Episode: Black Panther vs. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Even in the depths of space, everything… so far comes from an idea on earth. Sci-fi film is a reflection of how we imagine the future and is a tool to question where we are going. Costume design is crucial to world-building foreign landscapes and to creating the immersive film experience. Sci-fi costume must be alien enough to transport us but familiar enough to keep us grounded in what we already understand.
That is why we are on a mission to dissect the good, the bad, and the ugly of imaginary worlds created through costume design and examine how traditional dress, stereotyping, and cultural appropriation is used in storytelling.
Round 1:
Round 2:
Lightning Round:
Moon Boots picks:
P-Bot Picks:
Check out these video for more information on Black Panther vs. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets:
Besson, L. & Besson-Silla, V. (Producer), & Besson, L. (Director). (Jul. 17, 2017). Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets [Motion picture]. France: EuropaCorp Distribution & STXfilms.
Feige, K. (Producer), Cooler, R. (Director). (Jan. 29, 2018). Black Panther [Motion picture]. United States: Marvel Studios.
Flint, H. (Mar. 27, 2016). There’s something really annoying about Cara Delevingne’s costume in Luc Besson’s Valerian. Metro. Retrieved from http://metro.co.uk/2016/03/27/theres-something-really-annoying-about-cara-delevingnes-costume-in-luc-bessons-valerian-5778361/?ito=cbshare
Source Fed Nerd. (Producer). (Nov. 10, 2016). What is Valerian and Why it’s the MOST Important Sci-fi Movie You NEED to Watch!. Source Fed Nerd. Video retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89mOBG1qoho
Music and Sound Effects provided by Sound Effects Plus & Zapsplat:
A petite figure in a short red chiton is gracefully bounding through a lush forest meadow. Her limbs are long and lanky, her hair cropped short and loose, her skirt flowing up to the crease of her leg and her breast is exposed (Fig.1). It is Atalanta, the classical Greek beauty known for being the fastest runner in the Ancient world. Her story goes that her father wanted her to get married, but she wanted to stay an independent adventurer.
Fig. 2
She was the fastest runner in the world and the one to draw first blood in the great Calydonian Boar hunt (Fig. 2), she didn’t need some man holding her back! Atalanta and her father made a deal that if a man could beat her in a race, she would marry him. Knowing she was an incredible athlete, her father devised a plan with Hippomenes to drop golden apples to distract her during the race (Fig. 3)(Gori, 2012, 206), playing into the concept that woman are the mental equivalent of magpies (but that’s a whole other story).
When observing illustrations of Atlanta, I really have to question how the fastest runner in the world felt about having her one boob out flopping in the wind. Over and over she is depicted in the official Heraia chiton worn by female athletes (Serwint, 1993, 404).
Fig. 3: Race for Atalante’s hand in marriage. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Noël_Hallé_-_The_Race_between_Hippomenes_and_Atalanta_-_WGA11034.jpgFig. 4: Achilles slaying Penthesilea, the queen of the Amazons, Attic black-figure amphora signed by Exekias, c. 530–525 BCE; in the British Museum, London. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Amazon-Greek-mythology
Like Atalanta, the Amazons were also icons of female athleticism in the ancient world. Amazons were a matriarchal society of warriors and their solution for the pesky lack of sports bras? The legends say that they seared off their right breast. Better for using a bow and arrow or throwing a spear. These terrifying warrior women represented the fears and anxieties surrounding empowered female athletes (Johnson, 2017) going back thousands of years.
Their solution was pretty extreme, but the real kicker: woman have wanted to be comfortable while active since the ancient world, but the sports bra wasn’t invented until 1977!
La Gazette du Bon Ton provides an insight into the attitudes that kept woman from wearing comfortable and functional undergarments when it came to any athletic endeavours.
The 1924 article used classical narratives to discuss the hottest trend of the 1920s. Lanky limbs, short hair, and a short flowing dress; sound familiar? Author George Barbier was drawing a parallel between Atalanta and the Flapper. Both young, independent women, and just a little too wild for his taste. The beautiful illustrations by André Édouard Marty show Atalante’s athleticism and talent for archery. She is alone (save for a trusty-pup companion) out in nature running, climbing, shooting, and bathing (Fig. 5 & 6). Atalante is shown in idealized form while the article seems to be advising against the whole idea. Barbier acts as the voice of Atalante’s father, advising the readers on the perils of being an athletic young woman.
