In a January blog entry we mentioned the fetish-based clothing company Slick It Up which incorporates vinyl into its designs and we featured a few pics of adult star Roman Ragazzi in some of the garb. A few of you commented that the clothes made Ragazzi look like he was a super-hero or super-villain from comic books. Interesting comments indeed when you consider that the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art opened a fascinating new exhibit yesterday titled Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. 

 We all have seen how comic books have affected and become an integral part of pop culture. Think of all the t-shirts, tattoos, accessories that feature the iconography of comic book super-heroes. Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy goes one step further by linking comics to the world of fashion. When we saw the pictures of the exhibit we were reminded that when super-hero movies started being made designers were often called upon to more than merely recreate classic costumes. In many cases (Batman, for example) the designers re-imagined and redesigned the costumes for the movie screen.

 The Met apparently feels this is all important because it has placed Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy on the main floor in the Special Exhibitions section. Thanks to the cooperation of The Costume Institute (yes this is a very real entity) super-heroes are given their due. You'll see the influence of comics on high fashion as well as design and the world of sports.

       
 
 The exhibit is broken down into eight sections: The Graphic Body, The Patriotic Body, The Virile Body, The Paradoxical Body, The Armored Body, The Aerodynamic Body, The Mutant Body, and The Postmodern Body.   Original movie and TV super-hero costumes are on display alongside the fashions that were inspired by them. The Christopher Reeve Superman costume is accompanied by men's and women's designs that incorporate the colors of the costumes as well as the classic "S" symbol. Spider-Man is joined by spider-web designed fashions. Catwoman is side by side with dominatrix-style designs. And while Slick It Up isn't featured you can definitely see how it would have fit in quite well--especially when you look at the design of the Batman Begins outfit and the fashions it inspired.  Even recent hit Iron Man gets featured with armor-inspired designs. 

  Naturally there's a tongue-in-cheek feel to all this and it's reflected in a huge museum quality marble-like sculpture of the three biggest icons in the DC Universe: Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman. There's also a booklet that goes along with the exhibit featuring a cover by noted comics artist Alex Ross. The exhibit runs through September 1 and while we can't make it you can see pictures of the exhibit in a special article at Newsarama. You can also check out the star-studded opening of the exhibit at Newsday.