Calgary

Calgary photographer Lori Andrews mixes Wonder Woman into Alberta landscapes

Superfan Lori Andrews talks about how Wonder Woman has helped her tap into her sense of empowerment ever since she discovered the superhero on TV as a young girl

For her 40th birthday she received a costume

Calgary photographer Lori Andrews made a Wonder Woman costume for her 40th birthday. So lately, she's been taking self-portraits while wearing it. (Lori Andrews)

Calgary photographer and model Lori Andrews isn't a fan girl or anything.

It's just that ever since she was a little kid, she found strength in a certain superhero, so she decided to keep the connection going into her middle years.

That's partly the reason why Andrews started posting a series of Instagram photos of herself dressed as Wonder Woman against a backdrop of a variety of Alberta landscapes, she told Calgary Eyeopener host David Gray in a Thursday interview.

"I feel really lucky that when I was 9, 10 years old, that show was on," she said. "I just assumed that women were superheroes." 

"I just knew that everything was possible to me and I could be, you know, leggy, beautiful — and a superhero at the same time. No one could take advantage of me. It was amazingly empowering at nine. And it still is today."

Lori Andrews takes self-portraits while wearing her Wonder Woman costume. This week, she got to meet the original Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter, who was in Calgary for a convention. (Lori Andrews)

Turning 40

What's perhaps different is that Andrews didn't grow out of her childhood fascination with Wonder Woman.

In fact, quite the opposite — when she turned 40, she had a Wonder Woman costume made for herself.

"Forty is a pretty big birthday," Andrews said. "And I'm a woman. And what happens to women when we turn 40?  Well we disappear in the public. Whereas I feel like I'm just getting started."

Lori Andrews has been dressing up as Wonder Woman for about 10 years. She bought a new pair of boots this week because her last pair wore out. (Lori Andrews)

Meeting Lynda

Wednesday night, Andrews got to meet Lynda Carter, the first Wonder Woman of her childhood, who was in town to perform her one person show at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

"I got really, really excited," Andrews said. "And even though I'm not a fan girl, it's like [that night], I'm actually going to see her in the flesh.

"Of course, she was 22 or 23 when she was doing that series and now she's in her sixties," she added, "but she's a musician now. She's a mom of two grown adults. She's an amazing woman."

Finally, does donning a Wonder Woman outfit bestow any extra sense of power on Andrews?

Lori Andrews works as a photographer in Calgary and dresses up as Wonder Woman as a hobby. She's preparing for a new photo project with the costume. (Lori Andrews)

"I'm also a model."she said, "so I know how to separate myself from from my image."

"It's a pretty skimpy outfit. And mine is not professionally made by any means — it's by my mother-in-law.

"Sometimes it pushes up where it should pull down," she added, "and vice versa. But I just own it while I'm doing it."


With files from the Calgary Eyeopener

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener