Planet of the Apes (1968)

Costume Design by:

- Morton Haack ( notable efforts: The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), What's the Matter with Helen? (1971) )

Costume Design Genre: Futuristic

The first film in the series all about evolved intelligent apes running the world after a nuclear holocaust (with some occasional trips back in time) who have enslaved the surviving humans - the original series consisted of five movies, but only the first two entries of the series - Planet of the Apes, and Beneath the Planet of the Apes will be covered here, as the other film sequels were either set in the present or reused the first two films costumes. Morton Haack's costumes for the apes were simplistic, usually consisting of simple coloured tunics with leather strips attached on the collars, shoulders or sleeves, these leather strips often having engraved markings on them - a collection of Haack's costume design sketches are available to see on the Film Sketchr blog.. The various ape castes are in colour-coded garments, with the chimpanzees such as the scientista Cornelius (Roddy McDowell) and Zira (Kim Hunter) wearing drab green with brown leather trim. Cornelius wears the male version of the uniform, which is a simple green shirt with a large brown leather patch with lining around the collar, as well as more faint lining on the sleeves.

Zira wears the female version, which is a gown made of the same coloured cloth as the male version, but cut to resemble a dress, with the leather patch being more narrow and ornate around the collar.

The chimpanzees are the 'middle' cast of the ape society, with the ruling class being the orangutans such as the curt Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans), who are all clad in orange jackets and trousers over dark brown shirts - the jackets are also fitted with leather strips around the side, with Zaius in light brown strips, and other orangutan elders having different markings on theirs, the one exception being the judge with a segmented leather vest trailing down to the waist

Zaius' second outfit worn at the end of the first film is another orange jacket and trousers, but worn over a brown leather shirt, and the jacket having leather strips on the sleeves and shoulders - and noticeably worn with boots rather than the shoes worn with the standard outfit (which, like the chimps outfits, are molded to resemble being made for ape feet rather than human's).

Zaius' third outfit worn towards the end of the sequel slightly resembles the one worn in the previous film, but is more complex with detailed leather pieces around the shoulders, sleeves and collar, and is once again worn with boots.

The gorillas are the 'grunt' caste of the ape society and are used as soldiers (ironic considering its chimpanzees which are the more aggressive ape species in nature!), who are all clad in dark purple shirts and trousers, worn under lined boots and ridged leather vests.

The sequel introduces the gorilla general Ursus (James Gregory) who wears perhaps the most famous outfit of any of the apes, an armored vest with pads on the arms, and worn with a studded collar piece and domed helmet fixed with long flaps, the helmet again adorned with the markings seen on the garb of the rest of the apes.

The sequel introduces us to a cult of telepathic humans who survived the nuclear holocaust, and reside deep underground (hence, the film's title) where they sing hymns devoted to their god, the nuclear bomb. These human cultists are in some of the more outfit futuristic outfits in the series, being all glad in hooded uniforms worn under habits akin to the garb of priests, these habits being adorned with coloured strips or cloaks with metallic fixtures stuck on the front.

Lastly, are the guards that protect the undergound base of the cultists, who are in some of the most striking outfits of the film, but sadly are never really seen properly - all white uniforms with ridged tunics in a similar manner to the other cultists, but with a bright yellow strip down the front. These humans were the 'future' ones that were wiped out in the nuclear war, so it does make sense that their garb should be so space age in comparison with everyone else.

Moon Zero Two (1969)

Costume Design by:

- Carl Toms ( notable efforts: She (1965), Those Fantastic Flying Fools (1967), The Vengeance of She (1968), When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) )

Costume Design Genre: Futuristic

One of the few proper science-fiction efforts produced by esteemed British studio Hammer, Moon Zero Two had an admittedly conventional 'Western in space' plot (in fact, the film billed itself as 'the first moon western'), but is definitely most remembered for its various colourful futuristic costumes often made with vinyl. One of the first outfits seen is worn by Clementine (Catherine Schell), and consists of a dark olive-green bodysuit with brown belt and a large hooded headpiece going over the shoulders - sadly, no full shot of it ever gets on the screen.

