Wonder Woman Costume Through The Years : A Comicbook History
“A strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are determined not be done.” --Marge Piercy
A feature on the changing outfits of the Amazing Amazon.
First who is Wonder Woman? This is for the sake of those who were just born yesterday. Wonder Woman was formed from clay by here mother, Hippolyta, on a "paradise" island - Themyscira, Princess Diana was gifted with great powers by the gods, she grew up a strong warrior in their society of fierce warrior women, the Amazons. She left her homeland and became an emissary to the world of Man.
She was created by William Moulton Marston & Harry G. Peter. She first appeared in All-Star Comics #8 (1942). Yes, younglings if you are having a hard time counting that far back you will realize that she's very old. So, with all those years a girl, would have gone through a lot of wardrobe change and this is what this feature is about.
1. First Appearance Since her first appearance the classic look of Wonder Woman has relatively been unchanged. She has the boots, the tiara, bracelets and the patriotic colors. What may be different for the modern viewer is the split skirt that she is wearing.
2. Skirt to Shorts Soon after the split skirt was replaced by some form fitting shorts. Take note as well of the backless costume.
3. Open Back to Close Back In the mid-1950s after the institution of the Comics Code, Wonder Woman's costume was no longer bare-back. Though she did go open back again later in the 60s.
4. Mod fashion A new Wonder Woman in 1968's "Wonder Woman" #178. Now without her powers, Wonder Woman fought crime just as Diana. Her "costume" during this period was nothing more than a series of different jumpsuits.
5. White Jumpsuit During her "mod" period she did not actually have a costume but a series of different jumpsuits. A standout is the white jumpsuit.
6. Return to Classic After her fill of designer outfits Wonder Woman went back to her classic costume, with some minor changes on the belt, boots and the shorts are now "hot pants".
7. Halter Top Change 1982 enters a new aesthetic change on the design on the halter top of Wonder Woman. The eagle emblem is now replaced with the iconic "Double-W" symbol. There were some minor changes on the years after, like a change on the earring desing, the size of her belt, the amount of costume that covers her body (the less the better as the old fanboy dictum says, not sure if there's a saying like that but there should be.)
8. Wonder Woman No More In a battle with Artemis. Diana lost the title of Wonder Woman. She had to once again fight crime just as "Diana" and she has to sport a new costume, that involves a jacket, a black bra, cycling shorts with star motiff and a chain for a belt(Let her ride in the back of a Hell's Angel and she will fit just right in).
9. Wonder Woman Again In 1995 Diana reclaimed the title once again of Wonder Woman, and her old costume with some tweaks again. This time on the interlocking belt and the Double-W chest insignia. Though soon afterwards she reverted back to a previous design.
10. A New Logo Once Again The year is 2006 and we see some slight tweaks here and there on WW's costume. The return of the eagle motiff on her chest but now integrated with a stylized Double-W. And her belt is a Double-W as well.
11. Bold New Direction New direction, new backstory, and new costume. Is it good, will it hold (well there are already indications of going back to the classic costume) But this suit with the 90s throwback jacket, choker, blackpants is a good addition to the already rich history of Wonder Woman's costume. Personally I prefer this costume without the jacket.
12. Other costumes I would just like to post a shoutout to Wonder Woman's Star Sapphire costume because… well just because.
Other alternate versions I will leave it to the community to post in the comment section: Don't fail me now CBMers.
Live Versions 1. Linda Harrison (1967) Linda Harrison's version of Wonder Woman was the first attempt to translate the character to the small screen way back in 1967. The success of the Batman television series led Batman producer William Dozier to commission a pilot script by Stan Hart and Larry Siegel. Batman writer Stanley Ralph Ross was then asked to perform a re-write, after Hart and Siegel's script was deemed unsuitable. A portion of the pilot, under five minutes in length, was filmed under the title Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?
2. Cathy Lee Crosby (1974) Wonder Woman's first appearance in live-action television was a television movie made in 1974 for ABC. Written by John D. F. Black, the TV movie resembles the Wonder Woman of the "I Ching period. " Wonder Woman (Cathy Lee Crosby) did not wear the comic book costume, demonstrated no superhuman abilities and her "secret identity" of Diana Prince was not all that secret. The film follows Wonder Woman, assistant to government agent Steve Trevor (Kaz Garas) as she pursues a villain named Abner Smith (Ricardo Montalban) who has stolen a set of code books containing classified information about U.S. government field agents.
3. Lynda Carter (1975) Though not successful at the first attempt, ABC still felt a Wonder Woman series had potential, and within a year another pilot was in production. Keen to make a distinction from the last pilot, producers gave the pilot the rather paradoxical title The New Original Wonder Woman.Scripting duties were given to Stanley Ralph Ross, who was instructed to be more faithful to the comic book and to create a subtle "high comedy." Ross set the pilot in World War II, the era in which the original comic book began.
Although the pilot followed the original comic book closely, in particular the aspect of Wonder Woman joining the military under the name Diana Prince, a number of elements were dropped. While the comic Diana obtains the credentials of a look-alike nurse, in the pilot Diana Prince appears as a Navy enlisted First Class Petty Officer Yeoman. As it was set during World War II, many of the episodes involved Nazis and war events. Unlike the earlier pilot, the comic book origins of the character were emphasized by the retention of the character's traditional costume and original setting and through the use of comic book elements.
4. Adrianne Palicki (2011) Decades will pass before a new live Wonder Woman will grace the live media. This time around she'll be played by Adrianne Palicki with writer-director David E. Kelly to produce it for TV. The plot is described as "a reinvention of the iconic D.C. comic in which Wonder Woman -- aka Diana Prince -- is a vigilante crime fighter in L.A. but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life. This adaptation will wear a similar version of the current comic costume but with "shinier" material.
5. (?) Smallville homage Not actually Wonder Woman but Lois Lane wearing a Wonder Woman/Amazonian outfit. This is sort of Acknowledges the existence of Wonder Woman in this universe (note: I seem to remember a headline in the shows Daily Bugle about an Amazonian Princess, hopefully somebody in the community could post it below).
source: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=26963 : http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/06/30/review-wonder-woman-costume-change/ : http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Wonder_Woman_(Diana_Prince) : http://www.amazonarchives.com : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Woman_(TV_series)
That was a wonderful trip, but I just realized as popular as Wonder Woman is she never had a feature film under her name. Hmmm… I would like to start a petition for a Wonder Woman movie. (lets just scrap the TV show altogether and go directly to the bigscreen) =)
Note: Any error in the article above, if any, just blame it on my age, humanity and ignorance. Just be sure to check the comment section for the corrections, any error I made will surely be pointed out and corrected by much bigger geeks (because there will always be a bigger geek out there). -This has been PollMaster inviting you to the geekside.
This is the 5th article in my Comic Book History series. Any requests and suggestions for an article for this series write it down in the comment section BELOW.