Fashion between the panels : Black Cat & Catwoman


Hello everyone out there , as always it’s good to see you. I AM JMADDD STYLES and welcome to my latest blog post , Fashion between the panels: The Blackcat & Catwoman. The reason that I decided to do a Fashion between the panels with these two characters is because they share so many similarities. Granted one is from the pages of Marvel comics ( Black Cat ) and the other is from the pages of Dc comics and has been around a lot longer (Catwoman ) their narratives are very similar almost one and the same. So by comparison I’m going to pull the fashion from between the panels for both of these iconic anti-heroes, and with that said let’s get started with…….
The Black Cat :

Much like Catwoman , The Black Cat Ware’s a black catsuit the difference is the white fur trim around the boots and the low cut collar . Other similarities that the the two characters share is they are both jewel thieves and truly most noticeable have a love hate on again off again relationship with a major iconic Super hero as well. When I see characters like this with so many similarities it’s like the comic book label decided they needed their own version of the same character that they could make work just like the original counterpart has for so many years.


Now that we have established all that let’s get back into the fashion , as I mentioned a little earlier , The Black Cat wears her own iconic version of a catsuit. With just a few differences from Catwoman , now to pull the fashion from this comic character that’s where you have to start . Unlike Catwoman her look doesn’t change or variate to much from the first time she appeared in the pages of Spider-Man.



Even though her look has not changed much over the years I still managed to put together two distinct on trend inspired looks that would still capture the fashionable likeness of this character.


Look number one captures the look perfectly, when putting this look together I wanted to , make sure that I even found a fashionable way to capture the fur that appears on the catsuit of The Black Cat . To do this I went with a leather jumpsuit and to go with it a leather jacket that is trimmed in a white Fur like material capturing the true essence and feel of The Black Cat . The next look is more of an inspired look , as in I still went with leather but to capture the look I stayed with the color scheme of black and white. This time I added in a biker jacket to switch up the look a little and went with more of a half boot as opposed to a thigh high boot to finish the look off for a slightly different feel appeal.


Now it’s time to get into our next iconic character…..
Catwoman :

Selena Kyle aka Catwoman was created many years before The Black Cat . She is truly the blue print of what become Marvel comics own version of the master jewel their anti-hero. Catwoman over the years has had an on again , off again love hate relationship with what is probably one of the most if not the most iconic superhero of all time The Bat of Gotham , the one and only Batman.


The Catwoman character is a bit more diverse and well known than The Black Cat. Also interesting the look of the character has changed from time to time over the years as in the color of her catsuit and the accessories with it from the gloves down to the boots. So to capture the fashionable likeness of this iconic character I had to come with two looks that are distinctly different in color scheme and look . Over the years she has actually had more than two different looks but today I’m going to give you two inspired looks that are from her most iconic well known suits over the past few years.


First the purple suit , the purple suit was accessorized with thigh high boots in grey and sometimes in a contrasting purple , the same for the gloves.

To capture this inspired look I went with purple leather pants , a suede purple top , and stayed with purple gloves . The look is finished with a thigh high suede boot to capture the fashionable likeness of this character perfectly. The look had to be done in both suede and leather to perfectly capture the color scheme of this rendition of Catwoman.

Now for the current look of Catwoman and the fashionable looks that I styled that are inspired from her current look. What you are about to see is the newer more now Salina Kyle with a short slick haircut and an more functional suit the biggest most noticeable difference is the completely monochromatic color scheme.





For both inspired looks , I went with a leather jumpsuit in both cases to start the look off then branched out from there using different accessories to highlight and individualize each look , the second look is a little more theatrical yet fashionable as I put in the actual factual Catwoman head piece with the glasses , of course this is purely optional. Either way you look at it all three looks capture the true inspired fashionable likeness of Catwoman.

Well there it is , once again we have reached the end of yet another blog post , The question is are you team The Black Cat or Catwoman , as always I LET YOU TELL IT. While you think about it , I AM JMADDD STYLES and this has been Fashion between the panels : The Black Cat & Catwoman. That’s it for now so until the next time IM GONE….!!!


Fashion between the panels: Krush Groove
Fashion between the panels: Krush Groove
Hello everyone out there as always it’s good to see you . I AM JMADDD STYLES , and I would like to welcome you to my latest blog post. Fashion between the panels : Krush Groove, for this latest installment of this ongoing blog series, im taking you back in time to 1985 to a groundbreaking film in Hiphop history to show you how the fashion that you saw on screen back then would currently translate into looks for right now. If you have never seen this film and you call yourself a fan of The Culture of Hiphop, then you are doing yourself a great disservice. So after reading this be sure to make it a priority to see this film. So right now im going to take the main characters from the film and break down how their fashionable Influence from then still could work today right now at this very minute. So with that said, let’s get this fashionable party started with……
Sheila E :
At This time period it was one thing to have a film that brought all your favorite Hiphop stars to the big screen, but it was a whole other level for an R&B star to be in the movie with them. That R&B star was the one and only Sheila E. whom back then was apart of the Prince movement and known for her cutting edge style already.
From The hair to the clothes, this look that you are seeing on her in the above pictures, translated as just plain cool with a touch of sexy on the screen, but how would this look translate to right now ?
To style this look for a modern feel , you have to go head to toe leather , the jacket that Sheila E. is wearing gives you a Moto-style kind of vibe , so that’s where the look would start, from there if you look at her pants they are 2 toned, so to capture that I went with a color blocked pair of leather pants accessorized the look with leather gloves and finished the look off with color blocked boots and multi layer pearl necklace to capture and finish her exact look .
Then there was this look from her hit single in the movie Holly Rock. This is a look that could, easily translate from then to now ,
The look was already cutting edge , but to make more for now , didn’t take much. Changed the blouse out for a more dramatic style , and add the suede ankle boot finish the look with a sequin half glove instead of the one long glove , which would have been still cool to go with. Perfectly capturing a more modern version of Sheila E ‘s look.
Kurtis Blow :
At This time in Hiphop, Kurtis Blow was known as The King of Rap. He was the show stopper and the showman. Whenever you saw Kurtis Blow he was dressed 80’s fresh. He was wearing the suits , and the best leather fashions as you can see in the pic above.
A good leather look never goes out of style , that’s why taking Kurtis Blow’s look from 80’s fresh to new era fly won’t be difficult at all , it just takes the right eye and good fashionable vision.
The look that I wanted to style and reinvent is his classic look from the movie seen above. I did 3 variations of the same look using two different T-shirts and the top hat is optional, creating a truly modernized version of Kurtis Blow’s Krush Groove look.
The Fat Boys :
In this movie , The Fat Boys or The Disco Three were kind of the comic relief of the film , although all the hits that they had over the years were no kind of joke. There style in the film was not well defined
other than the fact that it was cool and trendy for the time , but if you take a really good look , the trendiness of then still works now
notice the Dapper Dan looks right here , and unless you just plain live under a non fashionable rock , you know that Dapper Dan is back bigger and better than ever.
with an all new Gucci collection and collaboration, with a look that picks back up right where it left off years ago like it never left. More bold and flashier than ever and definitely more expensive than ever , but hey it’s Gucci.
RUN DMC :
Talking about a group that truly defined a look when it comes to Hiphop, they were a group with a lot of fashion firsts they basically defined an era
almost pretty much monopolized an entire style from the signature leather suits , to the sweat suits , all the way to being the first to make you notice what a fedora was .
Not To mention the jewelry, they were the absolute first to ware the big gold chains or truck jewelry, the group was both music and style icons. But their most defining look was the Adidas sweatsuit and shell toe sneakers with the classic fedora.
A Look that is still relevant today and dosen’t require any real modernization or tweaking, it’s still just as cool now as it was then , of course the hat is optional. But you cannot see this look and not be reminded of RUN DMC.
LL COOL J :
Now LL didn’t have a huge role in this film , but the few minutes that he was in the movie , created a lasting memory in Hiphop history. That would be because it was the first time you could put a face to the then 16 yr old rapper that already had a hit on the radio called I need a beat.
Even though he was so young then , he still defined a signature style , that style being the Kangol bucket hat with the jeans and the Polo style shirt. Seems simple enough but the look became synonymous with LL COOL J.
