It's All About the Look, or Is It?

Courtesy of Mark/kybearfuzz

One of the previous posts to Comic Book Bears on LiveJournal became a discussion of costuming in one of the threads. It got me to thinking about costumes that superheroes wear.

Some of the costumes seem to be designed with the times in mind. Every decade from the 1950's to present has some influence by the current fashion, which makes sense. Comic book heroes, however, tend to magnify the trend at times to the ridiculous. Lots of heroes were wearing shoulder-pads in the 1980's. Boomer (above) certainly took it to an extreme.

Sometimes fashion has little to do with the design. Sexual appeal to the audience takes precedence. In the real world, I doubt Wonder Woman would fight in a bustier and underwear, I don't care how armored it is. The White Queen wears outfits that are suspended on her breasts by either magic or tons of double-stick tape.

At times, the creativity of the artist jumps to an extreme. Mike Grell is rather infamous for his costumes of Legion of Super-Heroes members from the 1970's. Cosmic Boy ran about in a male bustier of his own. Saturn Girl fought crime in a pink bikini. Night Girl was practically naked. The first Ms. Marvel costume has been called by some as being one of the worst designed, despite her exposed mid-rift, which apparently was ahead of its time.

When I create super-heroes, I admit I make some outfits a bit revealing to show the fur, so I'm guilty of wanting the design to appeal to the reader (the bear audience at least). So, I can't throw stones at Grell loving to have girls fight crime in skimpy stuff. As for Cosmic Boy, I don't think he's ever explained that one.

What costumes do you think were unrealistic? Which comes to mind as being poorly designed and/or just plain ugly? Best uniform?