Clementine later sports a brown bodysuit worn with a light brown tunic and shiny vinyl belt worn over it, as well as a banged wig, though unfortunately the full outfit is never really seen properly at all.

Most of the other citizens of the moon base are in a variety of vinyl jackets, a lot of them printed with a plaid texture (in keeping with the 'Western' theme of the film), with other extras in tunics cut very similarly to Clementine's second suit, and worn with banged haircuts (or wigs, most likely) as well. There definitely seems to be an influence of the fashion designs of Pierre Cardin on a lot of these costumes!

Liz (Adrienne Cori) is the head of the moon city's security, but in her first appearance she isn't in uniform, instead in a flowing white dress with jewels adorning her front, worn with a glorious pink hairdo.

Liz spends the rest of the film in her Moon City Security uniform, which is another one of the film's more inventive costumes, consisting of a purple tunic and frilly blue shirt with large sleeves, worn with shiny latex or vinyl stockings, gloves and a ridged headpiece - briefly seen are other security guards in uniforms that are similar but entirely blue, but sadly they are only seen very briefly in the film, but were seen more clearly in a series of pin-up images (posted on the David Sisson Models website) made as a tie-in for the film - with some original outfits thrown in for some variety!

This theme of the uniforms having vinyl clothing or lining is continued with the uniforms of the Moon City customs officials, most of them being in grey overalls with blue vinyl lining, but with one officer in a vinyl cap and sealed to the side.

The hostess on the train ride is in a brown and beige uniform consisting of buttoned tunic worn over a jumpsuit, and worn with a large stiff kepi.

The unscrupulous Hubbard (Warren Mitchell) arrives on Moon City to help acquire an asteroid of sapphire, and is first seen in a cap and smoking jacket, both made out of vinyl! For the rest of his formal appearances, he is in a form uniform of a black jumpsuit with stiff white collars, cuffs and belt - always worn with a monocle.

In his quarters, however, Hubbard sports a very different outfit of a long flowing purple gown with blue lining on the collars and side, but again still worn with that monocle.

Hubbard is usually followed by two maids, who in their first appearance are wearing black and white coats and plastic headpieces with beige bodysuits, and in their final appearance wear green and red skimpy tops and miniskirts, with multicoloured banged hairstyles.

In Hubbard's quarters, they are in much more extravagant purple and pink dresses worn with golden jewel pieces and bangles, completed with large wigs coloured the same as their dress and fixed with golden pieces.

There are some hairdressers on Moon City (who else must do all these banged hairdos...), who are in white midriff-baring tops and skirts fixed with silver chain pieces, with their hair died blue.

At Moon City's bar, there are of course several dancers, who at first are in white bodysuits with black and white plastic bangles, chains on the waist and headdresses of circular plastic pieces with several stuck on. In other appearances though, they are in yellow bodysuits and boots with either white vinyl cowboy hats and gloves, or orange feathers and 'tail' pieces - well, this was billing itself as 'the first moon Western' after all.

Of course, being a film set on the moon, there are spacesuits, these possibly being the film's lasting legacy - the suits would have a long 'career' of sorts in British genre TV, with the suits appearing in the children's series Here Come the Double Deckers, as well as brief;y reused in the Space: 1999 episode 'Mission of the Darians' and the helmets being used in the Doctor Who story 'The Ambassadors of Death'. It is easy to see why, as the suits are very slick designs, being bodysuits with plastic pieces around the chest, legs and arms, with of course the helmet.

The suits are not just in one coloure scheme however - whilst Kemp and Karminski's are in grey, everyone else's is their own colour; Clementine's is blue, Hubbard's is red, and his goons are in yellow, orange and green.

There is a second variant of spacesuit seen however, which is a more simple design, being entirely made out of vinyl except for the helmets, which are bulbous but simplistic - like the other spacesuits, they are also colour coded for each character, with Kemp and Clementine in white and blue, and the three goons that accost them in red, green and yellow.

As for more information on the production aspects and designs of this film, there is the section devoted to the film on the David Sisson Models website, which is really informative and is also the source of the calendar images used in this entry.