Anyone who has attended a comic book convention in recent years – regardless of whether it was in Chicago, New York or San Diego – has seen their fair share of superheroes firsthand. Makes no difference if it was Superman or Spider-Man, Batman or Iron Man, Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel, cosplayers dominate the proceedings and even pose for photographs as if they were models at fashion week.
The same holds true for the local mall. People of all ages, genders and ethnicities can be seen sporting T-shirts highlighting their favorite superheroes, while stores like Hot Topic and Box Lunch feature exclusive clothing for the comic book crowd. Shoe retailer Vans has even partnered with both DC and Marvel through the years to manufacture specialized footwear, and Her Universe creates fashionable superhero attire for women and men alike.
In May 2008, things were noticeably different. Cosplay could still be found at comic book conventions but such gatherings attracted fewer attendees than they do today. True believers still wore superhero T-shirts, but they had yet to go mainstream. The first installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Iron Man – had only just been released, while The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance as the Joker was still a few months away.
Yet on May 7, 2008, the Metropolitan Museum of Art premiered Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, a four-month long exhibit that explored the costumes of superheroes with the styles of contemporary fashion, including those from such luminary designers as Giorgio Armani, Pierre Cardin, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier and Gianni Versace. Just as a costume is an important part of a superhero’s persona, the clothing that one wears – the exhibit argued – is a similar form of identity for those in the real world as well.
“Fashion designers have always been fascinated by the idea of how clothing can transform the body, and even the perceived character, of the wearer,” Giorgio Armani explained in the accompanying Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy exhibit catalogue. “In fiction this metamorphosis is the province of the superhero, a character who symbolizes man’s desire to go beyond the boundaries of mortal limitations. In this comic book context, the superhero’s ability to do so is always signified by a change in costume.”
In addition to spotlighting original superhero costumes that had been used in various films and television shows, along with corresponding examples of modern fashions that were influenced by those characters, Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy also set out to explore such issues as identity, sexuality and even patriotism in both the factual and fictional worlds. The exhibit was thus split into eight sections with each focused on a single topic, from the post-modern to the patriotic, the virile to the paradoxical, and the aerodynamic to the mutant.
Superman – the first comic book superhero – was the main feature in “The Graphic Body.” His signature “S” is in essence a brand logo just as much as the “CK” of Calvin Klein, and likewise immediately recognizable to anyone. Fashion designer Bernard Willheim and artist Carsten Fock slightly altered that iconic symbol for Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy on casual blue and white dresses that dripped red from the edges while the letter “S” had a spray-painted quality to its appearance.
Rosella Jardini, meanwhile, more radically transformed the shape of the classic emblem and replaced the “S” with an “M,” the design logo for fashion house Moschino. Each of these depictions, regardless of how different from the original, still brought images of Superman quickly to mind nonetheless.
While Spider-Man may not have a logo like Superman, his overall appearance has become his trademark. “So strongly is the spider symbol associated with Spider-Man that even when designers employ it without any direct or deliberate reference to the superhero, he cannot help but be invoked, as in the ensembles by Jun Takahashi,” the exhibit catalogue noted. “The same holds true for decorative webbing, whether rendered by Jean Paul Gaultier with all the skills of the haute costume, or spun from the remarkable imaginations of John Galliano, Giorgio Armani, and Julien Macdonald.”
The same observation can be made of Catwoman, who was spotlighted in the “Paradoxical Body” section of Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. The alter-ego costumes of Selina Kyle have changed numerous times within comic books, from the initial full-length emerald-colored dress that marked her debut in 1940, to the purple mask and matching dress with high slits of the 1950s, to the silver body suit of the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series.
Despite these wardrobe changes, however, it is the black-leather of Julie Newmar from the 1960s and Michele Pfeiffer’s “hand-made” catsuit in the 1980s that most personifies the character. Regardless of the intentions of fashion designer, similar apparel brings those images to mind no matter how minor the resemblances may be otherwise.
While many fashion designers – as well as male comic book artists – have been criticized through the years for appealing to sexual fantasies and promoting an idealized version of beauty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit argued that fashion has often challenged such concepts and even celebrated “diversity, difference, and distinction.”
These designers were spotlighted side-by-side with the X-Men, a collection of superheroes whose members come from around the world, embrace their individual genders and ethnicities, and have often been harassed within the world of comic books for being different.
“Designers like Thierry Mugler, Alexander McQueen, and ThreeAsFour have all gained reputations for challenging the ‘beautiful people’ aesthetic,” the Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy catalogue notes. “For them, the body is the place where normalcy is questioned, where the spectacle of marginality and eccentricity is embraced and celebrated. They use the body to transgress corporal boundaries, to pull the body past its margins and bring into existence new forms of creations.”
None of those fashion designers necessarily utilize comic book superheroes for inspiration as much as operated parallel to them instead. The same principles that guide fashion designers, however, also influence the thousands of cosplayers who craft their own costumes. The idea of transforming into someone else while celebrating one’s unique identity – as well as questioning the concept of normalcy and embracing the eccentric – are, in the end, the ultimate goals for both fashion designers and cosplayers alike.
“Fashion, like superheroes, celebrates metamorphosis, providing unlimited opportunities to remake and reshape the flesh and the self,” the Metropolitan Museum of Art argued in 2008. “It offers entrance into another world, a world of grandiose posturings and unfettered imaginings. Through fashion and the superhero, we gain the freedom to fantasize, to escape the banal, the ordinary, and the quotidian.”
Maybe Fashion Week and San Diego Comic-Con are more alike than anyone realized.
Anthony Letizia