Catsuits and bodysuits in popular media

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Catsuits are a recurring costume for fictional characters in various media, as well as for entertainers, especially for use in musical performances. They are sometimes referred to as "bodysuits", especially in reference to a full-body suit worn by a man (although bodysuit usually refers to a legless garment); catsuit is typically used only in reference to women.^[1][2]

The catsuit has been identified as a film-maker's costume of choice for stealth.

• A.N.T. Farm: Fletcher got confused with the term "cat-burglar" and got dressed in an actual full-body cat-costume instead of the usual all-black cat-burglar outfit.
• Æon Flux: In both the television series and the 2005 film starring Charlize Theron.^[11]
• A.I. Artificial Intelligence: Ashley Scott plays android Gigolo Jane wearing a tight catsuit.^[12]
• Peter Parker
  designs and makes the spider-suit himself after gaining his spider-abilities. It consists of a red-and-blue lycra complete with spider-motif.
• Liz Hurley and Mimi Rogers appear in black leather catsuits in a tribute to Emma Peel.^[13]
• The Avengers: Cathy Gale (played by Honor Blackman, better known for the role of Pussy Galore in Goldfinger) wore black leather catsuits that took four-hour fitting sessions for the shooting.^[14] She opted for the leather as her clothes were getting repeatedly ripped off during fight scenes, including one scene that had her trousers ripped in close-up.^[15] Her fetishistic garb was identified as a reason behind The Avengers' entry into cult status.^[16] Emma Peel (played by Diana Rigg) wore a number of black leather catsuits during the monochrome series,^[17] but then switched to wearing colorful psychedelic jumpsuits as the show entered Technicolor. Emma Peel's black leather catsuit was identified as a precursor to the popularity of leather, spandex and vinyl bodysuits in subcultures such as Punk and Leathermen.^[18] Her character has been described as the inspiration for most iconic bodysuit-clad female characters that followed, including the Catwoman, Monica Vitti in Modesty Blaise, Jane Fonda in Barbarella, and Marianne Faithfull in The Girl on a Motorcycle.^[16] The catsuits and fashion paraphernalia in The Avengers, including the leather boots, kept the youth "at home on Saturday nights" according to The Spectator.^[19] Novelist and social analyst Gillian Freeman attributed this popularity to the "kinkiness" of the attire of Gale and Peel in The Undergrowth of Literature, her seminal study on pornography.^[20]
  • pleather
    catsuit and a black PVC catsuit as Emma Peel and her evil clone respectively.
• PVC, leather and spandex catsuits in the TV series, film and comic book franchises. The villainess Harley Quinn is renowned for her distinctive costume – a red and black diamond-checked catsuit in the style of a harlequin jester.^[21]
  • Batman (1966 film): Lee Meriwether as Catwoman, wears a black tight shiny catsuit.^[22]
  • Batman (TV series): Adam West's version of Batman wears a spandex suit.
  • Batman Forever: Jim Carrey wears a number of flamboyant green spandex catsuits for his role as The Riddler.^[23]
  • «O» claims that the popularity of her costume has taken forward the social approval of fetish costumes, a claim partially acknowledged by scholarly sources.^[24]
  • Catwoman: Halle Berry dons a black catsuit when she interrupted a jewelry-store robbery-in-progress. She later gets a new 2-piece black leather catsuit that she famously wears for the rest of the film.
  • Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman
    ) wears two flamboyant spandex catsuits.
  • The Dark Knight Rises: Anne Hathaway (Catwoman) wears a very different version of the catsuit from previous films, consisting of two layers of material, the outer being polyurethane coated spandex. Utilizing non-polyester fabrics created less sheen, compared to the costume design in the previous film (Batman Returns) featuring Catwoman.^[25]
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Wilma Deering (played by Erin Gray) wore disco-inspired spandex catsuits during the show's first season.
• The Cannonball Run: Jill Rivers (Tara Buckman) and Marcie Thatcher (Adrienne Barbeau) drive a black Lamborghini Countach dressed in tight shiny one-piece race suits.^[26]
• Cat's Eye: The criminal trio of sisters Rui, Hitomi and Ai wear spandex catsuits throughout the anime film. In the live action version the catsuits are worn by Miss Japan 1992 Norika Fujiwara (Rui), Izumi Inamori (Hitomi) and teen icon Yuki Uchida
  (Ai).
