Marvel at the Met
(NEW YORK) The Metropolitan Museum of Art has no doubt been afflicted by this summer's blockbuster action films, as Superman and Spider-Man are about to invade the hallowed halls of the esteemed institution.
"Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy," has been chosen as the Costume Institute's spring exhibit, and pays tribute to the fantasy comic superstars and their respective fashions--both of which have fascinated the young and the old for generations. As superheroes enjoy a surge in mass popularity not seen since the golden age of comic books in the 1940s, the Costume Institute will explore the symbolic and metaphorical associations between these fictional characters and fashion.
Giorgio Armani is underwriting the exhibit, which will run from May 7 to September 1, with additional support from Condé Nast. "In recent years, superheroes have reemerged in the forefront of popular culture both through the renaissance of iconic comic book characters and also through iconic living individuals who have inspired us by their achievements," said Armani. "It therefore struck me as a thoroughly modern and original theme for the Metropolitan Museum's next Costume Institute exhibition, which will I feel appeals to a broad audience." On May 5, the museum will host its annual traditional Costume Institute gala benefit, where Giorgio Armani will serve as the evening's honorary chair. George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour will serve as co-chairs.
Armani added, "I am also naturally delighted that my friends Julia Roberts and George Clooney, modern day icons in their own right, have agreed to participate as co-chairs for the gala dinner."
"Today, superhero imagery has suffused almost every aspect of popular culture," said Andrew Bolton, curator of the Costume Institute, who is putting the exhibit together with the support of curator in charge, Harold Koda. "The superhero's iconic costume of cape, mask, and bodysuit finds many fashionable permutations. 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."
Approximately 70 ensembles will be featured, from high-performance sportswear and iconic movie costumes to avant-garde couture looks worn through the decades--all of which will illustrate how the superhero serves as the ultimate metaphor for fashion and its ability to empower and transform the human body.
A decidedly eclectic mix of designers and brands will be incorporated into the show, which will include Martin Margiela, Balenciaga, Armani, Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Rudi Gernreich, Givenchy, Michiko Koshino, Issey Miyake, Moschino, Paco Rabanne, Pierre Cardin, Gareth Pugh, Jeremy Scott, ThreeAsFour, Speedo, and Nike. While a healthy selection of those garments on display will bear obvious references to the superhero lexicon, according to Bolton, much of those featured will be significantly more metaphoric in representation. There will be Thierry Mugler's Ghost Rider-esque motorcycle bustier from his Spring 2004 collection that came equipped with fringed handlebars and side-view mirrors and featured a headlight between the breasts that had the model "steering" herself down the runway. There is also a Bernhard Willhelm dress featuring a red and yellow "S" emblem from Spring 2006, a Hussein Chalayan Airplane dress with battery-operated movable flaps from Spring 2000 that mimics The Flash's streamlined aerodynamics, and a Christian Dior Haute Couture corset and bikini bottom featured on the Spring 2001 runway during John Galliano's Wonder Woman collection.
Also included is an array of second-skin body suits for extreme sports, as well as luminous, glow-in-the-dark clothing.
The ensembles themselves will correspond to their respective themes and be arranged by individual superheroes. Batman and Catwoman, for example, with their sexually charged, skintight PVC bodysuits, encompass "The Fetishistic Body," while Wonder Woman's red, white, and blue outfit--a composite of the American flag--represents "The Patriotic Body," and Spider-Man and Superman will visually emblematize "The Graphic Body" theme. There is also "The Phallic Body," which is shown through looks drawn from The Incredible Hulk, and explores male potency, based on the Marvel comic book character of the same name. The Flash, a character who possesses superhuman speed, will address "The Aerodynamic Body," made manifest in high-tech sportswear such as Nike's "Swift Suit" and Speedo's "Fastskin Suit," which enhance athletic performance in sprinters and swimmers, respectively. Iron Man's costume will represent "The Mechatronic Body," and examine avant-garde fashion that combines mechanical and electronic components. "The Mutant Body," denoted by the X-Men, will highlight clothing that morphs men into beasts. Ghost Rider, the biker-demon with flaming skull, and The Punisher, the vigilante who sports a giant death-skull emblem on his T-shirt, will symbolize "The Postmodern Body" that suggests an anti-hero identity through the eclectic mixing of street styles.
Michael Chabon, the American author who won the Pultizer Prize for Fiction in 2001 for his 2000 superhero-themed novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, has been enlisted to pen the introduction to the show's accompanying book of the same title, which is being published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press. Chabon's novel follows the lives of the title characters, a Czech artist named Joe Kavalier and a Brooklyn-born writer named Sam Clay--both Jewish--before, during, and after World War II.
