Comics and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A Wonder Woman costume worn by Lynda Carter in 1976.

Upon entering this class, I had a distant memory of visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the summer of 2008 and seeing a certain exhibit, I was finally able to remember that exhibit and it relates entirely with the ongoing discussion of the superheroine costumes. The exhibit was entitled, "Supheroes: Fashion and Fantasy," and ran in the Met from May to September 2008. For those lucky enough to have been visiting the met during this time frame would remember countless full body costumes of all superheroes and superheroines a like. Not only costumes, but fan made t-shirts and comic inspired couture outfits created by high-end designers.  Throughout the exhibit there was more than 60 outfits on display, not only put in place but there were many fantastic backdrops and the exhibit area was designed much to resemble comic book places, such as Gotham City. I have learned to question the feminism behind many things after being in this course for only a mere few weeks, and I did question whethere this was sexist of the Met to put on a display of costumes. I would have to say it was not, for it did display both the female and male costumes and I feel that the Met merely saw this as a chance to do something different and bring in the artistic side behind these amazing people. The director and curator of this exhibit described it as, “a playful look at comic book costumes and their influence on radical haute couture as well as high-tech sportswear.”

            I did visit the Met and was able to see this exhibit, it did not dully stick with me since I had no clue what any of the comics were in the Summer of 2008, being a mere 14 years old at the time and not interested in the comics at all, but I do remember there being many amazing outfits on display, in particular there was the Wonder Woman costume from the television show and it was a great thing to be able to truly see the Wonder Woman’s costume up close. I look back and am happy for this experience for I never knew I would be able to relate to my education in the future. Quoting a New York Times article entitled, “Power Dressing,” "The ideas that dominate fashion--identity, performance, gender, body shapes, sexuality, logos, and the quest for the state-of-the-art materials--pretty well describe the world of the superhero". This one quote stuck with me after reading the article and I found it quite interesting the comparison of the characteristics of fashion and the characteristics of a superhero or superheroine. I have attached the article from The New York Times, it’s pretty interesting plus it has a very cool slideshow with some pieces of the exhibit as well as an interesting video in the article as well.

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/arts/design/09cost.html