Black Elven Cape

Black Elven Cape

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GUEST POST: 'Wonder Woman'—Armor vs. Underwear & Why It Matters - We So Nerdy

Costume designer and romance author Amanda Weaver shares her insights into the evolution of 'Wonder Woman' costuming and why intent matters.

I saw Lindy Hemming’s work in Wonder Woman and I almost cried. Scratch that, I did cry. Lindy Hemming didn’t use fetish lingerie as her starting point, she used armor. Actual armor. Roman armor, to be specific. Romans made armor out of overlapping bands of very heavy leather. Because it was organic material, very little of it survived, but here’s a fragment:

You can see this same technique clearly on Antiope in Wonder Woman:

And you can see it here on Diana:

It’s been highly stylized on Diana, but the inspiration, the intent, is there:

Remember when I said sometimes I can tell exactly what a designer was looking at when they designed something? This is a piece of Roman leather armor made out of a crocodile hide:

This is one of Hippolyta’s costumes. I almost squealed out loud in the theater when I saw it!

All the Amazons had fantastic, warrior-based details. The folklore about Amazons cutting off a breast so they were better able to fight? (which has no historical basis, btw) Lindy Hemming gave them a metal breast plate on one side:

And, as a side note, can we talk about the casting of the Amazons? All those gorgeous, strong, athletic women of all ages… swoon!

Yes, Diana’s costume has been stylized and they made her attractive, but that costume first and foremost is armor. It’s functional:

That skirt? The shape is Roman, cut high over the thighs so it doesn’t impede movement:

Those aren’t sexy thigh-high boots:

They’re Roman greaves, meant to protect, and they buckle on. Again, ARMOR!

With Wonder Woman, the starting point, the INTENT, is everything. The reason I literally cried watching the Amazons fight is that FINALLY, somebody started at the right place. That design showed respect. The intent, right from the start, was to portray those women as warriors, and that, at least for me, made all the difference.

Mantle

1804-1807

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is incredible! Ethiopia doing the thing 🙌🏾