wonder woman suit redesign - part iii, final

Wonder Woman Suit by Phil O'Brien, 2021

 

Here's what I came up with. click on the image to bigerize it I actually did this drawing and one more version, which I'll put in down below so you can see why I decided against it, just recently.

I worked on the original design drawings late last year, and I'm just getting to the posts on these things now. I'm not sure why, but its been fun to do. After working on the posting of the drawings I did a while ago, I got to thinking about some fine tuning. I had some favorites in the Wonder Woman sketches I did and so I took those and worked on adding back a little bit of that iconography that helps identify Wonder Woman. Even tho I don't like the tiara, I can see why the numerous folks that have redesigned her suit have kept it; its a really strong icon.

If you take a peek below, you'll see an image of the lorica musculata or muscle cuirass I talked about in my earlier post redesigned with the eagle similar to Gal Gadot's from the movies. I tried to incorporate that better into the breast plate and tried to avoid the eagle's head sticking way up over her chest, which seems a little dumb to me. I was bale to pull that off, but ended up with an eagle design that is just too... eagley?

My other favorite design from my earlier versions is the red armored top, so I took that and incorporated a stylized eagle wing design inspired by the Linda Carter TV version; the later one. The early design of that top is horrible. Here's a picture of the later design from the 70s TV show with the stylized eagle wings I used for inspiration for mine.

Its a subtlety in my design, but I've also picked up on the interlaced Ws used on the Gal Gadot suit. I didn't use the Ws myself, because why would the amazons fabricate a suit with WW on it when they had no idea Americans would call Diana Wonder Woman. My design just picks up on the weaving idea.

Here's that other design with the eagle armor that is over the top. Fun, but a little campy.

Let me know what you think, nerds!

wonder woman suit redesign - part the second

You can read about some of the recent history of Wonder Woman's super suit, and my problems with it, in a previous post. In that post, I planned to write a few quick thoughts and then get to my design efforts, but I guess I had more to say than I thought. 

My redesign efforts are driven by improving on Wonder Woman's suit; to make it better, more usable (and user friendly) and perhaps a little more dignified. I won't repeat what I don't like here, you can read about on my other post. I did have some goals I set for myself for the redesign, which you may or may not agree with, but I felt it was important for the task I set myself to understand those goals.

Design a suit for Wonder Woman that:

• Is flexible, usable, and comfortable to wear
• Is suited to the tasks and challenges the user may undertake
• Is robust enough to withstand the wear and tear expected
• Is identifiable and iconic, appropriate to the wearer's status as a hero, both in reality, and within the reality which the wearer is extant
• Is dignified. In other words, evocative of the wearer's heroism foremost, as opposed to her sexuality

I think there is room in a design challenge like this to keep a lot of what we think of as Wonder Woman's iconography. Part of that image IS her sexuality, and I would argue that is the case for most superheros, male and female alike. the ladies in my life are like, 'oh, Thor!' As part of this endeavor, I've tried to think of it this way: If Wonder Woman was to design her own suit, even assuming she is aware of the history of her suit design over the years, what is she likely to want to improve upon? What would her goals be? I have a hard time thinking her goals would include things like: 'more thigh,' or the irreconcilable 'armor here, but completely naked there.' *

I tried a series of things--some are just variations--so I stuck them in a simple movie so you can see what I did and how it evolved. [UPDATE: The movie was a bust, Blogger potatoed it, so I junked it put in pics] started with a two part suit, long sleeve red top, long blue pants, red boots, gold trim. Simple, but I thought it could be simpler, so I removed the gold star and the boots. [CLICK on the images for a larger view, and you can scroll thru them]

Next I added a gold breast plate that extends over the shoulders, as most armor breast plates do. A variation of that is the armored breast plate without the red long sleeve shirt.

The last three are variations, showing a lower cut breast plate built into the top. Tactical clothing or armor integrated into the clothing, so its red with a faceted red breast plate, red with faceted gold breast plate,and last is a gold breast plate, sleeveless, with a red tint on the some of the gold plating.

I'd still like to look into how to incorporate the eagle insignia, and I have some ideas about simplifying that similar to what I did with the Superman logo. I would also like to think a little more about lariat carrying and storage. A rope hanging at your side seems like a hazard, and because its used pretty rarely, I think storing it in suit on the lower back or something may be better.

