Comics / Spotlight

Superheroes Fashion And Fantasy

By Eli Green
July 17, 2008 - 14:30

During a recent trip to New York City, I had the chance to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art. While there, I took the opportunity to visit The Costume Institute's Superheroes Fashion and Fantasy exhibit. Expecting to see original movie and television show costumes once worn by various celebrities, I soon found out that this exhibit hosts much more. In fact Superheroes Fashion and Fantasy is about much more than superhero costumes. The exhibit is about high art fashion inspired by superhero costumes, the concepts superheroes project through their character, super powers and their costumes, and the body's transformation when in a costume.

Upon entering the Superheroes Fashion and Fantasy exhibit, visitors are greeted by a ghosting Superman/Clark Kent figure, part of The Graphic Body I, a portion of the exhibit devoted to iconography of branding. Superman's “S” shield emblem plays a major role in this portion of the exhibit, and Rosella Jardini, from the Moschino fashion company plays on that, substituting the “S” emblem with an “M” for Moschino. The Graphic Body I bridges comic books and fashion through signs and logos which, as the exhibit posting notes, “serve to ensure the body's passage into the field of the symbolic and representational.

Moving further into the exhibit brings you to The Graphic Body II, featuring Spider-Man and the iconography of the webbed costume and the spider symbol, featuring Tobey Maguire's costume from Spider-Man 3. What better pieces of fashion to complement the Spider-Man costume than those created by ski wear company Spyder, whose pieces often include spiders or webbed printing, a deliberate reference to Spider-Man. Also included are some various web themed dress designs from the likes of Giorgio Armani,Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Click image to enlarge - Photo courtesy of The MET

Up next, The Aerodynamic Body, featuring The Flash. This portion of the exhibit is devoted to propulsion, speed and agility. Included in this section are a number of pieces that have actually been used outside of the world of the runway, and in real life sporting events, like the Nike “Swift Suit” and Speedo's “Fast Skin”. One of the designs has

Michael Phelps in LZR Racer.

actually been used by the Canadian speed skating team. Other more interesting pieces took a different spin on aerodynamics, like Hussein Chalayan's pink “Aeroplane Dress”, built out of panels which look like airplane wings, or the experimental wing suits by Altair.

Around the corner, you'll find The Patriotic Body, which features the costume worn by Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman , and a number of pieces inspired by the red, white and blue motif of Wonder Woman's costume and the traditionally American aspects of classic superheroes.

The next portion, The Virile Body, is one of the most interesting parts of the exhibit, not because of the costume that was picked for the display, but because there was no possibility of picking a costume. This is because The Virile Body was represented by The Incredible Hulk, a character whose acted form has never, officially speaking, had a real costume (no purple pants don't count). All of the pieces in this portion of the exhibit focus on physical bulk, merely playing off of The Hulk's massive form. There is a football uniform, an inflatable body suit and a rather interesting, fetishistic piece by designer John Galliano, which includes a hose-pipe phallus.

Further in, you'll find The Paradoxical Body, featuring Catwoman. This section includes both a remake of Michelle Pfeiffer's costume from Batman Returns and pieces inspired by Catwoman over the generations. The costumes, much like a number of recent representations of the character, are very much based in erotica, the dominatrix look and sadomasochistic underpinnings. The cool thing about the different Catwoman costumes over time though, is that you really get a glimpse into how the fashion of the time inspired the Catwoman costume of that generation, like the 70s look of the costume from the Adam West Batman television series. It also appears that the costume has gotten more and more revealing over time.

Click image to enlarge - Photo courtesy of The MET

Next came my favourite part of the entire exhibit, The Armored Body. This portion was actually split into two areas, one featuring Batman , accompanied by both armored and dark, brooding fashion inspired by the character, and Iron Man , surrounded by a number of “futuristic”/armored fashions, including one particularly intriguing piece by Thierry Mugler, a women's armor body suit with only the vulnerable areas exposed, an inspired look at human frailty.

Between the Batman and Iron Man portions of this area, I find it very tough to decide which I liked better. I found it awe inspiring to stand in front of Christian Bale's costume from The Dark Knight, behind which was a gigantic version of an Alex Ross work from Batman: War on Crime , with Batman looking down on Gotham City. At the same time, I found it incredible to actually get to see Iron Man Mark 2 costume worn by Robert Downey Jr., because it looks like an actual, usable suit. To me, that's just mind blowing!

The fashion pieces also accompanied both characters quite well. On the Batman side were a couple of pieces that looked like tactical wear, Kevlar vests and all. The most interesting fashion piece from this side though, was a dress (I think) by Gareth Pugh which looked like the human version of a stealth fighter, including a face mask. While the dress part itself is more of a regular mesh style, the arm pieces and face mask have the very distinct shaping and tiling that make them look like they could deflect radar.

Click image to enlarge - Photo courtesy of The MET

On the Iron Man side, the majority of the pieces were, to me, what looked like classic representations of what clothing would look like in the future. All of the pieces were very metallic, and looked as if the wearer would be living in a world where they were constantly protecting themselves from some form of radiation or other threat. This includes the previously mentioned Mugler piece, but that one breaks the mold of the protective look by exposing the vulnerable areas of the body.

Photo: Patrice Stable

Finally, the last two portions of the exhibit, The Mutant Body, inspired largely by X-Men, and The Postmodern Body, represented by Ghost Rider and The Punisher , have their own unique styles. The Mutant Body area wasn't very captivating, as I found it very difficult to place any of the particular styles of fashion to any mutant. One of the pieces did remind me, somewhat, of the Vulture from Spider-Man , but he's not actually a mutant. In The Postmodern Body though, another Mugler piece, clearly inspired by Ghost Rider , was very eye catching. It's a motorcycle corset, and what's amazing about this particular piece is that he just makes it look like he took a motorcycle and turned it into clothing, as if he modified the parts to fit the human form.

 

The exhibit finally finishes off with a small collection of classic comic books, including a print of Action Comics No. 1 , placed securely behind thick glass. Superheroes Fashion and Fantasy takes a very unique look at the world of superheroes in comic books, film and television, and how they have inspired pop culture and fashion. It's the kind of exhibit that is exciting, not just for comic book enthusiasts, but for anyone into fashion or pop culture as well. It is a must see if you're in New York City, especially if you are a fan of Alex Ross' work. Seeing some of his works enlarged to as much as 10 high is jaw dropping, and they complement the exhibit beautifully. Superheroes Fashion and Fantasy is running at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City until September 1 ^st .

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12