Fig. 6
Fig. 5
“Pour ma part, je les considère avec étonnement quand je les vois se livrer impétueusement a des jeux forcenés. Le corps féminin est trop fragile pour pouvoir, sans disgrace et sans peril, rivaliser sur le stade avec celui des athletes. Le football et la course a pied ne conviennent point aux dames, elles s-y épuisent vite et leurs nerfs sensibles les jettent parfois en des crises de nerfs ou en des pavoisons. — En: Personally, I consider them with astonishment when I see them impetuously engage in frenzied games. The female body is too fragile to be able, without disgrace and without danger, to compete on stage with those of the athletes. Football and running do not suit ladies, they are exhausted quickly and their sensitive nerves sometimes throw them in fits of nerves or vanity.” (Barbier, 1924)
Oh my! Although he is impressed by the ‘frenzied’ energy of active girls, he thinks this is not suited to a proper woman. He believes the “sweet but heavy chains of husband and child” far outweigh the appeal of competition. He also advises that men aren’t attracted to woman who participate too much in sport. Barbier wrote this article at the age of 42, and while “journalists and popular writers in the 1920s used readily recognizable stereotypes to portray the characteristics of both generations within popular literature. The younger generation was portrayed through representative middle-class, energetic figures who were born in the twentieth century, participated in the European War, and eagerly consumed the latest technology.” (Hirshbein, 2001, 114) The article referenced classical narrative as a way to critique the values of the Flapper without needing to critique the fashion itself.
He used another classical narrative of Phryne in front of the Aeropage to reinforce his moral stance on modesty. Phryne only showed the judges one beautiful breast, and they acquitted her of all charges, his article claims. Women require that air of mystery to be attractive, therefore participating in competitive sport and without proper ‘aesthetic girdles to constrain and reshape uncertain breast’ a woman is falling victim to excessive vanity. The Gazette du Bon Temps advises proper ladies to do some non-competitive activities, but participating in aggressive sport is absolutely immoral. It also is implied that adolescent females can participate in some sport, but once a husband comes along they must prioritize being a modest and dutiful wife. (Barbier, 1924)
Fig. 7: The article ends advising modesty and pairs it with Atalanta bathing nude.
Interestingly, the Olympics were held in France twice the same year this article was published. Chamonix hosted the winter games of 1924, and Paris hosted the summer games. Women could only participate in limited low-impact sportssuch as golf and tennis. In 1928, female participation increased to 10% when woman were allowed to participate in athletics, gymnastics, tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrian sports and golf (Olympic.org). These pioneering woman made do with the undergarments available and many of them seemed to reflect the waif-like flapper body type. The realities of the Olympics seem to echo the notion that sport is alright for adolescent female bodies only (Fig 8). I also assume not having access to appropriate undergarments makes it extremely uncomfortable for bustier woman, discouraging their participation in the first place.
The times were changing, and the influence of the independent, decadent, energetic and cynical American flapper had spread across the world (Cheadle, 2018). The Gazette du Bon Ton was using this article to reinforce the ideal French womanly woman, even when the silhouettes favoured a sporty body. The ideal body of the 1920s reflected a fashion problem: woman’s bodies had to look sporty, but they couldn’t be sporty.
Colette critiqued this trend in her satirical writing by advising woman to treat ‘your breast as a fashion accessory’ (Freadman, 2018, 337). Obviously, this is quite the challenge as boobs are attached to your body, but it didn’t stop woman from trying. Ladies in the 1920s aimed for the slim, undeveloped form and the bandeau bras and girdles of the time were designed to flatten out the breast to fit the tubular form (Feilds, 2007, 72). These solutions were not overly supportive, and certainly not encouraging for woman who wanted to engage in sport.
Although the 1920s brought about the end of corsets, the suffrage of American woman, and the fashionable athletic body ideal, the strong opposition to woman’s participation in sport did not encourage any innovation in the development of comfortable undergarments specific to sport. France was especially hesitant about accepting the modern woman: “The model of the flapper scared society. Female sport brought on suspicions of inverted sexuality and androgyny.” (Terret, 2010, 1160). For years woman had to make due with the undergarments available that were still somewhat restrictive or only developed specifically for acceptable feminine activities.
