‘Who wants the pressure of being super all the time?’: Mid-century modern fashions and their influence on costume development in The Incredibles and Incredibles 2

Abstract

In this article, we examine period fashions in character costumes in the two Pixar/Disney computer-animated films, The Incredibles and Incredibles 2. These films have a strong mid-century modern design influence interwoven into the films’ narratives and aesthetic designs. The films have previously raised interest in fashion studies, due to their superhero concept. However, an analysis of the characters’ everyday dress is also valuable for understanding the influence of fashion and pop culture references on contemporary animated film costuming and how those elements embed within the technological development of digital characters’ clothing. We employ historical and visual analysis to highlight the integration of design elements of period-appropriate fashions into character costumes. Additionally, we examine the relationship between animation software development and the films’ design aesthetics to inspect how technological advancements support the behaviour of cloth, narrative progression and characters’ personal emotional arcs by reviewing industry articles as well as animator and designer interviews from the making of the films. This is a unique case study that explores the influences and inspiration of period-specific fashion in constructing costumes for computer-animated films, which are ostensibly set in an environment also inspired by the period and specific cultural zeitgeist.