For American Idol's Disney Night on Mother's Day 2023, Katy Perry wore a full custom Vex Elastigirl costume — a multi-color latex catsuit with integrated eye mask, handmade in our California studio. Millions of viewers watched her judge an entire live episode in it.
Every year, American Idol's Disney Night is one of the most-watched episodes of the season. In 2023, it fell on Mother's Day — and Katy Perry used the moment to do something only she would think of. She showed up as Elastigirl, the latex-suited superhero mom from Pixar's The Incredibles, in a full custom Vex costume built from the ground up in our studio.
This was not a store-bought Halloween outfit. It was a precision-built, multi-panel latex catsuit designed to match the character's iconic red, black, and yellow color blocking — constructed from our 0.45mm English latex, fitted to Perry's measurements, and built to perform under studio lighting for an entire live broadcast. The eye mask was integrated into the look. The proportions were exact. The finish was flawless.
Elastigirl's costume is one of the most recognizable superhero suits in animation. To make it real, you need a material that delivers the same seamless, second-skin silhouette. That material is latex.
Spandex would have looked like athletic wear. Vinyl would have looked cheap under studio lights. Leather would have been too heavy and too matte. Latex is the only material that produces the smooth, reflective, body-contouring surface that makes a superhero suit actually look like a superhero suit on camera. The way it catches light, the way it moves with the body, the way the color reads as solid and saturated from every angle — that is what made the costume work on a live stage in front of millions of viewers.
Perry's team understood that. They came to Vex because this is what we have spent 26 years doing: building custom latex that performs at the highest level, under the most demanding conditions, for the biggest stages in the world.
The timing was deliberate. Disney Night fell on Mother's Day, and Perry chose to dress as the most iconic animated mother in the Disney-Pixar universe. Elastigirl — Helen Parr — is the character who holds her superhero family together, stretching herself in every direction to protect the people she loves. For Perry, who is a mother herself, the costume was a tribute: playful on the surface, personal underneath.
That duality is part of what made the moment land. It was funny, it was theatrical, and it was also a genuine Mother's Day statement — broadcast live on ABC to an audience of millions. The costume had to carry all of that. It had to read as character-accurate from across a stage, hold up under hours of live television, and still look pristine in the close-up camera angles that American Idol is known for.
A custom character build is one of the most technically demanding projects a latex studio can take on. Unlike a dress or a catsuit in a single color, a character suit requires precise color matching across multiple latex panels, invisible seam construction to maintain the illusion of a single surface, and structural engineering that allows the wearer to move, sit, and perform in it for hours.
For the Elastigirl build, every panel was cut and assembled to match the character's animated proportions: the red body, the black mask and boots, the yellow belt detail. The color transitions had to be sharp. The fit had to be tight enough to read as a seamless suit on camera, but engineered with enough give to let Perry move freely through an entire live show — standing, sitting at the judges' table, gesturing, reacting. That balance between visual precision and functional performance is what separates a costume from a garment.
Character-accurate color blocking across red, black, and yellow panels — each cut and joined with invisible seams to maintain the illusion of a single surface.
Built to hold up under HD studio lighting for hours. Consistent reflectivity, saturated color, and a surface that reads as flawless in close-up.
Engineered to let the wearer sit, stand, gesture, and perform through a full live show — not just pose for a photo and take it off.
From Elastigirl to Mystique to Matrix cosplay — Vex has built character suits for television, film, and editorial for over two decades. The experience shows.
Vex builds custom character costumes, catsuits, and latex looks for television, film, editorial, and private clients. Browse our ready-to-wear catsuits or start a custom project with the studio.
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