Costume Design by Joseph Porro
Joseph Porro's duties on
Stargate was entirely to design the futuristic costumes. The present-day characters all wore bought clothing, and the 1928 sequences most likely used wardrobe stock.
The inhabitants of Abydos, the film's setting, wear clothing inspired by historical North African cultures. Hundreds of ragged costumes were made for the extras and bit-parts playing the lowly peasants. The peasant costumes are a spin on the 'caveman' look, consisting of leathery rags and drab cloaks.
Alexis Cruz sports a more elaborate costume as Skaara, consisting of a midriff-baring top, hat and robe. The top is constructed out of a slightly leathery material, as if it was the hide of some alien animal.
The women of Abydos wear purple and cream robes with circular headwear, more inspired by historical North African clothing.
More elaborate is the purple dress made for Mili Avital as Sha'uri, fixed with a stone-like belt and fabric criss-crossing the sleeves. The headscarf that forms part of the dress again feels indebted to North African and Middle Eastern fashions, though the cut of the actual dress evokes a medieval European princess to me.
Most elaborate of the Abydos peasant's costumes is the robe worn by Erick Avari as the chieftain Kasuf. The Kasuf costume consists of a deep purple robe with a tabard-like panel over the chest embroidered with thick material, and worn with a spherical hat also adorned with threading.
Similar costumes were made for the extras playing the elders flanking Kasuf in his scenes, utilizing similar materials as Avari's costume.
Abydos is ruled by the tyrant Ra, served by soldiers who wear futuristic costumes inspired by Ancient Egyptian clothing. When it came to Ra and his minions, Porro colloborated with Patrick Tatopoulos, who also handled the film's creature effects.
The costume department made a series of midriff-baring tops and kilts for Djimon Hounsou as Ra's personal guard Horus, as well as the extras playing Ra's other guards. Meanwhile, specialty costume makers fabricated the eagle-head helmets, headpieces, collars and other 'hard' parts of the costumes.
A similar costume was made for Carlos Lauchu to wear as Anubis, the commander of Ra's forces. Lauchu's costume consists of a teal top and and purple kilt, adorned with 'hard' costume components. Of course, the most distinctive part of the costume is the jackal-head helmet based on Tatopoulos' designs.
Ra himself would prove to be the film's costume focus, as Porro designed several ornate and vibrant costumes for Jaye Davidson to wear as the tyrannical demigod. Similarly to Anubis and Horus, Ra's helmet was based on designs by Tatopoulos, and fabricated by specialty costume-makers.
In most of his scenes as Ra, Davidson sports a tight golden bodice, giving him a slightly feminine appearance. Davidson, himself gay, had previously earned fame for his role in Neil Jordan's
The Crying Game as a trans woman two years previously.
As for Ra's costumes proper, the first outfit Porro designed was an extravagant velvet robe and skirt in shades of purple and turquoise, adorned with gold lame on the edges.
Davidson's second costume as Ra is a gold-lined white cloak and copper-coloured skirt, again worn with the golden bodice.
Davidson's next costume as Ra sadly gets the least good shots. It consists of a gold-patterned lilac robe with holes cut at the sleeves. The robe is complimented by a red skirt, and yet again worn with the golden bodice.
Ra's last costume, again one which sadly gets little screentime, is a black robe and dress skirt adorned with amber-coloured faux jewels and golden ornamentation. Attached to the back of the robe are horns encircling an amber disk, as per fitting the mythological Ra's connection to the sun.
Several costumes were made for Ra's attendants, with several dresses being made for the girls. Unfortunately, only one of these dresses has been auctioned as of now.
For the extras playing the boy attendants, several colourful loinclothes, collars and headpieces were made, with some of the performers wearing skimpy tops as well.
A stripe-patterned attendant costume
A rainbow-patterned attendant costume
A similarly rainbow-patterned attendant costume
Several of the attendant costumes still exist thanks to
Larry McQueen's Collection of Motion Picture Costume Design, which also has Jaye Davidson's first costume as Ra. This site is where several of the Ra images, as well as the below attendant costume images, originate from.
A mostly turquoise-coloured attendant costume
A mostly purple-coloured attendant costume
