowed to return to Earth for one day. His fight with Goku gives Babidi enough power to resurrect Buu and Vegeta ends up blowing himself up in the attempt to destroy him. He keeps the outfit in the afterlife. This is the ending of Dragon Ball Z.

Vegeta has a brief period where he grows a mustache, but he shaves it off after witnessing Bra's reaction to it.

During GT, Vegeta wears a red tank top and blue pants with a belt. His whit gloves are replaced with black fingerless gloves and he sometimes wears a sleeveless jacket over his shirt. His hair is also significantly shorter because he cuts it.

When Bebi arrives on Earth seeking revenge on all Saiyans he senses Vegeta's power and possesses him. Vegeta takes on qualities of Bebi's appearance. He wears a dark blue outfit with a yellow, white and red armor over it. His hair turns a silver/white color and red markings appear on his face. He also wears red and yellow gloves and boots.

During his fight with SSJ4 Goku on the planet Plant, Vegeta, who gets his tail back, looks at the Earth from the planet's surface and transforms into his Golden Oozaru form. He still wears the Bebi armor but does not look like his previous Oozaru form. Instead he has golden fur.

Using an invention of Bulma's, Vegeta is able to transform into Super Saiyan 4 form. In this form, Vegeta's hair grows significantly longer and wilder and stays black. He grows red hair over his arms, ribs and stomach and tail. He still wears black pants and black gloves. He looks more fierce in this form, with black and red rimmed eyes that take on a yellowish color.