Man in Outer Space (1962)

Costume Design by:

- Ester Krumbachová ( notable efforts: Ikarie XB-1 (1963), Ta nase písnicka ceská (1967), Martyrs of Love (1967), Pension pro svobodné pány (1968), Fruit of Paradise (1970), The Secret of a Great Narrator (1972), The Straw Hat (1972) )

Costume Design Genre: Futuristic

Good natured science-fiction comedy from the former Czechoslovakia, Man in Outer Space (Muž z prvního století) was about the exploits of Josef (Milos Kopecký), an upholsterer from the 20th century accidentally ending up five hundred years in the future, via a convoluted journey involving accidentally hitching a ride on a rocker launch, and encountering an alien visitor, who he names 'Adam' (Radovan Lukavský), on the way. The fashions of the future in this film are very indebted to the time period, such as the silvery top and dark leggings worn by Eve (Anita Kajlichova), who is the object of affections of Adam, and as such is invited to a fake date by Josef in order to teach Adam about that human thing we call 'love' - during the date, Eve wears a patterned dress with a shiny strip worn at the front, but with the same leggings.

In her very last appearance, Eve wears a different outfit, this being a patterned dress fixed with a flowing part that slightly makes it resemble a cape - also with her is Petr (Vít Olmer), who is just in a top with a slight speckle pattern.

Petr actually sports the most outfits of the film, with one of his first being a white jacket that has been cut in a sweeping curved way, a sort of design flourish that was common with 'futuristic' jackets since even the 1930s (the suits worn by the denizens of '1980' in the 1930 film Just Imagine, had similar cuts to their suit jackets).

Petr's second outfit is a much more outright futuristic design, being a patterned jumper (that seems to be lighter on one side than the other) with shiny cuffs and collar, with a large piece fixed on the collar - the bottom of the jumper is also fixed with a metallic strip as well.

The man in charge of watching over Josef's exploits is 'the academic' (Otomar Krejca) who is in a patterned v-neck jacket worn over a jumper, with the jacket's pattern consisting of black lines arranged towards the bottom of it - the costumes in this film are very 'designy', something which a fair few science-fiction films of the era dabbled in.

Josef is first seen just in his 'first century' (the twentieth century, to be specific) gear, but then sports a suit of the time period, this being one of the film's most striking designs - it is a suit, but the design is asymmetrical, with the lapels crossing each other, and worn with a large plastic piece that is a sort of mockery of a bow tie. Adding to this is the diagonal sliding cut of the jackets bottom, and pinstripe and dots pattern - one wonders what this suit looked like in colour!

There's a few other fashions seen worn by the future denizens of the film - there is a futuristic hazmat suit, though its only really futuristic feature is the headpiece; there are workers in rather Flash Gordon-esque uniforms, with shiny collar pieces; and there are of course other citizens in casual futuristic gear that are fairly similar to the garb worn by Eve and Petr throughout the film, as well as the other suit choices given to Josef at the start - some of these look like they could pass for high fashion now, even!

Lastly is the outfit worn by the alien 'Adam', who is clad in another one of the film's design highlights - a patterned shiny jumpsuit which itself is an inspired design thanks to the pattern, but is finished by being worn with a large feathery collar piece - this costume is perhaps the largest indicator of the film's decade of origin!

The Apple (1980)

Costume Design by:

- Ingrid Zoré ( notable efforts: Zwei blaue Vergissmeinnicht (1963), Angels of Terror (1971), Just a Gigolo (1978), Possession (1981) )

Costume Design Genre: Futuristic

Menahem Golan's decade-late tribute to hippies and disco, The Apple is still remembered (and by boring critics, reviled) mostly for being a cavalcade of glittering kitsch, especially evident with the gaudy and almost space-age influenced costumes worn by the films cast! A rock musical version of a future dystopia set in the far-flung year of 1994(!), the film's costumes were designed by Ingrid Zore, and whilst the film shows its year of origin very clearly, it is rather funny how some of the getups in the film actually predicted how gaudy the actual early 1990s would be in terms of fashion!

Being a musical, the film's costumes are mostly divided by which song they're being worn in, with the first song, 'BIM' involving its two singers, Dandi (Allan Love) and Pandi (Grace Kennedy) in two glittering white and gold outfits, Dandi's outfit especially having a futuristic design sense with the helmet, but both are firmly entrenched in disco!

This sort of futuristic influence (which to be fair, considering how many recent science-fiction series at the time had costumes inspired by disco, such as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, this is just 'turnabout is fair play') can be seen further in the costumes worn by the backup singers and dancers, the latter all having the sort of domed caps that were seen plenty in the 1980s Flash Gordon movie.

This is followed by the introduction of the film's villains, the evil music producer Boogalow (Vladek Sheybal) and his assistant Shake (Ray Shell) - who are basically Satan and the Serpent of the Garden of Eden, respectively, This association is carried over to their costumes, as Boogalow is first seen in a dark red suit with large pointed lapels, and Shake is in a silvery suit with makeup and two coloured jewel-like pieces on his teeth (uncomfortable!). Boogalow's pointed suit motif is seen on the suits of other characters, with his marketing officer in a glittery blue and silver suit, and his other underlings in more simple suits but with large pointed lapels and collars.

When Bibi (Catherine Mary Stewart) and Alphie (George Gilmour) are about to get signed under Boogalow's contract, Boogalow is another suit of a grey and black pattern, and Shake in another glittery grey suit with striped tubingon the shoulders and collar. Their chief marketer is in a red felt jumpsuit with grey tubing - the most 'future' design of the movie. After this, there is of course another song with the dancers being in glittery silver dresses and headpieces, feeling a bit 1920s in a way!

The signing scene is immediately followed by a song set in Hell where Boogalow wears a rather cliched Dracula outfit, and Shake is naked other than with bodypaint, chains and a snake-shaped headpiece - the real highlight of this song is Pandi who is in a glittering silver dress designed to resemble, presumably, the 'Whore of Babylon' (that will be relevant later...). Meanwhile Dandi is in nothing but a glittery thong, whilst Bibi is in a glittery pink dress.

When Bibi is hired, she joins Dandi and Pandi as a singer for the 'BIM' franchise, and sports a silvery singer's dress for her 'Speed!' song - one of only many songs the film has. There are myriads of other silvery outfits worn in the film, but due to the film's direction are barely seen properly, though really they all tend to be the same sort of design - large shoulders, collars and made of a silvery synthetic material.

At the very end of the film, Boogalow and his minions all appear to try and arrest Bibi and Alphie - Boogalow is just in a black leather coat, whereas Shake is in a silver and black suit patterned almost like snakeskin. Most of Boogalow's other helpers are in a variety of silver suits and facepaint, with Pandi wearing a silver headscarf with her suit. Also of note are the triangular lens glasses worn by Boogalow's lawyers and the police chief, as well as the leather outfits worn by Boogalow's bodyguards Bulldog and Fatdog.

And on a final note for this first proper post, if these costume designers looked up your alley then do yourself a favor and listen to the film's soundtrack too - altogether now: DO THE BIM!