Giorgio Armani: the Physical Beauty of Superman & the Intellectual Charm of Eta Beta

We enter inside this vast illusion with select models who celebrate transformation. The superhero emerges as the ultimate metaphor for fashion in its ability to empower and transform the human body.

 The superheroes present an irrepressible physicality that is formed by the details drawn from American mythology. 

The show opened May 7 and presents designers such as Pierre Cardin, John Galliano, Jean-Paul Gaultier whose work is decidedly closer to Armani’s than to costumes from American comic book characters. 

Armani, in addition to funding the exhibit in New York, is also responsible for the benefit gala for the Costume Institute at the Met and for bringing together A-list celebrities such as George Clooney and Julia Roberts.

At a press conference held at the museum, Giorgio Armani said that he was “astonished” to be the exhibit’s guest of honor. “It was a surprise to see my clothes next to those of the comic book characters.” When asked his favorite superhero, the Milanese designer answered that he likes Superman the best, physically speaking, but immediately adds: “From a more personal and conceptual point of view, my favorite is Eta Beta with mothballs in hispocket.” 

In the show we get a fantastic panoramicview of characters and their respective costumes, such as the outfit worn by Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992), costumes worn by Spiderman played by Tobey Maguire, recent designs inspired by Iron Man, and looking to the past, the bodysuit and red cape worn by Lynda Carter in 1976 for Wonder Woman.  

The characters presented allow us to consider masculine power which can lead to excess (like the Hulk) and feminine costumes which emphasize the erotic value of the female form (like Catwoman).

Curated by Andrew Bolton and organized thematically around particular characters, the exhibit seeks to transcend the figures presented in comic books and to suggest a series of contemporary reflections that are inspired by the traditional iconography associated with superheroes. 

Throughout the exhibit there is a continuous search for mythology, but a mythology that is not stagnant or frozen, but one that it is transformed by the ongoing human search for dreams and legends.

“Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” is on exhibit from May 7 to September 1, 2008 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

(Translated by Giulia Prestia)

                                                          (Eta Beta)