Dressing Lady Radiance
In which I liveblog my design research.
Part of turning Radiance into a fully written story is fleshing out all the parts that were overlooked when it was nothing more than a design for Lord Hades and a bunch of major plot spoilers in a bag (I always think of the exciting parts first.) I’ve successfully trimmed down the cast and filled in several plot holes, but as I’ve been chatting with
about costume designs, I realized there was another big thing missing. Before I started this post, I had yet to really address a key part of Lady Radiance’s backstory: Radiance, the also-eponymous TV show that both launched and sank her acting career.Radiance would have gone on the air in 2005; I’m pretty sure that my now-long-lost notes described it as “a cross between Sky High and Hannah Montana.1” The actual content of the show isn’t relevant, but since it’s the source of her best known outfits as well as the one she starts the story with, designing her look means looking back at this era and what the aesthetics might have been like.
I normally love research, especially fashion research, but—and I'll own my bias—those years just feel gross to me. For high school girls, it was the era of the Bedazzler, Uggs, and ultra-low-rise jeans. Flower power. Rhinestone-studded sweatpants and graphic tees. Baby doll tops. Oh, and layering those tops with tank tops or camis, because necklines were deep. I remember a lot of hoodies and a lot of baby-pink lipgloss.
Now, from the glitzy teen sitcom side of the source material:
The costume designs in Sky High aren’t bad at all by comparison.
And Totally Spies!, despite having “fashion-obsessed teenage spies” as the concept pitch, actually looks pretty normal.
We have two new Disney princesses showing up during this time frame (Tiana and Giselle), but none of the Looks are quite right for Lady Radiance. I might keep tall hair + tiara.
Giselle’s other dresses are more mature overall than the look I want (although present-day LR would definitely wear these for special occasions.) Florals are a great idea.
Of course, although she’s an adorable innocent, Lady Radiance is also a hero. I poked through some comic book timelines and noticed that Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman both had costume changes around 2010.
But, you know what…we can do better.
It was at this point that a lightbulb finally came on about the show’s concept! It’s okay if her superhero costume looks a little old-fashioned: Lady Radiance, the in-universe fictional character, fell through a time warp from 1945 to 2005—and now she has to adjust to modern life while fighting crime and finishing high school. Hijinks and drama ensue.2 The fanfic practically writes itself.
With that in mind, here’s a few looks from 1945:
And some hair accessories:
And, because I want to, I'm circling around to J-fashion as well. Radiance wasn’t a super popular show, and including some of those elements might help push the aesthetic further out of the mainstream while also securing its place as a cult hit on Tumblr and Livejournal.
How am I going to pull all these influences together? I’ve got some ideas, and I’m going to keep sketching this week while I work on finishing up Radiance #1.
i.e. “Protagonist wishes she could fit in with her peers, but she can’t tell them she’s secretly a superhero. Meanwhile, the superheroes don’t think much of her, either.”
Yeah, this genre is nothing but tropes all the way down.
Sometimes I think we’re long lost cousins! Despite growing up in the 2000’s I never really watched any live-action shows from the time, and fashion after the 90’s feels gross to me too. I’ve been thinking about Wonder Woman’s outfit for years since I used to own some of the old comics (a reprint); I always designed culottes for my heroines, whether superhero or fantasy since they’re so practical and beautiful! I’m so excited to see what designs you come up with!
As someone who loves deep-diving into the aesthetics of her characters, this was super fun to see! I love it when authors really take the time to figure out what their characters would wear.
(Also I still stand by Uggs. My feet were always freezing and they were heavenly to wear in the winter. The rest of those styles, we can totally pretend never existed. 😂)