An oddball that was pretty much '
Mad Max for kids', with a couple more outright scifi touches such as laser guns and whatnot in the hope to make a smash like
Star Wars I assume, which would also explain other odd touches in this film such as mystical entites and so on. Set in a fascist state, the Eco Protectorate that has arisen thanks to ecological collapse (I think...it's not the most thought-out plot), the story focused on the titular 'Solarbabies', orphans in one of the regime's many orphanages. The Solarbabies wear the film's most iconic fits (thanks to being on all the promotional photos), which consist of futuristic padded sports armor covered in blue, red and pink spraypaint in different patterns.
Their enemies the Scorpions wear more intimidating, gunmetal-coloured armor with masked helmets.
Of course, being a post-apocalypse film made in the aftermath of Mad Max 2, there are the inevitable wasteland weirdos who sport tatty attire inspired by biker culture, punk fashion and sport armor - the bounty hunter Malice (Alexei Sayle) wears a cowboy hat and leather jacket adorned with ratty furs on the shoulders, and many of the denizens of 'Tyretown' (totally unrelated to
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome's Bartertown, I'm sure!) are in typical ratty posta-apocalypse garb. Tyretown's guards are interesting in that they feel like a precedent for Ringwood's cut-up tire armor designs for
Demolition Man a few years later, as they sport armor that is similarly made up of torn up rubber tyres!
One aspect of the film that has especially aged badly is a Native American tribe (that, of course is linked to magic mumbo-jumbo, because New Age nonsense) that is all played by white actors, though their outfits seem to be made up of cut-up patterned fabrics that have been arranged into either very revealing tops, such as the fit sported by Ivor (Terence Mann) or cloaks.
It's not the only ethnic group that white people are getting to cosplay as in the apocalypse, as the 'Eco Warriors' - the rebel group that the fascist villains have been trying to exterminate - sport attire that seems possibly inspired a bit by Bedouin garb as well, though with baggy sleeves, deep collars and patterned lining and large panels over the waist. The Eco Warrior costumes feel a bit similar in design to the Fremen outfits Ringwood had designed for
David Lynch's Dune a few years earlier, which fits as that was also about white people cosplaying as Middle Eastern peoples. I do quite like the fits, though!
As said earlier, the film leans a bit more into the futuristic aspects than most post-apocalypse films, and as such, there are some slightly futuristic fashions such as this beige jacket worn by an orphanage teacher, that sadly is barely seen on-screen like so many of the outfits here. The orphanage's guards wear odd looking jumpsuits with lighter yellow mesh patches, worn with caps.
There is also this futuristic suit worn by the evil scientist Shandray (Sarah Douglas), that in some ways is a rehash of Ringwood's design for Lady Jessica's dress in
Dune a few years earlier, especially with the ridged shoulders.
The uniforms of the 'E-Police' serving the nebulous fascist regime wear predominatly blue leather, with the commander Grock (Richard Jordan) wearing a blue leather uniform with ribbed panelling over the shoulders and cuffs. The soldiers under him wear motorcycle outfits that have been altered with extra panelling - you can see the greeblies stuck on what are obviously bought motorbike helmets!
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