What needed to happen for woman to get the proper sporty support? Second-wave feminism! The 1960s and 70s were a transitional period. While the myth of bra burning got its roots, some woman just wanted to go jogging without nipple chafing. The early sixties and seventies had woman pushing for Equal Rights and a ’68 protest where demonstrators threw restrictive clothing items in a garbage can turned into the ‘media myth’ of bra burnings.
Though the concept of bra-burning was symbolic, the act of being comfortable above meeting social expectation became a revolutionary act. Even in the time of ‘going braless’ the general agreement was that bras are unequivocally necessary for comfort, not just to create a feminine form (Spencer, B. 2007, 238). Through the hard work of the equal rights movement, a law passed that had an impact on the tale of sports bras: Title IX in the United States legally guaranteed equal participation and benefits from education program receiving Federal financial assistance. Meaning female participation in school sports grew exponentially. (Ladd, 2014, 1681)
Fig. 9: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy rht/www.mamamia.com.au/how-to-make-walking-a-workout/
In the 70s ‘yogging’ was the hot new trend. Lisa Lindahl and Polly Smith were all about it but were tired of experiencing the discomfort that comes with bounding bosoms. Like many other women at the time, these ladies were problem-solving because the market wasn’t meeting female athletes’ concerns. (Bastone, 2017) If you would like to learn more about their story you can watch this great video: https://vimeo.com/174135593
Fig 10: The original Jockbra https://nypost.com/2017/08/14/the-first-sports-bra-was-two-jockstraps-sewn-together/
In 1977, they had a revelation: the Jockbra. They had taken two jockstraps and transformed them into a jockstrap for breasts (Fig. 10). “The sports bra revolutionized support for the defining anatomic feature of the class Mammalia, and, paradoxically gave freedom for women athletes of all shapes and sizes to participate in sports unforeseen just a few years earlier.” (Ladd, A. 2014, 1681) The perfect combination of material technology and increased female participation in sport finally allowed the development of sports bras. Sports bras have continued to develop to meet the needs of more and more woman who are participating in as many competitive and non-competitive sports as they please.
Thanks to the sports bra female athletes can exist beyond adolescence and in a multitude of sizes. As new technology is developed, sports bras and athletic gear, in general, will get more and more accommodating to ALL athletes. I’m sure when Barbier advised ladies play tennis as a non-competitive option for exercise, he could never have imagined bad-ass babes like Serena Williams (Fig. 11) pushing sport and fashion to work for women and not the other way around.
Fig. 11 : Serena Williams warms up on a practice court at the Australian Open on January 18, 2012. http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Serena+Williams/Serena+Williams+Practices+Swing/7RrRhlyExKW
On a final note, I like to think Atalanta finally got her sports bra. In this 1974 animation, her story is reimagined with a feminist twist and more comfortable looking sportswear indicative the forth-coming sports bra. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=23&v=q-77_cVnmUQ
You go girl!
Works Cited:
Angelone, D. J. & Swirsky, J. M. (2014). Femi-Nazis and Bra Burning Crazies: A Qualitative Evaluation of Contemporary Beliefs about Feminism. Current Psychology, 33(3), 229-245.
Barbier, G. (1924). Atalante. Gazette du BonTon: Art, Modes & Chronique, 6(6), 225-228. Retried from the ROM Library Archives.
Cheadle, T. (2018). The Invention of the Flapper: More than a symbol of decadence, the flapper should be seen as a quest by women for agency, independence and escape from domesticity. History Today, 68(2). Retrieved from https://www.historytoday.com/reviews/invention-flapper
Fields, J.(2007). Corsets and Girdles. In An Intimate Affair: Women, Lingerie, and Sexuality. University of California Press.
Freadman, A. (2018). Breasts are Back! Colette ‘ s Critique of Flapper Fashion. French Studies: A Quarterly Review, 60(3), 335-346.
Terret, T. (2010). From Alice Milliat to Marie-Therese Eyquem: Revisiting women’s sport in France (1920s-1960s). International Journal of the History of Sport, 27(7), 1154-1172.
Gori, G. (2012). Prologue : Atalanta as Symbol of European Sportswomen. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 29(2), 206-211.
Hirshbein, L. D. (2001). The Flapper and the Fogy: Representations of Gender and Age in the 1920s. Journal of Family History, 26(1), 112-137.
