This June, Marvel's entire 'Reign of X' X-Men line will undergo a kind of mini-event, in which all the X-Men titles will tell the story of Krakoa's inaugural Hellfire Gala.
A kind of mutant prom at which the new line-up of the X-Men will be announced, the Hellfire Gala will also feature some of Marvel's most prominent mutants wearing cutting edge haute couture looks designed by fan favorite artist Russell Dauterman.
Dauterman, who is best known for his work on Jason Aaron's Thor (including designing Jane Foster's Thor outfit) and his current work on X-Men titles such as Marauders and a pair of Giant-Size X-Men one-shots, has designed new stylish, mutant-centric outfits for Storm, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Rachel Summers, Angel, M, Captain Britain, Rogue, Kate Pryde, and Emma Frost.
"X-Men costumes are one of my favorite things," Dauterman tells Entertainment Weekly, who premiered the designs. "As a teenager that's what I would draw the most—doodles of an X-character in all their looks. So, I'm absolutely thrilled—designing costumes for the mutants is top-of-the-list, dream job stuff."
"The Hellfire Gala is unique and exciting for the X-Men, and this opportunity is really special for me—I tried to have that come across in the character designs," Dauterman continues. "As Emma Frost said, 'The whole world is watching us now. We must be nothing less than fabulous'."
Here's a gallery of the designs:
"My general thought was that the Gala aesthetic should be high-fashion X-Men costumes (mutant clothes), not high-fashion human clothes, so I looked at a lot of fashion reference, but tried to think, 'What would the X-costume version of this be?'," Dauterman states of the process behind the designs.
"The looks reference and take inspiration from couture by Alexander McQueen, Iris van Herpen, Balmain, Moschino, Givenchy, Versace, Gaultier, Gucci, and more. I also drew from the characters' past costumes."
The Hellfire Gala runs through all eleven X-Men titles in June - X-Men, Excalibur, X-Force, Cable, Marauders, Wolverine, Children of the Atom, X-Corp, Way of X, New Mutants, and Hellions – and will culminate in a one-shot titled Planet-Size X-Men.
Watch for Marvel's full June 2021 solicitations later this month on Newsarama.
Stay on top of everything X-Men that's coming including the Hellfire Gala, with our definitive list of all the X-Men comics planned for 2021 and beyond.
