Red Sonja (1985)

Costume Design by Danilo Donati

A sort of indirect follow-up to the two Conan films based on the comic book character itself based on Robert E Howard's stories, this would prove to be familiar territory for costume designer Danilo Donati, considering his work on Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales, Arabian Nights and Oedipus Rex, and Federico Fellini's Satyricon . The designs of Red Sonja, like Ann & John Bloomfield's for the two Conan movies, take inspiration from a variety of historical periods to create a fully fantastical, yet 'ancient' feeling world.

(It should also be worth noting that several costumes from Red Sonja ended up reused for many schlockier Italian efforts in the ensuing years, especially Ruggero Deodato's The Barbarians (1987); any costume reuse will be pointed out, as often these films provided us a better look at the costumes!)

The titular Red Sonja (Brigitte Nielsen) is in the same outfit throughout the entirety of the film, in a striped leather top and skirt, with a rectangular plated belt, boots and a short metallic tiara over her forehead. The only other item she wears is a heavy red hooded coat with fur lining and circular metal pieces over it.

Being a sort of indirect spin-off from the previous Conan films, whilst Conan isn't in this proper, Arnold Schwarzenegger instead plays the similar character of Kalidor, a warrior who tries to help Sonja, and in his first appearance wears an open necked golden-studded red tunic worn with ornate golden belts and a similar headpiece to Sonja's around his forehead.

For the remainder of his appearances, Kalidor is in a very ornate tunic that is brown in colour but coated in ornate golden detail all over, all over the front and back. This is also worn with a fur-lined coat, which also is brown with golden detailing all over it.

One ally of Sonja's is young Prince Tarn (Ernie Reyes Jr., who is in a outfit very inspired by traditional 'Eastern' regal fashions, consisting of a red and golden gown, with a golden metallic collar, large red sash, and a spiked helmet.

Tarn's servant Falkor (Paul L. Smith) sports a red tunic adorned with golden lining and a row of daggers on one lapel. The shirt sometimes is worn with protective spikes on the back of the shoulders, and it is always worn with flat metallic helmet with prongs facing behind. Falkor's vest was reused in The Barbarians, worn by Italian genre film stalwart George Eastman.

Sonja's help is called for by her sister Varna (Janet Agren) who is one of the guardians of a group of priestesses who look after 'the Talisman' seeked out by the villains of the film. Varna is in an outfit of gold and silver chainmail, worn with a golden tiara of a pyramid pattern to its design.

The other guardians of the temple are in two uniforms - both are in helmets with large pieces on the front, but the golden armored guards are golden chainmail and body armor (noticeably with one chest of chainmail exposed) whereas the silver armored guards are wearing silver chainmail pieces over white gowns. One of the silver chainmail vests was reused to be worn by Eva Larue in The Barbarians, while one of the golden chest pieces was reused to be worn by Margaret Lenzey in Quest for the Mighty Sword in 1990.

The priestesses' robes are another example of Donati's penchant for ornate headwear in his costume designs; the white and gold headdresses are shaped to resemble almost wings, whereas the chief priestess is in a similar pyramid pattern headpiece to Varna's who is also in a white gown like the other priestesses. The chief however, is distinguished by the large golden tabard she wears over her gown.

Sonja is schooled in the art of combat by the elderly Swordmaster (Tad Horino), who is in an grand white gown fixed with large black shoulder pads, a black headpiece fixed with golden pieces and a large white wig and flag poles fixed onto his back.

One of his assistants is the swordsman Kyobo (Kiyoshi Yamasaki) who is in a white headpiece also with golden pieces and a black ponytail worn with leather armor, with other students of the Swordmaster's in brown helmets fixed with wing like pieces. Some of these helmets were reused in The Barbarians.

The brutish Brytag (Pat Roach) is one of the first foes Sonja encounters on her journey, and is clad in a golden chain mail and fur outfit, with massive spiked shoulder armour and a golden headpiece with a red band fixed on.

Brytag's men are in tattered armour designed to resemble lizards or possibly birds, with streaks of tattered, scale-like material and beaky headdresses some of which are fitted with crests. Brytag's bodyguards dress in more typical harnesses, but worn with helmets also fitted with the beaky crests.

Another foe encountered along the way is the bandit Djart (Terry Richards) who wears a frilly shirts with studded leather pads, as well as a wide-brimmed hat adorned with golden coin-like pieces.

The evil Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman) and her followers all wear outfits mostly consisting of darker colours with golden trim, with Gedren's outfits always in a black and gold colourscheme. Gedren's first outfit however, is actually not even seen properly in the film! It consists of a crown with a veil, but the rest of the outfit is only visible in a production photo.

Gedren's first fully visible outfit consists of a black armor piece adorned with patterns of golden studs, with two circular discs and leather flaps around the shoulders, worn with leather leggings and a shiny golden skirt, with the finishing touch being her golden half mask and crown - even the half mask is sculpted to have little detailing. The chestplate was reused in The Barbarians, worn by Sheeba Alahani in that film.

Gedren's second outfit has the same basic colour scheme but consists of a different armor piece (fixed with glass and jewel pieces on the front) over her leather outfit, as well as a frilly golden cape fixed with jewel-like pieces, and a different crown that is also adorned with more jeweled pieces.

Gedren's last outfit consists of just a two-tone shiny gold and black shirt with medal-like pieces one each side, and of course a different crown once again - though for the final battle she removes the golden half-mask.

Assisting Gedren is her lackey Ikol (Ronald Lacey), who also is in an extraordinarily detailed outfit consisting of a black and gold chainmail suit with an armor belt fixed with golden detailing, and worn with a black studded fabric around the neck, the finishing touch being of course his large headpiece resembling a sun-like fixture.

Ikol's only other outfit is a more simple black robe worn with golden chains and a gold-studded collar piece, as well as wearing the headpiece without its 'crown' part.

Interestingly, there may have been a third costume made for Ikol that was never seen in the final film; you can just make it out in this publicity image, but it seems there was version of Ikol's 'metallic feathers' dress but in black and bronze instead of black and gold; we only know what this costume properly looked like (and in this one's case, its very existence) thanks to, yet again, it being reused in The Barbarians!

Gedren has a personal servant with her at all times, also clad in a gold studded black outfit, with a golden studded black headpiece and medallion.

Also in Gedren's employ is a magician wearing an orange and blue harlequin patterned robe, with golden pieces fixed on the front, gold trim on the cuffs and an ornate golden helmet fixed with thing pieces like antennae. The robe was also reused in The Barbarians.

Gedren's soldiers wear a variety of ornate sets of armor, though sadly they are usually seen in action sequences that prevent them being seen in full - this sadly happens with the first soldiers of Gedren we see, who are are clad in spectacular detailed black and bronze armor suits with demonic grinning visages and chainmail 'hair' fixed to the sides. The only other time we see these outfits are just empty ones hanging in the barracks of Gedren's castle. These armor suits were reused in The Barbarians, which lets us see them a little better.

The second uniform worn by Gedren's troops are silver and black armored suits seemingly inspired by samurai armor a bit, especially with the skull helmets and skirt pieces. The helmets are fixed with skulls and horns, and mostly conceal the face, though there are also what appear to be owl-like markings on the chest. Like the armor mentioned above, these were reused in The Barbarians.

The last of the more ornate armor suits are black and gold armor suits with masked helmets designed to resemble grimacing bearded visages, with large should pieces around the side with bearded faces sculpted on them. One of these suits was reused in The Barbarians.

Lastly are the various grunt soldiers of Gedren's army, who are in more typical brown woolen tunics with large studded armor pieces worn over them, but of course worn with helmets with wing-like fixtures sticking out.