Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Costume Design by:

- Anthony Powell ( notable efforts: The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969), Travels with My Aunt (1972), Papillon (1973), Sorcerer (1977), Death on the Nile (1978), Tess (1979), Evil Under the Sun (1982), Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom (1984), Pirates (1986), Hook (1991), 101 Dalmatians (1996), 102 Dalmatians (2000) )

- Joanna Johnston ( notable efforts: Hellraiser (1987), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Far and Away (1992), Death Becomes Her (1992), Love Actually (2003), The Boat That Rocked (2009) )

The third entry of the Indiana Jones series is a bit less lavish (and also, less racist) than Temple of Doom before it, though once again had Powell designing - he shared the credit with then-new costume designer Joanna Johnston. Certainly, interviews with the cast mostly bring up Powell, and it was thanks to him that co-star Sean Connery didn't sweat tons in the heat, as his supposedly tweed jacket was actually an imitation print!

In the script there was no point at which he could change clothes, but the suit was made of a rather thick Harris tweed, and Sean has a thing about heat and he sweats like a pig. Steven came up and said “I’ve just rewritten the script and after Venice we’re going to be shooting in Petra.” Incredibly hot. And Sean said, “There’s no way I’m going to wear this Harris tweed suit in Petra.” So what we had to do was photograph a length of the Harris tweed and then screen-print it onto a thin cotton voile. It cost a king’s ransom!

Most of the standout costumes of the film are worn by the film's Nazi villainess Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody), though she is first seen wearing a formal grey suit over a striped shirt with grey gloves and worn with a grey skirt - honestly, a lot of the outfits worn by Elsa are a bit on the masculine side, as she wears figure-concealing crisp suits and very little in the way of traditional dresses. Then following this is this bishop sleeved silvery shirt and zip-up green waistcoat deal, the large collars of the shirt going over the waistcoat - briefly seen worn with a beret and overcoat (mostly worn by Harrison Ford when his caricature does a ludicrous impression of a Scottish lord), she then wears it with Indiana's fedora which honestly is a look on its own.

Worn next is this black suit and hat worn over a striped shirt, and under a black leather jacket - again one of her looks giving her a slightly butch look, as well as that old cliche of Nazi villains in leather trenchcoats.

Perhaps her most classy outfit in the picture is this white buttoned jacket with triangular dark blue strips on each side, as well as blue strips around the collar, worn with a brimmed hat.

Doody's last notable dress is this vaguely militaristic outfit consisting of a buttoned white jacket with a deep collar and bishop sleeves, worn with high-waisted black trousers a dn boots - the militaristic (and thus, kind of butch) vibe is heightened by being worn with a ski cap, which was part of the uniform of the German military during the Nazi regime.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Costume Design by: Anthony Powell ( notable efforts: The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969), Travels with My Aunt (1972), Papillon (1973), Sorcerer (1977), Death on the Nile (1978), Tess (1979), Evil Under the Sun (1982), Pirates (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Hook (1991), 101 Dalmatians (1996), 102 Dalmatians (2000) )

A family adventure that will frighten all the family! This very lurid and unfortunately quite racist entry in the Indiana Jones series didn't just ramp up the violence but also the glamour, as it starts right off the bat with a wonderfully glitzy cabaret sequence where the singer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) performs the infamous 'Anything Goes' song to a parade of backup dancers. Willie sports an almost iconic asymmetrically designed red and gold sequined dress, that was made of genuine 1920s/1930s beads, that even has each glove be the corresponding colour of the side of dress its on!

There is also a funny story with this costume; due to its expensive construction, only one was made and was used in all the scenes - including the outdoor scenes shot in Sri Lanka where an elephant started to eat the dress! Anthony Powell himself had to perform emergency repair work on the dress and fill out insurance forms; the reason for its damage was 'eaten by elephant'.

In the intro and outro of the song, Willie is flanked by a group of dancers in short pink and gold striped dresses with red jewelled trim, worn with translucent plastic rice hats.

The middle of the sequence meanwhile has a second group of dancers all wearing jackets, shorts and top hats made up of silver and black sequins.

The bulk of the film's action is set in India, where a mysterious cult has been revived in 'Pankot Palace', which has a blithely racist comedic sequence showing its inhabitants eating gross garbage instead of food. This sequence has Willie sport a lovely Indian style dress with gold, peach and green trim around the collar, sleeves and skirt, worn with a veil as well - sadly this dress isn't really seen clearly on-screen, being mostly closeups or at a distance.

Pankot is ruled by a young maharajah who wears this lovely achkan jacket made of a reddish fabric with silver trim, worn with a turban and copious amounts of jewellery.

As per the film's inspirations being racist films like Gunga Din, Pankot's cult happens to be the Thuggee (a group that most likely never existed and was made up by the British colonial regime...now there was a group of bloodthirsty savages worshipping a godless heathen belief system), and as such Willie is made to be sacrificed whilst wearing this admittedly very pretty white dress, which looks to be a little inspired by the cliched belly dancer image.

The young maharajah that runs Pankot is also part of the Thuggee cult, and as such has his own cultist attire consisting of a silver and black skirt and sash, worn with a black turban that is also adorned with jewels.

Lastly is the leader of the Thuggee cult, Mola Ram (Amrish Puri) and his underlings dressed in garments that are a mishmash of Eastern religious garb and kitschy 'Satanic' and 'occult' imagery. Mola wears a red and black sari-like garment that is worn with an ominous headdress made of a cow skull with a shrunken head stuck on it - for better or worse, it is a striking image. His underlings meanwhile just wear skirts and turbans, but the turbans have head-shaped sculptures on the top of them, which together with the skull-like facepaint is the most striking aspect.