Conan the Barbarian (1982)

Costume Design by:

- Ann & John Bloomfield ( notable efforts: The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970), Doctor Who 'The Face of Evil' and 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977), The Wicked Lady (1983), Conan the Destroyer (1984), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Space Truckers (1996), The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001) )

The film that helped kick off a boom of sword & sorcery films in the 1980s, and perhaps one of the first non-animated fantasy films that was an adaptation of an established fantasy story as opposed to one from mythology or folktales, in this case being adapted from Robert E Howard's pulp short stories featuring the titular Conan the Barbarian. The film was directed by John Milius and produced by Dino De Laurentiis, a familiar name with lavish scifi & fantasy films (having also produced Barbarella, Flash Gordon and Dune, as well as the sequel Conan the Destroyer and sort-of-sequel Red Sonja), with John Bloomfield hired as costume designer - before this Bloomfield had primarily worked in British television, which included serials of Doctor Who, such as 'The Face of Evil' where Bloomfield had designed some 'primitive' outfits that bear a lot of the hallmarks - materials of rough textures, as well as patterned sweeping robes and bulky armour - of costumes he would create later in his career, including Conan the Barbarian. Also working on the film was respected scifi artist and designer Ron Cobb, who acted as production designer on the film and thus designed many of the armor suits and carved medallions worn by various characters, as well as the sets for the temples - his gallery of concept designs can be seen here.

Bloomfield's designs for Conan consist of a mix and match of historical influences, conveying the sense that the 'Hyperborean Age' had occurred before established history and given rise to existing cultures. Here, mostly thanks to Milius' influence, most of the film's costumes are fairly muted and uniform in colour scheme, being mostly earth tons and made of leather or chainmail in the stereotypical fashion of a 'barbarian' warrior - horned helmets and furs a plenty! Briefly, Conan and his comrades Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) and Subotai (Gerry Lopez) sport more casual wear, with Conan in a long coat made of alternating triple-coloured fabrics, with Valeria in a brown dress with golden trim and studs, and Subotai just in a fur-lined red coat.

Just before the film's credits, Conan is briefly shown as a king atop a throne, clad in a robe with large shoulders (sadly not seen proper thanks to the fur cloak) and black greaves adorned with golden trim. This outfit was reused in the sequel Conan the Destroyer, but worn without the cloak allowing us to see the golden-lined shoulder armor.

When Valeria is killed in battle, she manages to reappear as a warrior spirit, and is glad in glittering silver armor, worn with white fur boots, and a fur lined helmet fixed with silver wings, as a reference to the popular image of the valkyries of Norse legend. Apparently she would have also worn a silver cape too, but this never made it into the film and is only seen in a production photo.

Conan also comes across the surly Akiro, Wizard of the Mounds (Mako Iwamatsu), who is clad in a tattered robe made of grey piping and messy orange and red fabrics, fixed with stone-like discs all over - the design is convincing enough to come across as if it has been cobbled together from various shrubs, and Bloomfield would come up with similar designs on the infamous Waterworld a over a decade later.

Conan and his friends are hired to rescue the daughter of the aged King Osric (Max von Sydow) who sports one of the more vibrant outfits of the film, but is sadly never seen in movement - Osric's clad in a fur-lined cloak of peach which has been stitched with coloured fabrics in shapes, and is worn with a golden chestplate and arm-guards, and is worn with a fur-lined round crown, similar in shape to the fur hats his maids wear. Also of note is the dignitary in the round black and gold hat, who is sadly not seen properly or in close-up.

Osric's soldiers are in brown and gold armor worn over furs, with the helmets being especially notable, not just because of the design (slightly resembling these of samurai) but also how they have a primitive 'face shield' that can be flipped up when not in combat. Like most of the armor designs of the film, these were designed originally by Cobb rather than Bloomfield.

The villain of the film, who murders Conan's parents and fuels his quest for vengeance, is the tyrannical warlord and cult leader Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), who sports several especially imposing outfits in the film, the first - and best - being his battle armor. The armor is designed with a snake motif (to fit both with his cult's imagery and his general affinity for snakes), with the helmet carved to have upright snakes as 'horns' and his shoulder armor being in the shape of snake heads. The chest armor is equally ornate, carved to have eyes and curled snakes, and is worn over striped trousers and a fur cape.

Thulsa's second outfit, worn during his proclamation to his cult, as well as during the cult orgy, is equally as memorable, and also much more colourful - the flapped headpiece is glittery silver with red markings, and is worn with a silvery and gold patterned robe fixed with large leather shoulders and a metallic waistband that is painted to resemble green scales.

When interrogating Conan, Thulsa is in a green robe fixed with silver beads all over, and worn with a black cloak covered in a dot pattern, and wears a black cloth belt fastened with a medallion of his cult symbol.

Thulsa's last outfit menwhile is just a simple black gown, worn with the same belt and wristguards.

Thulsa Doom has two lieutenants who serve him at all times, Thorgrim (Sven-Ole Thorsen) and Rexor (Ben Davidson), who both sport different armor and leather outfits throughout the film. Thorgrim's first armor outfit is a studded leather tabard covered in metallic discs, and worn with an almost crown-like helmet. which again is carved to have a curled snake on it.

In all other scenes, Thorgrim wears black armor, the waist armor in particular carved with a golden axe symbol - during the final battle, it is worn with a spiked helmet.

Thorgrim's comrade Rexor meanwhile, sports more outfits, with his hirst being a leather tunic covered in holes, and stitched with a red fabric symbol, worn with studded wristguards, black fur cloak and an angular horned helmet - the helmet in particular seemed borne out of Ron Cobb's original design sketch for a 'neanderthal warrior' which never got used in the final film.

Rexor's second outfit is another armor suit, worn during the Thulsa cult's ceremony, is again carved with snake imagery, and again is fixed with leather parts that have the same disc holes on them.

During Conan's raid on Thulsa's temple, Rexor sports an a sweeping leather coat (again, fixed with ring holes), that is always open and worn with trousers held up with a red sash belt.

Rexor's last outfit is studded black armor, again the waist being adorned with a golden medallion-like symbol, and worn with another stylised horned helmet akin to the one he wore at the start of the film.

Osric's wayward daughter sports three dresses in the film, none of them getting enough screentime much. Her first dress is a simplistic silvery-white dress fixed in the middle with a golden medallion of Thulsa's cult symbol, as well as sporting a metallic headdress, which she wears with her second outfit, which otherwise consists of a silvery skirt and bikini. Her third outfit is a dark grey and green dress that has been adorned with sparkling red pieces, worn with a grey veil.

Thulsa Doom's elite soldiers don't appear much in the film, which is a shame as they're the most imposing designs - over their white breeches and shirts they wear ornate black armor (designed by Ron Cobb) which again is carved with the snake symbol of Thulsa Doom's cult, and the uniform is finished off with wearing a spiked helmet worn with an ominous face mask.

Lastly, are the robes worn by the various worshippers of Thulsa Doom's cult - the high priests wear the most striking outfits, being in black robes adorned with white and black trim around the large shoulders, as well as fabric strips of the same pattern hanging from either their headdress (such as the city high priest's) or cap (such as the priest at Thulsa's speech at the very end of the film) - these caps are worn by almost all members of the cult, with a visual rank system going on - all lower priests wear orange sashes and have the patterned strips on their caps, whereas the mere rank and file members are in totally plain white robes and caps, with no patterned strips.