“Batman’s Rogues: The Humane Rise to Infamy in Gotham City” appears in Highsnobiety Magazine Issue 10. Order the latest issue from our online shop.
While the near-invincible Superman fights omnipotent figures like Metallo and Doomsday in his brightly lit home of Metropolis, Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s 1939 pulp creation, the Batman, had human criminals and the grimy streets of Gotham City to contend with. From underground mob bosses to the psychologically deranged, Batman’s infamous rogues gallery has evolved over 75 years to speak to the gritty, grimy reality of human nature, comprised of outlandish faces that – at their very heart – are real people like you or I.
Popular villains like the Joker, the Riddler, and Two-Face are all products of fundamentally mundane circumstances: an accident at a chemical factory, a man obsessed with intellectual superiority, and a stressful job within the city legal system. Unlike so many other cartoon wrongdoers, these are relatable individuals, and we as the reader are invited to pity, rather than openly condemn them. At its core, humanity is Gotham’s defining characteristic, and it’s this that has made the Batman mythology one of the most praised and enduring properties in fiction.
In tribute to this emotional complexity, we’ve decided to showcase some of these figures wearing key looks from this season’s Spring/Summer 2015 collections. Each choice has been made in an attempt to reflect both the character’s aesthetic style and emotional profile. Because, after all, what is fashion if not an extension of our personality?
The Riddler in Burberry Prorsum
Debuting in Detective Comics #140 back in October 1948, artist Dick Sprang and writer Bill Finger introduced a rogue that challenged Batman’s brilliant mind while simultaneously losing his own. The man once known as Edward E. Nygma adored riddles as a child, and was often ridiculed by his peers for his unorthodox passion for puzzles. What began as a harmless interest developed into a dangerous obsession later in life, as his transformation into the Riddler led him to seek out ever more fiendish ways to outwit the brightest intellect of them all – Batman.
For a man obsessed with mystery, choosing an outfit for the Riddler was surprisingly straightforward. Burberry Prorsum’s Spring/Summer 2015 collection was awash with the emerald shades so favored by Nygma throughout his appearances in Gotham City, setting off that shock of orange hair in a clash of colors so bold it really does border on the insane.
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