the man of steel

This blog is very picture heavy.  Not a warning, just a... something.  Just read it.

I've always wanted to be Superman.  Always always always.  Not really Christopher Reeve because I was never really enamored with his portrayal, but all the rest, yes.  Since I became an adult (re: openly gay) I have dressed up as women for Halloween.  Paris Hilton, Paulette Bonafonte, Glitter-Glam Barbie, Winifred Sanderson, The Baroness, Babydoll, and Twisted Sleeping Beauty.  Each year has gotten a little bit bigger than the previous, with more time and detail being paid attention to in regards to the costume, or the makeup, or the wig.  Even a prop or two.  So for 2013 I decided to buck the trend and be a male character because it would be something new and fresh for me, and something easy.

Easy being the operative word.

In 2005 when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out, the teaser trailer for Superman Returns was attached to it.  Super hottie Brandon Routh was in the title role and it immediately caught my interest.  I'd always liked Superman, but I had never really paid too much attention to him be it the movies, comics, cartoons, etc.  Directed by Bryan Singer (X-Men, X2) it was a modern take on the character and was SUPPOSED to throw him back into the limelight.

While the movie became a favorite of mine, it didn't do so hot in the theater and ended up kinda fizzling out.  Made some money but not enough to warrant a sequel.  The updates to the costume were good (at the time) but never really something that would push me into dressing up as him.  The problems were always wide-ranging, from not having the slightest clue of where I'd find dark red boots, to how I would make the chest shield, to then finding a blue suit that my chubby body would look decent in.

So the years went by, I succumbed to dressing in drag, and I do have to admit, every Halloween I tinkered with the notion of being him.  But then I would do something like cut my hair off, or it would be blond come Halloween time, or I had committed to something else with a friend, etc.  There was always a reason.

And then there was 2013's Man of Steel.  

And then this guy happened.

By which, of course, I mean his suit.  Totally different...

Who am I kidding?  LOOK AT HIM!  How could an innocent and young (reasonably) boy like myself not be enamored?  Impossible!  I say IMPOSSIBLE!

I hit the ground running.  I dabbled with the idea of being him all through the spring of this year and then when the movie dropped in June, I had made up my mind.  I ended up seeing Man of Steel a total of four times in the theater and I loved it more each time.  That's rare for me, actually.  I find as I get older I'm unable to watch movies repeatedly because I just feel I could be doing something better with my time.  Not the case here.

The make-or-break moment was going to be the boots and I knew that right off the bat.  If they fit, it was a go.  If they didn't, it was back to the drag drawing board.  I ordered red "Superhero" boots off the internet, hoping against all hopes my size 13 monsters would fit in the biggest size (12, which they said ran large) comfortably.  After about a week they came, and though you cannot tell in the picture above, they were a dark salmon color and not exactly the blood red I needed.  But I slipped them on, zipped 'em up, and then pranced around my apartment in excitement because they fit perfectly and I knew I could finally do the costume.

In mid July, @klreynol went to Oshkosh with me to the outlet mall so I could try on Under Armour.  I'm not a sports guy by any means and I've certainly never tried it on because it's mostly for athletes or runners and there was no reason to do so.  Whatever.  I resorted to Under Armour because every blue spandex suit I could find was awful.  They were all too bright blue and SHINY.  I didn't want to be a razzle-dazzle Superman so research into Under Armour showed a few promising things.  First, I'm not in the BEST shape ever and they offer a line of clothing called "Compression," which essentially sucks everything in in a pretty flattering way.  You can see the surprise on my face above for proof.  Second, the colors were excellent and what I wanted.  Third, it was made to keep you cool and I have a problem on Halloween of being a  big sweaty mess from running around and laughing and screaming and being generally annoying.

So I bought the top and ordered the leggings on line, happy I wouldn't have to even worry about the red undies because the new suit nixed those.  With the base of the costume ready to roll, my attention turned to the details.  Namely the shield.  You can't just go out and BUY one, and as much as I'd like to spend $300 on a movie replica from eBay some guy was manufacturing, I couldn't logically afford it.  Time to get crafty.

I started by measuring out my chest and then drawing the shield on a huge piece of tracing paper, making every angle as straight as I could and as symmetrical as possible.  I free-handed the "S" (not an "S" (symbol of hope (still looks like an "S"))) and then redrew the shield, bubbling out the outer edges because if you look closely at the new version, they are not straight lines.  I cut up an old t-shirt and spread it out, making two huge diamond shapes and painting them red and gold, respectively.  I needed the fabric to be a little stiffer but not so much so it would be like a piece of plastic.

In hindsight, I should have made it rock solid but that's just a minor grievance.

I lay a white mesh over the top of it to get a texture as close to the real deal as possible and then painted over that as well.  In reality and when all was said and done, it kind of has the pliability of a really thick piece of sandpaper.

