X-Men #21 Art

Excalibur #21 Connecting Variant by Russell Dauterman

X-Men: Hellfire Gala Trailer

Hellions #13 Variant Cover by Russell Dauterman

Betsy Braddock dons Alexander McQueen-inspired Outfit for the Hellfire Gala

EW: Never doubt superheroes' ability to party. It's now been a couple years since the X-Men set up an independent mutant nation-state on the island of Krakoa, and later this year they'll be celebrating with a party way too cool for humans. The Hellfire Gala, which as its name suggests is basically like a Marvel version of the real-life Met Gala, is set to take place this June across multiple books in the X-Men line as well as the special-sized one-shot issue Planet-Sized X-Men. In order to conceive cool new designs for the X-Men's high fashion, Marvel tapped another superstar artist: Russell Dauterman.

"My general thought was that the Gala aesthetic should be high-fashion X-Men costumes (mutant clothes), not high-fashion human clothes," Dauterman said. "So I looked at a lot of fashion reference, but tried to think, 'What would the X-costume version of this be?' The looks reference and take inspiration from couture by Alexander McQueen, Iris van Herpen, Balmain, Moschino, Givenchy, Versace, Gaultier, Gucci, and more.  I also drew from the characters' past costumes."

Captain Britain - Betsy Braddock has been many things over the years. Now she wields the sword of Captain Britain, but hasn't forgotten her past. "I mixed in aspects of Betsy’s classic costumes, bringing that armored princess energy to her Captain Britain look," Dauterman says. "[Excalibur writer] Tini Howard suggested Alexander McQueen as a reference, which was a big influence in the design."

X of Swords: Creation #1 Launch Variant Cover by Russell Dauterman