Thor of the Jazz Age

It is the age of Jazz.

It is an age of flash and glamor, of speakeasies, vaudeville, and smoky cinema. Egyptian styles unearthed from Tutankhamun’s tomb adorn the garments and ornament the architecture of the decade. Horus and Osiris, Amun and Ra, Isis and Hathor live again in the fashions of the time.

The cities of Midgard glitter like the scales of the great serpent cresting the ocean’s waves, catching the eye of another ancient god. A war as terrible as Ragnarok has ravaged the world and another is yet to come. It is time for Thor, daughter of Odin, to return to the mortal world as well. It is an age of wealth, an age of war, an age of wolves and ravens.

It is a Viking age once more.

We may not have made many images during the pandemic, but the couple sessions we did were epic.

Thor is the latest in designer Erin Gallagher’s gender-bent Jazz Age superhero costume series, which thus far includes Black Panther, Captain America, Quicksilver, and Loki (coming soon).

In this portrait, the mighty Thor is portrayed by the mighty Freja Johanson, with hair and makeup by Shellie DiSalvo.

As with Captain America’s shield, Erin Gallagher translated Thor’s hammer Mjolnir into a sequined handbag. The silver-sequined crown headpiece evokes the shape of Thor’s signature winged helm.

These images were part of a mega session that began with Erin’s Morla the Ancient One costume, continued into her costumed vision of Smaug-as-1980s-corporate-exec, and then concluded with Thor and Loki.

Costume Details

^{by Erin Gallagher}

The headdress is rhinestone and aluminum constructed from repurposed metal scrap and broken rhinestone jewelry. It’s modeled and patterned after a Brazilian Carnival headdress base and modified to evoke a Busby Berkeley vibe.

Mjolnir is a metal cocktail vintage early naughty aughties bag and an ’80s cobalt-leather-look belt. I wove handles for it out 1/4 navy inch of silk cording. I researched the Norse patterns and then made a pattern and handmade the handles over it in several layers so that the bag would be both functional and decorative. It, like Thor’s hammer, can be wielded—if necessary.

The gown was constructed from three ’80s hand navy and silver and gunmetal-beaded pageant gowns. The rhinestone motifs are made of vintage Norse knot work pins and broken rhinestone jewelry as a medium. I then added Norse knotwork-patterned motifs, all hand-beaded by me. How many opportunities does one get to work with someone who is the same nationality and lineage as the character? ALMOST NEVER. So nothing would do but high period and hand-beading, which honestly is my favorite thing to do whenever I have the luxury of time. I went all out. Freja is a tremendous and magnificent Norse goddess in her own right, and all goddesses need the right outfit.

I feel cosplay is for any age, race, color, creed, and size and so on. It should be healthy and fun. I plan to continue reclaiming reframing things so people can enjoy themselves as themselves through the lens of their characters of choice. Cosplay is for everyone. You absolutely don’t have to conform to another designer’s designs from the film or anyone’s canon, honestly. You can be unique and be your fave superhero and be comfortable and awesome.

The Images

The Thor images were difficult to edit because, thanks to a rare stroke of good fortune, everything went right. Freja Johanson is an excellent model who flowed from pose to pose and brought a wealth of ideas to the session. The light was working in our favor such that everything looked good in camera as we shot it (ISO 100, f/8, 1/200). Thus, the editing was about choosing looks and moods, rather than fixing problems.

The images below show three slightly different moods, some warmer and more vibrant, some cooler and more subdued. The biggest challenge was of course the lightning image, which began from an inspiration to add some clouds into the background and then built from there.

The fourth entry in Erin Gallagher’s gender-bent Jazz Age superhero costume series, Gallagher once again translated the traditional hero’s costume into something classy, jazzy, and unique. Keep an eye out for Thor’s number one frenemy, the mischievous Loki, coming soon. In the meantime, Erin Gallagher has just launched her new site stocked with marvelous offerings. It’s called Erin Rose Design: A Boutique of Unique Geek Chic Needful Things and Haute Macabre. Check it out!