Willi Smith, Superheroic Designer

In an article titled “One Moment in Time: Designer Willi Smith & Mary Jane’s Wedding Dress,” comics scholar & fashion historian Monica Geraffo addresses “the context of what it once meant” to incorporate Smith’s unique creative vision into Marvel’s superhero universe. 1/11

Willi Smith designed the wedding apparel of both Peter Parker & Mary Jane Watson, which was worn in the comics and during a live “reenactment.” Smith was hired by Marvel hot on the heels of his tuxedo designs for the wedding of another high-profile couple, Edwin Schlossberg & Caroline Kennedy. 2/11

Smith’s involvement was well publicized both within Marvel’s own comics and magazines as well as the popular press. As Geraffo documents, one of Smith’s original sketches appears in Marvel Age #54. Smith also appears on-panel in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, where he’s treated as a celebrity. 3/11

Smith’s notoriety definitely made him a “get” for Marvel. But hiring an openly gay designer was also a bold choice. Historically, Marvel had progressive tendencies. But in 1987, the Comics Code still forbade LGBTQ+ characters & Marvel was still 5 years away from debuting their first gay hero. 4/11

Per Geraffo, Smith was also “a progressive designer”: “WilliWear was intentionally designed at an affordable price point, especially compared to his designer counterparts. As Smith was famous for saying, ‘I don’t design clothes for the Queen; but for the people who wave at her as she goes by.’” 5/11

As Geraffo documents, Smith was also a comics fan, closing a 1978 runway show with a tribute to Katy Keene. In Smith’s own words (quoted by Geraffo): “I was 11 years old when I was reading Katy Keene. I used to send 100-200 sketches a month and even won a birthday fashion contest.” 6/11

Smith’s involvement is also notable because of the timing and circumstances of his death. Two months after completing his designs for Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson’s wedding, Willi Smith died of AIDS-related complications, making these some of the last designs he ever produced. 7/11

As Geraffo observes, in 1987, “the public acknowledgement of Willi Smith’s AIDS diagnosis was both rare & exceptionally stigmatized.” President Regan did not officially acknowledge the disease until 1985 and the FDA only approved its first retroviral medication a month before Smith’s death. 8/11

Per Geraffo: “There is no public record regarding Marvel’s opinions… after announcements of [Smith’s] death included references to AIDS, but in many ways the choice to follow through with his cameo is either silently revolutionary or openly political in the conservative era of its publication.” 9/11

Geraffo concludes by underscoring the breadth and diversity of Willi Smith’s career beyond his posthumously iconic designs for a memorable event in Marvel history. But Geraffo also embraces comics’ ability to help Smith’s memory live on in defiance of the tragedy of his untimely death: 10/11

“For a brief moment, Willi Smith transcended the paranoia surrounding the AIDS epidemic. His Marvel comics cameo made him immortal, depicted as vibrant and generous and talented and actively still designing because within the comics his death is never mentioned.” 11/11