Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924)

Costume Design by: Aleksandra Ekster ( A member of the Russian Futurist art movement who, in addition to painting, was a costume designer for several theatre productions - the linked Wikiart gallery shows her lovely abstract costume paintings )

It's been getting to the end of this phase of the blog's journey - almost all productions that could be labeled as properly 'futuristic', as well as the bulk of notable 'fantasy' productions have been covered, meaning that if this was still 'SciFi & Fantasy Costumes Gallery' the entire blog would be packing it in - but that was before I decided to expand the focus to be costume design in general. Still, as a sort of eulogy to having to do any more 'futuristic' productions, I thought it would be really fitting to do the earliest science-fiction film - one whose scale of visual imagination hasn't been matched since, honestly.

Aelita, rumored to have been an inspiration on Fritz Lang's Metropolis, mostly takes place in the then-contemporary Soviet Union, with only a small fraction of the runtime taking place on the strange and beautiful world of Mars. The sets and costumes are delightful, with the costumes having been designed by Russian avant-garde painter Aleksanda Ekster. The alien costumes of Aelita are in line with Ekster's general style, consisting of geometrical shapes often made out of synthetic materials - it's a shame almost that the film is in black and white, as the costume paintings show that they were intended to be very colourful. Firstly there is this dress worn by the titular Aelita's maidservant, cut with bold lining down the waist and legs and worn with a wire headdress.

Another dress worn in this film is this striped deal, which has been fastened with spindly metallic rods around the legs, as if it was a Victorian dress' bustle that had the fabric removed, exposing the underside - and again worn with a curved, metallic headdress.

The titular Aelita (Yuliya Solntseva) meanwhile sports this stunning dress, fitted with panelling that extends over one side of the dress, as well as three circular shapes on the chest - completing this is another extravagant, abstract headdress with rods extending in all directions, like a parody of a wide-brimmed hat almost.

The men of Martian aristocracy are dressed no less strange, with this particular character wearing transparent panelling over his robe, worn with a hat that is made out of a similar material - it seems like the costumes really are a essentially the fashion of 'ancient' cultures (mythologized in early silent films such as Cabiria) seen through the vision of modernist art.

This design sense is seen clearly in the regal garb sported by the Martian's ruler, whose outfit has a more asymmetrical cut to it, and is worn with what seems to be a bulky pad on one of his arms.

Some other notable members of the Martian aristocracy include the astronomer who wears a false beard (like these worn by the nobility of ancient Egypt, perhaps?) made of a geometrical shard of material(!), as well as various nobles wearing angular helmets and gowns with a circular motif on the chest and a squiggly line going downwards.

The soldiers of the Martian society are in revealing uniforms worn with fantastically bizarre helmets, with circular pieces over the shoulders that makes them almost look more like mechanical objects more than human beings, and with the helmet having a sweeping crest of sorts on the top. Apologies for the use of the watermarked stock image, but it was the best one I could find.

The various slavedrivers of Martian society are dressed similarly revealing as the guards, but this time wear more cube-shaped helmets instead, that appear to be a little translucent as well - the various oppressed workers also wear such helmets, but with rags.

Just Imagine (1930)

Costume Design by: Alice O'Neill and Dolly Tree

Most early science-fiction films up to the 1950s were actually pretty shy of imagining how the future denizens would dress. Metropolis, that classic of science-fiction cinema, does have two gorgeous dresses worn by Brigitte Helm, but they are both in a dream sequence and are historical pastiches at that anyway. High Treason and L'inhumaine, two other notable futuristic films from the 20s, did have some stylish 1920s looks, didn't really intend to be that 'futuristic' with their fashions either. And the various Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials of the 1930s were honestly very, very cheap with their ideas of 'futuristic' fashion too.

One of the exceptions to this barring 1924's Aelita: Queen of Mars and 1936's Things to Come, is Just Imagine, a light-hearted musical comedy, whose most futuristic outfits were seen when the cast travel to Mars (always a fixture in very early science-fiction) - the costumes for the Martians here almost rival these of Aelita in just how out-there they are, with special mention going to the Martian queen's silvery, jagged dress! Again, when I find a better quality copy, I will update this section, but really what can I say that these images don't so far?

Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 4 (2004)

Costume Design by:

- Robert Blackman ( notable efforts: The Running Man (1987), Star Trek: The Next Generation (Seasons 3 to 7), Deep Space Nine (1993 - 1999), Voyager (1995 - 2001), Pushing Daisies (2007 - 2009), Mockingbird Lane (2012) )

'Home'

This episode had T'Pol returning to her home planet Vulcan, and being on casual duty wears civilian attire - the trousers are totally contemporary, but it's the rather strange shirt she wears that's noteworthy, being made out of a mottled purple fabric, with ridging on the sides and large sleeves.

Much more striking is the gown that T'Pol wears during her wedding in this episode, which is a lavender gown, fitted with chiffon sleeves and neck, as well as a chiffon veil; also of note is the lining that is attached to the skirt segment of the dress as well.

Also appearing in this episode is T'Pol's mother T'Les (Joanna Cassidy), who is first seen wearing this gown with lining going over the chest, as well as golden studs going over the side?

T'Les's second dress of note in this episode is more in line with the typical Vulcan fashion sense seen in Enterprise, being a robe with buckles to one side, with a slightly raised collar and shoulders, worn under a gown too.

'The Forge'

Phlox is briefly seen playing sports in this episode, and during it wears some futuristic sportswear consisting of a jacket and trousers with curved lining, itself of a striped material, going down from the collar and waist respectively.

'Awakening'

Continuing the plot are of the Syrannite conflict, this episode once again featured the Vulcan politician Soval (Gary Graham), who wears a formal wraparound suit of a brown pinstriped material, with specially cut cuffs - this is usually worn under a gown, with most Vulcan politicians in this episode dressing in a similar fashion.

Archer also endures a vision where he talks to Surak (Bruce Gray), the founder of Vulcan society, who wears the typical gown and robe as the other Vulcans in this series, but also wears an asymmetrically cut waistcoat of sorts over it too.

Also appearing are Vulcan soldiers, who wear pale green vinyl jumpsuits with horizontally ribbed breastplates worn over them.

'Babel One'

This episode was reusing a plot point from the original 1960s series, the feud between the pig-like Tellarites and the blue-skinned Andorians. The Andorian costumes I've neglected to mention in this entry due to finding their costumes uninteresting, being all just black vinyl jumpsuits, but the Tellarite costumes are rather more ornate, being brown gowns with bands of studded material around the chest, worn with a short cloak of similar colour and patterns.

'The Aenar'

This episode involved the Enterprise crew searching for a mysterious subspecies of Andorian, the titular Aenar, who wear beige tunics with panels of white-lined fabric over the front and bottom ends, with the sleeves wrapped in white fabric.

'Affliction'

This episode was just one very convolated excuse to explain why the 1960s Klingons didn't have forehead bumps, which was apparently caused by an especially ridiculous scheme spearheaded by the Klingon scientist Antaak (John Schuck) whose first outfit (barely seen thanks to the moody direction of the episode) is a brown striped robe with furred cuffs and wirey material lining the shoulders, worn under a coat with similar black wire lining on the shoulders.

'Bound'

This particular episode was another callback to the original 1960s series in that it was a return of the Orions, the infamously sexed-up green-skinned aliens - though, the most notable outfit worn by any of them in this episode is a fully concealing one, in the form of this bulky studded armor worn by the captain Harrad-Sar (William Lucking)

Out of the various sultry outfits worn by the Orion women, only the leather deal where the bra is designed in a way resembling bat wings is that notable in terms of design.

'In a Mirror, Darkly'

In this two-part episode, we get one final look at the fascist 'mirror universe', which noticeably isn't that different in their dress sense compared to the original versions - with the exception of the women crewmembers who all wear crop tops as part of their uniform. Perhps the most notble costume however is worn by the mirror universe's version of Phlox (John Billingsley) - his main universe counterpart usually just wears muted shirts, but his mirror version is in a studded leather tunic with a rounded collar and asymmetrical lining over the front.

'These Are The Voyages...'

The maligned season finale involved a final appearance from Shran (Jeffrey Combs), who in his last appearance wears a wraparound jacket made of a leather-like material on the front, worn under a furred coat too.