Ladd, A. L. (2014). Gendered Innovations in Orthopaedic Science Game in Play Gendered Innovations in Orthopaedic Science. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 472(6), 1681-1684.
Serwint, N. (1993). The Female Athletic Costume at the Heraia and Prenuptial Initiation Rites. American Journal of Archaeology, 97(3), 403-422.
Spencer, B. (2007). Bras, Breasts and Living in the Seventies: Historiography in the Age of Fibs. Australian Feminist Studies, 22(53), 231-245.
Key Dates in the History of Woman in the Oylmpic Movement. (2018). Olympic.org. Retrieved from https://www.olympic.org/women-in-sport/background/key-dates
Upon entering the Ryerson Research Collection, I witnessed an interaction between two lonely garments. Here is what was said:
A: Hi friend!
B: Hey! How’s it going?
A: Oh my gosh, great! I haven’t been out of my box in a while.
B: Getting some fresh air… kinda. We are still in this windowless room. I did get my first tag early today though.
A: That is exciting. I’m sorry if this sounds rude but what exactly are you?
B: I’m not totally sure. I know I was once an animal.
A: Me too.
B: So we were are both skin… I mean leather. I was a cow.
A: I don’t remember what I was. I must be getting old… I am called a moccasin though.
B: I don’t know what I’m called. When were you created?
A: I was created in the 1954, in Canada
B: I was made in Canada too, in 1991. I actually don’t think I’ve been far away from this place ever.
A: I came from Saskatchewan. I know that because of the tag someone stitched into my inside. I was made by Woodland Cree, so that probably means I am from Central or Northern Saskatchewan, but was sold to someone and brought here. Do you know who made you?
B: Yes, he was a Ryerson Fashion design student named Todd Lynn. I was one of the things created for his graduating project.
A: So you were handmade?
B: No, I seem to be completely machine sewn. Were you handmade?
A: Yes, you can really tell when you look inside me. My seams are visible. They aren’t all perfect even and I have a few loose threads here and there. Overall, I think I’m ageing quite nicely.
B: Definitely! You are a real stunner!
A: Aw shucks.
B: Have you been worn?
A: A bit, I have some dirt and wear on my bottoms, but it doesn’t seem like very much. Have you been worn?
B: Yes… but I don’t have any proof like you. I am pretty pristine… except for my front is collapsing in a little. I do have a tag: “DRY CLEAN ONLY” So, better be careful with me!
A: I’m not the one who is going to wear you. I actually don’t think we will ever me worn again. What else is on your tags?
B: I’m a size 8.
A: Me too, but I go on feet.
B: That’s a funny coincidence. I have a name on my collar, it says RED – like a butcher shop. Sounds menacing. Do you think I’m menacing?
A: Maybe, you kinda remind me of a turtle. Which isn’t very scary. I don’t really understand what you are though.
B: I am built to cover a body.
A: Same as me.
B: I am soft and smooth.
A: I am soft and lumpy.
B: I’m definitely not called a moccasin?
A: Definitely not.
B: I glide across skin, cause I’m soooo smooth.
A: Whereas I’m a little grippy and textured, almost like I’m trying to hold the skin in place.
B: I rest on top of skin, because I am heavy, structured, and thick.
A: I caress skin and melt into it, if someone wore me enough I would almost become a part of them. Except for my hard top where my beads rest. They are heavy but surprisingly sturdy.
B: I caress skin as well because my straps twist into and around curves. Like you, one area of me is a hard top layer. They are almost shield-like, but they are kinda collapsing in because my insides are plastic.
A: Are you protecting something?
B: No, I am just calling attention my assets. I think they make me look powerful. See! How about you?
A: My beads are meaningful and symbolic.
B: My straps and stitching actually create a similar triangular pattern.
A: Yes, they do!
B: I smell rich and dusty, like a bookshelf of old bound books.
A: I smell earthy and sweet, like a forest after rain.
B: I bet we taste similar…
A: Probably not a good idea to eat us though.
B: I make a bit of noise. When skin slides over me there is a ‘shhh’ sound and when I move my buckle clacks and my straps thump together.
A: I am quiet. My soles are soft so I tread very gently wherever I go.
B: I am not gentle.
