I was having a discussion the other night with some of my more “normal” friends (see: not geeks). We were talking about movies and that eventually segwayed into discussion about the Avengers. They were all gushing over it, saying how much they had loved it. Confiding in me how much they had adored the Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America films leading up to the Avengers. They were ALL ABOUT these films – but not one of these ladies has ever picked a comic up in their life, nor do they have any intention to.
This is an interesting new time we, as comic book geeks, live in. People know who you’re talking about when you say “Thor” or “Loki” or “Nick Fury”, but if you asked them to list the Avengers as far as the comic books they would offer nothing but blank stares. People walk around proudly wearing Captain America t-shirts who have never inhaled the delicious scent of inky comic book pages.
But I digress, as this is not my topic of choice for today’s column. I’ve been cranky and ranting a lot lately (I guess unrest and change will do that to a girl), but I have decided to pay homage to an awesome trend that is popping up BECAUSE superheroes are so intensely in the public eye: superheroes as fashion statements!
Tumblr has been ablaze these last few weeks with artist’s interpretations of comic book characters. Mostly it comes in the form of adorable, wearable dresses. Sometimes it has been actual comic creators re-imagining classic costumes. But whatever form it is in, the fashionista within me has been so delighted with the mash up between geek and chic. Below are some of my favorite examples.
These adorable Avengers dresses are by the amazing Robinade, whose entire Tumblr is rife with amazing little re-imaginings of superheroes if they were fashion victims.
Kevin Wada and Max Wittert accomplished some truly epic re-imaginings of comic book characters as couture.
LadyLawga has an incredible tumblr full of SUPER KAWAII Lolita designs inspired by comic book characters. I would make and wear everything she has designed.
Amidst a ton of really awesome art, adorable artist Hanie Mohd has some super cute reboots of characters.
And finally, we have Kat over at her blog Asterous Fashion. She does very mod inspired reworkings of comic book character’s costumes.
Have any favorite redesigns of character’s costumes you have seen recently? Let us know in the comments!
Molly McIsaac is panicking because SDCC is only 7 weeks away and oh god she has so much cosplay to finish (start). You can follow her ranting, oftentimes hilariously silly running commentary on her very active twitter.
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Very cool article – I love some of those designs!
Also I empathize so much with your first paragraph – “They were ALL ABOUT these films – but not one of these ladies has ever picked a comic up in their life, nor do they have any intention to.” This is SO FRUSTRATING to me.
Why?
That Asterous Fashions Thor dress with the blue buttons? My daughter needs that.
you could easily do a weekly reinterpretations of comic book characters section for the site
I have two friends that are dressing up for a Con this weekend as steam punk versions of Harley and Ivy. They are going to freak when they see all these designs.
Wait- so b/c this is “cutesy”
This is ok and not demeaning to strong women?
Putting Ms. Marvel in baby doll dress is ok if it’s adorable?
And for the record I think this is just a bit of fun- but I think the message of this poster is confusing in light of other recent articles on the whole.
I think it’s time we all admit that gender politics are fluid- confusing and changing and no one “knows” what is exactly right.
Man…if you can’t discern this from something that’s “demeaning to strong women”, then there’s truly no helping you.
How on earth would dressing adorable be demeaning to women? I am a raging feminist and I haven’t worn a pair of pants in close to 5 years – dresses every day.
What is demeaning about the Ms. Marvel picture? Can she be a strong woman in her black thong one-piece?
I don’t particularly find gender politics confusing, and nothing in this post strikes me as demeaning.
this commenter is confused. its okay.
Women like wearing dresses and looking good. How is that different from a dude putting on a suit and combing his hair back? It’s not. Are you under the impression that a woman must be butch in order to be powerful? Because that makes it sound like you are a proponent of erasing femininity altogether. THAT would be demeaning. Women are different from men, and we are allowed to celebrate that in the ways we prefer.
Blackstar – As a man married over 20 years to the feminist daughter of a feminist mother, let me give you a piece of advice. Sometimes it’s better to just say “Nice dress” than try and understand it.
So people just stopped at the first half of the comment.
I didn’t say it was demeaning to women in fact I said it seemed like nothing but fun.
The question I raised was that this very writer railed against gender politics in comics
by accusing marvel of selling women short by producing a comic that depicted women enjoying makeup
and being socialites but this bit of fashion and dress up is ok.
To me the interesting part is that both articles are from the same person.
I thought the last post was a strong over reaction to nothing more than a product commercial that appeals
to a very real demographic- regardless of anyone’s feelings about that segment.
I think this one is neat.
That’s the point.
No Eric, we read the whole thing. The point was that you were looking for hypocrisy where it doesn’t exist.
whos eric?
Hey, Molly,
Let me introduce you to my favorite illustrator in Etsyland and her freaking to-die-for fancy dress illustrations. Nerdy, adorable, I want to wall paper my bedroom in her work. Also, her Final Fantasy and Zelda illustrations are ADORBS!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/88305915/droidettes-fancy-dress-star-wars
<3Sarah
Ah yes! I have a bunch of her art on my wall 🙂
Omg, “Fancy Dress Star Wars” is so awesome!
Cooool.
Shazam poodle skirt is a must.
The 90’s Superboy dress! Oh God I want it. 😀
Kewl
Ms. Marvel’s mask cracked me up. Her design is probably my favorite.
Where do you meet these women? I like living in a small town but it totally precludes the possibility of meeting anyone truly interesting.