Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator

We would totally rock some of the outfits from those 10 futuristic fashion films …wait, we already do.

When creating costumes for futuristic movies, costume designers flex their creative muscle by inventing and predicting fashion that will be worn in the distant future. Limitless possibility and the unobstructed freedom to explore lead to fantastic fashion creativity and outrageous looks.

We’ve rounded up 10 films which feature everyday-wear on protagonists that represent a future we may or may not be living in. Who comes closest to 2014? You decide.

1.THE FIFTH ELEMENT (1997)

Jean-Paul Gaultier designed a total of 954 costumes for Luc Besson’s futuristic sci-fi film. The designer’s affinity for bondage is most evident in the costume of Leeloo and her smokin’ hot white bandage dress.

2. KIKA (1993)

Film director Pedro Almadovar worked in collaboration with Jean-Paul Gaultier and Versace to create a very rich (in color) collection of costumes for Kika; sort of a development of the neo-hippie look with great cleavage and very tight clothing.

3. BARBARELLA (1968)

French costume designer Jacques Fonteray worked with Enfant terrible Paco Rabanne, who was known for his of use innovative materials, to create costumes made from PVC, Perspex and chain mail. Rabanne personally created a green dress made of linked plastic tiles, which allows Jane Fonda to carry a 1960s silhouette with a reptilian-like appearance.

In the future it will obviously be necessary to really perfect looking like nature to survive…and be sexy.

4. MAD MAX (1979)

Costume designer Norma Moriceau was inspired by an S&M leather shop near her home in Sydney to create the outlandishly creative fashion seen in the movie. In this post-apocalyptic world, football shoulder pads are dressed up with feathers, and pants are made with studded codpieces.

Of course, because we will need massive shoulder pads in the future to show who’s who.

5. TANK GIRL (1995)

Costumer designer, Arianne Phillips, main concern when commissioned to make costumes for the movie was to remain true to the comic books. Tank Girl wears body armor, ripped-up tights, tutu, bandanas, frilly knickers and flak jackets….sometimes all at once. Her clothes had to be run over, sand-blasted and set upon with industrial welders before they looked right.

6. BLADE RUNNER (1982)

Costume designer Michael Kaplan wanted to create outfits for a futuristic heroine who was believable in the future, but with her feet firmly planted in film noir’s past. Enter sharp-angled tailored suits and outsized shoulders made by combining different shades of suiting fabrics to create patterns that pushed the clothes into the future.

7. LOGAN’S RUN (1976)

The futuristic fashion in this movie is minimal; the women wear flouncy mini-dresses and the men wear black jumpsuits with a fat gray stripe across the breast or kimonos.

We expect this and if it weren’t for Carousel, we’d be totally down with rocking this look but we like to live longer than the age of 30.

8. THE MATRIX (1999)

Black has never been so fashionable. Costume designer Kym Barrett introduces sleek black trench coats, shiny tunics and custom-designed wraparound black sunglasses…incredibly stylish, futuristic garb.

Also, the future kind of sucks so it is wise to keep a very serious face all. the. time.

9. FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956)

Designed by Walter Plunkett, costumes in Forbidden Planet feature men in kitschy, military-style space suits and women in spangly, restrictive miniskirts. It is evident that in the future, women still have to have sexy clothing to be included.

10. THE HUNGER GAMES (2013)

The Hunger Games is an eye-popping fashion fantasy with outfits described as futuristic, bold and colorful by costume designer Trish Summerville. For the second installment of the film, she kept the same feel of Dorothea Lange’s 1930s Depression era but also incorporated timeless pieces of clothing like denim, woolens, and work wear.