As announced in yesterday’s post I will focus today on a few contemporary looks that display some connections with the costumes appearing in Primo Zeglio's…4 ...3 ...2 ...1 ...morte (Mission Stardust, 1967).
This post will probably be the last exploration of Space Age fashion for this year (well, I promised a last one on Sunday...so here it is).
Sci-fi fans will probably remember Primo Zeglio’s film: based on a Perry Rhodan novel by Walter Ernsting, the film follows the vicissitudes of a team of astronauts led by Major Rhodan (Lang Jeffries).
Rhodan and his crew meet on the moon an alien space ship led by commander Thora (Essy Persson) and by Professor Crest (John Karlsen), who is seriously ill with leukaemia.
To try and save his life, the crew from planet Earth and the mysterious aliens set off to Africa to look for a doctor who has developed an anti-leukaemia serum, but, once back to Earth, things turn rather nasty as a villain named Arkin gets in their way.
Zeglio's movie was a mix of science fiction and spy films (some of its main actors also starred in some spy movies such as Secret Agent Super Dragon and in a few Spaghetti Westerns…), with a touch of trash added.
Unfortunately for Rhodan's creator, the most memorable thing in this film - unanimously hated by many Rhodan fans (though one of the reasons it should be saved is its catchy soundtrack by Anton Garcia Abril and Marcello Giombini…) - is definitely not the space Major, but commander’s Thora impeccable hairstyle (that seems to stay in place even in the most dramatic moments...) together with her lamé suits.
Costumes in this movie are attributed to Tina Grani who mainly worked in the '60s on the costumes for Mario Bava’s horror and fantasy films.
Thora changes only twice in the film, but she’s always dressed to thrill and kill.
When we first meet her she’s wearing a black tight suit with a kind of coned breasts motif in white; shortly afterwards she changes into her flying attire, a beige/gold lamé suit.
Coned breasts appeared in some collections from the '60s that referenced space fashion.
Fans of that period of time may for example remember André Courrèges’ 1969 white satin “bunny” jumpsuit with white pompons, brass polka dots and breast cups (View this photo).
Yet coned bras/breast cups and geometrical motifs emphasising the breast area seem to be one of the trends for the Spring/Summer 2011 season.
For example, there was definitely a sort of sci-fi aesthetic in Joseph Altuzarra’s collection: his all-white dresses with strategic slashes (View this photo) and structured jackets with subtle padded motifs around the shoulders (View this photo) or flat epaulettes and uniform-like deconstructed navy-jackets called to mind the regimented futuristic styles seen in classic sci-fi films such as The Shape of Things to Come.
Nude or navy python and metallic leather inserts and collars were instead used to create geometric motifs – from triangles to squares – or coned breasts patch-worked onto body-con streamlined jersey dresses with asymmetric hemlines.
Though considered a rather difficult look only apt for daring women, the coned breasts became one of the main themes of the collection and Altuzarra applied it to both day and evening looks.
In between a shopping bag tank top and a latex dress, Jeremy Scott slipped in his Spring/Summer 2011 tight mini-dresses with metallic coned breasts (View this photo), and closed his catwalk show with a nurse-meets-bride in a white satin straightjacket-like mini-dress (honestly more Gaultier than Mission Stardust...but remember the nurses Vs robots battle in Mission Stardust?), verging between the tasteless and the kitsch.
Though the starting points for Lubov and Max Azria for Hervé Léger’s collection were lingerie and Marie Antoinette and the label’s iconic body-hugging bandage dresses were reinvented as ribbon-woven corsets, futuristic inspirations were channelled via innovative materials such as laser cut and perforated leather, printed rubber and lattice work.
While experimenting with body-hugging silhouettes and themes such as strength and power and lingerie that elongated the silhouette extending with vertical lines from the breasts, transforming into a garter, and reaching the hemline, the designers emphasised the breast area through cut-out motifs used for shifts and for dresses with exaggerated ruffled pannier skirts.
The same cut-out motifs reappeared in Antonio Berardi's collection. Though the designer settled on a romantic, feminine and softer edge in this collection (translated in his designs via ruffled and layered skirts), body-con dresses with coned breasts and sharp short fencing jackets in silk and Lurex thread also made an appearance, almost to remind that Berardi's muse is essentially a powerful and strong woman.
There was no Lurex in sight at A.F. Vandevorst, but silver was definitely a big theme and while the main inspiration was supposed to be an armoured Joan of Arc, the final effect was more glamorous space warrior than medieval damsel in armour.
The materials employed by Filip Arickx and An Vandevorst and the surface elaborations are actually the most interesting things in this collection.
Silver sequins and metallic herringbone textiles were indeed used to create armour-like jackets and dresses with draped motifs matched with leggings-like trousers and sandals criss-crossed by innumerable slashes closed by invisible zips that gave the designs a tribal feel.
A sort of delicate metal chain-like fabric reminiscent of Versace's oroton was instead employed for liquid sensual evening gowns and low cut tops matched with fluid harem pants.
As a whole this was probably one of the most convincing unintentional "Space Age" collections for the next season.
Yet I guess that there are still a lot of films from the 60s (even very trashy ones...) that can teach us a few things about space-inspired looks or that feature costumes that, reinvented and altered a bit, wouldn't look out of place on the runways of the most famous fashion capitals. My suggestion? Just go out and spot them.
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I bought cone bras they were not comfortable to me, not using any more, now using GFC normal bras.
Posted by: Chantelle bras | May 02, 2012 at 01:38 PM