Costume Design by Morton Haack
When it came to designing the titular simian-ruled world, Haack's costume designs mostly opted for a primitive vibe, with heavy cotton fabrics and simplistic cuts. All of the costumes Haack made for Planet of the Apes and its sequels were fabricated at Los Angeles' Western Costume Company.
However, Haack's first costumes to be seen in the original film are a set of futuristic flightsuits. The cut of the flightsuit jackets resembles those of racing jumpsuits or motorcycle jackets, with a diagonal flap, and vertical zips. Worn underneath the jackets are custom-made zip-up mesh vests.
Charlton Heston, the surviving astronaut, finds himself a prisoner of the apes along with Linda Harrison as Nova. Haack designed typical 'caveman' costumes of tattered animal hide for Heston, Harrison and the other extras playing the primitive humans.
Heston sports a tattered loincloth and poncho, similar to much of the male extras playing the primitives.
Haack designed a form-fitting, yet still revealing tattered minidress for Linda Harrison to wear as Nova.
A more concealing test costume had been made for Harrison in the early stages of filming, as well as a more simplistic and skimpy costume made for Angelique Pettyjohn when she was considered for the role of Nova.
Haack designed a futuristic uniform for the gorillas, who act as soldiers for the ape society. These uniforms consist of purple collarless shirts, purple pants and futuristic leather vests and gloves.
Costume Reuse note: While many Planet of the Apes costumes were reused in the sequels and tie-in TV series, one gorilla vest was reused in the original Star Wars, worn by one of the aliens in the cantina.
Purple tops, designed in a similar wide-shouldered fashion to the chimpanzee and orangutan costumes, was made for the gorilla workers running the zoo.
While the gorillas wore combat boots, the chimpanzees and orangutans wore more leisurely footwear. However, Haack had to take into consideration that these were apes, not humans, and so designed and fabricated specialty footwear for the actors playing the chimps and orangutans.
For the principal cast, Haack made chimpanzee costumes for Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter in their roles as Dr. Cornelius and Dr. Zira, to compliment John Chambers' prosthetic makeups. The chimpanzees are made of khaki green cloth with red wool outside the sleeves, with leather panelling around the collars.
The green and brown colouscheme was possibly a way to emphasize the chimpanzee's origins as forest dwellers. The basic cut of McDowall's costume is followed with the male chimpanzee costumes in general.
The dress worn by Kim Hunter follows a similar design outline to McDowalls', trailing down to her feet instead.
A set of more simplistic chimpanzee costumes were also made, with just buckle clasps at the collar. These were reused in the sequels. Also reused in the TV series spinoff was a wide-shouldered green costume worn by the unnamed chimp clerk during the trial scene.
Interestingly, quite a few costumes were made for the chimps and humans that never were used in the final film, such as these more wooly robes seen in wardrobe test photos.
The orangutans, the elite of ape society, sport orange tunics and trousers, worn over brown shirts. The jackets have leather detailing over the shoulders; each costumes leather panelling is unique, with the elder having a mini-cape consisting of leather segments.
Interestingly, at one point it seems a cloak was intended to be part of the orangutan costume, with a leather panel on one side; this costume never made it into the final film.
Another orangutan costume only briefly seen in the final film is the poncho-like vest worn by an otherwise unnamed 'minister' during the trial sequence.
Also seen briefly is a brown shirt similar in design to a nehru jacket, with leather panels on the sleeves.
Lastly is the more ornate orangutan costume sported by Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius in the film's final scenes. This time the orange tunic has brown leather panelling on the sleeves, and is worn over a brown leather vest.
