I saw Lindy Hemming’s work in Wonder Woman and I almost
cried. Scratch that, I did cry. Lindy Hemming didn’t use fetish lingerie
as her starting point, she used armor. Actual armor. Roman armor, to be
specific. Romans made armor out of overlapping bands of very heavy
leather. Because it was organic material, very little of it survived,
but here’s a fragment:
You can see this same technique clearly on Antiope in Wonder Woman:
And you can see it here on Diana:
It’s been highly stylized on Diana, but the inspiration, the intent, is there:
Remember when I said sometimes I can tell exactly what a designer was
looking at when they designed something? This is a piece of Roman
leather armor made out of a crocodile hide:
This is one of Hippolyta’s costumes. I almost squealed out loud in the theater when I saw it!
All the Amazons had fantastic, warrior-based details. The folklore
about Amazons cutting off a breast so they were better able to fight?
(which has no historical basis, btw) Lindy Hemming gave them a metal
breast plate on one side:
And, as a side note, can we talk about the casting of the Amazons?
All those gorgeous, strong, athletic women of all ages… swoon!
Yes, Diana’s costume has been stylized and they made her attractive,
but that costume first and foremost is armor. It’s functional:
That skirt? The shape is Roman, cut high over the thighs so it doesn’t impede movement:
Those aren’t sexy thigh-high boots:
They’re Roman greaves, meant to protect, and they buckle on. Again, ARMOR!
With Wonder Woman, the starting point, the INTENT, is
everything. The reason I literally cried watching the Amazons fight is
that FINALLY, somebody started at the right place. That design showed
respect. The intent, right from the start, was to portray those women as
warriors, and that, at least for me, made all the difference.
