Cartoon Couture

THE MOVIE: “Batman Returns.”

THE SET UP: Gotham City inhabitants--including a freakish bird-man named Penguin (Danny DeVito), a secretary turned whip-wielding vixen called Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer, pictured), an unsavory businessman Max Shreck (Christopher Walken), and a wealthy bachelor who does heroic deeds when dressed up as a bat known as Batman (Michael Keaton)--vie for good and evil. The time period is purposely unspecific.

THE LOOK: Costume designers Bob Ringwood, who created the costumes for the original “Batman” movie, and Mary Vogt, fuse historical allusion and fantasy for superb results. For starters, they have subtly streamlined the title character’s outfit. This time his outfit is a little more Darth Vader-like, with suggestions of machine parts built into the torso. The idea is for his look to be more in tune with the movie’s predominant ‘30s and ‘40s Deco and Streamline Moderne architecture. Movie trivia types will be interested to know that Hollywood’s most famous Streamline statue--the Oscar--was a key source of inspiration, say Ringwood and Vogt.

Batman may have met his match in Catwoman, but the designers have triumphed in coming up with more than another black catsuit for her. What’s especially wonderful is that Pfeiffer’s transformation from a frumpy secretary in dowdy English tweeds into a vinyl viper happens before the viewer’s eyes. Pfeiffer takes a black slicker raincoat from her closet and sits down to sew her costume. Leaving the oversized white stitches visible enforces her duality--showing loving hands at home as well as what could only be the gory handiwork on every celluloid Frankenstein’s neck.

Penguin spends much of his time in his union suit and a velvet dressing gown that should be noticed for its embroidered crustaceans, his main dietery intake. You can also count on this penguin to wear a tuxedo, but not the one you might expect. His is a late Victorian morning coat with top hat, cravat, waistcoat, and cape coat.

Walken’s millionaire Shreck is also outrageously coarse in exaggerated pin-stripe and awning-stripe suits, the dark side of the stripes currently overtaking the fashion world thanks to “Guys and Dolls” leading man, Nathan Detroit.

THE SOURCES: Vin Burnham, who runs a “creature workshop” in London, set up a factory in Burbank to make the 48 cast latex foam-rubber Batman costumes, as well as Catwoman’s mask and headpiece. The 70 latex sheet-rubber Catwoman suits were manufactured by Syren, a clothing manufacturer in Los Angeles. The rest of the costumes were custom made at Western Costume and Warner Bros.

THE PAYOFF: Wonderfully strange, stylized and seductive fantasy dressing. Come Halloween, it will be hard to decide which is the best.