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!

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Costume Design by:

- Dodie Shepard ( notable efforts: Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) )

Costume Design Genre: Futuristic

The very last of the Star Trek movies to star the cast of the original series (though some members of which would appear in the later Star Trek Generations in order to bridge the gap between the original series and The Next Generation), The Undiscovered Country involved the Klingons and Federation attempting to make peace with each other, even though a plot is underway to prevent the two factions from reconciling. Again there was a new costume designer, Dodie Shepard, though most of the costumes in this film were reused from the previous five movies with most of the new costumes being made for the Klingons, looking rather different to the more metallic uniforms of The Motion Picture and Search for Spock uniforms designed by Robert Fletcher (presumably these uniforms couldn't be reused thanks to their use in The Next Generation at the time of filming The Undiscovered Country).

One of the most notable new Klingon uniforms is worn by the doomed Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner), in a uniform that whilst similar in design to Fletcher's Klingon uniforms first seen in The Motion Picture, is markedly different in how the tunic now mostly consists of padded vinyl, with a large red shoulder crest and red sleeves - the wrist armor and boots are otherwise the same as the typical Klingon uniform. This design, along with the other Klingon uniforms seen in The Undiscovered Country, are rather baroque in appearance, which perhaps suits the film due to the characters quoting Shakespeare willy-nilly - sort of going full circle, considering how Fletcher's original Klingon uniforms were partly inspired by his work on an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Gorkon's daughter, and next in line in rank, is Azetbur (Rosanna DeSoto) who sports the most outfits of any character, though always wearing the bead-like metallic headpiece at all times. Her first outfit is a padded vinyl tunic with a red collar piece going over the shoulders (and often worn with a large necklace), with the same sort of trousers and boots as the typical Klingons.

This uniform is also worn with a cape, that also has red material over the shoulders, and has silver metallic lining going down the side, though this cape is never really seen fully in the film itself.

When presiding over the trial against Kirk, Azetbur is in a secondary uniform, that is never seen fully in the film at all - this version appears very similar in design to her main tunic, but now it is a pointed red collar segment going over the shoulders, with the collar itself being grey - also of note are the two Klingon guards standing in the row above her, but I have to wonder if these weren't just reused from The Next Generation.

Azetbur is also briefly seen wearing a black gown over her uniform, which also has a tabard-like fabric fixed to the front, and is again worn with a silver necklace over it.

One of the conspirators against Gorkon is the literary-minded General Chang (Christopher Plummer), who is clad in another vinyl tunic with large shoulders, the tunic made up of asymmetrical lining, and also is also worn with a pointed red collar and gold-lined sash over it - but otherwise, the uniform is almost identical to the standard Klingon outfit that Fletcher designed in the original movie. During Kirk's trial, Chang briefly wears a cloak made of an alternating pattern of grey triangles, similar in design (but not fabric or colour scheme) to the robe that Kruge wore in The Search for Spock.

The Klingons in this film have slightly different uniforms than usual, with Gorkon's military commanders all in padded vinyl tunics with large shoulders, though otherwise the uniforms are identical to Fletcher's ones (they even still keep the metallic pointed collar). The Klingon soldiers we see are in even more similar uniforms, but made of the vinyl material again, but visually has the same outline as Fletcher's originals.

The Romulans made an appearance in this movie, in the form of their ambassador Nanclus (Darryl Henriques), who sports perhaps my favorite of the film's costumes, which is a checkered tunic of blue, grey and brown with each square having a glyph inside it, with a pointed collar piece, and worn with a brown sash and trousers. This design seems rather in line with the Romulan outfits that William Ware Theiss, Durinda Wood and Robert Blackman had been designing in The Next Generation at that time, though this doesn't have the huge shoulders!

The finale at the Khitomer Conference mostly contains just reused outfits from the previous films, as well as some borrowed from The Next Generation which was airing at the time; however, according to this entry on the Startrekpropcollector website, there was a 'munitions dealer' present in the scenes who had two costumes designer for them, both of them being asymmetrically cut suits with bold lining. I am especially fond of the green deal especially, very bold.

The Federation's President (Kurtwood Smith) is seen once again in this movie (though, a different president to the one we saw in The Voyage Home), and is first seen clad in a silvery patterned tunic with black trousers - it gets a bit more of a showing on the 'special edition' director's cut, but I've not been able to find a copy of that one online...