• Charlie's Angels & Full Throttle : Cameron Diaz appears in a white spandex catsuit, she also appears in a silver one during the film's opening scene. Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore appear in black catsuits (during the Alley fight scene) and the villainess Vivian Wood (Kelly Lynch) appears in a sleeveless black latex catsuit and leather jacket. The Angels also wear blue catsuits when on the race track. Liu appears in a silver catsuit while being latched to a car in Full Throttle.
• Chuck: Yvonne Strahovski wears a black catsuit in three episodes^[27]
• Zoe Saldana
  changes into a black catsuit in order to perform an assassination requiring stealth and flexibility that would not be possible in regular clothing.
• Doctor Who: Travelling companion Zoe Heriot wears a sparkling catsuit, apparently common in the "21st century".^[28]
• Dude, Where's My Car?: A group of five attractive females wearing catsuits appear a number of times throughout the movie.
• Ergo Proxy: Female protagonist Re-l Mayer has on some occasions worn a suit that resembles a catsuit. However, its main use is to protect the wearer from the harsh cold temperatures outside of the dome city Rondo.
• My Hero Academia: The character Camie Utsushimi wears a black catsuit as her Hero costume.
• lycra
  catsuits.
• Fantastic Voyage: the cast uses tight white one-piece diving suits.^[12]
• Galaxina: Dorothy Stratten wears white spandex catsuit during the whole film.
• Game of Death: Bruce Lee's yellow one-piece tracksuit has become an icon of modern action movies.
• counter-intelligence
  specialist and lead heroine, wears a yellow orange and violet leotard-catsuit with matching gloves and boots.
• counter-intelligence specialist and lead heroine (Rachel Nichols), wears a black catsuit, as does the lead female villain called the Baroness (Sienna Miller).^[12]
• The Girl on a Motorcycle: the female protagonist (Marianne Faithfull) rides a motorcycle through Europe wearing only a leather catsuit.
• bisexual costume designer Zoe (played by Natalie Richard), enamored by Irma in the costume, as a vague reminiscent Michelle Pfeiffer costume in Batman Returns.^[31]
• The Incredibles: Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson), Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter), Violet (voiced by Sarah Vowell), Dash (voiced by Spencer Fox in the first film and Huck Milner in the second film), and Jack Jack wear red spandex suits while Frozone (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) wears a light blue/white spandex suit.
• Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: The criminal quartet forming the C.L.I.T. syndicate (Eliza Dushku, Shannon Elizabeth, Ali Larter and Jennifer Schwalbach Smith) wears black catsuits.
• Le Femme Mitsuki
  .
• Beatrix Kiddo (Uma Thurman) wears a yellow leather catsuit-like two-piece suit with black stripes in a tribute to Bruce Lee's iconic tracksuit in Game of Death
  .
• Shego
  wears a green and black catsuit as her trademark outfit. Kim Possible has also worn a catsuit on multiple occasions, including an actual leopard-print cat suit (as Sheela of the Leopard People) as well as Shego's outfit. In the 4th season, Kim got a custom white full body battle suit.
• Kitirik: Wanda Louise ["Bunny"] Orsak appeared in costume as a black cat in the title role of the TV show "Kitirik" on Houston's (ABC TV channel 13) KTRK from 1954 to 1971.
• Bollywood actress and dancer Urmila Matondkar appears in a gold pleather catsuit in the opening item number
  "Aa Hi Jaiye".
• Last Action Hero: Most of the ladies around the video rental wear PVC suits and outfits.
• Looney Tunes: Back In Action: Dusty Tails (Heather Locklear) wears a leather catsuit
• Lupin III: Fujiko Mine wears a catsuit inspired by Marianne Faithfull in The Girl on a Motorcycle
• Marvel Cinematic Universe (aka MCU): is a series of live-action blockbuster Superhero films & TV series set in a massive shared universe centered on Marvel Comics characters, starting with Iron Man:
  • burglar
    that decides to turn his life around by wearing a technologically advanced biker-suit that can shrink and grow him at will.