This is the initial "put it up, see if it looks lame" test.  I was lucky enough to have a few muslin forms from my days at Express (who says hoarding doesn't pay off? (ignore the fake blood)) and it helped TREMENDOUSLY because without it, I absolutely would not have been able to make the costume work.  And I don't say that lightly; I literally could not have made this look right if I didn't have the muslin form.  If you're ever looking to get into making costumes, etc., you need to invest in one of these because they make life so much easier.

After some airbrushing with the airbrush I had from my short-lived college career, I was ready to attach it all to the top.  I had never used a thimble before and I'm certainly glad I had one on hand to do this.  It was a nightmare sewing through the shield.  Pushing that needle in was awful and then I kept catching it on things and making myself bleed (not a great seamstress by any means) and it probably took me a lot longer than it needed to.

But it ended up attaching nicely enough and you can see from the shading where the red portion of the logo would eventually go.

The finished shield.  The tricky thing with Under Armour (especially the compression line) is you can't just sew something on because the material shrinks and stretches so drastically.  The arms had to be tied back pretty tightly on the top to stretch the chest out for the shield to fit decently.  In the end I still had an awkward pucker on the front of it (can't tell here) but it was a minor grievance and not a big deal.

Then I moved on to the boots.

So the picture above is a fairly accurate depiction of the color.  Dark salmon.  The sole and heel of the boots were black as well and that in and of itself made them look fuckin' cheesy.  I thought about painting them red first but then decided just to cut out the same mesh from the shield and use a spray-adhesive to attach it to the boots.  It took a few tries before I got it all to line up the right way but in the end I was super pleased with it.

Mid painting process.  I did three coats of a latex paint I bought from JoAnn Fabrics (same paint for the shield) but I probably could have used a fourth.

All finished and paired up with the leggings to see how it would look together.  Which is fantastic, natch.  Originally the top of the boots met in a point but he doesn't have that for his suit so I had to invert said point and shoot it downward.  I cut the mesh in a way to it'd look like I had trim around the tops of the boots.  After all that it was time to do the cape.

This is actually the only picture I had of that process.  The cape was a goddamn nightmare and not one I wish to repeat any time soon.  It was originally a six foot wide piece of faux red suede, which I turned to the inside and used the slightly darker/shinier "inside" as the outer facing side of the cape.  I hope that sentence made sense to you because it did for me.  Kind of.  I ended up going to my mom for help with the cape because she's so much more talented at figuring this stuff out than I am.  Up to this point it had been simple painting/gluing/stitching, but I couldn't do the cape myself and have it look decent.

Plus she's my mom and I hadn't forced her into servitude this year as I had in years past so it was time to pony up.

We spent the day together chatting and working on it, took a couple hours until it was done but it was great when it was.  I'd gone back and forth on all sorts of things with the costume (he has a lot of blackish trim work on it, across the neck and wrapped around his wrists and sides) but in the end I decided simple was better and called it a day.  The cape reaches to the ground and has juuuuuust enough weight to it that it billows pretty nicely as I walk and when the wind catches it.

I started the construction in late July and didn't finish it until the end of September.  If I had to log all of the hours spent on it, it'd be north of 90.  That includes waiting around for paint to dry, repainting when I screwed it up, gluing crap and messing it up.  And of course wasting a ton of time on the body wrap I eventually threw away (seen below.)

Outside of the costume itself there was the physical changes I needed to make to myself.  I started exercising more frequently, watching what I ate so as to not look like a complete fat ass in essentially the most revealing costume I've ever worn (that includes Babydoll.)  I spent all summer and fall growing my hair out, dying it from blond to semi-dark brown in mid September, and then to nearly black just a week ago so as to fully get "the look" of Clark Kent.  Thankfully my eyes are already blue and I didn't need contacts this time.

This whole process was such a learning experience for me.  Eye-balling things, studying costumes, trying not to hurt my own feelings with how judgmental I am, figuring out how to conceal my penis so as not to be offensive (it was an issue, trust me.)  But in the end it all came together like it always tends to do, and I was so so so so so happy with the result.  It's not a costume that is completely accurate to any sort of Superman, but it's my own spin on it and it works.  When I put it on I feel different, as if I'm slipping into a character.  There really is nothing quite like that feeling (c:  But about that operative word I used in the beginning, "easy"?  This process was anything but.

So behold, my dear readers, the transformation of Clark Kent into the Man of Steel.  Biceps included.

And with that I bid you adieu.  Look for the October update in just a few more days (on Halloween, my favorite holiday of the year.)  There will be a few more pictures of me in costume out and about, as well as some other goodies I'm sure.  Until then, enjoy the rest of October, carve a pumpkin, eat some candy, watch a scary movie or two and HAVE FUN!  Lord knows I am (c: