Things to Come was a tale of a futuristic utopia being born from the ashes of the then-present world order, or at least 'Everytown', the city that most of the action is set in. After a destructive international conflict - eerily predicting the Second World War - Everytown is visited by a strange plane with one occupant – John Cabal (Raymond Massey), an officer of the ‘Wings Over the World’ or ‘the Airmen’, a utopian order wearing form-fitting jumpsuits with a breastplate and enormous helmet. Cabal's uniform is distinguished by a large belt and vinyl collar.
When ‘Everytown’ has been pacified and ‘the Boss’ defeated, the Airmen go about their task of reshaping the world by constructing a massive city, the workers wearing futuristic hazmat suits - one version consists of the helmets and breathing packs seemingly worn over the Airmen's jumpsuit, and the other consists of a futuristic jumpsuit with a rounded helmet worn over it. The hazmat suits are barely seen thanks to heavy special effects footage, only publicity photos show them better.
The completed new society is disrupted by the sculptor Theotocopulos (Cedric Hardwicke) - Theotocopulos was apparently meant to wear a much more sinister outfit, as glimpsed by an early production photo from when he was meant to be played by Ernest Thesiger, whose demeanor and costume combined would have made the character much more sinister, with this gown being altered and reused on a kindly grandfather.
Generally the future citizens dress in outfits harking back to Greco-Roman fashions (again, another way this film was a trendsetter – ‘future’ fashions resembling these of the ancient past). The male citizens wear wide-shouldered tunics and shorts. John Cabal's outfit is the one with the most screentime, and has two sets of shoulder boards to show his high rank in the future society. The rest of the men of the future world dress similar, in the same sort of high-shouldered tunic and shorts, with some also wearing short capes and split-pattern shoulders like Cabal.
The female citizens dress in a similar Greco-Roman influenced style, albeit with large round collars and transparent tiaras.
There doesn’t seem to be any sort of hierarchy visible in the dress code, nor does there seem to be any individualism. The exception of course, and a perfect note to to end this one, being Theotocopulos who at the end of the film, no doubt to signify his archaic way of thinking, is dressed in gown almost resembling a priest’s.