  • Nebula: First appears in Guardians of the Galaxy, portrayed by Karen Gillan.
  • Peter-Three" (portrayed by Andrew Garfield
    ).
  • Steve Rogers / Captain America: First appears in Captain America: The First Avenger, portrayed by Chris Evans. Designed to be a patriotic hero, his suit is imbued with the Star-Spangled Banner-motif.
  • Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow: First appears in Iron Man 2, portrayed by Scarlett Johansson. She is a highly trained ex-KGB spy that is known for her spandex catsuits.
  • colon cancer
    in 2020). She wears a black catsuit similar to T'Challa's that has silver and gold accents.
  • T'Challa / Black Panther: First appears in Captain America: Civil War, portrayed by Chadwick Boseman. The ruler of the fictional African kingdom Wakanda who wears a literal catsuit designed to emulate a black panther.
• androgynous appeal in the film was carefully designed in PVC catsuits, at times by trench coats, generating enormous following, especially among cybergeeks.^[32][33] The role and costume launched her into stardom.^[34] Trinity's shift from the maiden with longer hair and softer garbs to the black vinyl catsuit has been commented on as a statement in gender identity.^[35] Kym Barrett, the costume designer, made 15 versions of the catsuit, all designed to look the same on screen.^[36] She was nominated by the Costume Designers Guild in 2001 as the Best Costume Designer for her designs for Matrix characters.^[37] While discussing The Matrix she said that she "wanted to go just from the script--to come up with clothes that weren't connected to a certain time or place".^[38]
• Mean Girls: Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) appears in a black catsuit.
• The Middleman: one episode shows Natalie Morales wearing a tight leather one-piece suit.^[12]
• Mr. Magoo: Kelly Lynch appears early on in the film as a jewel thief in a black latex catsuit.
• The Mighty Boosh: Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) inventor of the mirror ball suit.
• colors of the rainbow. Every reincarnation of the series features different designs for the Ranger's suits, although sticking to the rainbow colors. The 2017 film changed the suits to an organic mechanized armor (similar to Iron Man's armor
  ) that emerges from the wearer's body when tapping into the Morphing Grid.
• Never Been Kissed: Leelee Sobieski appears in blue spandex catsuit.
• The Rebel Margit Saad wears a cat suit costume in a scene with Tony Hancock dressed as a rooster.^[39]
• Maureen (Idina Menzel
  ) in black catsuit with matching cat ears.
• Rubí: Rubí Pérez Ochoa (Bárbara Mori) is seen entering a Halloween party wearing a black skintight Catwoman outfit with matching cat ears.
• Scooby-Doo (film): Daphne Blake (Sarah Michelle Gellar) wears a one-piece garment similar to a catsuit in the final battle.
• love interest, Patrick Wisely (Seth Green
  ).
• Slapjack (2006 film): Summer Saunders (CJ Dyan) wears a black PVC catsuit in several scenes, claiming that doing so "keeps the dreams away."
• Borg
  bodysuit.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) wears a catsuit as her Bajoran uniform.
  • Star Trek: Voyager: Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Kes (Jennifer Lien) wore several catsuits throughout the show, some of Seven of Nine's even contained built in corsets.
  • Star Trek: Enterprise: Continuing the Star Trek tradition from previous series, T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) wore a catsuit.
• Clark Kent's iconic red-and-blue lycra suit has been worn by many actors, nl: Christopher Reeve
  .
• Swindle (2013 film): Amanda Benson (Ariana Grande) wears a black catsuit during the final confrontation with Swindell.
• Tomb Raider series:
  • Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life: Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft
    appears in a thermal silver spandex catsuit.
• spy
  outfits.
• Tron: Yori (Cindy Morgan) wears a tight neon shining catsuit.^[12]
• Underworld: Selene (Kate Beckinsale) wears a black catsuit with matching leather corset.^[40]
• Velvet Rut: Two male and female cast members wear black spandex catsuits in a scene about experimental theater.
• X-Men (2000 film): All members of the X-Men team (male and female) wear black leather look rubber catsuits as their official uniform.