And best-dressed superhero goes to ...
The most animated Costume Institute extravaganza ever
Last night in New York, the A-list of fashion and Hollywood gathered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for Anna Wintour’s party of the year, the Costume Institute Gala, which kicks off its annual fashion exhibition.
The fête is the fashion world’s equivalent of the Vanity Fair Oscar party (George Clooney and Julia Roberts served as co-chairs), minus the actual awards ceremony. This year, the exhibition is “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” and will explore the influence of Superman, Wonder Woman and company on pop and style culture. It couldn’t help but remind us of childhood days spent rating superhero costumes (we thought Catwoman’s bodysuit was way cooler than Wonder Woman’s pointy corset until we saw the similar Gaultier version Madonna rocked in “Truth or Dare”.) Here, we play the game again.
Which superhero has the coolest costume?
“My vote is for the Incredible Hulk. He’s all about the less-is-more attitude and isn’t hiding his powers behind a suit.”
– Michelle Labrador, 35, account executive
“Wonder Woman! If I could walk around in a bustier, hot pants, knee-high boots and a tiara, I so would! It’s this perfect convergence of power, body-confidence, lasso-cracking awareness and royalty.”
– Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, 30, style editor, Bluefly
“Does Foxy Brown count as a superhero? I vote for her. Most superheroes are running around in tights and leotards fighting for justice in this world. Meanwhile, Foxy Brown does it in a low cut halter dress and stacked heels! That to me is not only a style star, but a true power woman.“
– Hitha Prabhakar, 32, fashion and retail expert
“Dr. Strange is the best dressed. Totally underrated and like the Hugh Hefner of superheroes. Second place goes to Nemesis, a little-known international spy who always wore a black turtleneck sweater and tight or charcoal slacks.”
– Mark Silver, 33, partner, Factory PR
“Christopher Reeve’s Superman. First of all, the colors are the absolute perfect tone to get a kid psyched about playing dress-up. The materials are satiny where they need to be (the cape and the blue tights) and plastic-y where they need to be (the boots and the belt).”
– Pat Healy, 34, entertainment editor
“I love Wonder Woman’s costume. If I could find a suitable outfit with a bustier that wouldn’t make me look like a slut, I would wear it all the time.”
– Dorothy Robinson, 28, entertainment editor
“In geek world, Spider-Man’s costume is most universally regarded as the best for a number of reasons, most of all, because the black webbing on the red leotard is really freaking hard to draw. For super chicks, Catwoman’s cat suit as redesigned by Darwyn Cook actually made the character sexier and less slutty-looking at the same time (until other people started drawing it, anyway). If you want to go more obscure, Rorschach from Alan Moore’s ‘The Watchmen’ has probably the coolest mask in the history of superheroes. And for old supers, the original Mr. Terrific wore a mud-brown tunic with the words ‘Fair Play’ written across the front in plain block letters. Weird.”
– Daniel Holloway, 29, film critic