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As Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace (George Lucas, 1999) -- in
the best super-heroes comic book tradition -- delves into the origins of
various characters, let's go in search of space costume origins.
Phantom Menace costume designer Trisha Biggar had an origin problem of her
own. As well as the costume designer's usual task of helping to convey the
look and mood of the movie, delineate characters, and help tell the story
through costume, Biggar had to coordinate her costumes with the costume
concepts already established in the preceding Star Wars
movies.
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Biggar's costumes followed firstly those designed by John Mollo for
Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977) -- for which he received an Academy
Award -- and The Empire Strikes Back (George Lucas, 1980). The
second costume trajectory Biggar had to consider was that established in
Return of the Jedi (George Lucas, 1983) by designers Aggie
Guerard-Rodgers and Nilo Rodis-Jamero. Biggar's character costume continuity problem for
the Phantom Menace was solved by sticking to the already
established samurai/serf tradition for characters played by Liam Neeson,
Ewan McGregor, Jake Lloyd and Pernilla August. For the new Phantom
Menace characters such as Queen Amidala and various officials,
Biggar's inspiration came from oriental and medieval costume precedents.
Her concept, and the Star Wars costume concepts she followed,
are in the tradition identified by costume designer Elois Jenssen in a 1987
essay.
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According to Jenssen, costumes for pictures about future worlds must reflect
the social structures and values of those worlds (Jenssen 97). The costumes
thereby fill out the filmmakers' visions of societies to come. But oddly
enough, certain visions apparently recur. As Hollywood costume of the
future generally echoes historical influences, Jenssen suggests that costume
elements from ancient times might "create a sense of timelessness" (97).
Furthermore, the costumes usually fit into a few categories, derived from
"Ancient Greeks and Romans, harem girls and sheiks, samurai and geisha, or
medieval knights and maidens" (97).
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The examples Jenssen gives in her essay include several from The Return
of the Jedi (George Lucas, 1983; costumes by Aggie Guerard-Rodgers
and Nilo Rodis-Jamero): Mark Hamill wears a tunic like that of a fourteenth-century
serf (98); Carrie Fisher has hairstyles (by Paul LeBlanc) of medieval long
curled locks, or an oriental braid, when she is in Jabba the Hut's harem
(104); and the harem also includes a parody of the harem girl look in the
outfit of the multi-breasted Gargan character (105). Jenssen also considers
the "broad-shouldered, Neo-classical drapery" of the cloaks worn by the
Imperial Guard in The Return of the Jedi to be "a common
costume device" for future world wardrobes (97).
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An addition to such derivations is the "air of the Cossack" Stella Bruzzi
sees in the pants tucked into boots worn by male space travellers such as
Leslie Nielsen and crew in Forbidden Planet (Fred McLeod
Wilcox, 1956; costumes by Walter Plunkett and Helen Rose), and the men of the
Enterprise in the Star Trek series (11). Jenssen
identifies other space costume devices, used by designers to displace the
costumes from an historical context and thereby provide a futuristic
flavour, as either asymmetry or alteration of the shape of design elements
(98, 103, 110); unfamiliar colours or texture combinations (99, 100, 110);
and conventional clothing items used in unconventional contexts (105).
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While history provides a constant source of inspiration, the second
influence evident in concepts of future dress is that of accepted
contemporary appearances at the time of a film's production (Jenssen 98,
100, 101, 105, 109, 110). Jenssen predicts that the work of costume
designers will continue to picture the future in terms of "both the historic
past and contemporary aesthetics" (112).
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The vision of Edward D. Wood, Jr., of beings from another world in Plan
9 From Outer Space seems to have received little consideration,
certainly not in terms of the relation of the aliens' costuming to such
space costume parameters as Jenssen and Bruzzi suggest. When attention is
focused, as is common, on Wood's stylistic choices, the context of
production must be considered. Like another film talent, Orson Welles, Wood
experienced difficulties in financing his projects (Maltin 1116), and
securing the releases of his films was a protracted process. Consequently,
the delayed release of Plan 9 may serve to obscure the fact
that filming was in train in 1956 (Maltin 1046), making the film's concept
greatly in advance of another work which has been valorised for its
groundbreaking style, namely À Bout de Souffle (Jean-Luc
Godard, 1959).
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Here I do not wish to investigate Plan 9 to identify certain
stylistic characteristics which might be admired in the context of another
era or another filmmaking tradition. My aim is to examine the costuming of
Ed Wood's extra-terrestrial characters, to establish its relation to the
markers of space costume found by Jenssen and Bruzzi.
