Hi, I’m Versha and I’m here to wax philosophical about Wonder Woman’s wardrobe.
In the movies, it’s fierce and functional, equal parts Greek armor and comic book classic.
But her costumes have been a flashpoint of controversy since the very beginning,
And in the decades since her debut, there has been a ton of debate over Diana’s duds.
So on today’s very special ‘Yellow Spandex,’ we’re going to take a look at the ever-evolving
Politics of Wonder Woman’s Costume.
We’ll start just before the Golden Age of Comics, in 1925.
That’s when psychiatrist William Moulton Marston fell for one of his students, Olive Byrne.
Marston was already married, but he and his wife Elizabeth welcomed Olive into their home and lived as one family.
But even though Marston and Olive had two children together, 1920’s morality wouldn’t allow her to wear a wedding ring.
Instead, she wore a pair of heavy silver cuffs to symbolize their commitment.
When Marston created Wonder Woman a few years later, he used Olive’s jewelry as the inspiration for Diana’s bulletproof bracers.
Or, as they’re technically known, her “Bracelets of Submission.”
See, Marston was also obsessed with bondage.
In the early comics, Wonder Woman is constantly getting tied up, shackled, and spanked.
But it was all part of his own strange vision of feminism.
She wears a burlesque outfit?
It's athletic!
And silver bracelets?
They deflect bullets.
Suffragette literature was filled with images of chains and bondage,
and early activists fought for the right to vote by chaining themselves to government buildings.
This is before 50 Shades was cool, and actually way cooler.
Marston had this symbolism in mind when he created Diana.
She was supposed to be an example of a woman’s potential when she’s not “tied down,”
But society still had a problem with her wardrobe.
In her first appearance, Wonder Woman wore a long, flowing, star-spangled skirt,
which gradually evolved into a fairly modest pair of shorts.
They’re a far cry from the straight-up thongs Diana would wear in the 90’s,
but a woman in shorts was still enough to cause a ruckus in the 40’s.
They're not reading anything constructive. They're reading stories devoted to adultery. To sexual perversion. To horror.
To the most despicable of crimes.
The National Organization for Decent Literature-- which was apparently a real thing-- put her comics on their list of Publications Disapproved for Youth because
“Wonder Woman is not sufficiently dressed.”
Now, this is no kind of a night for you to be flying around in that outfit!
This was part of a larger moral panic that was sweeping the country,
mostly thanks to psychiatrist Fredric Wertham and his book ‘The Seduction of the Innocent.’
Total bullshit.
He singled out Wonder Woman for giving girls the “wrong ideas” about their place in the world.
If you want to raise a generation that is half stormtroopers and half cannon fodder, with a dash of illiteracy, then comic books are good.
Seriously, screw that guy.
DC caved, and changed Wonder Woman from an action hero to a more “traditional” female role.
How do you expect to get a husband flying around all the time? Isn't it about time you stay in one spot for a change?
So instead of being a badass Amazon warrior,
Diana spent most of the 50s and 60s pining for her man while taking up odd-jobs like fashion model and advice columnist.
In 1968, Denny O’Neil and Mike Sekowsky tried to modernize Diana during the Bronze Age.
In his first three issues on the comic, O’Neil sent the Amazons away to another dimension, removed Diana’s superpowers and got rid of her costume, lasso and bracelets.
The “New-Look” Wonder Woman travelled the world as a kung-fu super spy and ran a fashion boutique on Bleecker Street in her downtime.
Instead of a costume, Diana Prince wore a white jumpsuit on the job, which was likely inspired by Emma Peel from ‘The Avengers.’
Look, Denny O’Neil had good intentions.
He was an early force for promoting social justice through comics,
like in his legendary ‘Green Lantern/Green Arrow’ series with Neal Adams.
And his Wonder Woman was an honest attempt to make her more relevant for the era of Women’s Liberation and the Equal Rights Amendment.
O’Neil thought removing Diana’s powers and costume would make her a more realistic role model for ordinary women.
But even he admits that his reboot missed the mark.
In 1972, writer Gloria Steinem was working with DC Comics’ parent company to launch her groundbreaking feminist magazine, ‘Ms.’
Also, I didn't know she worked with DC. That's so cool!
She hated the idea of Wonder Woman as a mundane mortal, and started a campaign to restore the character to her roots.
Steinem argued that O’Neil’s reboot went too far from the empowering figure that Diana was created to be.
Without her costume, Wonder Woman was simply another mortal woman in a man’s world,
whose only defense was Judo she learned from her (male) teacher, I Ching.
Diana represents the Amazon warrior that’s inside every woman.
She’s not a bad James Bond knockoff, she’s literally a goddess.
Steinem convinced the DC editors to return Diana’s costume and powers,
which she proudly announced in the debut issue of Ms.
On the cover?
Wonder Woman, larger-than-life and back in her classic costume.
That more or less brings us to the Modern Age.
Diana had a rough time in the 90s.
In comics, it was an era of excess.
The men were walking battletanks,
and the women were objectified with huge breasts, tiny waists and even tinier outfits.
Diana was unfortunately no exception.
Throughout the decade, her classic uniform kept on shrinking.
It was even briefly replaced by a terrible new costume involving biker shorts and a black bikini.
Like, I kinda like the idea of a goth Wonder Woman, but I don't think that's how I want her to look.
But with the success of superhero movies in the 2000s,
publishers finally began to realize that superheroes weren’t just for adolescent boys.
In recent years, women and girls have been buying comics in record numbers.
As a result, there’s been a new wave of discussion on costumes for female superheroes.
Nice outfit. Those heels make it tough to walk?
I dunno. Do they?
And of course, Wonder Woman is at the heart of the controversy.
Women in comic books were traditionally designed with the male reader in mind,
But fans started wondering just how practical it was to fight crime in a bathing suit and high-heels.
So, in 2010, artist Jim Lee gave Diana a drastically different costume.
For starters, he got rid of the eagle design on her chest and the star-spangled pattern on her briefs.
So, naturally, Fox News wailed that Wonder Woman was losing her patriotism and succumbing to the secret Globalist agenda.
The other new addition?
Pants.
Not everyone was a fan, including Gloria Steinem.
She said the new costume “gives us the idea that only pants can be powerful,”
But hey, it’s not like men haven’t fought wars in dresses before.
Recently, the comics have started to use a costume resembling the one from the DCEU films.
Which brings us back to Gal Godot’s movie uniform.
Yes, her armor is leaving a lot of vulnerable skin exposed.
Yes, the ultimate Amazon warrior still has no time for pants.
And yes, she is wearing heels.
But to Patty Jenkins, it’s all wish-fulfillment.
She said she wants her Wonder Woman
“to be hot as hell, fight badass, and look great at the same time — the same way men want Superman to have huge pecs and an impractically big body.”
I think the coolest opportunity with Wonder Woman is that she's the archetypical ideal of the greatest woman.
Jenkins brought Wonder Woman to life as the hero she wanted her to be,
and seeing as how the movie is officially the highest grossing superhero origin in history,
She must have been onto something.
As we wait for ‘Justice League,’ ‘Wonder Woman 2’ and the DCEU’s Diana-focused future,
It’s kind of amazing to think how far women have come in comics,
And how much further there is still to go.