'Superheroes: Fashion & Fantasy' at the Met

BY JOSEPH V. AMODIO | Special to Newsday

May 12, 2008

Holy cultural zeitgeist, Batman! Comic books have invaded the Met.

That's right, Robin. All the favorites are here - including Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men, the Flash, even Iron Man, fresh from his recent film debut. With "The Incredible Hulk" hitting theaters in June, "The Dark Knight" (a Batman epic) in July, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is right in step with the Costume Institute's newest exhibition, "Superheroes: Fashion & Fantasy."

"Fashion and superheroes may seem like strange bedfellows," says Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton. But both deal with "issues of the body, identity, transformation."

The exhibit displays film and TV costumes (like Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man suit, Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman get-up, Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman garb) alongside similar fashions created by designers like Giorgio Armani (the exhibit's honorary chair), Thierry Mugler and John Galliano.

Armani marveled at some of the out-there outfits. "Did these guys actually have the guts to show these on the runways?" he asked, speaking through an interpreter at the press preview.

Besides the crazy couture, the exhibit also showcases vintage comic book covers; high-tech sports gear by Spyder, Nike and Speedo; and futuristic "wing suits" by Brooklyn-based Atair Aerospace (which is developing jet-propelled flight suits for the military). "You can jump out of a plane over England and land in France," said Atair CEO Daniel Preston, who admits the versions on display are fudged a bit. The real deal? Top secret.

Seems the gap between superheroes and mortals is narrowing. Of course, that's most apparent on entering the exhibit, where we see Clark Kent's brown suit transform in a haze - thanks to a nifty, Victorian-era magician's trick of smoke and mirrors - into the iconic Superman suit worn by Christopher Reeve in the 1978 film. The effect is haunting, especially given Reeve's trajectory - donning the costume and catapulting to fame, only to be paralyzed later in a horseback riding accident.

Still, the image of him in the suit lived on, empowering him to organize and accelerate medical research like no one had done before. For a time, he and his hard-working wife, Dana, were cogent reminders that superheroes do, indeed, live among us. And not just in museums, or multiplexes.

WHEN&WHERE "Superheroes," through Sept. 1 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 212-535-7710, or metmuseum.org.