Fashion Goes Pow!

On May 5, the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art will be aswarm with batgirls and fly guys, catwomen and aquamen for the gala opening of "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy." It's an extraordinary show that explores the influence of Marvel and DC Comics characters on the postwar psyche and, most clearly, on postwar design. I foresee record attendance (what child wouldn't want to see the actual costumes from The Dark Knight ?) and perhaps unprecedented repercussions for fashion. Having just returned from the fall 2008 collections, I can report that the beginnings of a superhero style trend are already in evidence in the plethora of molded jackets, body-conscious dresses, lean Lois Lane suits, and scupltural metallic accessories on the catwalks. Although I don't anticipate that I or my cochairs--Giorgio Armani, Julia Roberts, and George Clooney--will don capes or masks on the gala night, I do think our wardrobes in the months to come may be magically transformed by a touch of Marvel.

The idea of the superhero, of course, transcends fashion and popular culture. Indeed, one can find superheroes everywhere: Just consider that our next president will be either an African-American man, a woman senator, or a former prisoner of war. Gwyneth Paltrow, our cover woman, reveals in her interview with ...