A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Costume Design by Bob Ringwood

Spielberg's foray in the 'machine gets self-aware' subgenre is by and large a plainclothes affair, which was sadly quite against Ringwood's wishes - his own idea according to the 'Dressing A.I.' featurette was to make it more 'fashionable and catwalky' but Spielberg pushed back, not wishing for it to 'date' or whatever. According to the same interview, Ringwood said he tried out outfits on the character of Monica (Ashley Scott), which I assume include this rather nice patterned shirt. I assume the same applied to the rest of the cast and extras, meaning that Ringwood's design talents were mostly relegated to Jude Law in his turn as the 'Gigolo Joe' prostitute android, who wears a shiny black coat made of fishing line woven as satin that looked like 'liquid metal', to make the character look like a 'romantic hero'. He actually has two shirts (made of a synthetic material), one in white, the other in a shiny purple.

Also very briefly seen is the 'Gigolo Jane' counterpart, who wears a shiny purple catsuit with lining over the chest - this is only seen in the film for maybe less than ten seconds.

The only other notable costumes in the film are seen in the 'Flesh Fair' segment, with the first being the 'Biker Hounds' motorcyclist outfits that are fitted with demonic looking helmets and lights - though infuriatingly hard to make out thanks to being shot at night! It seems only the helmets and armor was made, with the rest of the costume presumably being off-the-rack motorbike jumpsuits.

The Flesh Fair segment also has a cameo from the band Ministry, whose lead singer wears this chrome skeleton outfit that again, is barely seen on-screen, as is the outfit worn by the announcer - judging by this music video (that is in absolutely horrendous picture quality), the announcers outfit was made of a reflective material that would allow parts of it to 'glow' in the studio lights!

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.

Hook (1991)

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 and the Temple of Doom (1984), Pirates (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), 101 Dalmatians (1996), 102 Dalmatians (2000) )

The famous 90s update on Peter Pan that sadly I'm a bit too old and jaded to truly enjoy by now, though compared to whatever kids movies come out now this feels like a cinematic classic, thanks to its fun sets and especially lovely costumes provided by the indomitable Anthony Powell. The various pirates and their costumes were in a way a repeat of Powell's work for Roman Polanski's 1986 clunker Pirates, with Captain Hook's (Dustin Hoffman) uniform having a lot of gold trim like the various captains in that film, and Smee (Bob Hoskins) wearing a patterned vest as well.

The various prostitutes, who mostly are barely seen in the final film, are in colourful dresses that feel a bit similar to the 17th century dresses Powell had also designed for Pirates. Especially love the blue dress with yellow, green and purple striped sleeves.

Peter Pan (Robin Williams) and Tinker Bell (Julia Roberts) are just in tatty tunics, but apparently Tinker Bell was intended to wear a much more striking dress that is made with a plant-patterned shiny fabric, with little beads fitted on it too and worn with a choker. Quite a shame this dress never made it to the final film.

Tinker Bell does however wear this lovely dress when she confesses her love for Peter, being a powdery bloe deal with exposed shoulders in a classic fairytale princess look.

Naturally being a Peter Pan adaptation, the Lost Boys make an appearance. Here, the Lost Boys are led by the rogueish Rufio (Dante Bascio) who has remained one of the film's most iconic aspects especially thanks to his outfit that looks both 'tribal' and punk-inspired, especially with the fringed leather top and trousers with holes cut in them - and of course the red and black striped hairdo!

For the final battle against Hook and his pirates, Rufio sports this tribal looking armor covered in bones, with a collar made up of bamboo canes, and with red thread hanging from the sleeves and waist.

There is also the endearingly makeshift armor worn by the Lost Boys in their final battle, made up of wood and bamboo canes, adorned with feathered plumes and painted in a variety of colours - it's a shame that a lot of the armor doesn't have behind the scenes images of them, as most of them are seen in motion anyway! Some of these outfits have been sold on various prop auctions, such as the helmet or the roll-up armor.

As for more examples of a slightly anachronistic take on the fairtale setting, the pirates briefly have a baseball match where they sport primitive versions of baseball uniforms (in both burgundy and white) worn with belts and red sashes - the highlights for me have to be the caps!