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.