A: No, you are not gentle. I would call you rugged, but certainly not practical.
B: But so are you.
A: It’s possible to be both. But you are something, you make a statement… You don’t cover much skin. I think you have a female body too…
B: I can’t calm these tits!
A: No way!
B: I do seem to have a body of my own. You have structured shoulders, big boobies, straps like ribs, a spine, and a very convenient crotch opening.
A: You’re right! Let’s call you a body suit.
B: I like it.
A: Looks like I’m heading back into my box. It was nice to meet you Bodysuit! Goodbye.
B: You too Moccasins. I hope I get to see you again.
A Material Conversation
When presented with two examples of amazing leather work, I couldn’t pick just one. When examining the garments presented to me I had a strong reaction to their weight, smell, and texture. Based off these reactions I decided the take note of my personal phenomenological experiences. Using phenomenology and embodiment, this imaginary conversation between two garments reveal how two things that appear totally different actually have a lot in common. “It is often taken for granted within Western cultures that our sense of bodily awareness is primarily structured through five senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing and vision” (Blackman, 84) therefore while I did my object analysis I took special care noting all sensory reactions (except taste, obviously). I also took note of my surroundings based of “the belief that everything is always encountered in a context and by a Being with a particular set of concerns, needs and expectations” (Thompson, 2005:6).
I developed the narrative of a historical garment and a contemporary garment, both made from a similar material and with the same level of intricate detail, having a conversation about who/what they are. The narrative develops an “exterior corporeality” revealing the relationship between dress and embodiment (Davies, 65), as well as giving the objects’ identity. Van Doorm speaks of how leather specifically has a relationship between memory and materiality, as it takes on the wearer’s body and takes on the historical space related to memories, pleasures, ceremonies, and communities (96). I also think it is important to acknowledge that leather was once a living body, and by wearing leather you are attaching another body to yours. Both the moccasin and the bodysuit have a strong connection to the earth and felt alive, which I why I selected them over the many other leather objects in the Ryerson Research Collection. With wear, I believe both garments would form to the human body, becoming unique to the individual wearer. The materiality of leather also gives the garment life beyond the wearer, as I believe both pieces have been used as decorative objects more than they have been used as garments.
The moccasins (2017.05.009 AB) speak of how they tread lightly on the world, while the body suit (2017.08.001) speaks of how powerful it looks – both of the comments relate to modes of bodily demeanour. This demonstrates the phenomenological impact and haptic experience (Negrin, 115), and reveals the greatest difference between the two garments. It is easy to attached personality to objects when they seem to tell so much about themselves through all the senses and “recognizing that “story as methodology is decolonizing research” (Sperlich & Brogden, 7) can help reframe the interpretation of historical garments. I hope my quick illustrations develop a surprising interpretation of two garments which possess a great deal of gravitas, can also have a good time small talking while being observed in an archive.
Images of the two garments depicted in the illustrations:
Blackman, Lisa. The Body: The Key Concepts. Oxford: Berg, 2008, pp. 83-103.
Davies, Cath. “What lies beneath: Fabric and embodiment in Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In.” Film, Fashion & Consumption, vol. 6, no. 1, pp.65-79.
Franklin, Alex. “Phenomenal dress! A personal phenomenology of clothing.” Clothing Cultures, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 83-91.
Mida, Ingrid, and Alexandra Kim. The Dress Detective: A Practical Guide to Object-Based Research in Fashion, New York, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2015.
Negrin, Llewellyn. “Maurice Merleau-Ponty: The Corporeal Experience of Fashion.” In Thinking Through Fashion: A Guide to Key Theorists, edited by Agnes Rocamora and Anneke Smelik, New York: I. B. Tauris, 2016, pp. 115-131.
Sperlich, Tobias & Lace Marie Brogden. “”Finding” Payepot’s Moccasins: Disrupting Colonial Narratives of Place.” Cultural Studies Critical Methodologies, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 7-17.
Thompson, M.G. (2005), ‘Phenomenology of intersubjectivity: A historical overview of the concept and its clinical implications’, in J. Mills (ed.), Intersubjectivity and Relational Theory in Psychoanalysis, London: Jason Aronson, pp. 1–36.
Van Doorn, Neils. “The fabric of our memories: Leather, kinship, and queer material history.” Memory Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 85-98. 2016.
