It's official: the X-Men's Kitty Pryde has the worst fashion sense imaginable. Kitty Pryde was created by the legendary Chris Claremont and John Byrne during the epic Dark Phoenix Saga, and she quickly became one of the most popular and influential X-Men of all time; she even inspired Joss Whedon when he created Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
And yet, for all that's the case, in one respect Kitty Pryde just doesn't have what it takes to be a superhero; she sucks at designing her own costumes. To be fair, most superheroes have had some wince-worthy looks - even those who are supposedly fashion-conscious, such as Wasp or Jean Grey. And Kitty's never gone for anything quite so awkward as the Power Girl boob window. But still, for all that's the case, there's good reason Kitty tends to fall back on adaptations of the traditional X-Men training suit. It's because her individual looks have been pretty awful.
This isn't an accident; Chris Claremont deliberately wrote Kitty as having terrible fashion sense, in order to make her more relatable. It's become an established part of her charm, and a constant source of amusement to comic book readers. So - in honor of Kitty Pryde, here are all her worst looks.
The Spangly Roller-Skating Costume
To be fair to Kitty Pryde, she was only 13 when she designed her worst costume - which probably explains the rollerskates (Dazzler has no such excuse). Actually designed by Dave Cockrum, this eye-watering ensemble was intended to mock the badly-conceived female superhero costumes of the day. It succeeded admirably, and a later comic retconned that the X-Men forced Kitty to burn it. "Fare thee well, O spangly roller-skating costume," a heartbroken Kitty declared as she tossed it into the flames.
Kitty Pryde's Bling Costume
Kitty's next attempt to impress the X-Men is best described as the "Bling" costume, and she put it together in secret ready to surprise the team. Her opportunity came when the X-Men teamed up with the Fantastic Four in order to deal with alien invaders, and Kitty decided to make her grand entrance. A bemused Professor X insisted she change back into the team uniform instead. The scene is a delightful one, and this time it caught on; fans began to send in their own designs for Kitty, much to Marvel's amusement.
Kitty Pryde's Fashion Sense On Display
Kitty may not have much of a fashion sense, but nobody can possibly fault her for her enthusiasm. Her costume capers came to a head in Uncanny X-Men #155-157, when she gained access to alien technology that allowed her to instantly create any outfit she could imagine. Dave Cockrum was clearly having a blast, even using one of his earlier designs for Phoenix, and he then had Kitty create a Darth Vader cosplay. The gag continued over the next couple of issues, with Kitty trying out other looks, including ones that were frankly a little disturbing; one outfit displayed far too much skin and cleavage for a 14-year-old girl, and Kitty admitted she was hoping it would catch Colossus' eye. Hilariously, the alien tech proved key to the story, because Kitty used it to pretend to be Dark Phoenix and keep a bunch of would-be invaders occupied until the rest of the X-Men arrived.
A New Look In God Loves, Man Kills
The legendary graphic novel "God Loves, Man Kills" was designed as a standalone story, and initially only had the weakest links to mainstream continuity. It was also a lot too dark in thematic terms for Kitty Pryde to wear one of her more outrageous costumes. As a result, artist Brent Anderson created a new outfit that was fairly acceptable; it was even reminiscent of Dazzler, hinting at Kitty's hero-worship of the mutant pop star. Around this time, even the artists in the main Uncanny X-Men book began putting Kitty in a different costume every story, too.
The Traditional Shadowcat Costume
The "Shadowcat" costume is the closest Kitty Pryde has ever come to an iconic look of her own. It testifies to a darkening of her character after she was manipulated by a villain named Ogun, and was trained in martial arts - becoming a hero who could even take on Wolverine in hand-to-hand combat. She wore this costume while serving as a member of the British-based superhero team Excalibur, and grew up out of the X-Men's shadows.
Kitty Pryde's Return to the X-Men
Kitty Pryde ultimately returned to the X-Men, and decided to go for a "team" look again. This marked a turning point in how Marvel handled Kitty, because artists had clearly decided she'd grown up enough to wear a tight, form-fitting outfit. The dark blue-black is a nice homage to her ninja skills and her time as Shadowcat, even if the yellow is frankly inexplicable because it's hardly good for subterfuge. Kitty also wielded a Wolverine bone-claw in honor of her mentor.
Kitty Pryde's Black-Leather Costume
Kitty Pryde was now an adult, and she even worked at a bar for a while. That meant Marvel's artists decided they were now free to sexualize her in what can only be considered one of the worst costumes Kitty has ever worn. The X-Treme X-Men outfit was designed purely for sex appeal, complete with low-slung jeans that showed off Kitty's thong. The jeans even had additional holes in them to display as much skin as possible. It was all thoroughly cringeworthy - and, thankfully, it didn't last long.
The Red Queen
Moving on to the Jonathan Hickman relaunch, Kitty Pryde became the Red Queen of the Hellfire Club and chose to reinvent herself as a pirate. The vibe is very similar to Captain Hook's in Hook, although the tattoos on her fingers - which read "HOLD FAST" - are pretty cool. Sadly, this appears to be Kitty's last costume for a while, because she met an untimely end in the pages of Marauders, murdered by Sebastian Shaw. Disturbingly, for some reason Krakoa's resurrection protocols are apparently unable to bring her back. Still, these are X-Men comics, and death is a revolving door, so it's surely only a matter of time before Kitty returns to bedazzle readers with her awful costumes once again.