Green’s Dictionary of Slang

‘applied to articles of apparel of a “loud” or “flashy” style, or combining two strongly contrasted colours.’ (OED); also as n.

1839		Comic Almanack Mar. 169: I recollect my costume very well: a thunder-and-lightning coat, a white waistcoat.
1861		T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford (1880) 29: I say, Drysdale, you don’t mean to say you really ordered these thunder-and-lightning affairs?
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Jul. 6/3: Leslie affects velvet coats, white waistcoats, ‘thunder-and-lightning’ pants, and a profusion of jewellery!
1898		W.A. Sun. Times (Perth) 9 Jan. 3/1: [...] or whether an electric blue mackintosh harmonises with a thunder-and-lightening bonnet.