The Fashion

Fashion of the future has always been as important as the technical hardware in science fiction filmmaking. From Metropolis to Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the overall look can make or break a movie. In time, the set designs, costumes and special effects would show their age and sometimes look outrageously ridiculous. But as long as both the premise of the film and message are strong, everything else is a non-issue. This is the case for 2001: A Space Odyssey and many other films before or after 2001. Fashion design in science fiction film and television has always been minimalist which reflects how our society sees itself in the future. American designer Rudi Gernriech was one of many fashion designers that explored these ideas in the 1960s. Fabric was important to the look as well with French designer Paco Rabanne. Rabanne dressed young Jane Fonda in the erotic romp Barbarella in 1968.

In the book Sixties Design (Taschen, 1996), space-age styles soon became the height of fashionable design. Perhaps the most dramatic impact was in the world of Parisian couture. Paris fashion had thrived on change, yet always within traditional parameters. In the mid-sixties, Andre Courreges staged a revolution with far-reaching effects. His crisply cut clothes with plenty of white (sometimes striped in black), short skirts, short white boots and white slit-aperture sunglasses were clothes for movement, for the young. Their context was the bright new world in which science fiction was being transformed by technology's progress into science fact.

Rudi Gernriech, famous for the topless swimsuit in the sixties and thong in the seventies, predicted in Life magazine (Vol. 68, #1 Jan. 9, 1970) that, "Clothing will not be identified as either male or female... women and men will wear skirts interchangeably... the aesthetics of fashion are going to involve the body." Rudi's bold new unisex concept was tested on the 1975 British television show Space:1999. Production designer Keith Wilson recalls how he hated the moon uniform worn by the scientific community living on the moonbase. "I hated them because they weren't flattering to any of the artists, they were so restricting... As soon as we did the second series, we altered it."

According to The Making of Star Trek--The Motion Picture, (Wallaby, 1980), Gene Roddenberry believed throwaway clothes were the future of the clothing industry, and the idea was incorporated into Star Trek--The Motion Picture. All costumes were designed by American costume designer Robert Fletcher.

In 2001, the standard attire was a business-as-usual approach to the corporate world of fashion. There were no ties for men's suits since they were not needed in zero gravity. The Russian women scientists wore dark conservative clothing, reflecting their own conservative values. Although Kubrick's 2001 wardrobe was practical, it still reflected the mid-sixties slender look, now outdated. But fashion comes and goes and the world of 2001 has not arrived. The military and spacecraft uniforms were as common in the sixties as they are now, with no dramatic changes in 30 years. American women of the year 2001 still retained roles they held in the 1960s as Hilton Hotel receptionists and Pan Am stewardesses. The women wore space-age traveling hats while carrying hand bags. According to Setting the Scene by Robert S. Sennett (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1994), many of the design elements of the middle narrative portion of the film now seem to be reflections of swinging London circa 1968, rather than the imagined near future. The stewardesses' uniforms, designed by British fashion and 2001 costume designer Hardy Amies, look like the uncomfortable unisex pant suits that were being foisted on the innocent public in the late sixties.

Since we are fast approaching the year 2001, we will explore the important element of futurism in fashion, inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Resources: http://www.popfiction.com/SF2003/fashion/
Pan Am and Bubble head pictures from 2001.
First picture of Space Station 5 female uniform by 2001:exhibit.

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