This look also stood the test of time and still holds strong for today , of course back then more than likely he was wearing an IZOD LACOSTE, which is still hot till this day with it’s signature alligator logo. When I recreated and restyled the look , I preferred to use the Ralph Lauren Polo shirt with the Ralph Lauren jeans and jacket. Finishing the look with a classic pair of Nike Air Max and of course the hat is optional.
Russell Simmons:
An interesting fact about this film is that Russell Simmons or then Russell Rush was the only character in the film that was not played by himself or the actual person. Even his then partner in starting Def Jam , Rick Reuben also pictured above , still played himself. Instead at the time it was Blaire Underwood that portrayed the role of The godfather of Hiphop, the one and only Russell Simmons. The look that you see him wearing above would kind of become a signature look for Russell Simmons in years to come , although the look pictured is very 80’s , it could be slightly changed and restyled to fit one of Russell Simon’s signature looks.
Giving you the suit and tennis shoes combination, the key to this look is having the right suit and the right sneaker that will pair together. In this case the corduroy suit is the perfect fit for a casual sneaker , and for an authentic 80’s feel throw in the knit tie.
It was never really said why Russell Simmons didn’t portray himself in the film but for a long time until you got a look at the actual person, the name Russell Rush almost seemed synonymous with Blaire Underwood’s face.
Well their it is , we have once again come to the end of yet another blog post, I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you again for my next upcoming one. I AM JMADDD STYLES and this has been Fashion between the panels : KRUSH GROOVE. That’s it for now, so until the next time IM GONE…!!!
Fashion between the panels: Mo’better Blues….
Fashion between the panels: Mo’ Better Blues.
Hello everyone out there as always it’s good to see you. Welcome to my latest blog post: Fashion between the panels: Mo’better blues , by the way just incase you’re not yet familiar with me I AM JMADDD STYLES. For todays Fashion between the panels, im flashing you back to the 90’s , 1990 to be exact. When director Spike Lee came with probably one of his best if not the best of his films Mo’better blues. The film was visually great and had some of the coolest characters that I had seen put on screen in a movie. The question is what made it so cool ? Well if you ask me in my fashionable opinion it was the imagery, the fashion , and the musician lifestyle that went hand in hand with the fashion creating some very cool and memorable characters that would stand the test of cinematic and fashionable time.
Now everybody in the film had major style adding to their character, but the major characters that the film focused in on were Spike Lee’s character: Giant , Denzel Washington’s character : Bleek , Cynda Williams character : Clarke and Wesley Snipes character : Shadow. Each of these characters were equally inspirational from a fashionable standpoint as well, so that’s who im going to focus in on to show how the fashion they displayed still translates as fashion forward looks for today ,with a few minor tweeks or changes. So to get started let’s take a look at
Giant : Spike Lee
Giant was the manager of Bleek’s band although it often looked as though he was being taken lightly as a manager, he still had real style , the first look that I wanted to recreate to show the timelessness of the look , was the suede baseball jacket look above , as he scrambled down the streets of Brooklyn to escape the hitmen that were after him for his gambling debts. This look was so timeless that it didn’t require much changing when recreating it , a slight tweek to the style of hat , and added a crock skin ankle boot to really set the dress pants off with no cuff for a more modern fit.
The next look that I wanted to capture was the look that Giant (Spike Lee) was wearing on the iconic movie poster and album cover , the opening picture of this blog
To Capture and restyle this look , I had to make a few changes, the look from the 90’s in the picture had a plaid or checked pattern with a mustard color pair of pants ( hot at that time) with a black shirt. To modernize the look , I gave the look a slight color change from mustard to more chocolate brown and beige as the accent color for the blazer. Im never a fan of black dress shirts , so I went with a cream color spread collar shirt , and kept the fedora to complete the look.
Shadow : Westley Snipes
The next character whose style that im going to recreate is Westley Snipes character Shadow. You will notice a common thread that runs through alot of each individual look is they all knew how to wear a proper topper, a hat. For this look of Shadow’s that im going to recreate the hat is a key part of the look.
Similar to the 1st look that Spike Lee had on above , this too is a casually cool look with suede green baseball jacket , with a fedora to finish off the look.
