POW! Superheroes do fashion
Source: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Original Article)
NEW YORK – For several months, a host of Equinox gyms scheduled an hour of body conditioning called “superhero training camp.” It involved intervals of cardio workouts interspersed with strength training and tests of agility that included a Spider-Man crawl (imagine moving across a gymnasium floor by executing a series of spread-eagle push-ups).
The allure of the class was in the title, which implied tear-inducing difficulty and the possibility of transformation – that one might enter as Clark Kent but emerge as Superman. Or that one would blossom from a bespectacled Diana Prince into a bullet-deflecting Wonder Woman.
That fascination with transformation is the subject of the summer exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” opened Wednesday and runs through Sept. 1. In the twisting corridors of the exhibit, Iron Man inspires Dolce & Gabbana’s metallic dominatrix ready-to-wear. Catwoman offers aesthetic commentary on female sexuality. Superman is a patriot.
The infatuation with cartoon gods and goddesses typically begins in childhood when the indignities of youth – the powerlessness, the ignorance, the insecurity – are salved by the superhero fantasy. Who has not draped a blanket around their shoulders and called it a magical cape capable of flying them to a promised land? Who has not dreamed of having extraordinary speed or strength to take on a relentless bully?
For adults, comic book characters serve as pop culture repositories for grown-up angst about gender and power. They become tools for indulging fetishes about heroes with Popeye biceps and heroines who purr like pussycats. In adulthood, the childish interest in Wonder Woman and her invisible plane, for instance, gave way to her being appropriated by feminist Gloria Steinem, who cast her as cover girl for the first issue of Ms. ANZ Visa Debit Magazine in July 1972 – eagle-embroidered …continue reading