Quantum Leap - Seasons 1 & 2 (1989)

Costume Design by:

- Jean-Pierre Dorléac ( notable efforts: Battlestar Galactica (1978), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), Somewhere in Time (1980), The Blue Lagoon (1980), Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls (1981), Mae West (1982), The Lot (1999 - 2001) )

The cult television series about a time traveller, Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula), with the twist being that only his mind 'leaps' in time and ends up in the bodies of other people, Quantum Leap is perhaps famous for two reasons; the first being the show's penchant for moralistic storytelling, which often had it focus on plotlines dealing with pressing issues such as racism, prison incarceration, homophobia and the mentally ill; and the second being the character of Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell), a brash, egotistical womanizer who always assisted Sam in the form of a 'hologram', with his trusty little computer Ziggy and always wearing an array of outlandish fashions. Al was from the then-future of 1999, and as such a lot of his outfits definitely have futuristic flourishes; lapels being cut to have holes or flaps, metallic shiny materials, bold patterns.

The character of Al was also made to be intentionally ridiculous; in the words of costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorleac, he wanted Al to look 'wacky and screwball'. Al's outfits are still wonderfully memorable, and there was several made for it, though over the course of these entries I will only stick with the most striking ones. Whilst the show often dealt with various eras, in my opinion there wasn't really that much in the way worth covering costumes-wise in each period's denizens, except perhaps in the third season, which we'll get to in a later post.

'Genesis'

In this season opener, Al's most notable outfit is the introduction of his silver jacket. In this episode it is worn over a blue shirt with a metallic corkscrew-shaped tie pin, worn with silver shoes, but the silver jacket would make several reappearances in later episodes, such as in the episode 'Camikazi Kid' where it is worn over a red shirt and with red translucent glasses.

'The Right Hand of God'

In this episode, Al sports a sort of similar outfit to the silver jacket deal, only here its a shiny golden jacket, worn with golden boots - again, fitting in with Al coming across as a venal old cad of a character. Still, a shame this outfit never appeared again in the show, despite similar jackets being made in later seasons.

This same episode also introduced a rather more crisp white suit for Al, with the lapels cut to be rounded with buttons as well. This is a bit of cheating on my part however, as this specific arrangement with the hole-cut collared shirt and garish tie was actually from an episode in the second season, as in this one he wears it with a stiff buttonless shirt.

'How The Tess Was Won'

In this episode, Al sports a shiny shirt with two sets of buttons, worn with a buttonless jacket and bright yellow trousers. In another episode of the season, he wears only the shirt with a bit of technologicaly looking junk around the collar - this would be a common feature of Al's outfits, where some sort of metallic bits were stuck on the collars or ties.

'The Color of Truth'

In this episode, Al is first seen wearing a bright pink shirt and trousers, worn with a loose pinstriped coat, and of course a sort of tie-pin made of the meachanical looking bits. This suit is also worn with silver shoes as well.

At the end of the episode, Al wears a similar outfit only instead of a pink shirt and trousers, it is banana yellow, with a large brown coat worn over it, as well as a shiny golden tie and badge over one coat lapel.

'Honeymoon Express'

The first episode of the second season has Al briefly wearing an all-red costume, consisting of a red shirt of several patterns going down in strips, a red vest and an orange-gold tie that has a little sunglasses-shaped tie-pin stuck on it. This is also worn with red trousers, and golden shoes, from the one full shot in its scenes.

'Jimmy'

In this episode, we are treated to a green version of the above red outfit, only here its worn with a small green tie that has had pieces cut out of it to make it look almost like it was bitten, as well as several more buttons on the shirt's collar. This is also briefly worn with a red hat as well, and even the tie holding up the trousers is green!

In this same episode, Al also wears an outfit consisting of an alternating red and white polka dot patterned shirt, worn with a thin red tie and a striped grey jacket suit. This same shirt was used in later episode, worn without the jacket and with white trousers instead.

'So Help Me God'

This episode had actually been seen originally in the first season's 'The Right Hand of God', or at least the red trousers and hat were - here it's worn in a more interesting combination, with a dot patterned waistcoat, red and black tie, and a shirt with multiple buttons on its collars.

Of course, throughout the course of these two seasons, Al mostly wore an arrangement of other garish patterned shirts, often loose, and adorned with metallic ornamentation and worn with a variety of thin, often shiny ties. In some episodes, these were worn with similarly garish vests or waistcoats, as as well as loose jackets, but in general this made the character look oddball and a bit schlubby. There are simply too many to cover every single tie or shirt Al wore in the show, even in the first two seasons, so this is a sort of selection of my personal favorites - enjoy!

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