Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Gender Reassignment Challenge: Enchantress to Enchanter, Part Three

Remember when I said that the Enchantress' Suicide Squad costume was a tough one to translate into a male version? I found her Shadowpact costume even tougher. That's because it's another bustier/tiara combo. (Criminy, people! Enough already! How 'bout a nice tailored pant suit and a Pucci scarf?) To top it off, the costume also has capri pants, slippers, and fingerless opera gloves! To top that off? It's really, really boring. Say what you will about the giant witch hat, at least it had some personality and it was actually symbolic of the Enchantress' powers. The sorry ensemble she sports in the "Shadowpact" era is a warmed-over regurgitation of Storm, the Scarlet Witch, Marvel's Enchantress, and the White Queen, with a little "Shelly Winters in 'Lolita'" for spice. It's "I Dream of Jeanie" meets the Pussycat Dolls. Blech. Hey, let's get our heroine's reaction to the first time she saw her new get-up in a full-length mirror.

enchantresspact

You can't run from ugly, Enchantress. But enough about her! What about me? (Which is something I ask people, including random bystanders, at least ten times a day.) To put it mildly, I had quite the chore on my hands.

Here's what I finally came up with:

enchanter3

The last time I had to rework a tiara for a male character, I turned it into hair. This time, it's a tattoo. Or facepaint, if you're squeemish. I made it red, like the gem, instead of gold. Because it looks tougher that way! I think it lends a nice shamanistic feel to the character. I also added a smaller portion of tattoo/paint to the chin, to balance out the design. I changed the oval jewel to a rectangular one and moved it up to the neck. And I connected the cape to a tall, close-fitting collar. The lace-up bustier was turned into a Ren Faire/Barney Rubble lace-up vest. The fingerless opera gloves are now very long wrist bands (they go from the wrist to the elbow). The sash is a lot wider now -- kind of a swashbuckling, Arabian Nights type of thing. I kept the silhouette of the capri pants/slippers, but the negative space that used to be exposed skin is now the very stylized portion of the boots.

Whew! I think it holds together okay. That said, I really prefer the previous two costumes. They're a lot more fun!

6 comments:

Zundian said...

The tattoo/face paint makes him look like Union from Stormwatch(?) The best picture I could find was
http://image.comicvine.com/uploads/item/22000/21973/187710-union_150.jpg

I really like the rest of the outfit though.

Bill S. said...

I like this a lot, and thanks for giving us three days of costume rethinks in a row! Our cup runneth over.

Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator said...

It does have a nice shamanistic look.

I tell you, though, superheroes should not wear slippers, except maybe pink fuzzy bunny ones at home when they're in bed watching Scrubs or something.

Jeremy Rizza said...

Thank you, all! I was kind of on the fence about the face tattoo, thinking maybe I should maybe have colored it gold instead of red. But what's done is done. And Jon, the Enchanter isn't wearing slippers. As though I would ever! Gah! Or maybe I misunderstood your comment, in which case *soft, muffled voice* I apologize.

Kynn Bartlett said...

It's very Danny Rand, isn't it?

Jeremy Rizza said...

It sure is! Also, seeing it again after all this time, I'm really hating the Barney Rubble vest. Oh, well. I still like the first two Enchanter costumes I designed.