And the sword and shield? Those are a newer developments, and tho a sword has been used occasionally in the comics, it didn't really show up consistently until the New 52, in 2011. And of course the movie from a few years ago figured them prominently, but not in the newest one. My biggest problem with them: Wonder Woman doesn't need them, so in keeping with my simplification ideal, I'm going to ignore them and assume that if needed, she can strap on a sword belt, baldric, or back sling as needed.

 So... more to come...?

* You're right, I'm not a woman, and I'm not a super hero, so maybe I'm not the best person to make decisions like this on Wonder Woman's behalf. Moreover, Wonder Woman's creators may have written the character with the personality traits that embrace the design of her suit as it is. Its hard to argue with an author, but, as with Superman, these heroes have so long been a part of our pop culture, that I feel some ownership.

wonder woman uniform re-design

Why is Wonder Woman naked?

All the men get to wear clothes.

I actually had ideas about Wonder Woman's uniform* before I started working on Superman's suit redesign. It seems to me that the 1941 Wonder Woman was dressed as a hero which reflected the time in which she was developed, regardless of how forward thinking and empowering the ideas behind her development were. Diana's suit has been updated over time, and the flowing, star-studded skirt has taken on the appearance of a Roman centurion's cingulum militare; those straps of metal studded leather or baltea, worn hanging down over the lower part of their tunic. The eagle adorned bustier has become a gold lorica musculata or muscle cuirass; the Roman decorative breast plates with muscles (and other decorations) formed into the metal. These were normally only used for parades and other showy events, by folks really high up, like the Caesar. The bullet deflecting bracelets have become vambraces. And the high-heeled red boots, have become a combination of centurion sandals, or caligae, and greaves. they still have high heels, but they're 3 or 4 inch wedges now, so much more practical for crime fighting

The Wonder Woman movie of a few years ago and a lot of the current comic book art mostly agree on these updates to the suit, and depending on what issue you're looking at they're pretty consistent, altho there are some variations. I haven't seen the current movie, but I have seen an image or two that lead me to believe there is a special suit that is different there, and the comics have certainly had suit variations as well. There has even been some versions of the suit with pants, from Jim Lee's 2010 version with what looks like a bolero coat with the sleeves magically pushed up, and the ill-fated 2011 TV pilot.

Now in 2015, a new suit rolled out that picked up on the pants idea, and ran with it, adding an apron looking (loincloth?) thing over the pants, and some gold pauldrons to the breast plate, and some wicked, Conan-esque, stabby looking things that shot out from her bracelets (vambraces) and some thigh-high boots. All in all, not bad, in that it does check off some of the boxes for me: the most import being getting her out of a bathing suit and into a super suit. The 2010 and 2011 efforts did that as well, but what they all have in common is that they are too complicated, and they all include the tiara. Call it a headband if it makes you feel better nerds, the whole 'every little girl wants to be a princess' trope is not what we need now.

What we need is a super suit designed for a woman that provides what she needs, and eliminates what she doesn't.

What she doesn't need is her arms and legs hanging out there. I know she invisible, but so is Superman, he's got pants. She also doesn't need sharp, pointy bits of metal poking up at the top of her armored breast plate. And I'm pretty sure she doesn't need 4-inch wedge heels.

What I think Wonder Woman does need is a simple, dignified super suit, which recalls her history and iconography so that she is identifiable. Why is that important, out may ask, even if you are playing devil's advocate? I think its important because in both reality, AND in Wonder Woman's fictitious universe, she is a symbol; of peace, and standing up against evil and violence. As such, her symbolism needs to be acknowledged. speaking of violence, if you're standing up against violence, I'm not sure the aforementioned punching knives are most peacekeeping or elegant weapon for Wonder Woman to wield.

So what did I come up with? Actually, I came up with some options. Its kind of a kit of parts, which can be changed out depending on the task, or the weather.

Wonder Woman Suit redesign by Phil O'Brien, Option 6

More to come.

*Costume? super suit? kit? PPE? Lets say suit, mostly what I see on the interwebs seems to say suit.