The Interesting thing about Loki

In about late November, early December, I began the horribly long and difficult (although I did not yet know it) process of creating a Loki cosplay. As the time went on, I've had to study his costume design (that is of the movies) in order to figure the parts I could not find refrance a of. If you did not know, it is EXTREMELY difficult to find good reference photos for this particular costume. Now, while studying this design in depth I have picked up on a couple things that made me realize how interesting and in depth Loki's, and Thor's for that matter, costume design and execution is.

 

When you look at his costume, basically it just looks like a whole bunch of armour and leather. Cool. That's pretty much what it is. But what I took close notice of is the woven leather strips. Notice these in the sleeves and lower chest and torso. It is also on the trousers, but that can not be seen in that picture. Now, this technique basically consists of layering pieces of leather over each other lots and lots of times so that they look woven and create very heavy padding. This used to be used as a armour technique in many Asian countries, such as China and Japan. That's where the design of this costume gets interesting and starts to really say something about who Loki is.

 If these methods where used in Asian countries... What are they doing so prominently featured on a character who has an identity as a Norse god? This is where the costumer got to make the character what they really thought he was. Let's see... He is essentially an "alien" really. He is also someone who has been known to travel to earth and therefore become worshiped as a god in the Nordic region. In the comics and the movies we see that he also shows up in other places than just Norway, like New York.  What I think the costume designer did here is fantastic and implies a great deal about Loki's character.

The designer used the methods of Asian cultures to show that possibly, there is more to Loki than we know. Loki is constantly seeking power. And suppose after being worshipped in Norway he wasn't satisfied. Of course he wasn't. It isn't in his nature. I imagine he must have traveled around earth and began a quest of conquering, as humans seem so impressionable. Could it have been Loki that brought the earlier discussed Armour method to the Asian countries? I think so. In different cultures, he is known as different names. 

Basically what I am trying to say is, the costumer took this character and made his story so much more interesting while emphasizing great characteristics of him. The costumer told that Loki has always been on a quest for power, even when he was fully worshipped. Emphasizing the point that satisfaction is not in his nature, as well as showing the impression he has made on Earth.

Costumes can add such a great amount of life to a character, and don't forget that, because so many people do so easily. It's much more than just picking out a shirt and such that looks good on an actor. It is truly part of creating their identity. This is one of the things I love so much about costuming myself, and always try to use in my designs. It is also one of the reasons I chose to do a Loki cosplay. Not because I think he's "really cool" or "hot" (not that I'm saying he isn't) but the fact that his costume is amazing in so many ways, and a great example of what I strive for in designs of my own. Subtle yet powerful addition to a character.

I hope you can make sense out of this entry which I wrote after a long sleepless night.. If you you can, then good job! If you can't or have any comments or opinions, feel free to comment or send me a tweet @kleinenrabe.