Outside of the Balmain and Givenchy dresses that were typical to her onstage performances and public appearances, Kitt’s off-duty style –– a mix of dancewear and sportswear turned streetwear –– was shaped by her knack for movement and her penchant for deviance that spanned her career. She was often a step ahead of the ensuing trends, such as hot pants and bodysuits, that would eventually be adopted into mainstream fashion. Indeed, for Kitt to wear “short shorts” in the early part of the decade is notable (a prelude to the hot pants trend in the 1970s), if only for the fact that their mere length went against the acceptable gendered, fashionable mores of the times. “Acceptable” women’s sportswear styles discussed and advertised that year in magazines such as Vogue and Jet highlighted knitwear ranging from turtlenecks to matching sets combined of cardigans and knee-length skirts. Such sartorial choices as Kitt’s reflected her “embodied rebellion of respectability,” which was ever present in her vocal inflections and onstage and onscreen roles. Juxtaposed against Black women contemporaries such as Lena Horne and Diahann Carroll, Kitt was arguably an outlier. Writing of this contrast in her book Sounding Like a No, No: Queer Sounds and Eccentric Acts in the Post-Soul Era, Francesca Royster writes that “Horne’s and Carroll’s dominant onstage and offstage images most often signified gentility, achievement, sexual restraint, and socially approved class mobility—respectable images of black womanhood,” while Kitt was unabashed and more eccentric, taking on roles “associated with the sexual underground.” 

Her most notable role was that of Catwoman, the antagonist in the 1960s television series Batman. The bodysuit that she wore during her brief stint on the show was made of Lurex – a yarn made from aluminum that gave off the glitter and shine – and paired with cat ears and a mask, allowing her to slink and move as she concocted plans for Batman’s demise. The look propelled the international performer into the style icon that she is remembered as today, but her catsuit was predated by her stylish spin on leggings and leotards. While another contemporary, Audrey Hepburn, often gets credited with the mainstreaming of leggings because of her 1956 film Funny Face, leggings had been a part of Kitt’s usual attire. Moving from South Carolina to Harlem as a young girl, she eventually fell into dance and went on to tour internationally with the Black-led Katherine Dunham Dance Company. Like many dancers, leggings and tights were a part of Kitt’s typical attire for rehearsals, but throughout the years, she amplified them in her own way. While Hepburn paired leggings with flats and white socks, Kitt covered hers with a wide belt or an oversized top cinched at the waist. 

Well into her years, Kitt maintained her commitment to movement and personal fitness, complemented by styles old and new. In a June 14, 1973 issue of Jet, Kitt is featured on the cover that preludes a lengthy story about her youth foundation in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. Several photographs include Kitt wearing a black leotard and head scarf teaching dance techniques to children in the program. In a feature published in the July 1993 issue of Ebony, Kitt, at 65 years old, is discussed alongside Halle Berry whose path was undoubtedly shaped by Kitt’s decades-long career. Berry is photographed working out with a weights machine wearing Joe Boxer shorts, a sports bra and Reebok sneakers. In a separate photograph, taken outside of Kitt’s home, Kitt is photographed stretching on top of a rock and wears a yellow velour sweat suit and what look to be Nike Air Pegasus, noting that despite her age, she continues to exercise every day. In one of her many final acts before her death in 2008, Kitt published Rejuvenate! It’s Not Too Late, her how-to guide on staying healthy both mentally and physically. The book, as Royster argues, is evidence yet again of “her ability to shape-shift and resuscitate her career.” On the cover, Kitt wears a black lace dress and arches her back in a way that harkens back to her pose captured by Parks 50 years earlier as she joyously swung from a maple tree. Evidence, within itself, that Kitt’s legacy not only lived on in her performances, but also in her dance with style that befitted a woman who knew what she wanted to do with her body.