Get a first look at Catwoman’s wedding dress

As you may have heard, the DC Universe is looking forward to a big celebrity wedding this summer, when Batman and Catwoman — and Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle — tie the knot. And you know what that means.

Well, yes, at some point a supervillain will probably try to throw a wrench in the whole thing. But before that, even superheroes have to plan their wedding, and even master thieves have to pick out a wedding dress.

And that’s exactly what’s going to happen in this April’s Batman #44, in a story called “Something Blue,” written by Tom King and drawn by Joëlle Jones and Mikel Janin on alternating pages — Jones for Catwoman’s story, and Janin for Batman’s. Out on the 4th of April, the issue will also have two covers to complement its parallel stories, featuring Batman and Catwoman in their respective wedding attire.

And that means that Polygon is proud to exclusively reveal Selina Kyle’s dress for her upcoming nuptials with Gotham’s most eligible bachelor, Bruce Wayne.

Any celebrity wedding dress deserves an expert opinion, so we called in Eliza Brooke, senior reporter at Racked, our sister site for fashion.

Brooke confessed that she was by no means a Racked expert in menswear, but said Bruce’s suit struck her as old-fashioned. And since it’s difficult to judge a suit from behind anyway, we decided to focus on what was really important: Selina’s dress.

Selina Kyle/Catwoman in the Joëlle Jones cover of Batman #44.

Joëlle Jones/DC Comics

Bruce Wayne/Batman in the Mikel Janin cover of Batman #44.

Mikel Janin/DC Comics

“This is not a standard white wedding dress,” Brooke quickly observed. “This is for a badass, but very elegant, lady. The embroidery on this is really very wonderful; it’s really pretty but it’s also” — she pointed out a jagged downward swipe of black — “that looks like a dagger, and the way that [the embroidery around the hem is] creeping up her train is kind of creepy and a little insidious-looking. The way it’s all gathering around her, it looks like it’s going to envelop her — potentially hinting that this may not be an altogether happy day.”

To Brooke, the off-the-shoulder cut and the classic silhouette of Selina’s dress evoked the designs of Marchesa, a brand of high-end womenswear.

“Marchesa’s whole thing is … they’re just pretty princess gowns,” she told me. “Ladies wear them on the red carpet and they just look very beautiful — they’re not challenging. It’s not challenging clothing.”

But not being challenging isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“This is for a badass, but very elegant, lady”

“It is a fancy gown, but it’s not that edgy, and I think that’s interesting,” Brooke said of Selina’s dress. “It’s super feminine. There’s a parallel between this dress and her usual catsuit, which is, it’s extremely feminine — there’s no mistaking that — but it’s also tough. And I think that carries over. […] This dagger shape running down the back and the black [being used not as a significant part of the dress]; the fact that [the waist and hips of the dress are] black — you create the same silhouette that you’d get with her catsuit.”

Brooke told us that Selina’s choice is “very clearly of our era. You could [have seen] this at the Oscars two days ago,” unlike Bruce’s long jacket with tails.

Well, Bruce, we’re sure Alfred’s heart is in the right place, but maybe you shouldn’t let your butler dress you. But even if one does allow one’s butler to dress them (and really, who among us has not been tempted?), there’s probably one thing you know about wedding dresses: They’re supposed to be white. I asked Brooke if this was still the norm, or more of a fading tradition.

“I think the choice to not wear white for a wedding is still noticeable,” she answered. “But I think you could read a number of things into it; people do it for a number of reasons.” For Selina, the use of black in her dress might evoke that toughness Brooke talked about, not to mention her creative approach to morality or her past as a master thief and criminal adventurer — rather than her history of sexual partners.

But regardless of tradition, it’s a perfect wedding dress for the nearly 80-year-old character — feminine, but dangerous; traditional in some ways and transgressive in others. And readers will see it again in Batman #50 on July 4, the issue in which Bruce and Selina stop planning their wedding, and finally have it.