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Bit 9
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The aliens in Plan 9 seek to conquer Earth, using dead humans they
have turned into zombies as their myrmidons; their noble plan is to prevent
earthlings from destroying the universe with nuclear weapons, but their
ignoble conquest-motive results from the refusal (or incapacity?) of the
"juvenile minds" of Earth inhabitants to accept the superiority of the alien
intelligence. Their number includes a female, Tanna (Joanna Lee), but,
following her mistreatment by Eros (Dudley Manlove), Eros informs the humans
present that in the alien society, the role of females is to perpetuate the
race. From this passage, I understand the social place of alien females to
be functional but of lesser value, i.e., less worthy of respect.
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Bearing in mind that space costumes are supposed to indicate the structures
and values of their wearers' societies (and leaving aside the question of a
breeder also serving as an emissary), the outfits which Dick Chaney provides
for Tanna and Eros should differentiate the characters significantly. Both
(and a third alien who appears briefly to announce them to the Ruler) wear
the same basic uniform, based on a belted satin shirt, reminiscent of a
Russian Cossack blouse, buttoned asymmetrically on the wearer's left. This
blouse is interesting for several reasons: it has the "air of the Cossack"
seen in other space costumes; it has asymmetry in styling (logical in its
ethnic source, defamiliarising in the film context); and, in recalling a
certain vogue which items such as Russian blouses and hats enjoyed during
the late war when Russia was an ally, serves to remind the contemporary
audience of that nation's new Cold War status. So although Eros states his
race wants to stop Earth blowing up the universe, his shirt tells a
different tale.
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While a lightning-flash insignia has been added to all the blouses, they are
so alike they look like they came off the backs of a balalaika band (a
budget possibility). Tanna and Eros wear them with tights, boots and belts;
and here the differences in boots and belts can be related to status.
Tanna's boots are lighter in colour than those of Eros, and her belt is a
simple contemporary leather accessory. However, Eros's leather belt is as
wide as a power lifter's, and ornamented with alternating motifs; he also
wears fancy boots, curving to a "V" below the knee, this shape emphasised by
a decorative scroll continuing down the front of the boots. As boots like
these are often seen on operetta tenors, as part of hussar-type uniforms,
they bring a sort of stagey grandeur to Manlove's big speech about the
stupidity of humans.
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The boots worn by the aliens' Ruler (John Breckinridge) are again different
(they have a turn-down cuff below the knee), as part of the wardrobe plan to
individuate the characters and display their status. Chaney indicates that
the space invaders wear a uniform by also giving their leader a blouse with
a similar asymmetrical fastening; but the Ruler is accorded extra status by
(a) his blouse being worn under a tunic, and (b) the tunic being part of a
suit, as it is worn with matching trousers. The Ruler's rank is further
underlined by the material of his belt -- metal, in linked segments -- and by
his unique insignia. This shield-shaped patch on his tunic, displaying the
silhouette of a battleaxe, is a example of Jenssen's "medieval" source of
space costume.
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Bit 13
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This brief investigation of such costuming in one film may serve to suggest
that, whatever the budget, and however the wardrobe may be assembled, those
responsible for costume may put together ensembles which show evidence of
the application of certain principles of disorientation -- of making the
familiar strange -- to indicate alien or future societies. Plan 9 From
Outer Space may seem at first to be an unlikely contender to demonstrate
the conscious application of any theoretical principles. But in its space
costumes, the viewer may discern the method by which the costume designer
seeks to solve the general problem of differentiating characters, and the
particular problem of representing the dress of another world, the latter
via the employment of identifiable motifs and techniques which may be traced
in numerous films with grander aspirations.
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Bit 14
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Details
Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, by 20th Century Fox 1999.
Written and directed by George Lucas.
Costume Design: Trisha Biggar.
Works Cited
Bruzzi, Stella. "Space Looks." Sight and Sound 5 (1995): 10-11.
Maltin, Leonard, ed. Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide: 1998 Edition.
New York: Signet, 1997.
Jenssen, Elois. "Visions of the Future: Costume in Science-Fiction Films."
Hollywood and History: Costume Design in Film. Organized by Edward Maeder.
Los Angeles: Thames and Hudson/Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987. 97-112.
Plan 9 From Outer Space. Dir. Edward D. Wood, Jr. Wardrobe by Dick Chaney.
Set Construction Tom Kemp. Set Dresser Harry Reif. Distributors Corporation of America, 1959.
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Bit 15
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Citation reference for this article
MLA style:
Shane Lewis. "Space Costume: In Search of a Plan." M/C Reviews 7 July 1999.
[your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews
/features/starwars/costumes.html>.
Chicago style:
Shane Lewis, "Space Costume: In Search of a Plan," M/C Reviews 7 July 1999,
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews
/features/starwars/costumes.html> ([your date of access]).
APA style:
Shane Lewis. (1999) Space costume: in search of a plan. M/C Reviews 7 July 1999.
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews
/features/starwars/costumes.html> ([your date of access]).
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![[image]](http://spaceport.virtualave.net/amidala.jpg)
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