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It's a bird, it's a plane, it's runway fashion? Just recently, the Costume Institute staged an exhibition that explores the symbolic and metaphorical associations between fictional characters and fashion in Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. It features 60 ensembles, including movie costumes, avant-garde haute couture and high-performance sportswear to reveal how the superhero serves as the ultimate metaphor for fashion and its ability to empower and transform the human body.
“The superhero’s iconic costume of cape, mask and bodysuit finds many fashionable permutations,” says Andrew Bolton, Costume Institute’s curator. “But fashion’s embrace of the superhero extends beyond iconography, to issues of identity, sexuality and nationalism. Fashion shares with the superhero an inherent metaphorical malleability which fuels its fascination with the idea and the ideal of the superhero.”
There’s ![Bernhard Wilhelm]() Bernhard Wilhelm’s 2006 royal blue dress emblazoned with Superman’s red and yellow S shield; a 1996 Walter van Beirendonck pink vinyl inflatable jacket; a Thierry Mugler motorcycle bustier with polychrome handlebars and side-view mirrors; a long leather Balenciaga jacket with articulated bronze leggings reminiscent of Iron Man’s metallic skin; a Jean Paul Gaultier second-skin bodysuit that shares The Flash’s look. Plus, there's ![Gareth Pugh]() Gareth Pugh's Batman interpretation and ![John Galliano]() John Galliano's version of Wonder Woman.
Other designers at the exhibition are Pierre Cardin, Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen, Moschino, Nike, Speedo and Versace.
The exhibit gala held in early May drew in a who’s who of Hollywood – ![David and Victoria Beckham]() David and Victoria Beckham, ![Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes]() Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, ![Iman and David Bowie]() Iman and David Bowie were only some of the big names who were drawn in, no doubt, by the exhibits ![powerhouse team]() powerhouse team: honorary chair Giorgio Armani is joined by co-chairs George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Anna Wintour.
Objects are organized around specific superheroes whose costumes and powers are catalysts for their expression in fashion – such as Superman and Spiderman’s costumes address the subjects of The Graphic Body, relating Superman’s S to designer logos and branding; Catwoman represents The Paradoxical Body, exploring a character’s tendencies towards good and bad. The stars and stripes of Wonder Woman’s costume epitomize The Patriotic Body, while The Flash addresses the Aerodynamic Body, and is manifested in Speedo’s Fastskin LZR Racer that will be used by the 2008 United States Olympic Swim Team. The Ghost Rider and The Punisher symbolize the Postmodern Body that suggest an anti-hero identity through an eclectic mix of street style.
Superheroes is on display at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art until September 1, 2008. For more information, visit www.metmuseum.org.
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Bernhard Wilhelm
Gareth Pugh
John Galliano
David and Victoria Beckham
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
Iman and David Bowie
powerhouse team