To Restyle and update the look but give it the same feel , I went with a green seude denim style of jacket , kept the more cognac color brown for the shirt and pants and finished the look with a suede chocolate brown dress boot , then finishing the look once again with the signature fedora to keep the feel of the original look.
The next look is a bit of a step up to being more dressy , a classic black suit look with turtleneck. To restyle this look I wanted to go with a different shirt. Although I always like the look of a turtle neck and suit , but for the recapture of the look ,
wanted to go with a designer polo shirt , an animal print pocket square and finished the look with a dressy casual designer loafer. Giving you the look from then but looking more completely now.
Now For this look Shadow is once again giving more of a dressy casual vibe , to recapture and update the look
I kept the fedora, that’s always timeless, but I added a two toned button down , similar to the shirt being worn by Shadow, but to finish the look I added in a new dress boot beige dress pant to offset the colors in the shirt , recreating this look with a modern twist.
Clarke : Cynda Williams
From The minute Cynda Williams ( Clarke) stepped on screen her whole style was undeniably noticeable, as she appeared at Denzel Washington’s ( Bleek ) door. That look that you see above is the first style of Clarke that I wanted to recapture and style.
The Main focal point of the look being the red wool coat then the hat that is seen above , a women’s fedora or floppy hat. Since you don’t see the rest of the look from the waist down, the look is completed with a tailored pant a designer ankle boot and polka dot blouse or shirt.
The Next look that really grabbed my attention years ago , is the famous record store scene with Clarke and Shadow, I captured Shadow’s look from this scene a few frames above. In this scene Clarke has on a bodycon striped dress , a classic look in itself that has never gone out of style. To recapture and restyle the look , I went with two different dresses for variety to give you the same look and feel from the movie , but tweaked the look just a little.
To Show you the look could be done with two different color dresses and slightly different style of dress , but the common thing is that both looks show you how to put Clarke’s look together in more than one way. But still give you the basic style.
Then for her final look , the evening dress for her first appearance singing with the band, once again a perfect example of how the feel of a look can be done even if you change the dress to another style , the blue print and red carpet style is still the same.
Creating a timeless look of both impeccable style and unforgettable fashion .
Bleek : Denzel Washington
Every now and again, there comes along a movie with a character in it that comes across so cool that it leaves an impression in your mind of how cool , cool can be. Eddie Murphy did it in Boomerang and Denzel Washington captured the same type of cool in Mo’better blues , except the character was more on the artistic side and because of that side being displayed more his flaws added to the eccentric coolness. But what added to this was the image of the character, his fashion since came across as cutting edge and cool as he did , let’s take a look , starting with the first look above.
The look from the movie was a not so much orange but more of a rustic or rust color double breasted suit , with white dress shirt. As much of a fan of a good double breasted suit as I am , I wanted to recreate the look with a slight change. The suit that I went with was or is a two button single breasted suit , the colorway is in the same family , but a little darker , the dress shirt is white but a semi-spread collar for more of an expensive and right now look , that would look great with or without a tie. To finish the look a suede dress boot and a simple jewelry piece to bring the look full circle. That’s where fashionable improvisation comes in cause that’s the details you don’t see.
For the next look , staying with the suit theme , cause a good suit look goes a long way. I first showed Shadow ( Westley Snipes) black suit look , now to show the versatility of the look , im going to recreate Bleek’s black suit look.
It’s amazing how a different persona , give a whole new look to basically the same style of black suit. The look for Shadow was more casually cool , but the look for Bleek is more on the smoothed out dressy casual side. Once again a semi-spread collar dress shirt , tie optional, this time the suede boot in black and to round the look out a pair of black shades lightly tented and a standout timepiece. These small details completely make another all different look.
Now I could have very well created more looks based around Bleek (Denzel Washington’s) character, but the variations I did for the two looks captured the Fashionable Likeness and Essence of the character perfectly, so im leaving it right where it is.
Well There it is , the end of yet another blog post , this has been Fashion between the panels: Mo’better blues and I AM JMADDD STYLES. Stay close ill be back soon with another all new blog post, that you don’t want to miss. However that’s it for now , so until the next time…IM GONE..!!!
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