Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton certainly picked the right summer for his current exhibition, “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Iron Man, Batman, and the Hulk all have starring roles in Bolton’s visionary show, which runs until September 1. Apparently Hellboy’s outfit isn’t iconic enough. Cheer up, Ron Perlman-- maybe next time.
PLAYBOY: How has the response been?
BOLTON: There have been many more men. I was going through recently, and about 70% were men. That expands the demographic of the Costume Institute, because normally, we’re mostly women. Now we see many more men and many more children, so it is a much more democratic show. It appeals to every generation and every sex. They are responding very nostalgically because they read comics as a kid.
PLAYBOY: A museum curator should have a good sense of what is a flash in the pan and what has staying power. Which do you think superhero movies will be?
BOLTON: They are eventually going to run out of superheroes to make movies out of. Going back to the first X-Men movies, they have become increasingly popular. I hate connecting it back to politics because I think it can be overstated, but I do think there is a need for superheroes at the moment. Whether it is the recession or the war, there is more interest in superheroes. They represent this omnipotent power but also this very basic categorical ideas of good and evil. It is a very easy dichotomy that superheroes actually analyze and I wonder whether people find that reassuring. Or in this post-modern time do people find it to be a very simplistic view of society and power that is appealing to audiences.
PLAYBOY: The annual costume gala always provides an A-list crowd. How did celebrities respond at the Gala?
BOLTON: A lot of the women gravitated towards Catwoman. It is such a revealing costume, the one that Michelle Pfeiffer wore in Batman Returns. It is sort of dominatrix, fetishistic costume. It is such a sexy piece. It has all these accoutrements of a dominatrix wardrobe. Also, Wonder Woman was popular. She was such an icon. She was one of the first super heroes, and a proto-feminist. They like her representation of power and sexuality.
PLAYBOY: Besides superheroes, what are the other iconic costumes around today?
BOLTON: Movie costumes are often seen as iconic. Like the white dress Marilyn Monroe wore in The Seven Year Itch, or James Dean in t-shirt and jeans, or Marlon Brando in a leather jacket. Film is such a popular medium, and it reaches such a huge audience that movie costumes and the actors that wear them have reached a new level of iconicity.
PLAYBOY: Who do you consider the best dressed superhero?
BOLTON: Spiderman. I love that he is one of the few superheroes whose costume covers his entire body, and the colors are great. It is partly his movements in his costume. A lot of these superheroes have this dandy-esque feeling to their costumes. I love the new Christian Bale Batman. It is all black and it is really sexy. Beau Brummel was a dandy in the early 19th century, and his costume was all black. It has that sort of feel, like this understated flamboyance associated with it. In terms of chic, I have to put my money on Spiderman.
PLAYBOY: If you could have a superpower?
BOLTON: Invisibility or mind reading.
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