Wearing Man-Tights and Codpieces at the Met!
Nick Haramis
May 05, 2008
"I love Robert Downey Jr.! He was the perfect choice for Iron Man," said Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and comic book junkie Michael Chabon, after this morning's press conference for "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sponsored by Giorgio Armani and Condé Nast Publications, the exhibition pairs Batman with Balenciaga, Mystique with McQueen. At the conference, Armani and Anna Wintour sat together while designer Gabi Asfour looked on from the crowd. Of the show, Armani says, "Fashion, like the superhero, allows you to dream and escape into a world of unfettered imagination."
Men in tights and mutant applique are unlikely choices for Wintour and Armani, but somehow, the partnership works. Each collection of designs is brought together under loose themes like “The Armored Body” and “The Postmodern Body.” The runway creations and feature film costumes have been deliberately positioned in front of large-scale art backdrops from classic and current superhero films. The fancy inherent in high fashion—provided by couture stalwarts like John Galliano and Thierry Mugler, as well as newcomers Gareth Pugh, pictured above, and Rick Owens—complements these lauded mythologies centered on idealism, strength, and power. All in all, amid these cat women and super men, there was nary a Kryptonite in sight.
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