Villains as Fashion Heroes
Superheroes may save the day, but Steve Carell's Despicable Me proves it’s the bad guys who win in the costume department, says Sean Macaulay. VIEW OUR GALLERY of villains in diabolical ensembles.
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The pioneer of the streamlined supervillain style. The mandarin collar shows the influence of No's early days in the Far East working for the tongs, the Chinese crime syndicates. Note how all houseguests at the underground lair are obliged to wear the same style.
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Even in disguise, the true supervillain can't resist giving himself a senior rank and telltale giveaway prop. German industrialist Auric Goldfinger promotes himself to colonel while escaping from Fort Knox, complete with 24-carat pistol.
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Bond's most ardent foe never quite mastered the art of minimalist chic. The desert beige color is all wrong for a volcano rocket-launching site, but there's no denying the impact of a severe facial scar.
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The Belgium-born arch-criminal revamped the low-key Blofeld style to devastating effect in the Austin Powers films. He made everything silver and shiny, yet still businesslike. No ties, no laces, no hair.
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As played by Cesar Romero in the 1960s TV series, the mischief-maker offered a riotous counterpoint to stolid Batman and Robin and their utility belts. Extra points for the matching scarlet gloves.
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The evil leader of the X-Men comic books was allowed a more expressive palette in the film adaptations. Ian McKellan shows a purple helmet with side fins doesn't have to be an impediment to attack mode.
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The supervillain hero in Despicable Me dresses in the familiar low-key Blofeld tradition, but his army of minions are a novel mix of matching dungarees with evil-foe logo and Mole People goggles.
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Not the lightest of villains, not the lightest of dressers. Victor von Doom, evil foe of the Fantastic Four, was born of gypsy stock to a sorceress mother. After the murder of his father, and a disfiguring lab explosion, he switched to heavy blacks and face masks.
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The grandfather of the Far East supervillain look (played here for laughs by Peter Sellers). Described in the novels of Sax Rohmer as having "a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan." Nothing says Satan like finely woven silk.
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Sherlock Holmes's elusive, dastardly foe set the tone for supervillain formality with his Victorian neckties and menacing suavity. Unlike many of the criminal egotists who followed him, Moriaty dressed for the shadows, not the spotlight.
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The most playful of all supervillains, Superman's arch-enemy overthrew the tyranny of the Nehru jacket with outsize collars and sparkly jackets. Gene Hackman proved conclusively that crime and sartorial wit need not be mutually exclusive.
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Flash Gordon's intergalactic enemy was never afraid of stating the obvious, starting with his own name. For the 1980 movie, Max Von Sydow opted for an amalgam of Fu Manchu mustache and Blofeld chrome dome, but that collar was all its own thing.
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