Solarbabies (1986)

Costume Design by Bob Ringwood

An oddball that was pretty much 'Mad Max for kids', with a couple more outright scifi touches such as laser guns and whatnot in the hope to make a smash like Star Wars I assume, which would also explain other odd touches in this film such as mystical entites and so on. Set in a fascist state, the Eco Protectorate that has arisen thanks to ecological collapse (I think...it's not the most thought-out plot), the story focused on the titular 'Solarbabies', orphans in one of the regime's many orphanages. The Solarbabies wear the film's most iconic fits (thanks to being on all the promotional photos), which consist of futuristic padded sports armor covered in blue, red and pink spraypaint in different patterns.

Their enemies the Scorpions wear more intimidating, gunmetal-coloured armor with masked helmets.

Of course, being a post-apocalypse film made in the aftermath of Mad Max 2, there are the inevitable wasteland weirdos who sport tatty attire inspired by biker culture, punk fashion and sport armor - the bounty hunter Malice (Alexei Sayle) wears a cowboy hat and leather jacket adorned with ratty furs on the shoulders, and many of the denizens of 'Tyretown' (totally unrelated to Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome's Bartertown, I'm sure!) are in typical ratty posta-apocalypse garb. Tyretown's guards are interesting in that they feel like a precedent for Ringwood's cut-up tire armor designs for Demolition Man a few years later, as they sport armor that is similarly made up of torn up rubber tyres!

One aspect of the film that has especially aged badly is a Native American tribe (that, of course is linked to magic mumbo-jumbo, because New Age nonsense) that is all played by white actors, though their outfits seem to be made up of cut-up patterned fabrics that have been arranged into either very revealing tops, such as the fit sported by Ivor (Terence Mann) or cloaks.

It's not the only ethnic group that white people are getting to cosplay as in the apocalypse, as the 'Eco Warriors' - the rebel group that the fascist villains have been trying to exterminate - sport attire that seems possibly inspired a bit by Bedouin garb as well, though with baggy sleeves, deep collars and patterned lining and large panels over the waist. The Eco Warrior costumes feel a bit similar in design to the Fremen outfits Ringwood had designed for David Lynch's Dune a few years earlier, which fits as that was also about white people cosplaying as Middle Eastern peoples. I do quite like the fits, though!

As said earlier, the film leans a bit more into the futuristic aspects than most post-apocalypse films, and as such, there are some slightly futuristic fashions such as this beige jacket worn by an orphanage teacher, that sadly is barely seen on-screen like so many of the outfits here. The orphanage's guards wear odd looking jumpsuits with lighter yellow mesh patches, worn with caps.

There is also this futuristic suit worn by the evil scientist Shandray (Sarah Douglas), that in some ways is a rehash of Ringwood's design for Lady Jessica's dress in Dune a few years earlier, especially with the ridged shoulders.

The uniforms of the 'E-Police' serving the nebulous fascist regime wear predominatly blue leather, with the commander Grock (Richard Jordan) wearing a blue leather uniform with ribbed panelling over the shoulders and cuffs. The soldiers under him wear motorcycle outfits that have been altered with extra panelling - you can see the greeblies stuck on what are obviously bought motorbike helmets!

Max Headroom (1987)

Costume Design by Jean-Pierre Dorléac

Note: Dorleac was only costume designer on the pilot episode 'Blipverts', and I have neglected to include the other episodes costume designers as I'm sure all of it was just rented or bought.

The American TV series followed the plainclothes costume sense established by the original British pilot movie, but there was some slightly futuristic designs to be seen in the pilot episode, the first being the snazzy jacket worn by Edison Carter (Matt Frewer) made up of black leather with fabric panels over it - the jacket bears a slight similarity to the one Dorleac designed for Dean Stockwell in the Quantum Leap episode 'Killing Time', which natch, was also set in a neon-drenched near-future...

Another slightly futuristic outfit is this rather prim looking suit worn by Carter's partner in (reporting) crime Theora (Amanda Pays), who sports a grey jacket with angular cuts around the bottom, and worn over a white shirt with a pointed asymmetrical collar. Out of all the outfits that Amanda Pays wears in this episode, I suspect this was the only one that was actually made to order for the episode, as the others look fairly contemporary.

There are also the futuristic uniforms worn by the various security guards in the pilot episode as well as the episode 'Security Systems', which have an angular grey panel with triangular buttons, and bear a slight similarity to the suits Dorleac designed for the Battlestar Galactica episode 'Experiment in Terra'.

Demolition Man (1993)

Costume Design by Bob Ringwood

This satirical and dystopian action film involved Sly Stallone as a cop who ends up being woken up, along with his nemesis, in a supposedly idyllic future where crime has for the most part been eliminated - along with sex, swearing, meat, smoking and all that other fun stuff. The future 'San Angeles' is protected by a police force whose members sport fascist but rather slightly camp uniforms, with slight futuristic touches such as a mandarin collar, diagonal strips on the shirts and jackets, and a little fax machine on their belt instead of any sort of weapon. Bob Ringwood wasn't too impressed with the final result as he felt they chose actors who looked too tough and made the uniforms less an ironic contrast. The police chief's uniform also looks militaristic, with his tunics mandarin collar fitted with patches resembling German officer collar tabs.

By contrast to the police uniforms, the denizens of San Angeles are ruled by Dr. Cocteau (Nigel Hawthorne) who wears a variety of kimono-like garments that are fitted with a raised collar in a similar manner to Edwardian men's suits. The intention according to Ringwood was how, according to the script, people would cover themselves from the sun, as well as implying that East Asian countries now had more cultural dominance - India is another one of the nations mentioned as having became more powerful, which is seen especially with how Cocteau's white outfit is worn with a Gandhi cap, possibly as a way of trying to show himself as a man of peace.

His associate, who is aptly named Associate Bob (Glenn Shadix) wears a patterned peach kimono, with a similr belt as to his superior.

The various other citizens of San Angeles also sport fashions that seem to be a mix of Japanese and Indian traditional garments, with some high fashion influences.

The staff of the cryoprison wear smocks that also seem to be in a slightly kimono-like design, made of a shiny blue-green material as well, with ribbed strips down the sleeves and collars.

Even Stallone is made to wear similar garments for when he has dinner at Taco Bell (or, Pizza Hut, if its the European cut), sporting this wide-shoulded shirt made of a patterned dark grey material.

The aforementioned Taco Bell/Pizza Hut dinner scene also has us see the most standout dress of the film; a jewelled short dress worn by Huxley (Sandra Bullock) which is also briefly worn with a grey jacket covered in greyish imitation fur.

Other dresses in this scene include the one worn by Bob's partner, which is black with cream and white lining over the chest, and Cocteau's associate wearing a shiny metallic vest over her grey dress. The staff at Taco Bell wear dresses and suits, the dresses having a floral material over the back and shoulders, the suits having it over the sleeves with similarly coloured sashes over the waist.

Of course, some of the film's most iconic looks are sported by fellow 1996 relic Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), who has been awaken to kill Edgar Friendly (Denis Leary), the leader of the 'Scraps'. The Scraps are an underground society living in opposition to Cocteau's supposed utopia, and of course for this part of his assignment Phoenix wears the Scraps' armor. The Scraps have a look Ringwood described as 'Mad Max but not punky'. Phoenix's Scrap armor in fact seems to be constructed out of what seems to be cut up tyres, that are even arranged to have a raised collar. Edgar Friendly himself wears a makeshift armored jumpsuit, itself worn under a grubby overcoat.