Labyrinth (1986)

Costume Design by Brian Froud and Ellis Flyte

Note; While armor and specialty costume had to be made for the film's 'puppet' characters based on Froud's designs, with Polly Smith acting as costume designer for the Hoggle suit and Sir Didymus puppet, this article will only really focus on the costumes made for the film's human performers.

A sort of follow up to his earlier The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson's Labyrinth again utilized Brian Froud's designs as basis for the assorted puppets (and their own 'costumes'), but it fell to costume designer Ellis Flyte to design the non-puppet cast.

Flyte had previously worked on Dark Crystal as an assistant to Polly Smith, who had designed the costumes for the Gelflings and Podlings. Just after Dark Crystal's release, Flyte meanwhile was tasked with designing a fashion line inspired by the film!

While the fashion line was unsuccessful (as it turned out, haute couture and fantastic cinema had little overlap in audience), this gig was why Flyte got the Labyrinth gig, especially as one of its main stars would be David Bowie. Flyte recalled how the experience went in an interview with Podcasting Them Softly;

'...once again the Conceptual Designer was Brian Froud. He brought to me many sketches of costumes from which my job would be to create and realise the ideas and also introduce new detail or interpretation. My first responsibility would be to David Bowie and to Jennifer Connelly, and then to the surreal costume ball.

It has to be said that I employed a large team of people from pattern cutters and sewing technicians, screen print and dye specialists, special effect creators, jewellery designers and make-up and hair stylists (...) it is due to their continued hard work, originality and independent skills that we came to the finished product!'

Flyte's designs for David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King utilized leather and gemstones, helping give an otherworldly and timeless feeling; almost all of them also included stretch trousers with built-in codpieces, which Flyte remembered 'having a load of laughs' about - even today the 'bulge' is a point of mockery!

Bowie's first costume consists of a detailed leather tunic with a mandarin collar and sewn-in ornamentation; it is worn with a beautifully detailed cape with a raised collar and streams of iridescent fabric.

(Interestingly, the costume display in the first two images have the pale blue pants of his second and third costumes, rather than the dark pants that were actually worn with the tunic)

Bowie's second costume has him wearing a leather jacket with a large collar; the jacket has studs on the collar and cuffs, and an armor pad on one shoulder. It is worn over what appears to be a short waistcoat and a frilly shirt open at the chest, and worn with a tattered cape, thigh-high boots and pale blue stretch pants.

The third Jareth look reuses the cloak from his first look, and the pale grey-blue pants from his second, but now both are worn with a frilly shirt and asymmetrically cut short leather vest.

Bowie's next costume as Jareth, worn during the masquerade ball sequence, is perhaps one of the film's costume highlights, which is no mean feat! The costume is a blue velvet tail-coat, encrusted with jewels over the lapels, shoulders and cuffs; the look is finished with a silvery sash belt.

Bowie's next costume, worn very briefly in a rather disorientating sequence evoking M. C. Escher's 'Relativity', is a leather tunic with crushed velvet trim around the sides and sleeves, which have been cut into a serrated pattern. Once again, this tunic is worn with black stretch pants.

Bowie's last costume, worn during Jareth's final scene, consisting of a grey frilly shirt and trailing, slightly tattered off-white cape, with sculpted bones around the collar. This look is intended to evoke Jareth's connection to owls, especially with the all-white colour scheme.

For most of the film Jennifer Connelly just wears a frilly shirt, patterned vest and jeans (was it mostly all bought clothes?), with the ballroom scene being a standout exception. Ellis Flyte explained; 'We wanted her to look like an otherworldly princess and very different to the others at the ball. The ethereal effect was achieved by many secret devices including layers of lace, lame and rainbow paper, spray paint and broken jewels'.

Several costumes were constructed by Flyte's costume department for the masquerade ball's extras; the fantastical setting meant no reusing of wardrobe stock! Flyte explained that the costumes were designed to look ancient;

...the entire ballroom garments were distressed to look as if they had been dancing forever! Hemlines were broken down and dust was sprayed into the creases – the masks also present a sinister look to the event don’t they? The fabric choice for the ladies was chosen to give depth and colour and also for movement as you say, although of course all dresses were crinoline underneath.'

At least a few of the masquerade ball extras' costumes have turned up at assorted costume displays themed on Labyrinth.