Back in the innocent days of January 2018, it was reported that Josh Boone's take on The New Mutants would have a distinct lack of fashion. “There are no costumes,” Boone said. “That alone makes it different.” Such a vision would lead one to believe there were few things to talk about in terms of fashion in this dark take on the X-Men mythos.
The film adaptation seems to have departed from one of its creator's original visions as well, as artist Bob McLeod wrote on Facebook the weekend of it's wide release: "Basically, #JoshBoone erased everything I contributed to the way the characters look." Even so, storytelling through distinctive looks is alive and well, as you will see, in the 10 best outfits seen in The New Mutants, ranked.
10 Dani Moonstar's Street Clothes
In Bob McLeod's post, he says of Dani's depiction in the adaptation: "I was very excited when I heard they were making a New Mutants movie... [b]ut then, I was disappointed when they didn't give Dani braids." In part, the distance between McLeod and Boone's vision for the character of Dani Moonstar is about a disagreement over how Native Americans are allowed to be portrayed in cinema after decades of racist stereotyping. Brian Young recalls how during his freshmen orientation in 2006, his classmates (upon hearing he was Navajo) asked, "Why [he] didn't wear any feathers, or have long, black hair." Part of the impetus behind giving Dani a less traditional outfit seemingly came from a move toward presenting a diversity of depictions and a move toward "authenticity" of telling Native stories.
Blu Hunt, who portrays Dani, reflected awareness of this in an interview with Women Wear Daily back in 2019, saying, "People have this completely skewed perception of what it's like to live on a reservation. They have no idea what the realities are. It's either just a very negative thing where people think it's this scary, impoverished, sad place, or they think it's teepees. It's not either of those things. It's a lot of resilience and it is modern, but there's still a lot of culture and appreciation for the past...." Dani's buckskin jacket gives a sense of her native heritage without falling into some older rigid interpretation of how she needs to perform her heritage. She also wears a killer set of boots for most of the movie.
9 Rahne's Fur Coat
The X-Men franchise has long been a rich source for queer subtext, both on screen and in the comics. Sometimes mutant stories have trailblazed new territory in terms of representation and diverse stories and at other times, they've lagged behind the culture and our values. Rahne (AKA Wolfsbane, played by Maisie Williams) and Dani have the only explicitly queer romance arc in The New Mutants, and in any Marvel movie for that matter.
As Bob McLeod mentions, Rahne and Dani's distinctive looks have been much subdued in the movie: "I was disappointed when Rahne wasn't a redhead with spiky hair." One review from CBR describes Josh Boone's movie as a purposeful rejection of the X-Men glamour and pageantry. In the comics, Rahne's early outfits reflect her youth and timidity, which comes in contrast with her fierce animal form. The New Mutants doesn't quite get this ironic contrast right: Rahne is usually either a little girl with a pixie cut and oversized sweaters or your standard-issue grey wolf.
8 Berto's Perpetually Popped Collar
Accusations of whitewashing aside, Henry Zaga's Roberto nails the preppy hunk look from the comics. His vapid one liners ("That's hot!" or "I'm gonna marry that girl!") are a a kind of verbal sprezzatura, which you can also see in the way he styles his hair and wears is collars.
Sprezzatura is what Articles of Interest podcast creator Avery Trufelman describes as, "a studied carelessness... [T]his concept that you're not supposed to look like you put a lot of effort into the way you dress, even though you probably did, because it's not cool for men to care about how they look." There's also a red color scheme going on with his pants and shirts throughout the film.
7 Sam's Red Hat
From Da 5 Bloods to Larry David to Kanye West, the red hat has become shorthand for a certain type of person and ideology. Various cultural critics have called it a form of "teen rebellion," a "provocation," even the "new white hood." There is a fair bit of anxiety by red hat wearers about broadcasting an unintended emotional message.
Bob McLeod's disappointment with the depiction of Sam is that he's not "tall and gawky," but Sam's hat in speaks volumes about his tortured connection to his life in Kentucky and his unwillingness to part with that past. The shearling jacket he wears implies a "rugged" masculinity that sets Sam (played by Sam Heaton) apart in class and style from his friend Roberto.
6 Illyana's Default Outfit
Illyana (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) has by far the most expansive, expressive wardrobe of the mutants in this film, and her costumes and their departures from the original comics make bold statements about her characterization as Magik.
In the original comics, Illyana is a bit of a loner. Her blue pantsuits and curly blond hair are fastidiously arranged. In the film adaptation, updates her with a chain collar, a form-fitting leather jacket, and black top, which hearken to a soft-core '80s punk vibe. That aesthetic, along with a shockingly ornate sock puppet friend, Lockheed, elegantly set up Illyana as a Queen Bee.
5 Illyana's Bangs
Illyana's hair tells volumes about her characterization. Her bangs alone are playing into loads of conversations across pop culture. The Atlantic's Kaitlyn Tiffany ran a story back in January describing the emotional baggage that American women have placed upon bangs. Tiffany cites the phenomena of the freighted hairdo with headlines like a quiz from The New Yorker entitled, "Are You Emotionally Stable Enough to Get Bangs?" and Reddit-documented breakdowns resulting in the haircut.
"Bangs," Sofia Barret-Ibarria of Huffpost says, "were at once shamelessly girly, adorably quirky and impossibly cool — characteristics that also happened to define the “manic pixie dream girl” cliche" of the early aughts. Illyana's bangs exude this femme fatale energy. She is by far the most feminine-presenting of the group, her clothes, the way she speaks, hair hair all point toward a hyper-sexualized construction of gender identity. But, the bangs also suggest in popular imagination a girl "in crisis." Monica Heisey's "short, uneven" history of bangs points out that Illyana's specific length of bangs are on their way out, because of their politicized and class valence.
4 Illyana's Double Bun Hairdo
The odango ("double bun") hairstyle popularized in the Sailor Moon anime--and immortalized by Ariana Grande in both space buns and latex bunny ears--is the height of cutesy whimsy.
On Illyana, this hairdo also echoes her horned "darksoul" manifestation and foreshadows a ratcheting of tension.
3 Berto Wearing As Little As Possible
It goes without saying that Roberto da Costa is the unabashed eye candy of The New Mutants.
Though the comics and movie do not consistently explain how he does or does not burn up his clothes, they finds ample scenarios for him to take his shirt off -- even while knelling on the bathroom floor, openly weeping while stuffing his face full of cookies. It makes sense in context.
2 Illyana's Impression of Dr. Reyes' Costume
Mimicry, it is said, is the sincerest form of flattery. But in this case, Illyana is really going for a gut punch.
After having drugged their caretaker Dr. Reyes, Illyana dons Reyes's signature lab coat and imitates her speech ("My superior") while also throwing in some salacious diagnoses like "I surmise you need a spanking."
1 Illyana's Breakfast Club Outfit
Illyana's wardrobe change into a ripped hose and mesh top for the slumber party scene is a powerfully succinct fashion message to her peers.
Illyana expresses and constructs her gender identity and sexual orientation by contrasting herself with Dani and Rahne's more muted, plain outfits. Her clothing is an intentional provocation of Dani and an assertion of her dominance in the group.