Lois Lane Costume
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Different Superman Costumes
The "Lois Lane Costume" has changed as the uniform for a women in the workplace has changed from the 1930's to the 2000's. In fact, you get a pretty good idea of what a working woman is supposed to look like in a certain decade, from looking at the various Lois Lane costumes over the years. Certain traits remain the same - confident, brassy, brunette - but the variations on that theme are endless.
Occasionally, even that template tends to bend, if not break. I'm not sure if I think of the words "brassy" or "confident" when I think of Kate Bosworth in the "Superman Returns" travesty, but I'm assuming that's what the producers were hoping to portray. The Noel Neill version of Lois Lane, from the late-40's Saturday morning tv serials and later "Adventures of Superman" television show, featured a different hair style that was appropriate to the time.
One of my favorites was the Lois Lane from the Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons of the 1940', prancing around in the classy styles of the 1930's and early 1940's. I suggest you take a look at this version of Lois Lane for Lois Lane costume ideas.
Lois Lane Costume History
Lois Lane costume history dates back to the 1930's. The original Lois Lane was a sultry woman by any age's standards. Here's a sketch of this sultry Lois Lane, to show what I'm talking about. A little later in the decade, Joe Shuster was drawing Lois so curvaceous, that the editors jotted off a stream of admonitions to Shuster to draw her differently. Whitney Ellsworth, Siegel & Shuster's editor at the time, suggested Shuster was adding so much girth to her breasts and "tummy" that Lois Lane looked pregnant, and suggested Shuster "give her an abortion".
Ellsworth also suggested that Joe Shuster stop drawing Lois Lane like she bought her clothes at Montegomery Ward, and instead start looking to Vogue and Cosmopolitan for ideas on how to dress Lois Lane. These editorial complaints were heeded, because Lois Lane was depicted with smaller breasts and a slimmer waistline.
The great the history of Lois Lane's comic appearance about this is that any woman wanting to wear a Lois Lane costume along with her boyfriend's or husband's Superman costume can claim to be drawing on one of these eras of Lois Lane aesthetics. If you're a little fuller bodied, you can say you're wearing a costume based on Joe Shuster's preference, without editorial meddling.
Curt Swan and Lois Lane
Nobody drew Lois Lane more often than Curt Swan, who had a 30-year run drawing Superman comics. Swan also worked on "Lois Lane, Superman's Girlfriend" comics in the Sixties. Over this thirty year period, Lois Lane had different styles, including times when she had shorter hair, like in this Superman covering featuring Lois Lane. You can see the influences of the 60's on Lois Lane on the cover of Lois Lane #80, where Lois shows off a lot of leg, and even wears knee high boots.
By 1972, Lois Lane had long hair again and looked like a starlet of the 1970's. This look would prevail for much of the remainder of the years Curt Swan drew Superman and Lois Lane, up until the Crisis on Infinite Earths. The fashions of this comics Lois Lane influenced Lois's look in the Superman movies, portrayed by Margot Kidder.
John Byrne's Lois Lane
The John Byrne Lois Lane brought Lois into the modern age, with the reporter appearing in 1980's corporate working woman attire. The early John Byrne depictions of Lois Lane feature Lois with straight, shoulder-length hair that was nice, though later artists drew Lois Lane with an even shorter hair style that was popular with modern women of the time, but seems dated these days.
When the "Adventures of Lois & Clark" appeared on ABC in the 1990's, the Lois Lane in the comic book was drawn to resemble Terri Hatcher. Erica Durance portrays Lois Lane for a whole new generation of Superman fans, though Lois Lane in the comics has yet to take on the Smallville look. Because of the various depictions of Superman and his cast of characters in various media these days, you'll see several Lois Lane costumes on screen and in books at one time.
For instance, Lois Lane was depicted in a sleek, longer-haired look on the Bruce Timm cartoon portrayal of the Man of Steel: "Superman: The Animated Series". Lois Lane has an omnipresent short white skirt and work jacket, along with raven hair and a smart alec look on her face.
Lois Lane Costume Options
As you see, there are endless Lois Lane costume choices for you out there. I'm guessing that any woman wanting to dress up like Lois Lane is going to be attending a costume party or Halloween event with a man dressed like Superman, so you should have no trouble getting the point across who your costume depicts. After seventy years of dating and a number of those years married, Lois Lane is synonymous with Superman.